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Published on: 14/01/2005

A starting point in the discussion about scaling up might be that scaling up is a necessary response to a situation where an action which needs to be carried out should be undertaken at greater speed and/or to provide a greater volume of output than is the prevailing situation. Whatever it is, more of it is needed; and probably at lower unit input.

In the case of rural water supply in southern nations, the speed at which projects are undertaken is generally felt to be too slow to meet the needs of people in the millions of communities that require safe water in an acceptable timescale: so some form of acceleration is required. But just what sort of acceleration is needed and who by? Is it the case that projects should become bigger or is the project concept less relevant when considering scaling up? Should organisations expand their operations, or should they act as trainers for other organisations and lobbyists and advocates for greater action from others? In moving forward, can or how can capacity be transferred or built at the intermediate levels in support of communities, to avoid a repeat of supply driven shortcomings that occurred in the past?

The favoured method for water service development in rural parts of southern nations is community management. The widespread acceptance of this position has been hard won and may be fragile. So, perhaps most importantly, can the acceleration that is implied in scaling up occur through a community managed process or is it inevitable that a top-down approach will come to dominate again in a desire to improve coverage statistics? And if so, what would be the longer term impact upon sustainability?

This review is intended to help those now starting to think about scaling up to consider what their objectives are in so doing. Download the full document.

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