Global Report on Results
Overall goal: Improved access to water and sanitation, enabling a good environment for improved hygiene for poor and marginalised communities
From 2011-2014, NCA provided access to potable water for almost 2.8 million people residing in 10 countries, which translated into improvements to their health and wellbeing. NCA also contributed to the recognition of water and sanitation as a human right through its advocacy efforts in the Ecumenical Water Network (EWN).
Strengthening Civil Society
Deviations and Lessons Learned
Global Outcome Results
Organising women and men in village water committees for increased ownership
NCA’s WASH programme is people-centred. This approach puts communities at the centre of their own development and empowers them to take responsibility for their own water and sanitation services. Active participation of community groups in all decisionmaking related to the construction and maintenance of communal infrastructure has fostered local ownership, which in turn contributes to the sustainability of WASH services. Below are only a few of many examples illustrating how NCA has strengthened its partners’ use of participatory and people-centred approaches that have led to sustainable access to WASH services.
In Pakistan, Village Development Committees (VDCs) are an important element of all WASH projects. These representative committees, which are comprised of elected members from local communities, participate in every stage of project implementation and provide an important platform for local communities to voice their opinions on issues such as project progress, improvements required, grievances and other feedback. Through established linkages with government departments, VDCs also actively engage in other community welfare work, such as requesting road improvements or infrastructure from the government. Women in particular are actively involved with WASH projects through the VDCs.
NCA’s partner Research and Development (RDF) in Sindh province utilised social mobilisation agents to engage and organise community members to elect VDCs. 183 VDCs were established under a post-flood rehabilitation project after monsoon rains and ensuing floods in 2010 led to the worst flooding in Pakistan in 80 years. RDF trained committee members to create internal systems and develop guidelines to improve the financial management and governance of the VDCs in order to be able to collect and responsibly handle funds contributed from village members for the regular maintenance and occasional repairs of the water and sanitation installations. VDCs also facilitated the development of an action plan that outlines community priorities for the year ahead. A typical action plan included initiatives to increase girls’ school enrolment, opening a bank account to deposit user fees and advocating for authorities to address community concerns such as spraying to eliminate mosquitos. Other tasks for which the VDCs are responsible were the maintenance of local hand pumps and the organisation of periodic campaigns to keep the village clean.
They also monitor companies that construct water infrastructure by verifying the amount and quality of construction material used for each project. This approach has facilitated access to sustainable water services whereby community members have been empowered and actively involved. This project provided access to drinking water for 89,226 people.
WHY: Children spend most of their waking hours in school, a place where they learn but also acquire habits and develop attitudes that can impact the rest of their lives. Children need a healthy learning environment, which includes access to clean water for drinking and hand washing, and safe and friendly-to-use sanitation facilities. Schools in NCA target areas generally lack access to safe water and adequate sanitation facilities. In Haiti, more than 52% of the schools had insufficient WASH facilities.
WHAT: Together with Finn Church Aid (FCA), NCA implemented the “Green Schools” project from 2011-2014. NCA provided water supply, sanitation facilities, wastewater treatment and hygiene promotion in nine schools constructed by FCA. These schools were located in the hardest earthquake affected region, Les Palmes. To ensure that the students developed positive habits, hygiene clubs were established.
RESULTS: 2,700 pupils benefitted from WASH services in nine schools.
Teachers provided hygiene education in the schools constructed by NCA and FCA. The pupils were offered the opportunity to participate in after school hygiene clubs, and its members were known as “Heroes”. Students then passed on their new knowledge to their school peers who were not part of a club. In 2014, preparatory work for the “Heroes” hygiene clubs was undertaken in five newly constructed schools, which targeted 1,237 students and teachers. Visiting NCA staff observed students washing their hands with soap, which signals that the awareness-raising had a positive impact on children’s habits.
Other countries where NCA has provided WASH in school services for children include Sudan, Burundi and DRC. In South Sudan, NCA organised school hygiene clubs and involved and trained members of the Parent Teachers Associations (PTA) on safe hygiene practices. As a result of the trainings, some of the PTAs mobilised their communities to construct temporary latrines to improve the sanitation in the schools. Other PTAs took the initiative to form hygiene clubs in their schools. This resulted in improved cleanliness, management and maintenance of school sanitation facilities.
Reflecting the results in the light of NCA’s Global Strategy 2011-2015, NCA is on track to achieve the overall objective of the WASH programme by the end of 2015. In the past four years, NCA focused more on water supply, which meant that less focus was put on sanitation and hygiene promotion. However, it is the balanced combination of water supply, hygienic practices and sanitation that achieves the best effect on prevention of transmissible diseases. The CLTS approach proved to be an effective means to household sanitation. NCA has applied this in different country programmes with documented results, and sees this as a chance to develop our work in the sanitation sector in the future.
NCA used the three working methods of emergency response, advocacy and long-term development in the WASH programme. Due to the circumstances where NCA implements the programme, emergency response and long-term development were much more used as a working method than advocacy. NCA applied the different forms of advocacy at a global, national and local level making use of the political space available.
NCA and partners filled the gap where other dutybearers do not deliver water, sanitation and hygiene service, making the outreach relevant to marginalised, poor and people living in remote areas. During the last years, great progress has been made in the water sector, but there are still about 750 million people today living without access to safe water. Most of them are marginalised, and therefore NCA’s contribution will be important in the future. In contrast, progress in the sanitation sector is lagging behind compared to the water sector and therefore a much higher number of people do not enjoy access to adequate sanitation facilities. NCA will increase its efforts in this sector in the next strategy as a response to this.
All global programmes have defined global outcomes. Here is a summary of the main results per global outcome.
Outcome selected only by NCA in Afghanistan and achieved. WASH committees were trained in conflict resolution. They resolved 60 conflicts about access to scarce water resources in the provinces Farayab, Daikundi and Urozgan.
Achieved in all countries: Sudan, Burundi, DRC, Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Angola, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Haiti. WASH committees were formed and members trained to manage each water point/system and communal/public sanitation infrastructure.
Achieved in four (South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, Angola) out of 10 countries. Outcome was selected by South Sudan, Sudan, Pakistan, Burundi, Somalia and Haiti. NCA influenced duty-bearers through capacity building on public health engineering and improvements of maintenance systems, dialogue and mobilisation. Rights-holders learned to negotiate with duty-bearers, conducted stakeholder forums and negotiated/requested services and support for the operation and maintenance of WASH services.
Achieved in five out of five countries to a varying degree (Burundi, Somalia, Angola, Ethiopia and Haiti). Hygiene promotion as part of WASH in schools projects that organise hygiene clubs for children was carried out in Haiti, South Sudan, Pakistan and Burundi. Rights-holders started to use toilets, wash hands at critical times and treated their household water.
Achieved in Afghanistan, South Sudan and Somalia, even if the outcome was only selected in Afghanistan. NCA Afghanistan carried out once a year training of technical staff of the provincial water offices resulting in more competent local authorities.
Achieved to a varying degree in Sudan, Burundi, DRC, Somalia, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Angola, Ethiopia, and Haiti. Outcome was selected in eight out of 10 countries. In Burundi, South Sudan, DRC and Haiti, NCA worked to improve institutional sanitation such as improving sanitation, hygiene and water in schools and health units. In all aforementioned countries, NCA worked to improve household sanitation using different approaches. About 365,000 people in total were provided with access to institutional and household sanitation.
Achieved in all countries. Almost 2.8 people were provided access to drinking water supply services during the four year period.
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