Pay-as-you-go water dispensers are used in many areas in the Global South, particularly those that are 'off-grid'. This book examines the increasing influence of private sector companies and philanthrocapitalist organisations in development cooperation by focusing on the example of water supply to the inhabitants of rural and peri-urban areas of Kenya.
The book explores how private sector approaches open up remote regions to permanent arrangements of transnational market-based water supply beyond state sovereignty, which define their users as paying customers. Considering these technological solutions alongside socio-political realities and local knowledge, it offers a nuanced perspective on the promises and limitations of market-based interventions in the water sector.