Author Identifier (ORCID)
Cecilia Chitukula: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-3218-8054
Kylie Wrigley: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4589-0866
Julie Nyanjom: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5878-4130
Naomi Joy Godden: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9881-3365
Abstract
Scholars and activists focused on water justice in the Global South are increasingly embracing collaborative methods. These methods include community-centred research, public engagement in water management, and participatory interventions aimed at addressing the crisis of fresh and clean water access in both urban and rural localities. This represents a shift from state-led water management that is top-down, technocentric, and privatised, towards just and equitable water solutions which are informed by the needs of community members. In patriarchal societies of the Global South, girls are disproportionately affected by the water crisis, as they are tasked with water searching and fetching responsibilities and household chores. However, they are often left out of water justice initiatives by paternalistic adults who claim to act and speak for them. Girls lived experiences, needs and contributions amidst perpetual water injustices are explained, theorised and misrepresented through adult worldviews. This article argues for girls’ urgent inclusion in water justice research and social movements in ways that are agentic, collaborative and community centred, towards ameliorating the adverse effects of the water crisis on girls. This article proposes that water justice researchers and movements turn to local girl-centred Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodologies to address existing knowledge, participatory and action gaps.
Keywords
Girls, Global South, participatory action research, paternalism, social movements, water justice
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
6-1-2026
Volume
59
Publication Title
Environmental Development
Publisher
Elsevier
School
Centre for People, Place and Planet / School of Arts and Humanities / School of Business and Law
RAS ID
94346
Funders
This research was supported by the Commonwealth through an Australian government Research Training Program Scholarship.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Chitukula, C., Wrigley, K., Nyanjom, J., & Godden, N. (2026). Centring girls in water justice research and social movements. Environmental Development, 59, 101471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2026.101471