Recommendations for Improving Project Design

By East Meets West Foundation Posted on Tue 19 Dec 2006, almost 18 years ago

Itiati Sub-location consisting of four villages

Beneficiaries – This appears to be a very ambitious project. Besides the 8,500 people that will directly benefit from improved water supply, the project description suggests that water will also be provided to a large regional dispensary, two coffee processing plants, and cultivating “short term crops”. Coffee-processing operations use large amounts of water for pulping, flushing the residue and discarding pulp. Balancing domestic water use with agricultural demand may generate some friction in the future, especially if demand for water (especially by commercial and agricultural users) exceeds the new system’s capacity.

Hygiene and Sanitation Behavioral Change - Under “Additional Details”, why is hygiene and sanitation not being directly included in the water project? It is often the case that people are much more interested in getting access to good quality water, than they are about hygiene and sanitation behavioral change (HSBC) promotion. However, tying HSBC directly to water development projects often provides an excellent opportunity to get beneficiaries to buy into the non-water components, such as HSBC. Not doing so is a missed opportunity, especially because this proposed project is focused (at least in part) on the most vulnerable group, namely young school children. Nearly all donors (multilaterals such as World Bank, and large bilateral donors such as Danida) financing rural water supply nowadays routinely incorporate HSBC components into their water projects as a means of maximizing the health benefits of their investment in improved water supply.

Financing – It appears that all the capital investment is from external donors (with the exception of in-kind labor contributions from the beneficiary communities). Are the two coffee processing plants co-financing the capital investment cost of the proposed water system in proportion to the benefits that they will accrue as a result of the new water system? If not, they should be expected to do so. What percent of the water system output will they use? Is that acceptable to the donor? Are the farmers who stand to benefit from having improved access to water for their crops (mentioned in the “Details” section) going to help pay for the improvements? They certainly should. It seems reasonable that the Itiati Self Help Group who will cultivate short term crops should financially benefit from the new water system, and so some of their profits should go to support the water system. If the District government representative is so committed to providing clean water to his constituents, perhaps he could also find a way to earmark some supplemental government financing to support the system’s capital investment cost. Finally, the $6 per capita investment cost seems unusually low for piped water. Is this realistic? Perhaps it is because there is already an existing water distribution system at the site.

Technical Issues – You might want to also look into improving the rainwater catchment system at the dispensary in order to minimize water demand from the new system, or even financing rainwater catchment for domestic purposes at the household level. There are some quite useful articles about rainwater catchment at the following websites: http://www.gdrc.org/uem/water/rainwater/introduction.html, and http://www.oas.org/dsd/publications/unit/oea59e/ch10.htm#1.1%20rainwater%20harvesting%20from%20rooftop%20catchments

Community Contributions to Capital Investment – Except for in-kind labor, community contributions appear to be $0, which is not a good idea at all. All beneficiaries should be expected to provide at least some modest portion (e.g., 10-20%) of the capital investment cost. This is standard practice worldwide in rural water supply and sanitation projects. People who don’t pay any upfront costs tend to have little or no feeling of ownership or responsibility for water systems that are parachuted in, and collecting the proposed monthly fees may be difficult. No ownership usually means no sense of responsibility for O&M, let alone equipment replacement or needed system expansion to accommodate steadily growing populations. . What if people don’t pay the water usage fee? Will they be cut off? This is a very common failure mode for rural water systems world-wide, and should be avoided at the beginning.

Operation and Maintenance Support Costs and Metering - A water usage fee will be charged to fund maintenance efforts, presumably just a fixed amount per household or other user. However, there is no mention of any water meters being used, so there is no incentive for consumers to economize on their use of water. I would strongly recommend that water meters (paid for by each household) be installed on house connections, and that the water fee should be consumption-based. This will have the added advantages of recovering costs from high-volume users (especially the non-residential users) as well as promoting water demand management (e.g., economical use of water). The modest incremental cost (probably less than $10 for each household connection) of installing water meters in house connections will be far more than recovered from the additional water revenue that they will generate.

Recommendations for Improving Project Design

By Rotary District 5450 Posted on Tue 19 Dec 2006, almost 18 years ago

I think the greatest benefit in being part of the PEER WAter Exchange is what I am learning about how to approach water problems. I really appreciate your comments and they will help both now and on my future journeys to Rotary District 9200 (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Eritrea). Two years ago I went to Africa for the first time and the result was a water harvesting project in a Masaii Village. It was a success story, but not because of my knowledge of alternatives for providing water. On the Masaii and eight subsequent projects I am involved with, there has always been knowledgeable local people that I worked with (water engineers, civil engineers, etc.). In Itiati Village, we are working with a Water Engineer consulting firm, the owner of a large water resource company, the District Water Department and the Self Help Group. In the next few days, I will address each point that you bring up and obtain information from my contacts in Kenya when the answers are beyond me. Once again, thanks for your questions and suggestions.

Don.

Recommendations for Improving Project Design

By Rotary District 5450 Posted on Mon 25 Dec 2006, almost 18 years ago

I have been unable to reach my contact at Itiati Village so I'll do the best to answer your questions from what I know.

Beneficiaries. The only reason that the project can reach so many people is that there lready exists a distribution and storage system. The coffee "plants" that I saw consisted of open areas with a series of about eight short wooden platforms measuring 8' by 40'. Water was brought by pipe to the platforms from a nearby storage tank. The "facility" was part of a community cooperative. There was no water so the operation was closed. The farmers carry the beans to other areas to do whatever they had previously done at these sites.
The dispensary, which was built by the community SHG, consists of several rooms. It has a storage tank and distribution system, but no water. It was one of the nicest facilities I saw while visiting villages and there are plans to add a wing with beds to facilitate birthing and minor illnesses. There are no motor vehicles in the village and it is located on hills high above Karatina Town, site of the nearest hospital. People have to get to the hospital by foot, bicycle or wheelbarrow down a rutted and, during the rainy season, muddy dirt road. The government provides a nurse and part time doctor.
Most members of the community grow there own food. The ability to grow crops is limited by the seasonal rainfall. With water, they were able to grow food year around and sell their excess at the market. They can no longer do that.
Your comment about competition for water is well-taken and something that the community will have to address if the water supply is not adequate.

Hygiene, sanitation, financing, technical issues, etc. I, frankly, hadn't considered all of these areas on my visit to Itiati and other locations. I'll look into them as soon as I can reach Erastus and follow-up on my visit to the project next May. I have put a lot of trust into the advice of a water engineers and the community SHGs. You, and the other members of the PEER Exchange, are moving this old school-teachers understanding of the complexity and sustainability of water issues to another level. One of the outcomes, will be an emphasis to produce a 'best practices' book so that on the job training i'm going through can be minimized. Thanks for the advice.