An Assessment of Sustainability of Water and Sanitation Interventions in Northern Region: A case study of Nanumba North District

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Date
2011
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Since the start of the modern international development movement in the 1960s, development workers have recognized the need for appropriate technology and improved project planning to overcome the historically low success rates of water and sanitation projects (Feachem et al., 1977; Cairncross, 1992; Pickford, 1995). Yet, within the water and sanitation sector, it is widely agreed that past project interventions have not done enough to improve the situation. According to Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation (CONIWAS), about 33% of water facilities are down at any one moment. The European Union (EU) also examined its STS’s and discovered about 50% of EU funded water facilities were not functioning. These facts clearly demonstrate that the threat posed as a result of sustainability of these water facilities must be tackled, to ensure that they remain functional and useful to communities throughout the year. The MDG on water and sanitation, the SWAp compact and many other forms of interventions are geared towards provision of the facilities without being mindful of issues about sustainability. Hence, the desire to undertake this study. The study was much more of qualitative in nature with little quantitative data for analysis. Questionnaires were administered and focus group discussions were held. Besides, some of the facilities were observed and interviews conducted with some key stakeholders which altogether led to the conclusions drawn. The study revealed that lack of coordination among the stakeholders (NGOs) do not engender sustainability since the NGOs tend to operate with varied approaches some of which have the tendencies to cause an overlap in the mode of service delivery as well as throwing confusion among the beneficiaries. The aesthetic environment and socio-cultural values were not of significant threat to issues of sustainability of water and sanitation intervention. Instead, economic conditions and technological consideration were the issues identified to strongly affect sustainability. Inappropriate tariff setting and lack of community involvement at every stage of project implementation also accounted for sustainability problems that the study area encountered. Based on these findings, it was recommended that the local government authority must create an enabling environment to harmonize the activities of the relevant key stakeholders in order to have well defined approached to water and sanitation intervention in the district. Also, the involvement of the beneficiaries is crucial and for that matter must be considered in every stage of the intervention. Besides, the choice of technology must be locally friendly to avoid difficulties in operation and maintenance of the facilities. Finally, appropriate tariff setting would have a long way to help guarantee the sustainability of the facilities.
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A Thesis submitted to the Institute of Distance Learning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Commonwealth Executive Masters in Public Administration,
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