Indonesia Environmental Service Program (ESP) Ex-Post Evaluation

Summary

This report details findings from the second ex-post performance evaluation in the Water Communications and Knowledge Management (CKM) ex-post evaluation series. The purpose of the series is to further USAID’s understanding of why the outcomes of its completed water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) activities have or have not been sustained. This evaluation examines the sustainability of selected components of the USAID/Indonesia Environmental Services Program (ESP), which was implemented from 2004–2010. Among other objectives, this activity sought to improve health and livelihoods of Indonesians through enhanced and expanded access to key environmental services.

Following up on the program seven years after it ended, this evaluation addresses the sustainability of ESP’s capacity-building efforts with Indonesian municipal water utilities, known as Perusahaan Daerah Air Minum (PDAM), and financial mechanisms to improve utility management and expanded water access in urban areas. Findings from this evaluation will assist USAID and urban water activity implementers (notably the similar follow-on project Indonesia Urban Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Penyehatan Lingkungan Untuk Semua (IUWASH PLUS) in identifying areas for improvement in project selection, design, and implementation to ensure long-term sustainability and improved accountability to stakeholders.

This evaluation sought to answer the following questions:

To what extent are the levels of water service provided by ESP water-related project components at the time of project closure still observed seven years later?
1. What proportion of the catchment population has access to water (household) through targeted PDAMs in 2015 compared to 2010, and how has it changed?1
2. To what extent have targeted PDAMs maintained or improved their management capacity using methods and materials provided by ESP?
3. To what extent has microcredit been leveraged to continue expanding access to household connections?
Which factors or approaches (enacted by USAID, implementers, communities, or external entities) contributed to or impaired long-term sustainability of the project components named above?