An international group of forty-five WASH professionals participated in the training session “Costing sustainable services: The life-cycle cost approach”, which took place at the WASH 2011 Conference in Brisbane, Australia, May 2011. This training session is part of the “Water and Sanitation Services That Last training” package now under development.
Published on: 01/07/2011
Life-cycle costs represent the aggregate costs of ensuring delivery of sustainable WASH services through a system’s cycle of wear, repair and renewal. The one-day training session, lead by WASHCost Project Director Catarina Fonseca and WASHCost India Country Coordinator Dr. Mekala Snehalatha, provided an introduction to the life-cycle costs approach, and its practical application to WASH programmes based on experiences in Burkina Faso, Ghana, India and Mozambique. The majority of the session participants were very interested in the concepts and tools presented. Among the many methods and tools, the trainers covered 10 steps to collecting life-cycle costs data and showed how it has been done by WASHCost in India. There was significant interest in these straightforward steps by participants and Dr. Mekala Snehalatha emphasised that it is in the practical application that the challenges arise.
One senior level government representative stated after the meeting that “It dawned on me that there is something missing in the government WASH programmes in the province” and indicated an interest in learning more about the application of life cycle costing. Another senior manager of an international NGO intends to apply the ideas and methods at project level.
Several participants emphasised that one day is too short to really grasp the ideas. One participant suggested inviting country or provincial representatives to present best practices and lessons learned in achieving lasting results in WASH projects. It is anticipated that future trainings will be cover a week in order to get deeper into the practical application of a life-cycle costs approach.
Above expectations
Participation exceeded expectations and the capacity of the room. Catarina Fonseca: “Attendance went beyond planned and exercises and examples worked well for a full day of very enthusiastic and interested audience. The feedback on the evaluation was also very good.”
Overall, the evaluation revealed that participants found it an inspiring session and appreciated both the materials and ideas presented and the opportunities to interact. Graphs, maps and presentation were appreciated: “The pie chart revealing hidden costs was useful, I've never had to do this before”, said a private sector professional who provides technical support to national WASH projects.
