Project Implementation
Project implementation means installing handpumps in an isolated village or
laying water pipe in a peri-urban slum or installing a gravity feed water system
with house connections in a tiny village. There are thousands of places and
scores of organizations that would be willing and competent to receive AWR
support. AWR does not directly implement projects. There are enough
organizations to go around that can easily provide the labor and equipment
infrastructure. What AWR must demand, as the purse holder, is quality
programming and fiscal responsibility.
In order to best put funds to work, AWR has established the following
programming principles:
1. Community Participation
Community participation as used here is definitely not the community
participation currently understood by implementing agencies, where ditch
digging, cash payments, compulsory attendance, and the donation of land or
existing structures, are the water-users only interventions. Project decisions
must be taken jointly between institutions and beneficiaries. Appropriate forums
must be available for permanent community intervention using their development
framework. AWR can become a standard bearer for changing a self-perpetuation
system designed to ignore local priorities and suppress opportunities for
empowerment.
2. Sustainability
No one want to invest money in public works or human resource development,
knowing that four or five years down the line, O&M procedures will be abandoned,
installations will fall into disuse, lessons learned will be forgotten. Project
permanence must have a fighting chance, and firm commitments must be obtained as
part of funding prerequisites. Sustainability strategies, coupled with minimal
follow-up schedules, can safeguard long-term program goals. Continuity can be
aided through logical project identification and selection criteria, water-rate
structures, adequate design and construction standards, training and continuing
education, linkage between and within institutions and communities, proper
financial planning, and a host of other locally-generated ideas and options.
3. Environmental Protection
All projects must defend the environment and protect local natural resources,
especially water resources. Practical applications include watershed management
programs for water sources, the improvement of construction practices (slope
stabilization, rainwater runoff control, disease vector breeding-ground
elimination, etc.), and wastewater treatment and water reuse, among others.
4. Training and Education
These items clearly form part of the sustainability criteria. All parties
involved require specific training programs that can include everything from
health education to water supply operation, maintenance, and administration, in
order to achieve long-term project success. Users must understand the proper use
of their installations, and operators the functioning and care of system
components.
5. Health Education
As a subcomponent of training and education, health education deserves special,
separate mention. The fact that water supply is a public health intervention
does not assure that health benefits automatically accrue under it, especially
in areas where piped running water is a novelty. Simple health messages should
be understood, such as the cycle of disease transmission, personal hygiene, food
preparation, etc. Participatory and autochthonous learning methods must be
employed, for maximum efficiency.
6. Water and Sanitation
Study after study has demonstrated how health benefits are multiplied when
improvements are made jointly in the water supply and fecal waste disposal
systems. AWR must finance water and wastewater (in the form of household
latrines) as a package.
7. Matching Money
AWR will avoid the pitfall of underwriting all project material and equipment
purchases. Whether the implementing agency is a national or international NGO or
government organization, agreements will be entered into that require financial
obligations by all parties involved. This requirement will confirm serious
interest in project design and development by all partners, extend project
benefits, and provide an opportunity for attracting sector investments. AWR
requires a minimum 25% match for all projects.
8. Project Overhead
A large part of any development project costs (at least 40% of total available
funds) goes to project administration - salaries and benefits, travel expenses,
vehicle purchase and maintenance, office supplies and upkeep, etc. AWR will meet
all expenses related to it's own bureaucracy, and meet a small percentage of
project administration expenses. No more than 10% of AWR funding is made
available for direct project overhead.