Brisbane 2011 WASH Conference: The Water and Sanitation Services That Last training

Two full-day training sessions on Water and Sanitation Services That Last were provided at the Brisbane WASH conference. Harold Lockwood (Triple-S) facilitated a session on the service delivery approach and Catarina Fonseca and Dr Mekala Snehalatha (WASHCost) facilitated a session on the life-cycle cost approach. Read more about IRC’s inputs at the Brisbane WASH Conference here: http://www.irc.nl/page/64461  

Beyond a project approach

The one-day training on the service delivery approach had about 35 participants and was well received. The training explored issues around sustainability and traditional approaches to aid delivery.  Through interactive exercises, participants discussed sustainability in the context of their own WASH programmes.  A short film brought the limits of community based management to life and a speed dating exercise had participants discussing how to improve sustainability within their own organisation’s remit. While some participants already see the need for a service delivery approach, for others, the concept was a real eye-opener.

The Triple-S project is studying decentralised service delivery in an effort to help stakeholders move beyond a project approach to sustainable water services at scale. Harold Lockwood’s keynote presentation highlighted key findings so far: Decentralisation of Rural Water: moving towards a solution or outsourcing the problem?

The training package is under development. More materials on the necessary elements and process steps for sustainable service delivery will be added to the training.  The training materials are available online on the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre website: www.irc.nl/brisbane2011 . Please do let us know how you are using these materials, if they are useful and how we might improve them for your work in the future.

Costing sustainable services

An international group of forty-five WASH professionals participated in the training session “Costing sustainable services: The life-cycle cost approach”.  Catarina Fonseca: “Attendance went beyond planned and exercises and examples worked well for a full day of very enthusiastic and interested audience. The feedback on the evaluation was also very good.” Read the full article here: http://www.washcost.info/page/1328.

Life-cycle costs represent the aggregate costs of ensuring delivery of sustainable WASH services through a system’s cycle of wear, repair and renewal. The one-day training session provided an introduction to the life-cycle costs approach, and its practical application to WASH programmes based on experiences in Burkina Faso, Ghana, India and Mozambique. The majority of the session participants were very interested in the concepts and tools presented. Among the many methods and tools, the trainers covered 10 steps to collecting life-cycle costs data and showed how it has been done by WASHCost in India. There was significant interest in these straightforward steps by participants and Dr. Mekala Snehalatha emphasised that it is in the practical application that the challenges arise.

Overall, the evaluation revealed that participants found it an inspiring session and appreciated both the materials and ideas presented and the opportunities to interact.  Graphs, maps and presentation were appreciated: “The pie chart revealing hidden costs was useful, I've never had to do this before”, said a private sector professional who provides technical support to national WASH projects.

More information on the life-cycle costs approach and publications can be found on the WASHCost website.