In Timor-Leste, the water sector knows the end game is not just about meeting MDG coverage targets, but delivering sound and durable services.
Published on: 25/03/2014
Last week I was in Timor-Leste supporting some of the work of WaterAid Australia and its programme in Timor-Leste. As this has evolved over the last several years, and with coverage levels increasing, WaterAid Timor-Leste (WATL) has recognised the pressing challenge of maintaining service levels in those communities who have gained first-time access to water supply. The government of Timor-Leste has pledged to meet its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target to provide 78% of the population with access to a safe water supply by 2015 (75% of the rural population and 86% of the urban population). The JMP update for 2013 records access in 2011 to an improved water source as 69%: 60% rural and 93% urban. As of 2013, steady progress is being made and it has been determined that the MDG for water supply will be met.
Everyone realises that there's no going back to the same old business as usual of simply building more systems, ticking a box and then coming back three or four years later to rebuild them again.
Although this paints a positive picture with steadily rising coverage, there is a high frequency of system breakdowns and non-functionality, and the performance of the community management entities (Grupos Manajamento Facilidade or GMFs) is particularly of concern, as has been documented consistently in recent years. In short, premature system failure and wasted investment in rural water has become an issue which is now 'too big to ignore'. In conjunction with the government ministry and other sector stakeholders, WATL is now in the process of developing a strategy to focus on sustainability and long-term service delivery development, and this is what I went to Timor-Leste to help them with.
In my short time in the country I was struck by several important insights. For a start, despite all its problems, Timor-Leste feels like a place that is on the up and up and a country on the move. With oil revenue coming on stream and a mini-boom in the private sector (albeit focused on the bubble that is Dili) one can feel the wheels turning and this will spread inexorably outwards to the more rural areas. With the oil revenues comes the potential for significant public expenditure to support long-term service provision (amongst other things of course).
The second thing that struck me was that the whole of the water sector, from top to bottom, has turned the corner, and there is a collective realisation that the end game is not to think of meeting MDG coverage targets, but to deliver sound and durable services. From senior ministry staff at Public Works, to the big Australian aid programme – BESIK – and most importantly to the district level deconcentrated water and sanitation staff, local government and local NGO partners, everyone more or less gets it; everyone talks the same language and everyone realises that there is no going back to the same old business as usual of simply building more systems, ticking a box and then coming back three or four years later to rebuild them again.
The third thing is that they are getting on and doing it. For a start the National Directorate for Water Supply and Sanitation, together with BESIK, has developed a really sound monitoring system that is being rolled out at district and sub-district levels and includes aspects of functionality and even the performance of the GMF; the next step is to add service levels to assess the quality of water services being delivered to rural consumers. Of course it isn't perfect, but it is a great foundation to build on and it works – and most importantly it is being used by the people that count; I asked the guy in the photo below who is the District Water Supply Office from Liquiça district to see some of the data on GMF performance and he tapped away on his computer and delivered the data with no hesitation!
Of course there are remaining challenges, many linked to broader public administration and political processes that are out of the direct control of WaterAid, and perhaps even BESIK and the Ministry, but that will influence their efforts to establish a truly complete service delivery-based sector. These include:
And ultimately as with every sector anywhere in the world, the solutions remain essentially political ones. Will the government spend their oil wealth wisely? Will rural water – and sanitation – receive the priority they deserve in such a fundamentally 'rural' country? And above all, will the politicians be convinced of the need to spend money – and big money at that – to keep on supporting services so that the water flows for good?
It was clear from the meetings I had with national level entities and in the district that WaterAid is seen as a credible and valued partner in the WASH sector. It already engages closely with national level stakeholders and processes, whilst at the same time continuing to play an important advocacy role and is respected as a 'critical friend' of the Ministry of Public Works. At district level WaterAid has built up very strong and positive working relations with local government, as well as the district water officer and sub-district staff, suco level government and local implementing partners.
At district level WaterAid has built up very strong and positive working relations.
However, it is the formation of an association of GMFs that is one of the more innovative and interesting aspects of WaterAid's work in the district and which holds out a promising approach for long-term direct support to water committees. The association was formed some three years ago and is staffed by volunteers with an obvious enthusiasm for their role, but it still faces many capacity challenges and is in a 'fragile' state – for a start it has yet to be legally registered, which is the first step in giving it real legs. The executive committee has passion and enthusiasm and even though they will need a lot of support going forward, they are based on a growing membership of around 135 GMFs and have plans to represent the entire district in time; they are also a really great group of people, as you can see in this photo.
We know from other contexts (most commonly in parts of Latin America) that associations can work well and can not only provide the technical support that is needed to keep the water committees strong and motivated, but can also lobby and represent these groups to government and others.
One could play the cynic and say that this is not much of a case to celebrate – after all with a population of only a bit more than 1.1 million people it is pretty small change; about the size of a big district in Uganda and maybe even a sub-district in some of the more populous Indian states.
But what we are talking about here is a 'whole system' that is changing: from top to bottom and bottom to top. From practice in supporting communities better, to new policy, clarity about who does what and smarter financing. It still has a way to go, but I really get the sense that everyone in Timor-Leste is pulling in the same direction and that is really great. My colleague Patrick Moriarty at IRC and I have been blogging about just this topic, and what I heard and saw and read in Timor=Leste last week just re-confirms that this is the only way to go. And it is the only exit strategy for the endless cycle of NGOs and donors. No one person or organisation can do it alone and no one single action will ever precipitate the 'whole' change.
With thanks to WATL and their partner NGO HTL, I was lucky enough to witness a traditional blessing ceremony in a rural village. This was mostly done in Tocodede, an indigenous language pre-dating Portuguese colonisation and led by a sort of shaman character who is known literally as the 'keeper of the word'. This was and is an important function in a society where legends, rituals and governing rules were all passed down in an oral history – the photo below shows one such 'keeper', and I like to think that he will pass on the message of service delivery and make sure people respect their water source. Wishful thinking perhaps, but a nice way to end this blog!
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