Time and money : a preliminary evaluation of women"s participation in AID domestic water and sanitation projects

water and sanitation projects vis-a- vis their impact on women"s time and water use practices. All of the projects were primarily concerned with the introduction of potable water for domestic use, such as drinking, hygiene, irrigation of small gardens, and watering poultry and livestock near the home. Most of them also included health and hygiene education components. Generally, the data contained in the sampled projects were insufficient to answer questions on women"s time use and participation in project activities. Similarly, it was not possible to consider the relationship of project features to the project"s success in reaching women, since the evaluation documents provided little data on the projects" impact on women. Despite these limitations, however, some generalizations can be made. In terms of project design, women were frequently mentioned as the principal beneficiaries, since the provision of water systems would represent a considerable time savings to women. Project design documents referred to four ways in which women would benefit from the provision of domestic water systems: (l) reduction in amount of time spent drawing and transporting water (2) reduction of disease in the household with an indirect time savings in caring for sick children; (3) more efficient home gardening and animal husbandry; and (4) improvements in women"s productive capacity, allowing them to invest more time in income�generating activities. In general, though some of the projects reviewed included design features that would reduce women"s time spent fetching water, none had features that would multiply these reductions or increase women"s income�generating capacity. Ironically, some of the improvements in well design and water drawing technologies mentioned in project design documents, such as hand pumps and covered wells, may have erased some of the time women saved in travelling to the water source and drawing water. In a few cases, the covered wells made simultaneous access to water impossible, causing long lines. Breakdowns in the equipment caused even longer waiting periods. In terms of the mechanisms chosen to implement water interventions, 11 of the 16 projects reviewed used some kind of community participation. It is critical that women play active roles in community participation activities regarding the management and operation of water systems, yet these activities can be time� and labor�intensive for community members. To the extent that women are targeted to participate in implementation, their time and labor inputs may reduce, nullify, or outweigh the direct time savings obtained from the introduction of water systems. Project documents continue to treat women"s involvement in community participation activities as if their time had no opportunity costs. In addition, one of the project evaluations indicated that though women participated on village tap committees, the men filled the decisionmaking positions. In general, A.I.D. domestic water and sanitation projects clearly have the potential to benefit women by reducing the amount of time they spend fetching water and facilitating household tasks that require water. Without changes in project design and implementation, however, it is unlikely that domestic water projects will translate into indirect time savings and increased productivity for women. Two recommendations can be made. (1) Projects should be designed to focus on time savings of women"s time. Distance from homestead to water point should be effectively reduced for the majority of women served by the project. Water drawing technologies should be improved in efficiency and reliability to reduce waiting time at the water source and allow simultaneous access. (2) Implementation mechanisms should be reassessed in terms of the demands they make on community members. The current policy of including women in the implementation of water delivery systems, while commendable, should take into account the opportunity costs of women"s time. In addition, an effort should be made to see that women are not only included in village tap and branch repair committees, but play significant decisionmaking roles in these bodies. (Author abstract)