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Sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in Mbire district, Zimbabwe
Physics and Chemistry of the Earth xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
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Physics and Chemistry of the Earth journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pce
Sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in Mbire district, Zimbabwe Johnson Kwangware a,⇑, Aloyce Mayo a, Zvikomborero Hoko b a b
University of Dar es Salaam, Water Resources Engineering Department, P.O. Box 35131, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania University of Zimbabwe, Civil Engineering Department, Box MP167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 22 February 2014 Received in revised form 16 September 2014 Accepted 11 October 2014 Available online xxxx Keywords: Boreholes Community participation Financing Reliability Rural water supply Sustainability index
a b s t r a c t The sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects was assessed in Mbire district, Zimbabwe in terms of level of community participation, quality of implementation and reliability of the systems. The study was carried out through questionnaires, focus group discussions, interviews and field observations. The results show that the quality of implementation of the projects was deemed to be good and participation of the communities in project ideas initiation and choice of technology was found to be very low. Reliability of the systems was found to be very high with 97% of the boreholes in all the three wards studied being functional. Financial management mechanisms were very poor because water consumers were not willing to pay for operation and maintenance. The projects were classified as potentially sustainable with sustainability index between 5.00 and 6.67. Poor financial management mechanisms for effective borehole maintenance, poor quality of construction and lack of community participation in project planning were found to be potential threats to the sustainability of the projects. Future projects should establish the need for the service and should thus be demand driven to ensure effective participation of the water consumers and enhance project’s potential for sustainability. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The achievement of lasting and sustainable impacts from projects is a major challenge for donors and the agencies implementing or supporting water supply and sanitation projects in developing countries (Sanders and Fitts, 2011). This is mainly due to poor cost recovery because water consumers are not contributing to the cost of operation and maintenance of water supply facilities (Nkiwane, 2007; Sharma, 2012; Kamruzzaman et al., 2013). Regardless of how successful an intervention may be in the short-term, if its beneficial impacts are not sustained over long period, it cannot be deemed cost effective (Carter and Rwamwanja, 2006). Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is undermined by non-sustainable interventions (UNDP, 2011). Globally the MDG target relating to access to safe drinking-water has been met, but progress has been uneven in different regions (WHO, 2012). For instance, while 89% of the world population enjoy piped and other improved water supplies, only 63% of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa have improved water supplies (WHO/UNICEF JMP, 2013). Global drinking water trends indicate that of the 2.1 billion people who gained access to improved water ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Kwangware).
supplies between 1990 and 2011, 1.3 billion (61.9%) lived in urban areas (WHO/UNICEF JMP, 2013). In fact 83% of the world population without access to improved water supplies lives in rural areas, suggesting that rural communities remain severely underprivileged (Tadesse et al., 2013; WHO/UNICEF JMP, 2013). On the other hand, the MDG target on sanitation has not been met, with approximately 36% of the world’s population without improved sanitation (Moe and Gangarosa, 2009; WHO/UNICEF JMP, 2013). In Zimbabwe, progress in achieving water and sanitation targets is off track (GoZ/UNDP, 2010). Zimbabwe’s experience of water and sanitation sector development is that of a model of African sector development, collapsing within a decade. This reflects the vulnerability of sector service development built on state subsidies and donor finance, without sufficient focus on sustainability (AMCOW-CSO2, 2009/10). The sustainable performance of rural water supply and sanitation projects is of fundamental importance in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in terms of ensuring environmental sustainability, improving health and eradicating extreme poverty for the overwhelming rural majority living in the developing world including Zimbabwe. Once change for the better has been brought about, that trajectory of change must be maintained and enhanced (WaterAid, 2011). Sustainability is influenced by many factors, some of which are technical, but others are non-technical (Rietveld et al., 2009).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2014.10.001 1474-7065/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article in press as: Kwangware, J., et al. Sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in Mbire district, Zimbabwe. J. Phys. Chem. Earth (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2014.10.001
