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Ethiopia (Hetosa) 1996 Project Evaluation
The following summarises the findings of an evaluation conducted by independent consultants in March 1996 of work undertaken in Ethiopia by WaterAid Water is Life -Traditional Oromigna Saying Evaluations Methodology Eighteen villages were visited and a survey was carried out in 7 villages using effective participatory methods. The evaluation team pre-determined the number of villages, the type of villages and the information to be gathered and shared the responsibility of making presentations and holding discussions about the evaluation and recommendations. In the villages, the evaluation was more inclusive, involving the villagers at every stage of the evaluation and information gathering and analysis. The engineering evaluation was also considered during the leaders' and village meetings. Process and Progress The lowlands area below the escarpment fall from 1,900m to 1,750m and are hot and very dry. The number one problem for everybody in this area is water. Two rivers not much more than streams have been the main source of water for everyone. The lowest areas have the furthest distance to travel being midway between the small rivers in the highland and the lakes in the Rift Valley floor. Collection time for water ranges between 30-60 minutes on the upper areas to 11 hours in the lowland. Lack of water in the area has been a major factor in the universal determination to help construct the water supply system and assumptions of responsibility in managing and maintaining the system. It is useful to think of the project as having two phases. Phase 1 is the construction phase (construction of the water system and of the Community Management structures and systems). Phase 2 can appropriately be considered the Capacity-Building phase, in the wider sense. Each of these will be discussed in separate sections below. Water and Technology At the time of evaluation, construction was nearing completion with 7km of pipe to lay, one reservoir and two reservoir slabs and 28 public water points to be completed. A finishing gang was working through the system. The villagers also had a considerable amount of work to complete the back filling and fencing of the waterpoints. The whole concept of the revised Hetosa Supply Scheme to include the lowland villages shows a most effective use of the two available springs. The general appearance of the water at waterpoints is good. The quality of design and construction was of high value and improved during the project as the water meter and gate valve are now located in a chamber rather than a hole broken out of the concrete surround. The main pipeline is 8 inch diameter iron and 6 inch galvanised steel. Other sections are in PVC in diameters from 3 to 6 inches. The branch line to and from the reservoirs are in MPDE with diameter from 25mm to 63mm. There is one break pressure tank between the source and the escarpment to the lowlands on which there are three more. No flow control has been installed in the reservoir inlets, ensuring a steady but never high pressure in the system and avoiding considerable maintenance. This has also resulted in regular overflow from the reservoirs, creating a public health problem as animals and people use this overflow. Also it will create supply shortages in the future when some reservoirs are overflowing and others are not receiving enough water. A channel towards the edge of the waterpoint surround should be included in the construction allowing overflow to be led away. Another outstanding technical item is the back filling and consolidating of pipe trench as erosion may become a problem. In addition, the majority of reservoir roof access holes do not have a cover slab in place which has become a small though continual source of pollution. Having water nearby has enabled people to make their lives easier without bringing about major differences to cultural patterns. The main benefits perceived by the villagers were the luxury of having the water and the ease of having it nearby, the simplification of daily routine activities, that animals would be watered more and easily, and washing was easier and could be more frequent. Time saved for relaxation activities is seen as the least benefit. Twenty-two homes in 7 villages have started cattle fattening businesses as a direct result of the water. Iteya town will continue to develop rapidly. Even without the water, the town has doubled in population in the last 10 years. Now that there is water, businesses are starting in Iteya in preference to Nazareth. Two large grain stores and many shops have been built and a cattle market started in the year before the evaluation. Two large hotels are nearing completion. There is a similar pattern in women's view of any time that is saved by having water nearby. Time is taken up with daily housework and family care activities. The women appreciated having more time to spin or make Kuna and Safed. One woman had started a market stall in Hurutu and a few others were able to give more time to making tala, the homebrew beer. Making tala is a common home-based income earner for women. The common view is that there is a great deal of water, such that demand will never use all the water available. In actual fact, water supply has to be carefully monitored to ensure that all public waterpoints receive a reliable daily supply. The yield will probably be fully utilised before the design period of 15 years. In the future, it will be important to reconsider an assumption built into design that all water supplied will be from water points and used for human consumption. The design does not include an increasing demand for individual connections and their larger per capita use and the dry season watering of animals. Nor does it include the potential for commercial development to demand water. As demand is transferred from elsewhere, these factors will affect the availability of water at the public water points within the next 5 years.
