Whave, a partner of Sustainable WASH Systems, is cultivating a sustainable model for rural water service delivery as a regional service provider in Uganda. By incentivizing local technicians to prevent breakdowns by paying them based on the number of days a water source is functional instead of paying them to make repairs, Whave maintains hand pumps that consistently function with fewer than 8 down days per year.
This video explains how Whave implements this model by partnering with local government and working with water committees to collect operation and maintenance (O&M) tariffs appropriate for each community. By aligning incentives and recovering costs locally, the system can scale and increase the sustainability of rural water service provision.