Alternative Governance Mechanisms for Water Delivery: The Case of Ecuador

Water provision is a core responsibility of local governments in Ecuador, yet 3.8 million Ecuadorians lack access to clean water. Water is delivered through a shared governance arrangement: municipalities provide 34% of household water; community-based water organizations supply 33%. Focusing on 157 small- and medium-sized municipalities, Maria Francisca Granda Benitez examines the variation across these shared management arrangements. She argues that variation in collective action and municipal–community relationships can help explain uneven household water provision, and that stronger coordination between these actors could significantly expand access to safe water in Ecuador.

Speaker:

Maria Francisca Granda Benitez is the recipient of the 2024–25 Graduate Fellowship in Municipal Finance and Governance. She is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. She has a broad interest in the political economy of inequality and development, the provision of public goods, and state capacity, particularly in Latin American contexts. Francisca’s doctoral research is driven by a desire to understand the relationships between grassroots organizations and local governments in promoting the welfare of small municipalities. Specifically, her work investigates the provision of water in rural Ecuador.

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