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J. Kwangware et al. / Physics and Chemistry of the Earth xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
Effective community organizations, ability of the community to operate and maintain facilities, ability of the community to raise adequate user fees for purchasing spare parts, and strong backup support from external parties at the district level to solve major breakdowns contribute to the sustainability of water supply systems (Musonda, 2004). Serious failings in the quality of implementation of hardware and software aspects may act as a killer factor from which recovery is impossible without significant additional investment (WaterAid, 2011). Zimbabwe was a forerunner in establishing a system of government/community collaboration for the management and maintenance of the rural water supply infrastructure in the 1980s and 1990s. Maintenance of rural water points in Zimbabwe was under a centralized maintenance system, called the Three-Tier Maintenance System (Hoko et al., 2009). The three-tier system, which had three structures, was believed to be a good framework for sustainable water supply systems (Hoko et al., 2009). However, in the past decade these maintenance arrangements broke down, largely because the main tier, which was the District Development Fund (DDF) responsible for maintenance of rural water points, was no longer effectively functioning as it was 80% dependent on donor funding that was suspended since 2002. This resulted in reduced access to safe water in the rural areas. In the year 2000, Zimbabwe faced economic challenges, which led to the collapse of public sector investment and the flight of donor finance (Makoni et al., 2004). With the government having inadequate financial resources and no donor support, rural water supply institutions were neglected and became dysfunctional in the last decade. Despite this, there have been efforts by several humanitarian organizations to increase access to improved water supply and sanitation in rural areas of Zimbabwe. In 2008/9, World Vision Zimbabwe (WVZ), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Oxfam GB, and International Organization for Migration (IOM) implemented water and sanitation projects in Mbire district. The government of Zimbabwe established Mbire district in 2007 from the former Guruve district in order to bring development close to the people (LGDA, 2009). Soon after the establishment of the district, different NGOs rehabilitated boreholes as sources of ground water supply for the communities and also implemented latrine construction projects in the district, but sustainability of these facilities was never assessed. Therefore, this research assessed the sustainability of these water supply and sanitation projects implemented by humanitarian organizations in Mbire district and given to poor rural communities to operate and maintain. In this study sustainability in rural water supply and sanitation systems refers to the lasting benefits achieved through the continued enjoyment of water supply and sanitation services as well as permanent change in bad hygiene practices. The study assessed the sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in terms of level of community participation, quality of implementation, reliability of the systems and sustainability of the projects.
2. Materials and methods 2.1. Study area The study was carried out in Mbire district located in Mashonaland Central Province in the Manyame Catchment and occupying the Middle Zambezi Valley (Fig. 1). The district has 17 wards and it covers an area of approximately 4700 km2. Mbire district is in the agro-ecological region V, according to the land classification system in Zimbabwe and is characterized by mean annual temperature of 25 °C and mean annual rainfalls of 650–700 mm, but it is highly
variable with one year in four being below 550 mm and one in four being above 800 mm (Fritz et al., 2003; AWF, 2010). The major economic activities in the area include crop production and cattle ranching for subsistence and wildlife hunting and fishing. Mbire district is a water stressed area and the community depends on groundwater for domestic requirements with deep wells and boreholes being the main sources of drinking water. 