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Published on: 06/10/2016

A Learning Seminar on 'Monitoring and Messages for Faster Maintenance' will be organized by IRC, the NWCO/MoWIE, Lowland WASH and UNICEF to be held on 18th October 2016 at Getfam Hotel, Addis Ababa.

Operational monitoring can drive responses to fix water and sanitation infrastructure that has failed. Often a woreda water office learns of a problem when a messenger arrives or the phone rings. And typically when there is no news, it is assumed that water supply systems are working fine. New technologies greatly increase the potential to collect and share data on the operation of systems and when something breaks. But where does the data go, and what happens next?

Keeping water, sanitation and hygiene services running is a critical concern for sector stakeholders whether consumers, service providers, service authorities, politicians or donors. In its second Growth and Transformation Plan the government has identified specific measures to improve functionality and ensure high service levels are maintained. This includes more post-construction support units and enhanced capacity.

Many NGOs and projects are innovating, and often collaborating with government to take their innovations to scale. Some of the exciting innovations underway or planned include: Lowland WASH Activity working with the company SweetSense; Charity: water and Rest have installed 1000 sensors on water pumps and invested in building rapid response teams to support government-led repairs; and UNICEF and WASH Cluster partners have piloted real-time monitoring of key emergency indicators for the humanitarian WASH response during the recent drought.

Three topical case studies will be presented and critical questions raised with respect to monitoring for maintenance.

To join the debate, please contact us at girma@ircwash.org.

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