IRC Lessons Learnt Programme

In 2001 the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC), the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) and The Mvula Trust formed a partnership to implement a project that became known as the ‘IRC Lessons Learnt Programme’. This was a creative, innovative and ambitious programme.ranging from a writing training programme, to sharing and disseminating lessons learnt, and to attempting to influence policy. The project was implemented during the period June 2000 to 1 October 2001.

The Mvula Trust hired Jean de la Harpe to do an evaluation of the project. Here is summary of her 2002 report.

Summary

1. During the implementation of the programme it became evident that some of the objectives were not achievable in the time-frame, capacity and budget of the programme, for example influencing policy. Thus the programme focussed on those objectives that were achievable, and overall it achieved very good results. In particular it:

• provided an excellent training programme for selected The Mvula Trust and the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) staff in terms of basic writing skills and skills to write stories about their water and sanitation working experiences in the field;
• promoted sharing of experiences amongst participants concerning community management within the water and sanitation sector;
• resulted in a number of stories being published both in internal Mvula Trust publications and external publications
• produced a replicable model for this training programme.

2. Through its publications The Mvula Trust has also provided mechanisms and opportunities for participants of the programme to publish their stories and share information with their peers. One area of the programme that could be strengthened is dissemination of stories and information concerning the community management model to a wider audience. In this regard it is recommended that The Mvula Trust pursue the establishment of a ‘community-based management’ site on the internet which could contain a range of information, including stories from the field.