2.2. Data collection Data on the sustainability of the rural water supply and sanitation schemes was gathered through households’ survey, focus group discussion, key informant interviews and field observation. The household questionnaire was used to obtain primary data on issues related to water source and sanitation, investigation of demand responsiveness, type of community participation, and the role of water committees in the management of community boreholes. Key informant interviews were done to generate relevant data from the District Development Office (DDF), humanitarian organizations, Health office and National Coordination Unit (NCU) office. Physical inspections were carried out on all the thirty two (32) hand pumps and sixteen (16) toilets to determine the quality of the hand pumps and physical condition of both hand pumps and toilets. Main aspects assessed under physical condition were the overall functionality of the water supply points and construction quality for both the water points and toilets. A perfect physical condition score indicates that a water system is free of contamination, has high quality construction without visible defects in masonry and should provide abundant flow water at the first pump. A visit was made to the supplier of hand pumps and spares to assess the manufacturing process especially use of dimensional control tools, checking use of ‘‘Jigs and Fixtures’’ and use of go and No Go gauges for assuring dimensional tolerances and inter-changeability of parts from one pump to another. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were held with user communities and water committee members using a discussion guide. 2.3. Data analysis The primary data collected from household survey through structured questionnaires was first checked for accuracy and data entries coded. Data was then entered, edited and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 16.0 software. The Sustainability Analytical Framework adapted from UNDPWorld Bank Water and Sanitation Program report was used for analysis of the sub-indicators of sustainability (Sara and Katz, 1997). The five sub-indicators, such as, (a) financial management, (b) operation and maintenance practices, (c) consumer satisfaction, (d) physical condition of system and, (e) willingness to sustain the system. Modifications were made on the questions in the questionnaires to suit the context of study. Each sub-indicator score was based on a group of eight (8) to twenty (20) related questions collected by the study team. Each question was scored on a scale of zero to two, and the total score for the sub-indicator is calculated by combining these scores and converting to a ten-point scale. Overall sustainability index in each ward is an average of the five sub indicators. It is adjusted to a ten-point scale, with financial management comprising 12% of the overall sustainability score, and each of the other four indicators comprising 22% percent. The index for each project was grouped into three categories. Index above 6.67 was categorized as Sustainable, below 5.00 as Unsustainable and between 5.00 and 6.67 as potentially sustainable based on the Sustainability Framework from the UNDP-World Bank Water and Sanitation Program Report (Sara and Katz, 1997).
Please cite this article in press as: Kwangware, J., et al. Sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in Mbire district, Zimbabwe. J. Phys. Chem. Earth (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2014.10.001
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Harare Mutare
Gweru
Masvingo Bulawayo
Study Site Mbire District 1
2
5
3
4 12
9
17
11 16
15 10
13
8
7
14
6
Fig. 1. Location of study area in relation to Mbire district in Zimbabwe.
3. Results and discussion 3.1. Sustainability index of the projects In this study, sub-indicators of sustainability that measure the key technical, institutional and social sustainability at the community level were measured. These were physical condition, O&M, consumer satisfaction, financial management and willingnessto-sustain the system. Table 1 shows the sustainability scores for each sub-indicator for the different wards. Perfect score (10) indicates that the system performs well on all the measured aspects. 3.1.1. Physical condition It was found that average scores for physical condition (Table 1) were highest in the ward 10 (8.08), where the project was undertaken by IOM, followed by ward 3 (7.69) where the projected was implemented by Oxfam GB and lastly ward 12 (6.64) where WVZ implemented the project. Average scores for physical condition performs well for all the systems an indicator that quality of implementation of the system was better compared with other sub-indicators.
Table 1 Scores for each sub-indicator of sustainability. Ward Physical Operation number condition and maintenance
Consumer Financial Willingness satisfaction management to sustain
3 10 12 Average
6.03 6.54 7.59 6.72
7.69 8.08 6.64 7.47
6.19 6.92 7.22 6.78
2.65 3.38 3.33 3.12
5.34 5.63 4.90 5.59
3.1.2. Operations and maintenance It was found that average score for operations and maintenance was highest in ward 12 (Table 1) with an average score of 7.22, whilst wards 3 and 10 had average scores of 6.19 and 6.92, respectively. The average score for all the wards is 6.78 showing that all the communities perform well on 67.8% of the measured aspects. Due to lack of transport and poor roads, the district pump minders are not able to visit the villages to do major repairs which negatively affects the sustainability of rural water points.
