The Community Water Plus project investigates the support that is being provided to community-managed rural water supplies. This is being done for twenty case studies of programmes from across India.
For community-managed rural water supply to be sustainable, a "plus" is needed: special efforts to empower communities during project implementation, and continued support from government during service delivery. The Community Water Plus project seeks to get a better understanding of the costs of...
The Community Water Plus project assesses twenty cases of support to community managed rural water supplies across India. IRC carried out one of these studies around support to community-managed handpumps in Patharpratima, West Bengal. The case study concludes that an effective mechanism for...
Your organisation is doing post-implementation monitoring of water systems and detects a serious problem. What to do? This guidance document, published by Improve International, helps in the resolution of those problems.
In an effort to improve functionality of water systems the Lira District Hand Pump Mechanics Association has introduced a new approach to prompt water users to demand operation and maintenance services.
Community management is the common model for rural water supply, but it has limitations, particularly when it comes to the ability to sustain services over the long-term. In an effort to identify what works and what doesn't when it comes to community management, the Community Water Plus project is...
Handpump mechanics support water user committees by repairing pumps upon breakdown. But mechanics' charges are high and inconsistent, and their access to spare parts varies. As costs and delays increase, communities become less willing to pay for repairs, and mechanics leave the business. In the...
Recent innovations in information technology have greatly improved the speed and accuracy in acquisition of data for improving service delivery in various fields including the WASH sector
Capacity support refers to support activities towards water service authorities and includes, the provision of technical assistance, monitoring and training of service authority staff around the key functions they are responsible for.
This includes the structured support activities to service providers as well as to users or user groups. This may be provided in a variety of ways by either local governments directly, by regional utility agencies, specialized agencies or external contractors or a by combination of these modalities.
The NGO “Give to Colombia” will implement several pilot projects that will serve as models for the Rural Water Supply and Wastewater Management Program in Colombia. The pilot projects will focus on WASH in schools, post-construction support, household connections and self-supply models. IRC has a...
Sub-counties in Uganda's Kabarole District are excited about the potential of their new water and sanitation boards. But without financing, how can that potential be realised?
In Uganda, new water and sanitation boards at sub-county level are designed to remedy the problem of lack of capacity in water user committees—making local management more professional and effective.
Uganda is establishing Hand Pump Mechanics Associations as a solution to low functionality of rural point sources. Do these associations bring better, more professional service to communities?
In 2011 the Uganda Ministry of Water and Environment started to promote the formation of Hand Pump Mechanics Associations (HPMAs) as a way of enhancing sustainability of rural water services. This briefing note highlights the key issues emerging from the process thus far.
The concept of ‘water-person-years’ (WPY) is a new way of measuring the impact of investments. Assessing investments in WPY over a defined period of time, allows for a more efficient allocation of resources, and calls for a rethinking of the current development approach. Measuring in WPY is...
