Building commons to cope with chaotic urbanization? Performance and sustainability of decentralized water services in the outskirts of Kinshasa

With an estimated 10.6 million inhabitants in 2015 and an average 6.6% annual growth rate, Kinshasa ranks among the three largest cities in Africa and may well become the most populated. To cope with critically deficient water services, a local NGO supported by different donors has promoted decentralized water systems (DWS) that have spread in the city outskirts, based on a model with original features compared to other African experiences. Here, we intend to provide an empirically grounded and analytically sound inquiry into the relevance, efficiency and sustainability of these DWSs in the context of the megacity of Kinshasa. First, we analyze water provision data from the national water utility and compare these to the detailed operational results of the DWSs to estimate the magnitude and efficiency of this alternative mechanism. Second, the principles identified by Elinor Ostrom as being crucial for institutions to successfully manage commons provide us with a fruitful analytic framework to assess DWS performance and sustainability. We show that some of these criteria are broadly met, but the fulfillment of other criteria is still uncertain. We conclude with a balanced assessment of the efficiency and sustainability of this approach and identify the key challenges.