3.1.3. Consumer satisfaction The average consumer satisfaction scores were slightly higher than the other sub-indicators of sustainability. The low score was in ward 3 in Bandazi village where the borehole was not functioning, and the highest scores were in ward 10 (Chikafa clinic, Nyambabwe and Nyambudzi village boreholes) and ward 12 (Nyamara and Tongogara village boreholes). Communities in ward 12 and 10 expressed most satisfaction with their boreholes. It is important to highlight that these scores are measures of perceptions. As such, people at times reported being very satisfied with a poorly functioning system, because they considered it to be better than what they had before. In addition, these scores may reflect a cultural bias and a community’s willingness to be openly critical. It is worth to note that levels of consumers’ satisfaction is one of the major factors influence their willingness to pay for water services (Bhandari and Grant, 2007). Experience gained in Tanzania indicates that cost recovery is one of the key factors promoting sustainability of rural water supply projects (Nkiwane, 2007). Mayo and Nkiwane (2013) reported that about 94% of water users in two projects in Hai district in northern Tanzania were willing and able to pay for water services largely because of sense of ownership of the two projects.
Please cite this article in press as: Kwangware, J., et al. Sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in Mbire district, Zimbabwe. J. Phys. Chem. Earth (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2014.10.001
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3.1.4. Financial management Table 1 show that financial management average score (3.12) was the lowest among all the sub-indicators of sustainability. Communities were not having a treasurer and where they have the treasurer was not educated, cost for repairs was not being paid, no tariffs, no sanction of people for non-payment. It is worth noting that poor cost recovery have led to failures of water supply projects (Sanders and Fitts, 2011; Sharma, 2012). It was found out that all the water point committees only collected money during times of breakdowns of water supply facilities, as villagers did not want to contribute the money on a regular basis for fear of abuse of the money. Whittington et al. (1990) observed similar behavior in rural Nigerian district of Nsukka where consumers refused to commit themselves to pay for water services because they do not trust public service providers. The major weakness appears to be the development of institutions for collection and management of funds collected from the communities. There are many models of institutional arrangements that are accepted and widely used in rural water supplies around the world (Mohan, 2003; Nyirishema and Verweij, 2013). Mayo and Nkiwane (2013) reported that Uroki-Bomang’ombe and Lawate water supply projects in Tanzania formed water supply trusts, which are responsible to the communities, but are professionally managed. Nyirishema and Verweij (2013) reported that the existing community managed water supply systems in Rwanda have suffered from a lack of accountability, low technical and administrative skills, which has contributed to poor cost recovery and hampered the rehabilitation of water supply infrastructures, leading to many dysfunctional water points. As a result, recent developments have attempted to encourage Private Public Partnership (PPP) implementation in four districts of Rubavu, Nyabihu, Musanze and Burera. 3.1.5. Willingness to sustain the system Table 1 show that the willingness to sustain the system scores for ward 3, 10 and 12 were 5.34, 5.63 and 4.9, respectively. The lowest scores were recorded in ward 3 (Bandazi village) where one of the boreholes was not working. The low score values recorded in this sub-indicator shows that generally people in Mbire district are not willing to sustain the service. This might be attributed to the fact that people in rural areas still believe that it is the role of the government to sustain rural water supplies. It is also worth mentioning that communities were not involved in project idea initiation and choice of technology. This indicates that projects were supply-driven instead of being demand-driven (Kwangware, 2013). It is important to promote beneficiary participation that gives them greater opportunity to manage and decide on issues affecting their water supply systems as it develops a sense of project ownership among the community, which increases the willingness of the community to sustain the system.
