Community water and sanitation project, Inhambane Province[, Mozambique] : final project evaluation

The project, which changed from an emergency to a development program in the course of its life, worked with over 100 communities, constructed 84 new boreholes, and rehabilitated 14 wells, with a focus on areas exhibiting a high demand for water. The main technology adopted was boreholes with handpumps. In addition, research was carried out on rainwater harvesting, which, while more expensive, is also more flexible, since it employs only locally available materials and skills. Designed to implement the National Water Policy (PNA), the project adopted key PNA principles, including community-level pump maintenance, increasing cost recovery, and greater involvement of the private sector. The project acted as a catalyst to community development, building on local priorities, problem-solving, and management capacities. Development of private sector interest in selling pump spare parts took time to develop and was undermined periodically by government distribution of free parts. However, vendors are now investing in unsubsidized spare parts, and are forming trading relationships with communities, including some credit facilities. They have also formed links with manufacturers that allow return and replacement of substandard items. Establishment of decentralized maintenance systems includes building the capacity of community leadership in fund-raising and management of a communal facility, and of a specific maintenance and repair group (GMR) for each handpump (Afridev). Unlike most other areas of the country, these groups have, as a result of their training, adopted the principle of preventive action and most replace basic parts routinely. This preventive measure has helped keep pumps in operation near or beyond the recommended limit of operation in terms of depth, the number of users, and water quality; 40% of pumps have never broken down, and 97% were working at the time of the 1997 inventory. Hygiene education included the training of local health promoters (1 for 10 houses), emphasis on role models, and the use of self- monitoring of efforts to improve environmental health. In terms of impact, water use has increased 60-80% per head, with the level of increase linked to provision of health education. Other positive changes include safe disposal of feces and greater use of soap, which may also improve socioeconomic conditions. Longer-term and in some cases more continuous monitoring is necessary to identify genuine trends, however, especially regarding the incidence of diarrhea, in which very little change is apparent. The project built up a very good base of information, but could still develop more the linkages that would allow the wider use of the material and help in providing longer-term support for communities as the project phases out, in transferring responsibilities to other organizations, and in reducing the costs of future efforts. Costs per capita and particularly per community were quite high, even for a program with a high hygiene education component. This is partly due to the project's frequently experimental nature and its keenness to modify and improve impact as it progressed. Now that methodologies are mostly well established, however, future inputs should be subjected to careful cost-benefit analysis. (Author abstract, modified)