Paper short abstract:

Understanding how frontline actors translate policy into practice is central to understanding how public services function and hence might be improved. This paper explores the ways in which Malawi's water policies are (re)produced, contested and normalised through everyday actions and interactions.

Paper long abstract:

Over the last two decades, significant progress has been made expanding water services in the global south. Nonetheless, many rural Africans still lack access to clean water for basic needs (WHO/UNICEF, 2015). Evidence also suggests that, where water points have been constructed, many break down prematurely or provide inadequate or poor quality water (e.g. Bonsor et al., 2014; Haysom, 2006; Rietveld et al., 2009; RWSN, 2009). Whilst proximate causes of service failure may be techno-managerial in nature, several authors point to underlying political-economic factors that make failure more or less likely (e.g. O'Neil et al., 2014; Chowns, 2014). However, few have given adequate attention to the agency and practices of state actors operating 'on the ground', at the interface with service users.

Understanding how actors on the frontline of service delivery translate national policies into practice is central to understanding how public services actually function and hence might be improved or transformed (de Herdt and de Sardan, 2015; Lipsky, 1980). In this paper I explore the "dissonance between formal rules and real practices" (de Sardan, 2015: p19) in Malawi's rural water sector, viewing translation as the heterogeneous ways in which in policies are (re)produced, contested and normalised through everyday discourses, actions and interactions (Clarke et al., 2015). Insights are drawn from my ethnographic fieldwork in one district, using material from my field diaries, interviews and participant diaries. I employ concepts from both the critical governance literature and emerging practice theories to make sense of diverse local experiences.