Table 2 Overall sustainability index. Ward number
Name of project implementer
Overall sustainability index
3 10
Oxfam Great Britain International Organization for Migration World Vision Zimbabwe
5.87 6.38
12 Average
6.20 6.15
Narayan (1995), development practitioners working with communities argue that communities need to be given greater opportunity to manage and decide on issues like water supply projects. Community participation enables the beneficiaries to play an active role during project implementation and develop a sense of project ownership. Participation of communities enables them to initiate project ideas, decide on technology type, and location of facilities that best fit their needs including costs and commitment to bear upcoming maintenance and operational cost. NGOs and governmental offices were the major stakeholders who decided on the type of technology that need to be installed for the water supply scheme. According to Carter (2010), the kind of technology that cannot serve the best interest of the beneficiary in terms of the quality and durability can cause further problem for maintenance and negatively affects the sustainability of the projects. Although the communities were not consulted on the choice of the technology, they were very much satisfied with the technology provided by the government. 3.2.1. Women participation Results show that representation of women in water committees is only 25.8%, which was perceived by the majority of the respondents (76.3%) as adequate although 93.8% of the respondents admit that representation of more women in the committee is good for the society (Fig. 2). This low level of representation of women in water user committees can be attributed to strong cultural views towards women in most rural districts of Zimbabwe Key informant interviews with the local water authority revealed that the quarter system reserved for women was actually a requirement for all water committees in the district by the local authority. It is widely believed that social, economic and cultural
3.1.6. Overall sustainability index Table 2 shows that the average sustainability index for all the projects is 6.15. This indicates that the projects are performing well on only 61.5% of the technical, institutional and social aspects. Ward 10 where IOM implemented the water supply project has the highest sustainability index of 6.38. Projects implemented by Oxfam Great Britain and World Vision Zimbabwe have sustainability indices of 5.87 and 6.20, respectively. The analysis revealed that all the projects fell in the potentially sustainable category (between 5.00 and 6.67). 3.2. Community participation in water supply and sanitation projects It was found that community participation was minimal and restricted to providing labor and local materials. According to
Fig. 2. Women participation in water point committees.
Please cite this article in press as: Kwangware, J., et al. Sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in Mbire district, Zimbabwe. J. Phys. Chem. Earth (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2014.10.001
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reasons limit the women participation in water committee (Mwamsamali, 2007; Kwangware, 2013; Tedesse et al., 2013). In their survey in Mzinga project in Malawi, Mwamsamali and Mayo (2014) reported that the major factors affecting gender mainstreaming in rural water project brought forward by the community include lack of incentives in water sector, lack of gender training, lack of support from supervisors, ignorance of gender issues and strong cultural beliefs vis-à-vis women’s position in society. Furthermore, there is ample evidence to indicate that a more active involvement of women can optimize the results and impacts of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) projects (Mukherjee and Wijk, 2003).
support by non-governmental organizations. However, the average downtime of 3 weeks is longer than the 2 days recommended for reliable boreholes because of users’ unwillingness to contribute money for repairs of the water points. 2. The sustainability of water supply and sanitation projects implemented by the three humanitarian organizations in the three wards studied are potentially sustainable with sustainability index ranging between 5.00 and 6.67. However, the potential threats to sustainability are poor financial mechanisms for effective borehole maintenance and poor quality of construction and lack of users’ sense of ownership of the projects.
