EWB WatSan Malawi: Working with Government for a Bottom Up & Top Down Solution to Coordinated Water and Sanitation Services BODIES EWB WATSAN’S ROLE PROVIDES INTENDED GOALS EWB WATSAN’S APPROACH Engineers Without Borders 1. Strategic discussion of approaches needs to be facilitated •In Malawi since 2008 •Non-implementing NGO playing a facilitative role •Provides technical support in connecting innovation and learning between stakeholders Preventing Failure 75% of water points work Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development •The permanent institution responsible for service delivery •Provides strategic & regulatory leadership •Coordinator of key groups, meetings & policies •Needs to be in the ‘driver’s seat’ for the Water Sector in accordance with the Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda •Devolving resources to district offices District Offices •Responsible for providing communities with Water services •Ensuring critical interventions translate into long-term impact •Provide operation and maintenance support •Need to become a robust service delivery institution •Working with severely limited resources •Embedded support •Forming groups, meetings & policies •Team and individual capacity development Increasing governments ability to coordinate sector •Improving linkages between levels of government for a more united sector •Help preparing for resources to be devolved •Embedded support to develop key competencies or support project transitions •Support for the formation of a network of district level innovators Sustained Service Delivery Low success rate for sanitation projects Synchronizing efforts Sector Wide Approach (2008) Increasing service delivery •NGOs injecting funds into the system creates false motivations and is less sustainable if initiative requires more resources than are readily available •EWB WatSan therefore helps to focus discussion on reaching and maintaining the ideal state without additional resources 3. Tailored support helped bring recommendations to actions •WatSan supported significant innovations for sustaining Water service delivery changes in project design by: • Helping government and DPs to develop specific recommendations • Supporting them to bring those changes into practice with embedded staff Policies and investment plans 4. All projects could use an extra look at institutional sustainability Regular stakeholder meetings •Though all projects intend to have sustainable impacts, additional support should focus on how permanent institutions will be affected •EWB WatSan created tools to support government and DPs to reflect on the long term impacts of project design decisions Working towards common goals •A third party group that can facilitate communication between DPs and the Government • A number of coordination structures exist •But many DPs and NGOs are not aware of what their sector colleagues are doing •Or more importantly, what they are learning from their approaches 2. Developing initiatives that rely on available resources only Proper dispersal of tasks Development Partners (DPs) •Provide financial and technical support to support crucial immediate services for a mostly rural population •Seek to have sustained positive impacts •Principles of the Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda stipulate that they require direction from the responsible government as to how their resources can best address issues KEY LEARNING Firth, Megan Engineers Without Borders Canada CWN’s Student and Young Professionals Committee –Vice President [email protected] | 1.514.836.9709 Blog: megwatsanmalwi.wordpress.com