The project has assumed that greater access to water would result in higher consumption. It has become apparent that the amount of water used is not directly related to access determined by distance. In some cases, villagers are not increasing their water intake because they are simply not accustomed to using more and have not engaged in efforts to change their ways. There was no significant difference between villages that have had water for 10 months and those which have only recently received water. Recommendations
Given the situation, the evaluation team responded positively when asked to collect information about health that could be used as a baseline in Hetosa Woreda. The research and compilation process was undertaken in a participatory way involving the villagers as much as possible. In Stage One, village leaders and representatives of the VWC were brought together in four groups on separate days to elicit their experience of the project. Stage Two saw Village Water Committee (VWC) members and trainees record health-related information from villages. At Stage Three, findings were compared with other villages and then presented. Further discussions were held with villagers on the benefits and responsibilities implied by water. The three-staged village survey was carried out in 7 villages with 304 households in which 1,888 people live. Through the openness and honesty of the respondants, it was found that people have little idea about the health situation in their villages and appear not to feel that they have any particular health problems. Health relating to water is perceived more as 'feeling good' rather than as reduction in infections. Findings from the survey highlight that there are few health education activities that are specific to the project and health education work is generally considered separate from the rest of the project. Health-related activities and its role in the project are not well understood or appreciated. These are probably the reasons why the Woreda Water Management Board feel that managing health education should not be their responsibility. The Health Bureau also appear not to feel a strong sense of involvement in the project or sense of commitment to the health education component of the project. The majority of health education work, where it is being undertaken, is essentially a continuation of the on-going health education work of the health units including clinics and immunization mobile clinics. In some cases, a number of specific extra health education sessions are organised by Iteya Clinic. In another case, the health education office in Asella visited six villages with its mobile film unit in February 1996. The Health Education Officer for Arsi Zone is the only person who has had specific in-service training on health education methods. The training consisted of 15 days on visual aids for health education and three trainings of one week on health education in general. The only training on health education received by other health staff has been that which is a part of their basic training of one and a half years to be health assistants. Teaching methods are largely inappropriate and ineffectual. Health education that is delivered is usually composed of a quick description of nutrition, hygiene, sanitation and immunization. The visual aids are not clearly presented. No attempt is made to capture people's interest and attention. Likewise, no attempt is made to discuss the topics that may be of interest to the listeners. There appears to be no attempt to relate the health education topics to the water supply. No questions are asked and no personal contact is made between the health educator and the people. The whole event is normally completed within 30 minutes. Recommendations
Each village selected 2 men and 3 women to be trained. People were able to apply to their VWCs for training. Those selected underwent 30 days of training at separate times with subjects of plumbing and construction, health, home economics, finance and administration. The training days were divided into subject blocks with technical subjects taught everyday and others for 15 of the 30 days. Training was carried out by staff from the Bureaus of Water, Health and Agriculture and in a few cases was not always accessible and directly applicable to the work of the trainees. However, the hands-on practical nature of the training enabled trainees to have developed certain types and levels of proficiency. Training more than the required number of people was planned to create competition in the community. Trainees are considered to be the main source of expertise to run the scheme. For this to remain true to fact, they will require more training and continuing in-service training specific to their current jobs. Only with more training of the attendants and office staff will a rapport of cooperation on maintenance develop between the community, its water committee, its waterpoint attendants and the office. At present, the Administration office staff has little idea of how the system operates. A programme of operational awareness is essential. On a related note, waterpoint attendants have received one month training in basic finance and management together with technical training on pipe laying and jointing. While they are also responsible for selling water at the waterpoints, they have no tools or repair fittings to carry out emergency work. After the construction is complete, the project will delegate the responsibility for the management of the scheme to local management and committee groups. The Woreda Water Management Board, the Village Water Committee and the Water Administration Office require further training and follow-up support for the two years following the evaluation to ensure sustainable capacity to efficiently manage the scheme. Recommendations
