Final evaluation of the World Vision Relief and Development Africa water program

WVRD has made positive progress in establishing sustainable rural water systems integrated with health education and sanitation, and over the life of the project has improved water supplies for about 400,000 persons, one-third more than expected, at a cost of about $40 per beneficiary (including administrative costs). The project also earns high marks for sustainability: it has had some success in redirecting what was essentially a drilling project in Ghana, added an extension and training component to the program in Senegal, helped reshape the Maasai Water Project as the Maasai People's Project in Kenya, and initiated significant activities in Malawi. Institutional objectives were only partially achieved, however, as follows. (1) A competent, experienced staff is in place to manage and provide oversight for large projects, but their efforts are not well coordinated. (2) Country programs of technology transfer, training, and TA for field staff are sound, but a planned comprehensive program has not materialized. (3) Plans to strengthen the regional technical team's capabilities and establish small technical resource units within country field offices have been fairly successful. (4) Practices for procuring materials, equipment, and TA for water projects are effective, but some projects' needs have been overlooked. (5) Plans to develop a regionally based technical information and documentation center were abandoned. WVRD's performance in activity areas specified in the project proposals were also rated by the evaluators. Rated good to excellent were efforts to: use experienced technical consultants in project design/redesign, recruit experienced managers for project implementation, devise program strategies to rehabilitate non-functioning projects and maintain equipment, and devise community mobilization strategies. Rated good or at least fair were efforts to develop a comprehensive corporate water development strategy; establish coherent linkages between headquarters, regional, and country programs; develop a fundraising and resource mobilization strategy; and hire experienced technical staff for project implementation. Rated poor or poor to fair were efforts to develop specialized training programs for regional, field office, and project staff; devise a financial management and project reporting system; and institute a monitoring and evaluation system for WVRD projects. Despite its failure to achieve many activities specified in its proposal, WVRD has made great strides in moving from a relief to a development mode of operation and has accomplished many worthwhile things in the communities in which it has worked. Its main problem is its own organizational structure, but senior management is aware of this and attempting to address it; an external consultant might prove helpful in this regard. For there is a definite role for WVRD to play in the development community and it should be encouraged to continue its growth in development work.