3.3. Quality of implementation of the projects
Conflict of interest
The quality of implementation of the projects was studied by assessing the hardware and software aspects of the projects. Hardware aspects studied were procurement procedures, quality of the hand pumps, construction quality, supervision and enforcement of standards. Software aspects studied are institutional and human capacity development and promotion of hygiene education. It was found that the quality of implementation of the projects was good with transparent procurement procedures, good quality hand pumps from reputable supplier and all the organizations carried out institutional and human capacity development. However, the quality of construction of the water supply systems was found to be bad and this was attributed to poor supervision of the works by the local water authority. According to WaterAid (2011), proper supervision and rigorous enforcement of standards increases sustainability of projects. It was found out that all the project implementers actively carried out hygiene promotion and trained pump minders and village health workers. According to the key informant interviews done with the humanitarian organizations, all the organizations made sure that all men, women and children of all ages are aware of key public health risks and are mobilized to adopt measures to prevent deterioration in hygienic conditions and to use and maintain the facilities provided. 3.4. Reliability of the systems Information from key informants and physical assessments of the facilities suggest that the reliability of the systems is very high with a total of 97% (31 out of 32) of the boreholes in all the three wards functional. The high number of functionality was linked to the active District Development Office, effective water committees and external support by non-governmental organizations. However, the average downtime of 3 weeks is longer than the 2 days recommended for reliable boreholes (Dayal et al., 2000; Hoko and Hertle, 2006). The long downtime was attributed to unwillingness by the communities to contribute money for repairs of the water points and availability of other sources of water. It was found that all studied latrines were functional although most latrines were improperly constructed with 57% of the toilets having deep cracks. About 75% of the toilets were deemed to be in a bad condition and 25% to be in a good condition based on their cleanliness and condition of the walls and floors. 4. Conclusions Based on the results, the following conclusions were made: 1. About thirty one (31) out of thirty two (32) boreholes (97%) in the study area were functional largely due to the active local water authority, effective water committees and external
There is no conflict of interest. Acknowledgements This paper presents part of the research results of an MSc study by Johnson Kwangware at the University of Dar es Salaam under a WaterNet fellowship. The authors would like to express their gratitude to WaterNet for the support and assistance during the study. References African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), 2010. Mbire District Natural Resources Management Plan, AWF, Guruve, Zimbabwe. AMCOW, Second Country Status Overview: Zimbabwe (CSO2), 2009/10. Water Supply and Sanitation in Zimbabwe. Bhandari, B., Grant, M., 2007. User satisfaction and sustainability of drinking water schemes in rural communities of Nepal. Sustain.: Sci. Pract. Policy 3 (1), 12–20. Carter, R., Rwamwanja, R., 2006. Functional Sustainability in Water and Sanitation: A Case Study from South-West Uganda. Tearfund, UK. Carter, R.C., 2010. Study of Sustainability of Water Supply Services in Madagascar. Water Aid, London. Dayal, R., Wijk, C., Mukherjee, N., 2000. Methodology for participatory assessments with communities, institutions and policy makers: linking sustainability with demand, gender and poverty. The World Bank Water and Sanitation Program, Washington DC. Fritz, H., Saïd, S., Renaud, P., Mutake, S., Coid, C., Monicat, F., 2003. The effects of agricultural fields and human settlements on the use of rivers by wildlife in the mid-Zambezi valley, Zimbabwe. J. Landscape Ecol. 18, 293–302. Government of Zimbabwe/United Nations Development Programme (GoZ/UNDP), 2010, Millennium Development Goals Status Report, Zimbabwe. Hoko, Z., Demberere, T., Siwadi, J., 2009. An evaluation of the sustainability of a water supply project in Mt Darwin District: Zimbabwe. J. Sustain. Dev. Afr. 11 (2), 98–112, University of Zimbabwe. Hoko, Z., Hertle, J., 2006. An evaluation of the sustainability of a rural water rehabilitation project in Zimbabwe, the case of Mwenezi, Gwanda, Bulilima and Mangwe. J. Phys. Chem. Earth 31 (15–16), 699–706, University of Zimbabwe. Kamruzzaman, A.K.M., Said, I., Osman, O., 2013. Overview on management patterns in community, private and hybrid management in rural water supply. J. Sustain. Dev. 6 (5), 26–36. Lower Guruve Development Association (LGDA), 2009. Mbire District Baseline Survey Report, Guruve, Zimbabwe. Kwangware, J. 2013. Sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in Mbire District, Zimbabwe. Masters of Integrated Water Resources Management Dissertation, Department of Water Resources Engineering, University of Dar es Salaam. Makoni, F.S., Manase, G., Ndamba, J., 2004. Patterns of domestic water use in rural area of Zimbabwe, gender roles and realities: case of Mt Darwin and Bikita. J. Phys. Chem. Earth 29, 12–91. Mayo, A.W., Nkiwane, L., 2013. The role of community participation on cost recovery and sustainability of rural water supply projects in Hai District, Tanzania. J. Environ. Sci. Water Resour. 2 (11), 388–395. Moe, C., Gangarosa, E.J., 2009. Improving Water and Sanitation Access in Developing Countries: Progress and Challenges. Emory University, Atlanta, United States of America. Mohan, R.V.R., 2003. Rural water supply in India: trends in institutionalizing people’s participation, International Water Resources Association. Water Int. 28 (4), 442–453. Mukherjee, N., Wijk, C. (Eds.), 2003. Sustainability Planning and Monitoring in Community Water Supply and Sanitation. IRC Water and Sanitation Centre and the World Bank. Musonda, K., 2004. Issue Regarding Sustainability of Rural Water Supply in Zambia. Master Thesis, The University of South Africa.
