This blog post discusses key findings and lessons learned from an evaluation of the long-term sustainability of selected components from the USAID-funded Environmental Services Program (ESP) in Indonesia. The program was implemented from 2004–2010 and included capacity-building efforts to improve financing and management of Indonesian municipal water utilities.
Like many of us, Fatou Badji balances a hectic schedule. She is the chairlady of a women's group that sells onions and other essentials. She is also on the frontlines of addressing the global sanitation crisis.
Today, six in 10 people lack proper sanitation, costing economies $260 billion annually. Poor sanitation leads to the deaths of more than a quarter-million children annually, and affects the safety of women and girls.
When the 2010 earthquake hit Haiti, the country had just undertaken a massive reform of its water sector. The recovery from the initial disaster and subsequent cholera outbreak shifted the focus from structural reform to disaster response. An outpouring of international assistance helped Haiti dig itself out of these disasters and rebuild its infrastructure.
USAID helps build the resilience of vulnerable communities by increasing their ability to navigate droughts and floods and better preparing them to handle other water-related natural disasters. USAID investments in building resilience help share and shift the responsibility for managing risk, with the overriding aim of reducing costs of recurrent crises.
To address the complex challenges of sustainable rural water service delivery, Whave has been testing a model for the provision of preventive maintenance services. Whave’s approach focuses on results-based payment for avoiding breakdowns, rather than payment for repairs. By incentivizing performance, their goal is to establish a system that reduces water source downtime and therefore improves the reliability of water supply systems. Whave is currently operating in more than 400 communities across Uganda.
This blog originally appeared on Climatelinks.
Climate change worsens familiar challenges to water and sanitation services, including limited access and poor infrastructure. Innovative approaches, such as games to inform sanitation enterprise development, have the potential to catalyze local solutions for sanitation.
The African Water Association (AfWA) is a professional association of establishments, enterprises and utilities operating in the areas of drinking water, sanitation and environment in Africa. AfWA has more than 100 utilities members from over 40 countries across Africa.
The routine use of data in decision-making can dramatically improve the effectiveness of water service investments and accelerate progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals for water and sanitation.
Assainissement – Changement de Comportement et Eau pour le Senegal (ACCES) is a 5-year, $22 million program awarded to Natural Resources Consulting Engineers (NRCE) in 2016 to achieve improvements in nutrition through investments in water, sanitation, and hygiene in six of the most malnourished regions of Senegal. Activities will test and implement proven state-of-the-art approaches and increase sustainability. Other activities will support achievement of the Mission’s Country Development and Coordination Strategy (CDCS) Results Framework.
