Providing Access to Water:The pump, the spring and the kluBrokerage and local development on the Tibetan Plateau

ABSTRACT: This article examines the relationships between administrators and the administered within the framework of local development brokerage practices directed at setting up running water systems for domestic consumption in Tibetan rural areas of Qinghai Province. Split between several locations, the activities of the brokers entail finding agreements and compromises in various forms with a variety of interlocutors: local government, the recipients of the project – and also the deities.

KEYWORDS: local development brokerage, access to running water, Tibetan Plateau, Qinghai, relations with local government.