David Bullard gave us his opinions on the SA economy and our membership of BRICS. It was interesting and controversial though no-one took him on....much to my surprise! Maybe everyone agreed with him!It was nice to have him back because, agree with him or not, he does make you think.
Business Meeting
This week's meeting is a Business Meeting and there is quite a lot to talk about.
Social Braai 7th April.
Don't forget to let Mike Vink know.
Blogger Problems
The "Lists" on Blogger does not seem to be working so there is no list of future meetings or duties for this week. Here are the duties:
Grace: Joan Donet
Brag: Carin Holmes
Four Way Test: Mike Vink
Lessons learned from the International H2O Collaboration
Print
E-mail page
María Magdalena Gonzalez pours filtered water into a pan for cooking in her home near Bonao, the Dominican Republic. Rotarians installed filters as one of many projects under the International H2O Collaboration. Photo by Alyce Henson/Rotary International
Rotary International on Facebook
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.
″The Aquaconsult team made a valiant effort in attempting to quantify the uniquely qualitative aspects of sustainability,” says Sean Cantella, of Relief International, an organization that worked with USAID to implement the index in Ghana. “They should be applauded for their novel effort to look beyond simply counting the number of facilities in order to estimate the likelihood that facilities will be available for the long term.”
Report findings
Aguaconsult’s report had high praise for Rotarians’ expertise, noting that equipment like wells, pumps and water systems have been well designed and meet all technical standards. But it found weaknesses in most other areas. Among the findings and conclusions:
- Collecting tariffs or user fees is important for long-term success. In many of the projects reviewed, user fees were either not collected or were set too low to provide enough money to replace worn-out equipment and parts. Considering the life cycle of equipment, and having frank discussions about what costs will be faced and by whom, can help projects avoid failure.
- Implementing projects in an institutional or policy vacuum increases the risk they will simply “fall through the cracks” once the project partners leave. In some communities, no agency was assigned to oversee results. Rotarians should involve relevant authorities from the outset and ensure that newly built systems are registered and integrated with other public works so they receive support and monitoring.
- The ability and willingness of local agencies to provide long-term follow-up are critical to sustainability. Ghana and the Dominican Republic have a national program for promoting hygiene, and their health ministries have strong urban branches. But such support is often absent in rural areas. In the Philippines, rural community-managed systems were found to suffer from a “lack of political will.” Training local government staff to manage and administer projects, and improving supply chains and services, can help.
- Advocacy aimed at correcting policy or capacity gaps is an important and valid investment in long-term success.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.