Water has always been a crucial catalyst for human development. In Africa, competition among different sectors for this scarce resource remains a critical challenge to water managers and decision-makers.

Water and Development examines a range of issues, from governance to solar distillation, from gender to water pumps, using a range of research methods, from participant observation to GIS and SPSS data analysis. Throughout, however, there is the unifying thread of developing a participatory and sustainable approach to water which recognises it as an essential public necessity.

The result is essential reading both for students of development and the environment and for NGOs and policy-makers seeking a robust and transformational approach to water and development.

Ronaldo Munck is head of civic engagement at Dublin City University and visiting professor in Development Studies at St Mary's University, Canada. He is the founding chair of the Development Studies Association of Ireland and has written widely on development issues from a Southern and social movement perspective with an output of more than twenty books and over one hundred academic journal articles. Recent work includes Rethinking Latin America: Development, Hegemony and Social Transformation. He was a PI for the Water Is Life research project funded by Irish Aid.

Narathius Asingwire is a senior lecturer and former chair, Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Makerere University, Uganda. His key areas of research include safe rural water, hygiene and sanitation. Alongside research, he has worked in a consultancy capacity in the areas of rural water and sanitation. His most recent publication is Interrogating the Role of Social Work in Policy Reforms in Uganda: A Case of Demand-driven Approach for Rural Safe Water.

G. Honor Fagan is a professor of sociology at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. She has previously lectured in sociology departments in Northern Ireland, South Africa and the UK, and currently has research capacity-building relationships with universities in Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi and South Africa. Her research interests focus on human security, gender and development, and governance. She has published over twenty-six journal articles and book chapters and three books, including the prize-winning Globalisation and Security: An Encyclopaedia.

Consolata Kabonesa is senior lecturer and dean at the School of Women and Gender Studies, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda. Her research focuses on gender and human development, and her major research interests include water, agriculture, health (especially HIV/AIDS), technology (including ICT), and gender budgeting. Her recent publications have focused on gender in relation to e-learning, access and utilization of information communication technology, water, climate change, land rights, and conflict transformation. She has a PhD from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA.