128 The Future of Water in African Cities
Governments of Africa (UCLGA) organization. The sample selection also comprised some convenience aspects due to the fact that no proactive methods of data extraction were used. As a result, we do not know whether the sample is statistically representative of cities and utilities in Africa. The decision to use these two organizations, to count on the active participation of their secretary generals, and to include the secretary generals as parties in this exercise was done to increase the survey response. The local knowledge possessed by these organizations facilitated better and more direct communication with the respondents and a higher level of exposure and dissemination of the survey. The sample selected included a substantial representation of large cities in Africa (22 out of 34 cities having more than 1,000,000 inhabitants), but also a representation of small and medium cities (four cities having less than 100,000 inhabitants and eight others with between 100,000 and 1,000,000 inhabitants) (see Tables A1.1 and A1.2). The sample also reflected the different colonial administrative traditions of African countries by including an almost equal representation of Francophone and Anglophone countries (15 and 17 countries, respectively) and three Lusophone countries. Answers to the survey by water operators came from a combination of national- and local-level water utilities and an almost equal mixture of Francophone and Anglophone countries. Out of the 24 water operators who responded to the questionnaire, 9 were national-level water utilities and 15 were local. Among cities, Francophone countries dominated the responses received.