It should also be recognised that neighbouring Dodota Scheme has provided this project with foresight in terms of the possibilities and challenges of economic development surrounding its efforts. Community-Management The community management scheme shares its efforts between leadership and operational management. In terms of leadership management, the scheme focuses on understanding supply and demand, deciding on future water connections, monitoring the financial situation and deciding on tariff rates. Operational management concentrates principally on daily maintenance and financial activities. Community Management and participation has been successful principally because water supply solves a very big problem. Community participation has been of the 'information/compliance' type for the construction and the 'delegated power' type of participation for community management. The project has not tried to have a continuing dialogue with the user community. As the problem is similarly defined by everybody in the community, people perceive maintenance of the whole system to be a personal benefit, feeling committed to the responsibilities of maintenance and protection of the whole system. They have thus been willing to volunteer for the common good of the water supply, offering reliable service. For their participation, each village was asked to create a Village Water Committee (VWC) of volunteers and elect five people to be trained as technicians/tap attendants. Two people from the VWC were to be members of the Woreda Water Management Board. This appears to have worked well and those involved appear happy to contribute related time and expenses incurred. At evaluation, the VWC had a limited role, concentrating on organising community participation for construction. It has been proposed that the role of VWCs be expanded and on-going both during and after construction. The villages provide labour to dig and back fill the trenches, general labour for construction activities in the villages and further labour for general tasks such as the loading and unloading of pipes at the project stores. Each village had to contribute to the digging of the main line and undertake all trench digging for the distribution lines to and within their own village. This required elaborate planning, transport, and other organisational endeavours which was effectively undertaken. Water is sold at 5c/60 litres, or 83c per cubic metre. The check meter reading at the waterpoint and the charge to the private connections is 75c per cubic metre. These prices are considered reasonable by the people. It has helped that people see money from the water purchase used effectively. At the same time, tap attendants are allowed only 4 percent loss, a small amount which does not encourage them to give water away, even where it might be health conscious to do so. It is however encouraging to see that attendants only have to turn off the main gate valve when not in attendance. There is no attempt to take water at these times without payment. On a related matter, the income of the tap attendant is very reasonable considering that they live at home and can carry on farming at the same time. Recommendations
An expenditure budget drawn up with the Water Administration Office shows a requirement of 248,870 Birr in a full year of operation. Predicted income for the same period is 257,640 Birr based on the existing tariff. There is sufficient income to pay the staff of the scheme a reasonable salary and a steady income that enables salaries to be paid regularly, and to pay for the normal maintenance. It is important to note that income to cover costs depends on all the waterpoints working every day. It should also be noted that community response to pay cash contributions has not matched the contribution in labour and efforts will have to be made to collect contributions after the completion of the construction phase of the project. Good financial records are kept by the Water Administration Office and people trust the system. The Hetosa Water Scheme has shown all the signs that the user community will be able to finance the maintenance and manage the whole supply system. When the construction is complete, a new structure will be put in place that better reflects the leadership and management role of the community structures. Under Phase 2, the operational Steering Committee will disband and hand-over responsibility to the Woreda Water Management Board and with operational management undertaken by the Water Administration Office operating under its guidance. The Woreda Water Management Board will further change its composition to include a representative of the Hetoda Woreda Council, the Hetoda Woreda Agricultural Officer and the Hetosa Woreda Health Officer, along with two representatives from each Village Water Committee. This Board and its Executive Committee will make all the management decisions and supervise the working of all staff in the project. There are a few restraints on full community management of the programme. Officers in the Water Bureau, in the Oromia Water, Mineral and Energy Resources Development Bureau and in the Arsi Zone are reluctant to accept the implementation of community management which would give user communities sufficient control to effectively manage the whole scheme. The major limiting factor for the community part of the project continues to be its limited resources. Recommendations
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