Conclusiones finales

Lockwood and Smit (2011) refers to services as the provision of a public benefit through a continuous and permanent flow of activities and resources; a concept applied in many other services, both in the developing and developed worlds, such as health, education, electricity, telephone and urban water supplies. Figure 3.6 shows Lockwood and Smit’s (2011) strategic stages in service delivery approach, which shows linkage between strategy and the project cycle.

Figure 3.6: Stages in the service delivery cycle (Source: Lockwood and Smits, 2011)

In water service delivery sector, a range of approaches, methodologies and tools have emerged to support water services deliver sustainably. A Cranfield University, IRC and Aqua- consult (2006) review identified three broad approaches to service provision as:

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Externally driven approaches: these are projects initiated by agencies other than the water users, and usually heavily subsidized. Studies have shown that much of these externally driven- bilateral aids for water supply fails to achieve the kind of balance between soft and hard infrastructure that can support water services sustainability. The 2009 World Water Development (WWDR) pointed out that for investment to be sustainable, physical infrastructure must be accompanied by the ‘soft’ infrastructure of policies and legal systems and human capacity.

Figure 3.7 shows major bilateral donors share investment in water and sanitation with majority percentage going into water facilities. From the diagram, it is clear that more than three-quarter of investment in drinking water were made for the provision of physical facilities at the expense of developing social and institutional structure. Table 3.2 summarised service delivery approach usually deployed by external support agencies toward water supply intervention in developing countries.

Figure: 3.7 Donor investment in water and sanitation infrastructure (Source: Adapted from WWDR, 2009)

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Table 3.2 Comparison of service delivery approach in relation to sustainability factors. (Source: Harvey, 2008)

Sustainability factor

Project Programme

Policy context The influence on policy is minimized by the time-frame of the project

There is potential to develop advocacy strategies to influence long-term policy and strategy change

Management and institutional arrangements

Projects are often donor-driven and implemented by NGOs / consultants who leave the area after a finite period

Local government and sustainable

institutions in partnership with the private sector take the key roles

Community and social aspects

The need for a project 'handover' transfers all O&M responsibility to users with little or no external support

Sustainable partnerships can be developed over time and ongoing institutional support provided to communities. Communities are given choice to be or not be service-provider Financial issues Time-bound budgetary

requirements limit sustainable financing mechanisms Users pay for maintenance and upkeep of a single facility only

Budgetary allocations can be made for institutional support for communities and long-term incremental strategies Users pay for water service which includes the cost of asset replacement for which subsidy may be available

Technology

Technology choice often remains rigid with a finite lifespan and there is no time to investigate longer-term solutions

Allocations for research and development can investigate alternative technologies A flexible approach to technology is

adopted allowing it be upgraded over time and respond to environmental changes

Environment Initial environmental assessments may be conducted during

construction but there is no follow- up

Long-term strategies can be put in place to monitor water resources and

environmental issues

Supply chains The need for an exit strategy has led to the idea of a 'seed fund' for private spare parts supply - this has not worked Maintenance and repair focused on the specific facilities

Long-term strategies can be put in place to monitor water resources and

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Notable with the externally driven approach is the introduction of community management of water facilities as a strategy towards sustainability briefly discussed in section below.

Enterprise-driven approaches: This is an approach in which local private entities supply goods and services to governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), or water users directly engage in the water service provision based on the principle of demand and supply with a view to making profit. RWSN (2010) noted that debates about private sector participation and public–private partnerships for the improvement of water supply services have generated more heat than light.

Foster (2012) argue that although the private sector offers a promising pathway to improve the provision of water services in rural areas, full recovery of capital costs through user fees appears to be rare, particularly in rural Africa, thus widespread capital investment by private enterprises and entrepreneurs remains unlikely without external subsidies. Thus, there is little doubt that the private sector is unlikely to invest significant sums to modernize or extend water supply systems (Davis, 2005).

Self-supply initiatives: This is an initiative where users take responsibility for their water supply facility from construction to operation and maintenance without subsidy from government or external support agency. Details of this approach are explored and discussed in chapter 5. According to Oluwasanya (2006) self-supply have been shown to be water supplies initiated through self-help to bridge the gap between public and community provided sources.

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