This study analyzed combinations of conditions that influence regular payments for water service in resource-limited communities. To do so, the study investigated 16 communities participating in a new preventive maintenance program in the Kamuli District of Uganda under a public–private partnership framework. The authors include members of the USAID Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership (SWS).
In Kitui County, Kenya, an information gap exists on water coverage and quality of water service delivery for a large segment of the county population. To fill this gap, the Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership (SWS) supported the University of Oxford to undertake a water audit in seven sub-counties from November to December 2017. The water audit located major rural water infrastructure and collected information on installation and operational performance to inform county planning, investment, institutional development, and dialogue on sustainability.
As part of the Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership (SWS), Whave Solutions Ltd. undertook a network analysis of the actors involved in rural water service delivery in Kamuli District, Uganda in April 2018. This study set out to understand the structure of the network of actors involved in water service delivery; to identify the factors that influence services and how they relate to specific actors; and to contribute to the understanding of how to study, analyze, and strategically act to influence water service delivery systems.
This research brief presents findings from a comparative analysis by University of Colorado Boulder of the conditions that influence whether rural water users pay for preventive maintenance of water services. Whave, a partner of the USAID-funded Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership (SWS), uses a preventive maintenance model to support sustainable water services in Uganda’s Kamuli District.
This fact sheet highlights SWS’s work in Kitui County, Kenya, where Oxford and UNICEF are developing, scaling-up, and testing the FundiFix model as one response to Kitui County’s rural water challenge. The goal is to provide a model for universal, rural water service delivery. FundiFix provides a performance-based approach to maintaining water infrastructure, using ‘smart handpumps’ that collect real-time information on abstraction volumes and breakdown incidents.
This fact sheet highlights SWS’s work in Uganda, where Whave is working to cultivate a sustainable model for rural water service delivery by testing a preventive maintenance approach in three pilot districts. Operating as a Ugandan regional service provider, Whave is signing multi-year preventive maintenance service agreements with communities that require community leaders to charge operation and maintenance tariffs, manage the collected funds in supervised bank accounts, and pay an annual service fee.
Increasing water supply coverage requires an accurate assement of existing assets, which in turn enables for realistic budgeting for maintenance of those assets. Data on the status of the assets can also be used as advocacy towards local and regional government for allocating a higher share of the budget to the water sector.
Recent USAID post-project evaluations, and other studies, have shown that investments in rural water infrastructure have not resulted in sustained improvements to water services over time. The USAID Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership (SWS) has been examining how a preventive maintenance approach can make these investments more sustainable.
“Water and food security” is designated as one of five strategic priorities by Kenya’s Kitui County Government. Providing sustainable drinking water services in the area remains challenging despite progress on increasing access to water infrastructure.
