Blog - Water Services That Last
This blog aims to regularly report experiences, stories and questions on rural water supply. It will ask questions and provoke debate on how sustainability of water systems can be improved. It seeks to provide examples and learn from failures. It does not aim to provide ready-made answers; if those would exist, they would win the Nobel Prize for Water, or, more likely, the Silver Bullet Award.
We invite you to contribute your thoughts and stories, to provoke and to question, and to share these debates more widely.
It’s fun to work with the L C C A
10 Jul 12
I have written before about our work on life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) in Honduras. The idea is to look into the real costs of investment programmes and projects in Honduras, so see which intervention model is the most cost-effective. The reason for that is that within the sector, and sometimes even within an institution, various [...]
The way we work
04 Jul 12
In this short video, Vida Duti talks about the way Triple-S works in Ghana, and the difference between being a cop and being a change agent. More clips from this series of seven can be viewed here. Filed under: Africa, Communication, Ghana, Uncategorized
Sustaining what?
08 Jun 12
Sustainability is on top of the list! Of countries, of development partners and of IRC. Now that we know about the high break down rates of pumps and pipes, we are alarmed. And we should! Not only because breakdowns are a waste of investment and a waste of tax payers’ money, but because people have [...]
Coherence and harmonisation
24 May 12
Vida Duti emphasises the need for coherent approaches between government and development partners. -M4HE28OZ1o Filed under: Uncategorized
Having the data: monitoring service delivery
16 May 12
In this third video clip, of the seven clips in which Vida Duti talks about the changes in the Ghana water sector towards, she emphasises the importance of monitoring water services to plan and direct investments. Filed under: Ghana, Monitoring, Sustainability
Sustainability challenges of the Ghana water sector
09 May 12
Vida Duti uses the metaphor of a ship on a voyage to explain the challenges faced by the water sector in being able to sustain water services. Watch the second clip of a series of seven short video clips in which the Triple-S team leader in Ghana talks about the changes in the Ghana water sector towards [...]
The water sector’s Orpheus complex – and what it costs
06 May 12
Just as Orpheus descended into the underworld to bring his wife Eurydice back to life, the water sector invests heavily in bringing broken-down water supply systems back into function; often to find those same systems slipping back into disuse, as soon as the engineers turn their head to look away from the system they just [...]
More on Change – Systems, Principles and Learning
03 May 12
By Elise Wach, IDS Evaluation and Learning Advisor (reposted from the Impact and Learning Team Blog) I am back to talk about change, following on from my previous postings (Change is hard and Change is hard but not impossible) on how you change a sector, Here are some reflections from the latest IRC Triple-S learning [...]
The Ghana water sector: the improvements made and the trade off between coverage and sustainability
02 May 12
Vida Duti is the Triple-S team leader in Ghana. She heads a team of 10 people, which is hosted by the government agency: Community Water and Sanitation Agency(CWSA). In seven short video clips Vida talks about the changes in the Ghana water sector towards sustainable rural water services. In this first clip, Vida Duti reflects [...]
Is the GLAAS half full or half empty?
16 Apr 12
While the dust of the announcement of the achievement of the water MDG, and the interpretation of its implications, had hardly settled, a new global water and sanitation report has come out: GLAAS (Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water). It is truly a rich source of information and insights into the institutional and [...]
