Lira District WASH actors have been without a coordination structure since for over a year. This void was created in 2009 when UNICEF closed its office in Lira District. Since 2005, UNICEF had been coordinating the WASH cluster in Lira district, which comprised mainly humanitarian agencies intervening in the emergency situation in the war-ravaged district. But since the end of the war, the district has started the transition from emergency to development phase, meaning that many emergency actors had to close shop. In 2010, with the coming of Triple-S to Lira district, efforts have been made to revive the district coordination structure.
Published on: 16/08/2011
The Lira District Water and Sanitation Coordination Committee (DWSCC) got a shot in the arm when Triple-S offered to be the Secretariat for the committee. The offer followed a meeting between the Triple-S Lira District Learning Facilitator, Robert Otim and the District Water Officer Engineer Omoko. Among the roles that Triple-S will play as a secretariat are: mobilisation, compilation of minutes, formation and updating of DWSCC database and to be a reference point for information sharing.
Coordination and harmonization is one of the areas the Triple-S seeks to improve in pursuit of the initiative’s vision of sustainable rural water services. Under outcome number five, the Triple-S Initiative envisions district water service delivery institutions adopting and using agreed service delivery models that ensure alignment in planning, budgeting, implementation, regulation and monitoring. A key action under this outcome is to actively participate in the DWSCC meetings and events.
Like many districts, Lira has experienced coordination challenges for a long time. Engineer Omoko reported, that there hadn’t been a DWSCC meeting since December 2009, over eight months ago. While the DWO has the mandate to play the coordination role at the district, the District Water Officer said that he could not get enough time to perform the role effectively since he also doubles as the District Engineer. In the Triple-S inception meeting last month, participants indeed acknowledged the need for increased coordination, collaboration and information sharing among sector players and recommended the urgent revival of the DWSCC.
Triple-S district learning facilitator and the DWO also discussed the issue of learning and knowledge management at district level. They brainstormed on the mechanisms of ensuring learning and information sharing in the sector and the possibility of working through a district platform for learning purposes.
By the end of the meeting, both parties had set a date for a DWSCC and agreed to continue holding smaller planning meetings including Triple-S, DWO and Technical Support Unit 6 (TSU 6). Triple-S has already undertaken to convene the next DWSCC meeting scheduled for 6th October 2010.
A new lease of life indeed!
