La descentralizacion de la Unidad Nacional de Operacion y Mantenimiento : hacia un modelo de apoyo post-construccion de sistemas de agua en el sector rural de Nicaragua

Since 1990, the regional office of the governments' rural water supply department ENACAL-GAR (Empresa Nicaragüense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados Sanitarios - Gerente de Acueductos Rurales) in Matagalpa, Nicaragua has adopted a decentralization strategy, involving in a step-by-step approach the municipal governments of the region in the technical assistance to the (around one thousand) communal water committees in the region. As a result, 13 of the 15 municipalities of the region now have a municipal water promoter, attending to their rural communities.

Unicef, Swissaid and COSUDE funded the evaluation, carried out by ENACAL-GAR with advice from SNV Netherlands Development Organisation. It combined a users' and local governments' point of view with interviews of the staff involved in the municipalities and in ENACAL-GAR, and with an analysis of the decentralization process so far, of the costs involved, and of the water sectors' institutional and legal framework with respect to maintenance.
The report presents the statistical data on users' satisfaction and performance of the UNOM (Unidad de Operación y Mantenimiento) in the traditional and the decentralized model, the general findings as well as conclusions and recommendations towards the different actors involved.

The main conclusion is that the decentralization did lead to a better overall performance of the maintenance activities, and to higher user satisfaction. However, its full potential is far from being reached due to lack of institutional and financial support. Involvement of the ENACAL-GAR remains crucial as process facilitator, as technical back up, and to guarantee the quality of the technical assistance. Follow up actions were identified to strengthen the process.
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