Lessons learned from the International H2O Collaboration

By Arnold R. Grahl
Rotary News – 20 March 2013

Dozens of broken hand pumps dot villages in Ghana ─ evidence of well-intentioned efforts gone awry because sustainability wasn’t built into the projects that installed them. Perhaps fees weren’t collected to fund repairs, or local officials weren’t recruited to manage and oversee continued operations.

School latrines also fail at a high rate, as projects often overlook the fact that they must be emptied periodically.

These are just two of the findings from a recent review of the International H2O Collaboration, a partnership between Rotary International and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that is beginning its fifth year.

As part of the partnership’s commitment to sustainability, it hired an independent contractor, Aguaconsult, to review the more than 15,000 measures ─ from water systems and hygiene training to wastewater treatment plants ─ funded by the partnership in Ghana, the Dominican Republic, and the Philippines.

Sustainability index

The review included the creation of the WASH Sustainability Index, a tool designed to assess the long-term success and sustainability of these projects. The tool eventually will be available for Rotarians to use in planning more effective water and sanitation projects.

Water and sanitation projects often are measured by the systems built and the number of people they are expected to serve. But experts are finding that these numbers don’t tell the whole story. Other conditions must be in place for projects to outlast their initial funding. These so-called soft elements include reliable management, long-term support, sound financial planning, training, and supportive government policies.

The WASH Sustainability Index essentially is a series of questions that determine whether these soft elements exist. To grade each action, Aguaconsult applied these questions to three levels of project involvement ─ individuals and organizations responsible for managing a service or system; local governments, nongovernmental organizations, and public agencies that provide support or oversight; and government and regulatory agencies that set policies, adopt technical standards, and conduct periodic review. Read More ...