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.

USAID recognizes that in order to accomplish the goals set out in our Water and Development Plan under the U.S. Government Global Water Strategy, we need to ramp up our efforts to address evidence gaps that have impeded progress in the sector to date. As part of that process, the Agency intends to develop a Water and Development Research Agenda that identifies critical evidence gaps, guides research to fill those gaps, and ultimately helps to inform programming approaches. 

The goal of rural water and sanitation investments is sustainable, long-term solutions to service challenges—yet donors and practitioners rarely measure the durability of project outcomes. Evaluations conducted midstream or shortly after project completion fail to adequately capture what water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) approaches are sustainable.