us wash ambassador's meeting - moriarty

Supporting water sanitation

and hygiene services for life

IRC’s approach to changing the

whole (rural water supply)

system: ‘the How’

The rural water sector is a

complex adaptive system.

Fixing it requires systemic change, multiple

stakeholders, relationships and entry points

– and a whole system vision

EXPLAINING TRIPLE-S AND THE SERVICE DELIVERY

APPROACH

The rural water sector is a

complex adaptive system

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

Corruption risk map. Source, GII/TI 2011

Key elements of sector change

Backbone

organization Evidence

The process

(all actors)

The context

A shared

vision of

impact

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

Key elements of sector change

− Change is driven through a process of collective

action and learning; driven by evidence.

− The vision has to be clear – and shared

For WASH - it has to be led by Government!

A shared

vision of

impact

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

Backbone

organization

Key elements of sector change

− Role is that of trusted (critical) friend;

− Provides process facilitation and direction;

− People are critical

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

Evidence

Key elements of sector change

− Shared agreement on measure of success

− Continuous collection and feedback

− Appropriate to the context (i.e. not always an RCT)

− Stakeholders involved in gathering the data

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

The process

(all actors)

Key elements of sector change

− A series of interactions over time

− Involving actors at different (institutional) levels

− Partnership

− Constant evidence based action and learning

− Short(ish)/accelerated learning cycles

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

The change process

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

Sequencing the change process

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

Visualising the change process:

Different Institutional Levels

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

Multiple Stakeholders (roles)

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

Platforms

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

Communication within and between levels

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

The process…… a learning alliance

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

Case study: Ghana

− The Triple-S initiative

− Process on going since ~2009

− Partnering with CWSA (national government)

and District Assemblies (local government)

− 10 year time horizon

− ~$1 million per year total cost

− First ~2 years spent building evidence and consensus of problem

− Working nationally and in 3 districts (in 3 regions)

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

The team

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

District level

− Service Delivery monitoring

− Asset management

− Spare parts supply

Learning & testing

Experiments

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

Systemic learning

National level:

− Senior technocratic and political buy-in

− Review of CWSA policy and corporate plan

− New operational guidance documents

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

Scale emerging

− Service delivery monitoring

- testing of indicators with DAs and CWSA

− From 3 pilot districts now expanded to

78 districts and led by CWSA

− Embedded in CWSA and District

Assembly operational guidelines

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

Evolution of collective action

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

I’ve removed a video clip of Vida – as it makes the whole thing too big!

What we’ve achieved … and what not yet!

- Buy in to vision and paradigm shift - at national and local scale

- Service delivery; sustainability; life-cycle ….. all accepted and being mainstreamed

- Learning, adaptation and harmonisation - though still reliant on IRC/Triple-S backbone

- A strengthened enabling environment (especially CWSA & Districts)

- Start of rapid scaling of some elements: service monitoring; life-cycle costing

- But, progress in terms of impact on services mixed

- Public finance…. results remain vulnerable

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

Lessons from Ghana experience

− Sector change process takes a long time

− A dedicated (“backbone”) organization is critical; the costs of such

an organization and facilitation are marginal to return

− Long term commitment is a must

− The benefits of working “too closely” with government outweigh the

risks ……….. and it is the only ‘exit strategy’

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE

And the ask ……

− Lobby and advocate for the need for a whole system approach

– the need for a strong enabling environment

− Ensure that your initiative links to “the system”

– engage with government

− Look life-cycle financing in the face – where will finance come from

− Because ….. there’s not other exit strategy

TRIPLE-S APPROACH TO CHANGE