EXPLORING URBAN GOVERNANCE IN URBAN WATER SERVICE PROVISION IN ETHIOPIA

: The goal of this study is to investigate the governance modalities and capacity in Ambo city water service Enterprise, as well as how the Enterprise successfully delivers the water service. Weak urban center capacity in terms of finance and personnel; as well as challenges with governance where there is a lack of accountability for services and a lack of responsiveness and transparency. These constraints continue to make the supply of water services a hollow and unmet promise, and prevent equitable access to the benefits of urban service provision. To address research objective, a qualitative methods research approach is used. The research finds that, while private sectors are the most prominent non-state actors, the public roles are still undervalued. Platforms designed in various institutional settings and reform programmes that allowed the peoples to participate are still trailing behind in the city. Water Enterprise in the city is less responsive to the demand of the public. The fundamental causes of this challenges are limitations in political interferences in prioritization, as well as manpower capacity. The lack of media coverage and proper voice tools has severely hampered public responsiveness. On the other side, there is no clear mechanism in place to hold Water Enterprise directly accountable to the water users (customers) in the city. Similarly, the key obstacles, the unbalanced allocation of budget for additional specialized themes in the Water Enterprise, made urban governance and urban water service provision problematic. These have in turn the impact of impeding the level of accountability, responsiveness, and transparency. Nevertheless, for improved performances of the Water Enterprise in the city, increasing the capacity of Water Enterprise should not be the exclusive solution. Instead, laws and policies must be implemented that empower demand siders (the general public), so that they will be able to safeguard their voice and hold service providers accountable for ensuring that the urban water service is demand-driven. This article, therefore, contends that adequate urban center capacities, consolidated accountability and transparency mechanisms, and strong collaborations between state and non-state actors could help in overcoming issues with urban governance in Ethiopia's urban centers in general, and Ambo urban center in particular.