Exploring the opportunities and constraints to the development of locally applicable water management technology in three sub-Saharan African cities

Abstract This exploratory qualitative study utilised the IPCC categories of adaptation opportunities and constraints as a framework to understand the barriers and enablers to the development and uptake of contextually relevant climate-resilient water management technology in three sub-Saharan African cities. In-depth interviews were undertaken with key informants from the research, government, and civil society sectors to gain insight into perceived opportunities and constraints to the development, uptake and market dissemination of such technology in Blantyre, Harare and Gaborone. The majority of the identified opportunities and constraints aligned well with the global IPCC categories, while certain IPCC categories were found not to be relevant to the three city contexts of the study. Two new categories of adaptation opportunities and constraints were discovered (i.e. they did not fit within an IPCC category); they were an opportunity: ‘climate change windows of opportunity’, and a constraint: ‘ethics and intellectual property’. Our results indicated that the nuances of the Global South context are often not well-considered in the design of climate-resilient water management technology, and that a number of constraints detract from the development, uptake and dissemination thereof. There are however, opportunities inherent to sub-Saharan African cities which could be used to stimulate the development, uptake and dissemination of locally designed or modified water technology. We discuss some implications of our finding and new frontiers for research on this topic by way of conclusion.