Operation and maintenance of communally managed water infrastructure is still an uphill task despite over a decade of implementing community-based water management system in rural water provision in Uganda. Using mixed methods and Ostrom’s eight design principles as an analytical framework, this article examines the relevance of the design principles in explaining the success and failure of collective self-management institutions in determining sustainable access to safe water in Uganda. The findings show that, to a large extent, the differences in water infrastructure management effectiveness in the two study communities are explained by the existence or absence of the organizational characteristics prescribed by the design principles. The results further highlight additional factors that are critical for successful community-based water management which are not explicitly covered by the design principles. This implies, therefore, that the design principles should not be used as a ‘blueprint’ on resource management regimes especially in developing countries.
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