sub-counties was randomly selected from a list of villages that were not included in the quantitative survey. The final villages were selected based on the availability and support of the community elders.

The team worked to ensure the representation of various groups of individuals within the communities when recruiting research participants. Two key informant interviews were conducted to create the community profiles (1 man and 1 woman) in each village. The team also held in-depth life history interviews with 16 individuals (8 men and 8 women), and eight focus groups were convened (2 with young women, 2 with young men, 2 with older women, and 2 with older men) across the two villages. While the key informant interviews focused on aspects of the community as a whole, the in-depth interviews included questions on decision-making dynamics in the household generally as well as those pertaining to household water management. The focus groups include discussions of decision-making and power dynamics between husbands and wives, but also between sons and mothers as well as daughters-in-law and mothers-in-law.

# **4. Who is and is not involved in decision-making?**

In the quantitative data, only 13 percent of men and 33 percent of women are directly involved in making decisions for all seven activities (Table 1). These low numbers are driven, in part, by the range of activities chosen and by the fact that we have interviewed all household members, not just the primary couple. Young men and women in their late teens and twenties, who had not yet started their own household, were not likely to be involved in any household decisions.

The decisions that women are least likely to participate in are those on household expenditures (specifically regular water expenditures and large household purchases). In the qualitative interviews, when asked about decisions regarding finances, some married women indicated they would pool money they earned with their spouse and decide jointly on the priority of expenditures, such as school fees, food, water, health care and household purchases. But in other households, women were not involved in the decisions at all. It was clearly seen as the husband’s responsibility, as the breadwinner, to take up the financial decisions and his responsibility to pay for what was needed.

The decisions that men are least likely to participate in are those regarding water, including the water source for drinking and water allocation and use. Based on the qualitative interviews, water collection decisions and responsibilities are seen as women’s domain. Interestingly, while it is seen as women's responsibility to secure the water, many men also report it is their responsibility to ensure there is water for the household. It seems that persistent drought and water scarcity in the area has impacted the dynamics surrounding waterfetching. Water scarcity means water is less accessible and often more expensive. The nearest water stations or boreholes may be many kilometers away. Traveling long distances results in delays in getting to the water collection points, long queues can result in water supplies running out before one’s turn, and collecting on foot means that only a limited quantity of water can be acquired.

Sons often help their mothers. One woman explains, " _the firstborn, he goes with a motorbike to fetch the water when I am tired, he will fetch and say, here is the water for you to use_ ." A number of young men say they step in to help their mothers when they are available to help, as they find it shameful to leave their mothers such a heavy chore. However, the other reason they intervene is that their needs would likely go unmet if they delegated water collection only to women and younger children.

Husbands also get involved in the water collection during times of water scarcity, but their increased involvement seems to be linked to their control over household resources. It emerged from our qualitative interviews that in these circumstances, husbands would also either travel on foot alongside their wives or 6