185-Evaluating for Lessons Community Water and Sanitation in Swaziland.

Abstract

In order to generate useful lessons for similar interventions, this paper examines the activities and outputs of a water supply and sanitation project in Mayiwane community, northern Swaziland, and presents a brief assessment of project effectiveness. In particular, the paper considers project achievement from the perspective of the components of the project cycle: design, implementation and monitoring. Evaluation findings draw upon a critical review of project documents and progress reports, interviews with a variety of collaborating external and local partners, including community members, and extensive fieldwork. Four key lessons are highlighted. Firstly, the fact that a rural water system has broken down or needs some rehabilitation should not simply translate into a hasty replacement of non-functional components. While scheme rehabilitation may provide an economic alternative to completely new investments, the decision to reactivate should not be automatic, but should be based on an appropriate trade-off between the cost of rehabilitation and the benefit that will accrue to the community. Secondly, including water supply and sanitation as coupled interventions in a single community project is no guarantee that they will proceed at the same pace. Whether the sanitation component lags behind or shoots ahead the water supply activity depends largely on household demand for the sanitary facility. Thirdly, for rural sanitation, especially in terrains with low depths to water, project planning should take cognizance of site-specific constraints arising from ground conditions and water table elevation, as well as the stability of local superstructure materials, in order to appropriately account for the cost of addressing such challenges. Lastly, projects being implemented by several agencies should be jointly proposed, packaged and monitored by a clearly identified team of representatives, in accordance with a mutually-agreed implementation plan and measurable indicators of success.