68 The Future of Water in African Cities
Indices have a long tradition in development work. While an indicatorbased index is not a scientific approach to predict IUWM challenges and capacities (Kraay and Tawara, 2010), such indices have been found to generate a dialogue about causes of success and promote monitoring systems. The index presented here is intended to serve this purpose (see Appendixes 2 and 3 for methodology). In this two-dimensional index,2 we consider cities have a larger challenge relevant for an IUWM approach when: • Urbanization challenges are strong due to high growth in population and a large share of informal population • Solid waste management challenges are strong reflecting low levels of solid waste collection and disposal in controlled sites • Water supply services are characterized by low levels of water sold per capita and limited coverage with improved water supply • Sanitation services are characterized by low levels of wastewater treatment, high levels of water-borne diseases, and limited coverage with improved sanitation • Flood hazards and vulnerability are higher as represented by a larger number of flooding events • Water resources availability in the basin is less. We consider cities have a higher capacity to deal with such challenges when: • Country policies and institutions are stronger, as evaluated by the World Bank • Cities have more economic strength (using national data as proxy) • Water-related institutions are stronger, as represented by a regulatory setup that conforms more closely to “standard international” recommendations and has targets for pro-poor services • Water utility governance is stronger (using financial indicators as proxy). Most African cities face substantial water management challenges and have limited capacity, but of these cities some are relatively more challenged and some have relatively more capacity (see Figure 3.4). Cities such as Blantyre, Lilongwe, and Luanda are the most challenged, while cities such as Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Dakar, and Douala are less challenged. Not surprisingly, we find that the three South African