Ensuring Sustainability Africa

Although some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (e.g. Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Togo) have made remarkable progress in providing large proportions of their population with access to improved drinking water sources, still about 480 million people live with inadequate access to safe drinking water. At the same time Sub-Saharan Africa still struggles with low improved sanitation coverage (30 per cent), but has the highest proportion of people (a total of 600 million) using some sort of unimproved sanitation of any region. This proportion is growing, suggesting that the demand for sanitation is on the rise (WHO-UNICEF 2012).

However, at least as important as the imperative to do more is the urgent need to do better. Whether we progress slowly or quickly to the achievement of water and sanitation services for all, it is crucial that the systems put in place – both “hardware” and “software” (see also implementation tools Africa) – and the changes in practice brought about in people’s lives, last (WATERAID 2011).

In the context of water and sanitation WaterAid (WATERAID 2011) defines sustainability as “whether or not WASH (Water Sanitation and Hygiene) services and good hygiene practices continue to work and deliver benefits over time. No time limit is set on those continued services, behaviour changes and outcomes. In other words, sustainability is about lasting benefits achieved through the continued enjoyment of water supply and sanitation services and hygiene practices”.

There are many inter-related reasons why the achievement of sustainability poses a challenge to the WASH sector. Three particularly important reasons stand out (WATERAID 2011): 

• The first is the limited capacity (in the sense of knowledge, skills and material resources) of communities, local government institutions and other service providers to manage systems.
• The second is the inadequacy of financial revenues to cover the full operation, maintenance and capital maintenance costs of infrastructure.
• The third relates to the historical approach to service delivery of different actors in the WASH sector. This has been carried out in a fragmented way, with competing agendas and a general disregard or lack of understanding of government frameworks (see also invalid link) .

A World Bank portfolio review (WORLDBANK 2003), comprising 304 water supply and sanitation projects (representing the totality of projects approved in the 1990–2001 period), suggests, that about 50% of projects assessed in the developing world are unlikely to be sustainable. This not only, but also, because utilities that are unable to cover their operation and maintenance costs from revenue are usually rated as unlikely to be sustainable as financial resilience is included as an important component in the sustainability ratings. The portfolio review includes both urban and rural water supply and sanitation projects, but the focus of the evaluation is predominantly urban. In a survey of 11 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage of functioning water systems in rural areas ranged from 35-80% (SUTTON 2004). In a survey of 7000 wells and boreholes in Tanzania (see also drilled wells, dug wells and well development and rehabilitation), an average of 45% were in operation and only 10% of the systems that were 25 years or older were still functioning (HAYSOM 2006). In rural Ghana, nearly 40% of latrines constructed through the assistance of a sanitation program were unfinished or not utilised (RODGERS et al. 2007).

(Adapted from WATERAID 2011)

Sustainability pertains to multiple aspects of water supply and sanitation, with institutional, social, technical, environmental and financial dimensions. Key factors for sustainable water and sanitation services are:

• Need or demand
• Design and implementation
• Management
• External Support

Need or Demand

Without real need and demand for improved services or changed practices there is little or no prospect of such services or practices being sustained. A WaterAid case study of two villages in Ethiopia (WATERAID 2003) found that a significant reason why the intervention to improve water supply in Atsede Mariam had been more sustainable than a very similar project in Bohona was that “... water was the main problem in Atsede Mariam. Women had to leave early in the morning and spend some five or six hours fetching water every day ...” while in Bohona, “... water was not a critical problem for the community – perhaps it was not their first priority”. See also demand creation Africa for more information.

Design and Implementation

In cases where the best principles of community participation are taken seriously and implemented effectively, a solid foundation for subsequent sustainability is provided (CARTER & RWAMWANJA 2006). In the case of physical infrastructure, the quality of construction – the installation of technology – is a necessary but not sufficient condition for sustainability. Poor construction quality can undermine all efforts to keep systems working, while high quality construction may lead to a very considerable service life, despite weaknesses in other aspects of the operation and maintenance (O&M) system. A WaterAid sustainability study conducted in Zambia has highlighted, for example, the rapid corrosion of handpump rising mains as a constraint to sustainable community management of rural water supplies (SHAW 2012).

Issues of adequacy and structure of tariffs are crucial to the sustainability of water, sanitation and hygiene in both rural and urban contexts. Much more work is needed to trial, research and learn from innovative recurrent funding approaches (WSP 2010).

A water supply system is under threat (even if it is functioning and used), if the water resources on which it depends are deteriorating in either quantity or quality relative to need. If a sanitation service is polluting the environment, and therefore threatening the health of its users or others, then it cannot be said to be sustainable.

See also implementation tools Africa.

Management

Despite the importance of internal follow-up of projects to ensure sustainability of water and sanitation initiatives, it is usually a neglected component in the planning process (see also planning and process tools Africa). Follow-up is part of the monitoring and evaluation phase, which is carried out together with the stakeholders and end-beneficiaries, but it is an ultimate responsibility of the implementing agency or organisation (see also participatory monitoring and evaluation). The responsibility of communities to manage their water and sanitation services forms a central component of much WASH sector policy and strategy. However, the ability of households, communities and institutions (such as schools) to manage their water supply and sanitation systems is highly context specific (WATERAID 2011). A team of United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and World Bank specialists conducted research in 16 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and found that the measure that improved sustainability in nearly all countries was operation and maintenance (UNDP-WSP 2006). Another step in the right direction to documenting (see also process documentation) and understanding the challenges of sustainability and the disturbing failure rates of water and sanitation systems is monitoring of functionality and use of the systems. Participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) is therefore a critical stage of the project cycle and offers the greatest opportunity to learn and influence future project and program design. With few, but carefully selected indicators, it is possible to get a good overview on the progress and performance (see also using indicators to measure progress and performance) to attest a development in a (long term) project.

External Support

Households and community institutions experience numerous challenges in relation to skills and knowledge, material resources, relationships and trust, and power. When management issues arise in relation to sanitation (for example, latrine pits filling up) or water supply services (for example, mismanagement of revenues), external support is needed. Not all instances of conflict, breakdown of trust, fatigue with voluntarism, or mishap can be solved by the household (in the case of home sanitation) or an institution (in the case of a community water supply or school sanitation) on its own. See also SSWM courses and conflict management.