In developing countries, the dominant model for managing rural water supplies is a community-level association or committee. Although a relative paucity of evidence exists to support this model, it continues to exert a strong pull on policy makers. This project examines everyday water governance arrangements, situating these in the exigencies of wider village life and over the course of changing seasons. The data highlights the social embeddedness of water governance, and challenges the dominant 'associational model' of community based management. In none of the 12 sites do we observe a fully formed committee functioning as it should according to policy. Instead, water management arrangements are typically comprised by one or a small number of key individuals from the community, who may or may not be part of a waterpoint committee.

In developing countries, the dominant model for managing rural water supplies is a community-level association or committee. Although a relative paucity of evidence exists to support this model, it continues to exert a strong pull on policy makers. The Hidden Crisis Survey 2 dataset is the major dataset developed by the project. A social science and physical science survey were conducted in tandem, examining the physical waterpoint and the arrangement the community had devised for managing it. The detailed physical and social science datasets developed by the survey were intended to be used to: better understand the multi-faceted factors which underlie water source failure, their everyday governance arrangements, and to explore the inter-relations between the water point governance arrangements, engineering choice and performance, and groundwater resource conditions. The social science survey moved beyond the more standard preoccupation with examining waterpoint committees (a focus on form) to instead examine context-specific water management arrangements (based on the functions needed for sustainable and equitable management). The survey produced a detailed social science dataset of the arrangements communities have devised for managing their waterpoint across 150 sites in Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda, surveyed in 2017 and the early part of 2018 (fieldwork was staggered across the three project countries to time with their dry seasons). The findings challenge many of the normative assumptions in the literature about community based management of water and help to move the debate on to more productive areas of enquiry.

These data consist of information on economic, social, demographic, cultural, and treatment seeking behaviour collected from former and current human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) patients in Eastern Zambia between 2004 and 2014. There are two data sets. The first dataset consists information on the economic and social impact of HAT. Information on demographics, culture, and treatment seeking behaviour was also collected. Data for this dataset were collected through structured questionnaires administered to patients themselves or their close relatives (care giver). The questionnaires were developed and delivered by experienced researchers from the University of Zambia. The data have been anonymised by removing the names of villages where the patients lived. In total, 64 cases were included in the study. Verbal consent was obtained prior to commencing all questionnaires. The second dataset consists of anonymised transcripts of focus group discussions conducted with health workers, people who have suffered from HAT and their relatives or friends. Seven to ten people were included per discussion group, providing information on concepts, perceptions and ideas relating to the social consequences of HAT. A total of eight focus group discussions were conducted during the study. Focus group discussion data were analysed using inductive approaches and thematic coding carried out by two independent researchers. All transcripts were anonymised and personal identifiers were removed to protect patients' individual data. Verbal consent was obtained prior to commencing all interviews. Focus group interviews were carried out by experienced researchers from the University of Zambia. The data were collected to determine the economic and social consequences of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) in Eastern Zambia. This research was part of a wider research project, the Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium (DDDAC), and these data contributed to the research carried out by the consortium. The research was funded by NERC project no NE/J000701/1 with support from the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation Programme (ESPA). Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/6f70d562-8fcf-4ecd-adaf-cbc5800cc326

This dataset contains the results of 211 household surveys conducted in Mambwe District, Zambia, as part of a wider study looking at human and animal trypanosomiasis and changing settlement patterns in the area. The interviews were conducted from June 2013 to August 2013. The objective of the survey was to set the health of people and their animals in the context of overall household wellbeing, assets and access to resources. The topics covered included household demographics, human and animal health, access to and use of medical and veterinary services, livestock and dog demographics, livestock production, human and animal contacts with wildlife, crop and especially cotton production, migration, access to water and fuel use, household assets and poverty, resilience and values. The dataset has been anonymised by removing names of respondents, Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) location of their homes and names of interviewers. Household numbers were retained. Written consent was obtained prior to commencing all interviews. This research was part of a wider research project, the Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium (DDDAC), and these data contributed to the research carried out by the consortium. The research was funded by NERC with support from the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation Programme (ESPA). Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/b1647138-49f5-4777-a39d-e7359bf7b98d