Ngutu, Mariah

This review examines the decolonisation process within North-South (N-S) research collaborations, specifically focusing on decolonised practices. It also briefly discusses the influence of institutional settings and power dynamics in ensuring decolonised practices. Our findings reveal that these elements significantly mould decolonisation practices, underscoring the need for a comprehensive understanding of the broader context in which these collaborations occur. Notably, we found a limited number of studies led by Northern researchers, and indeed fewer led by Southern researchers, who actively practice decolonisation in their N-S research collaborations. This raises crucial questions regarding the extent to which the voices, perspectives, and expertise of the South are included and valued in these collaborations. The review also highlights the need for increased efforts to promote South-led research and to challenge and transform the power dynamics that often marginalise Southern researchers and institutions.
We argue that a deep understanding of these dynamics is important for developing more equitable and inclusive decolonised research practices and for addressing the power imbalances that often characterise N-S research collaborations. The study concludes with a call for equal N-S research collaboration as a key strategy for overcoming the economic, social, and cultural boundaries often dividing Northern and Southern researchers. We argue that such partnerships are essential for fostering more inclusive and equitable research practices and advancing decolonisation. Incorporating insights from earlier work, we also highlight the importance of early and open communication, which aids decolonisation in N-S research collaborations. We note that protecting specific individuals within teams can lead to the omission of critical issues, potentially endangering the sustainability of relationships beyond the project's duration. We suggest creating dedicated time and space for discussions about strengths and weaknesses, thus enhancing N-S research collaborations and the decolonisation process.

Water is one of the most studied common pool resources (CPR) with concerns for access to safe drinking water especially in rural, arid and Semi-arid regions (ASALS) regions that remain vulnerable to climate change and variability. The allocation and access to water across Kenya has been managed locally with state and non-state actors engaging communities towards attainment of SDG 6 and ensure regular and adequate supply of safe drinking water. Water as a common pool resource (CPR) is defined largely by the actions on the part of the individuals who use it to maintain its productivity. Communities and individuals can take water management and governance actions variously. The actions can fall into the category of contribution of real resources like money, time, or physical capital, or in the restriction of the use of the common-pool resource associated activities for sustainability. An exploratory study that anchored on an ethnographic approach utilised participant observation complemented by in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) to interrogate the emic perspectives informed by attitudes, perceptions and practices regarding informal norms and formal rules that enable diverse forms of cooperation for water management in a Rural community in Kenya. Water initiatives often overlook community participation in the design and management of water projects. The paper argues that emic perspective that include community attitudes, perceptions and practices influence water co-management as a common pool resource to enable sustainable access to safe drinking water by rural communities in resource limited settings. For sustainable water governance, community empowerment through participatory establishment an institutional arrangement, with formal and informal rules, norms and practices is necessary for collective management of water.