Main Research Phase
The main research phase is concentrating on two countries, India and Sri Lanka. The number of case studies has been reduced to four, three in rural and one in an urban context. They provide the basis for capacity building of target institutions and will be soon (end of May 2004) produced in written format, available both electronically and in hard copy. In relation to the main project findings during the Inception
Phase, the research is concentrating on a twin-track approach that
is seeking to integrate decision makers and implementers at all
levels, but particularly at the level of district implementation,
in the development of decision support.
In the case of Sri Lanka this has involved working increasingly
closely with the 3rd Water Supply and Sanitation Project supported
by ADB in Hambantota – through Rajindra Ariyabandu of the
Water Resources Secretariat – and in India’s Andra Pradesh’s
pilot districts through the implementing organisations and the WSP,
through a team managed by Deepa Joshi.
The key decision support output will be a manual on SecureWater
assessment that will address the basic questions:
1) how can implementation be optimised such that it meets the needs
of the poorest under a demand-responsive approach and
2) how can optimisation of impact be balanced by the need to ensure
long-term financial sustainability of interventions?
A third important but subsidiary question will be how can local
authorities in both countries be assisted in developing cost-effective
means of monitoring the long-term impact and sustainability of such
interventions. Much of the thinking process embedded in the manual
will derive from the outputs of the Methods Workshop held in Sri
Lanka in May 2001.
Case study use in capacity building contexts is involving a combination of government and NGO training programmes. These programmes are using the findings to illustrate key water, sanitation and livelihoods linkages of relevance to understanding demand and/or responding to demand with appropriate sets of service and technology options for the poor.
The manual’s development began in outline at the Methods workshop in Sri Lanka. It continued during 2003 with the development of simple and easy to use training materials that will seek to help in the process of thinking about water supply and sanitation interventions in terms of cross-cutting livelihoods issues. These training materials, incorporating multi-media formats, will be built into pilot training workshops to be held in early 2004 in both countries. The manual and training materials will draw extensively on the case study materials, but may also draw in wider experience on water and livelihoods issues. Existing information on livelihoods and household economy analysis will be used as far as possible, with the overall aim being to provide interveners with an accurate picture of the capacity of households to finance different service options, the key issues of livelihoods linkage and wider socio-political and gender issues that help to shape demand, and best ways of finding an appropriate ‘fit’ between technology options and the livelihoods strategies of target households.
The development of the SecureWater assessment manual will be undertaken by a core project team – comprising Alan Nicol, Tom Slaymaker, Deepa Joshi, Rajindra Ariyabandu and Celia Petty.
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| photos © A. Johnstone/ODI |