public health – P2P Foundation https://blog.p2pfoundation.net Researching, documenting and promoting peer to peer practices Tue, 26 Jun 2018 09:03:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.5.15 62076519 Accra and Tema, Ghana: Struggle Against Prepaid Water Meters https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/accra-and-tema-ghana-struggle-against-prepaid-water-meters/2018/06/26 https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/accra-and-tema-ghana-struggle-against-prepaid-water-meters/2018/06/26#respond Tue, 26 Jun 2018 08:00:00 +0000 https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/?p=71499 A civil society campaign managed to successfully stop the installation of prepaid meters by the Ghana Water Company LTD (GWCL) which would have affected the human right to water. The campaign against prepaid water meters was initiated by the Water Citizens Network of Ghana after it identified the issue as a serious threat to the... Continue reading →

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]]> A civil society campaign managed to successfully stop the installation of prepaid meters by the Ghana Water Company LTD (GWCL) which would have affected the human right to water.

The campaign against prepaid water meters was initiated by the Water Citizens Network of Ghana after it identified the issue as a serious threat to the human right to water and to public health in Ghana. Media campaigns, lobbying of the legislative branch of Government, picketing and demonstrations helped defeat three government attempts to install the meters.

Though there was no fierce opposition to the meters in the beginning, within five months of their installation, growing complaints from customers led to resistance. The government agency that had enthusiastically sold the idea to Ghanaians then felt prompted to go to court in 2004 to stop the initiative, though not on the question of human rights but on contractual breaches. Following this action, GWCL quickly moved to replace all prepaid water meters in the project area with conventional meters.

In February 2014, discussions about prepaid water meters resurfaced again in the media when the Public Utility Regulatory Commission endorsed a proposal by GWCL to begin another pilot installation of prepaid water meters in selected communities. Yet again, despite the several challenges, civil society managed to put the brakes on the process. What turned the tide was the intense media campaign waged by civil society – by groups like ISODEC and the Water Citizens Network of Ghana.

When the public thought that the policy had been put to rest it was a surprise when in July of 2015 there was a renewed push for the implementation again with much more vigor than in the previous two instances. The Acting Managing Director of the GWCL announced in July that all was set for another rollout of the prepaid meters in August, 2015, but this was again successfully resisted with the help of the media and the sector’s oversight parliamentary committee.

“The water citizens network of Ghana has used effective and successful  campaign strategies despite limited resources to challenge pre-paid meters and impressively succeeded in stopping the government three times.”

– Satoko Kishimoto

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]]> https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/accra-and-tema-ghana-struggle-against-prepaid-water-meters/2018/06/26/feed 0 71499 Essay of the day: Transition towards a Food Commons Regime: Re-commoning Food to Crowd-feed the World https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/transition-towards-a-food-commons-regime-re-commoning-food-to-crowd-feed-the-world/2018/03/27 https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/transition-towards-a-food-commons-regime-re-commoning-food-to-crowd-feed-the-world/2018/03/27#respond Tue, 27 Mar 2018 08:00:00 +0000 https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/?p=70197 Food as a purely private good prevents millions to get access to such a basic resource, since the purchasing power determines its access. With the dominant no money-no food rationality, hunger still prevails in a world of abundance. In this paper, the commons approach is applied to food, deconstructing food as a pure private good... Continue reading →

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]]> Food as a purely private good prevents millions to get access to such a basic resource, since the purchasing power determines its access. With the dominant no money-no food rationality, hunger still prevails in a world of abundance. In this paper, the commons approach is applied to food, deconstructing food as a pure private good and reconstructing it as a commons that can be better produced and distributed by a tricentric governance system compounded by market rules, public regulations and collective actions. This narrative can sustain the urgently needed transition from the dominating agro-industrial food system towards a food system that is fairer to food producers, consumers and nature. Along those lines, food and nutrition security shall be understood as a Global Public Good and the price of food shall rightly reflect its value to society and its multiple dimensions, not just the value in exchange. Should food be consider as a commons, the implications for the governance of the global food system would be enormous, with examples ranging from placing food outside the framework agreements dealing with pure private goods, banning financial speculation on food or preparing international binding agreements to govern the production, distribution and access of food to every human being.

Transition towards a Food Commons Regime: Re-commoning Food to Crowd-feed the World (PDF Download Available).

Photo by albertstraub

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]]> https://blog.p2pfoundation.net/transition-towards-a-food-commons-regime-re-commoning-food-to-crowd-feed-the-world/2018/03/27/feed 0 70197