**Abstract**

Access to affordable and clean water has remained a challenge globally. Most states in Africa states have championed the provision of water to its citizens through state driven approaches. Despite the evidence that community water supply has contributed positively more than any other single approach to provision of water supply in Africa, it is still regarded as an informal approach. Most states in Africa still prefer other conventional approaches like Concession and Affermage in Francophone Africa and Commercialization through Management contracts in Anglophone Africa at the expense of the community water management. Either the state has not used the right approach or has neglected the community. Using evidence from Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Ghana and Nigeria, the paper has argued that the failure by the governments to acknowledge the disconnect between the community needs and state priorities has been responsible for the poor state of water provision in Africa.

**Keywords:** community management, service delivery, public private partnerships, community water, state
