A water supply service can be seen as a public or private good, but this thesis
makes the argument that water is vital for society and so to ensure accountability it is
important that water governance includes citizens' participation for social and
environmental justice concerns. Public goods are generally defined as goods and
services that are provided by 'means of public policy' (Lane, 1993, p. 21), or
'collective political choice' (Stretton & Orchard, 1994, p. 54) rather than by means of
an individual market mechanism in which private goods are usually provided.
This thesis addresses the function of water as a public good. If social and
environmental goals of water use are ignored, the implications can be detrimental
particularly for the poorest members of society. An organization's goal effectiveness
is usually related to its success in achieving desired outcomes of the organization's
goals through a systemic management interaction across organizational aspects at the
input, process, output, and outcome/impact stages. This thesis argues an evaluation
model of performance measurement can be developed to reflect the characteristics of
a public good for a water supply utility, and this model of performance measurement
can assist in addressing issues of social and environmental justice.
Harris et al argue that better governance can only be achieved by working for
democracy in multiple arenas (Harriss, Stokke, & Tornquist, 2004, pp. 7-8). This
study considers multidimensional performance measures taking on board the values of
many stakeholders with different backgrounds. It 'unfolds' and 'sweeps in' in many
dimensions in an attempt at systemic representation (Ulrich, 1983, p. 169). McIntyre-
Mills states that 'service need to reflect the values of the users and for this to occur the users need to participate in and decide on policy design and governance'
(McIntyre-Mills, 2003, p. 14). Performance measurement systems can be used to
detect a gap between services supplied by providers and various needs demanded by
stakeholders.
The thesis develops an outcome performance measurement model for
evaluating social equity and environmental justice concerns. It draws on and adapts
four performance measurement models of the International Water Association, World
Bank, Indonesian Home Affairs Department and Indonesian Water Supply Enterprise
Association.
A complementary combined method was developed that addresses qualitative
and quantitative governance concerns as they perform to water supply performance
problems. Three research methods were used, namely the case study, survey and
focus group discussion for collecting qualitative and quantitative data from the three
governance sectors. These were triangulated. Five research tools in the case study
method were used for collecting information from stakeholders in the three
governance sectors including interview, personal communication or email, document
analysis, direct observation and documentation. The survey was used to investigate
431 respondents from three case study locations in Cinusa1 city, and the two focus
groups were conducted in the city's water supply company management for
discussing problems of water supply performance as summarized from the survey.
The locus of this study was concentrated in the Cinusa city jurisdiction area,
and the focus was the performance problem of the water supply company in Cinusa
during 2001-2004. However, a comparative study of water supply performance
nationally and internationally is presented for analyzing relative performance gaps.This research evaluates interconnections among cost inefficiency, tariff
escalation and other non-financial performances: water supply quantity, quality,
continuity and pressure. Inefficient costs because of corrupt, collusive and nepotistic
practices in this Indonesian water supply company implicate cost burdens in the
company and prevent this water local public enterprise perform its social and
environmental missions. The Cinusa local government as the owner of this local
public enterprise and the Cinusa local parliament hold a monopoly power in some
important decisions related to this local public enterprise, including tariff policy,
senior management positions and the total amount of profit share paid to the local
government. Such customers from lower income household instead of being
subsidized as specified in the national regulation are paying at a profitable tariff and
subsidizing this enterprise's inefficiency and the government's locally generated
revenue.
The inefficiency alongside the profit sharing policy also weakens this
enterprise's capacity to invest and improve its service performances. Improving the
service performance is essential for current and potential customers and could also
benefit the society economically, socially and environmentally, besides being of
economic benefit to the enterprise itself. Securing public health concerns and
groundwater preservations can be conducted by improving the accessibility, the
availability and the reliability of water quality, quantity, pressure and continuity.
This research presents an evaluation model for improving the accountability of
water supply by means of performance management tool and it makes policy
recommendations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216451 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Wijaya, Andy Fefta, wija0002@flinders.edu.au |
| Publisher | Flinders University. Flinders Institute of Public Policy and Management |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.flinders.edu.au/disclaimer/), Copyright Andy Fefta Wijaya |
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