Bonus incentive: is the policy working?

The Mvula Trust is one of South Africa's largest non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in water supply and sanitation. From time to time The Mvula Trust awards bonus incentives to deserving communities after their project has been implemented. The Trust's Northern Province project manager Moses Makhweyane takes a look at how the bonus incentive policy works, and whether it makes a difference .

The Mvula Trust awards an incentive to a community after conducting a vigorous evaluation on the scheme, and when the results are in line with the Trust's criteria. Top on the criteria list is that the community should have been able to operate and maintain the scheme for more than six months without external support. The scheme must be in a good and sustainable condition.

Not all The Mvula Trust water projects qualify for the incentive. But a selected few stand a chance to receive the award. The bonus incentive equals 5% of the total capital budget for that specific water project, which could be between R5 000 and R 50 000. The purpose of the incentive is to encourage communities to strengthen their locally based operation and maintenance management to achieve sustainability of the project.

Mohlabaneng, a village in the Northern Province, is one of the water projects The Mvula Trust funded and implemented. In February 2001, The Trust awarded the project a bonus incentive of R30 000. Mr. Brown Monaiwa, chairperson of the Mohlabaneng Village Water Committee, supports the bonus incentive policy. Of it he said, “The Mvula Trust must keep this policy since it encourages communities to take care of their schemes, including those that did not benefit from The Mvula Trust. ”When asked about the possibility of the committee neglecting the scheme after receiving the award, he said there was no chance of that. “The community has developed and adopted the habit of looking well after their scheme. I do not see an event where they'll reverse the situation.”

Monaiwa said that his village will benefit a lot from this award. “As first priority,” he said, “we would like to install gate valves that were previously not installed as part of the project. We shall then move on to install a few stand pipes. The balance shall be kept in the bank for future operation and maintenance emergencies.”

Kurante, Sebela, Tisane, Magukubu, Mankotsana, Ga-phago and Mohlajeng are amongst the Northern Province water projects that were previously awarded the bonus incentive. On average up to three or so villages per year are awarded the bonus incentive. Experience reveals that communities who are aware that they may receive an incentive tend to work harder to improve their operation and maintenance management.

The result is a handful of sustainable community managed projects. The Mvula Trust has always advocated for community management under the backdrop that previously there were few or no municipalities at all in most rural communities to manage water schemes. Even under the current municipalities, operation and maintenance of schemes remains a complex issue that will take some years for them to begin to manage efficiently and effectively.

Valentine Nkoana, a programme manager in Mvula Trust's Northern Province office, agrees that bonus incentives have worked well in encouraging community-based management. She added that: “The Mvula Trust must always try to make an in depth investigation of the communities to be awarded so that gaps are identified and responded to properly.”

Nkoana says the community based management concept should be seen as a resource, because it makes use of local resources, like labour, knowledge and expertise. This, she says, makes the project cost efficient. She says that some people within the sector do not believe in community-based management - they continue to see this an arrangement meant for the rural poor. But she argues that The Mvula Trust must engage all in the country to make them realize how community management can benefit the country as a whole. Decentralised management of schemes has proved to be effective and efficient, both here in South Africa and internationally.

Moses Makhweyane, May 2001