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Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Physics and Chemistry of the Earth journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pce
Sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in Mbire district, Zimbabwe Johnson Kwangware a,⇑, Aloyce Mayo a, Zvikomborero Hoko b a b
University of Dar es Salaam, Water Resources Engineering Department, P.O. Box 35131, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania University of Zimbabwe, Civil Engineering Department, Box MP167, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 22 February 2014 Received in revised form 16 September 2014 Accepted 11 October 2014 Available online xxxx Keywords: Boreholes Community participation Financing Reliability Rural water supply Sustainability index
a b s t r a c t The sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects was assessed in Mbire district, Zimbabwe in terms of level of community participation, quality of implementation and reliability of the systems. The study was carried out through questionnaires, focus group discussions, interviews and field observations. The results show that the quality of implementation of the projects was deemed to be good and participation of the communities in project ideas initiation and choice of technology was found to be very low. Reliability of the systems was found to be very high with 97% of the boreholes in all the three wards studied being functional. Financial management mechanisms were very poor because water consumers were not willing to pay for operation and maintenance. The projects were classified as potentially sustainable with sustainability index between 5.00 and 6.67. Poor financial management mechanisms for effective borehole maintenance, poor quality of construction and lack of community participation in project planning were found to be potential threats to the sustainability of the projects. Future projects should establish the need for the service and should thus be demand driven to ensure effective participation of the water consumers and enhance project’s potential for sustainability. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The achievement of lasting and sustainable impacts from projects is a major challenge for donors and the agencies implementing or supporting water supply and sanitation projects in developing countries (Sanders and Fitts, 2011). This is mainly due to poor cost recovery because water consumers are not contributing to the cost of operation and maintenance of water supply facilities (Nkiwane, 2007; Sharma, 2012; Kamruzzaman et al., 2013). Regardless of how successful an intervention may be in the short-term, if its beneficial impacts are not sustained over long period, it cannot be deemed cost effective (Carter and Rwamwanja, 2006). Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is undermined by non-sustainable interventions (UNDP, 2011). Globally the MDG target relating to access to safe drinking-water has been met, but progress has been uneven in different regions (WHO, 2012). For instance, while 89% of the world population enjoy piped and other improved water supplies, only 63% of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa have improved water supplies (WHO/UNICEF JMP, 2013). Global drinking water trends indicate that of the 2.1 billion people who gained access to improved water ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Kwangware).
