‘You Can’t Cheat the Community Anymore’ : using Mobiles to Improve Water Governance

Recent years have seen a growth in mobile applications and services in the water sector addressing some of the sector’s governance challenges. The sustainability rate is however low and there is a lack of research on the “real” benefits. Through an in-depth analysis of four cases (interviews and field visits), this article seeks to understand the common benefits and challenges for increased and sustainable use of mobile applications in the provision of water services. The results reveal that the benefits are improved service delivery, new and better data, strengthened consumer voice, and reduced costs. Common challenges include lack of incentives to use the system, user costs, user privacy, absence of basic infrastructure, lack of responsiveness, and limited marketing. It concludes that increased transparency is never an end in itself and that accountability requires willingness, capacity, and the mandate to act on part of the responsible institution.