supplies between 1990 and 2011, 1.3 billion (61.9%) lived in urban areas (WHO/UNICEF JMP, 2013). In fact 83% of the world population without access to improved water supplies lives in rural areas, suggesting that rural communities remain severely underprivileged (Tadesse et al., 2013; WHO/UNICEF JMP, 2013). On the other hand, the MDG target on sanitation has not been met, with approximately 36% of the world’s population without improved sanitation (Moe and Gangarosa, 2009; WHO/UNICEF JMP, 2013). In Zimbabwe, progress in achieving water and sanitation targets is off track (GoZ/UNDP, 2010). Zimbabwe’s experience of water and sanitation sector development is that of a model of African sector development, collapsing within a decade. This reflects the vulnerability of sector service development built on state subsidies and donor finance, without sufficient focus on sustainability (AMCOW-CSO2, 2009/10). The sustainable performance of rural water supply and sanitation projects is of fundamental importance in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in terms of ensuring environmental sustainability, improving health and eradicating extreme poverty for the overwhelming rural majority living in the developing world including Zimbabwe. Once change for the better has been brought about, that trajectory of change must be maintained and enhanced (WaterAid, 2011). Sustainability is influenced by many factors, some of which are technical, but others are non-technical (Rietveld et al., 2009).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2014.10.001 1474-7065/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article in press as: Kwangware, J., et al. Sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in Mbire district, Zimbabwe. J. Phys. Chem. Earth (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2014.10.001
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Effective community organizations, ability of the community to operate and maintain facilities, ability of the community to raise adequate user fees for purchasing spare parts, and strong backup support from external parties at the district level to solve major breakdowns contribute to the sustainability of water supply systems (Musonda, 2004). Serious failings in the quality of implementation of hardware and software aspects may act as a killer factor from which recovery is impossible without significant additional investment (WaterAid, 2011). Zimbabwe was a forerunner in establishing a system of government/community collaboration for the management and maintenance of the rural water supply infrastructure in the 1980s and 1990s. Maintenance of rural water points in Zimbabwe was under a centralized maintenance system, called the Three-Tier Maintenance System (Hoko et al., 2009). The three-tier system, which had three structures, was believed to be a good framework for sustainable water supply systems (Hoko et al., 2009). However, in the past decade these maintenance arrangements broke down, largely because the main tier, which was the District Development Fund (DDF) responsible for maintenance of rural water points, was no longer effectively functioning as it was 80% dependent on donor funding that was suspended since 2002. This resulted in reduced access to safe water in the rural areas. In the year 2000, Zimbabwe faced economic challenges, which led to the collapse of public sector investment and the flight of donor finance (Makoni et al., 2004). With the government having inadequate financial resources and no donor support, rural water supply institutions were neglected and became dysfunctional in the last decade. Despite this, there have been efforts by several humanitarian organizations to increase access to improved water supply and sanitation in rural areas of Zimbabwe. In 2008/9, World Vision Zimbabwe (WVZ), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Oxfam GB, and International Organization for Migration (IOM) implemented water and sanitation projects in Mbire district. The government of Zimbabwe established Mbire district in 2007 from the former Guruve district in order to bring development close to the people (LGDA, 2009). Soon after the establishment of the district, different NGOs rehabilitated boreholes as sources of ground water supply for the communities and also implemented latrine construction projects in the district, but sustainability of these facilities was never assessed. Therefore, this research assessed the sustainability of these water supply and sanitation projects implemented by humanitarian organizations in Mbire district and given to poor rural communities to operate and maintain. In this study sustainability in rural water supply and sanitation systems refers to the lasting benefits achieved through the continued enjoyment of water supply and sanitation services as well as permanent change in bad hygiene practices. The study assessed the sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in terms of level of community participation, quality of implementation, reliability of the systems and sustainability of the projects.
2. Materials and methods 2.1. Study area The study was carried out in Mbire district located in Mashonaland Central Province in the Manyame Catchment and occupying the Middle Zambezi Valley (Fig. 1). The district has 17 wards and it covers an area of approximately 4700 km2. Mbire district is in the agro-ecological region V, according to the land classification system in Zimbabwe and is characterized by mean annual temperature of 25 °C and mean annual rainfalls of 650–700 mm, but it is highly
variable with one year in four being below 550 mm and one in four being above 800 mm (Fritz et al., 2003; AWF, 2010). The major economic activities in the area include crop production and cattle ranching for subsistence and wildlife hunting and fishing. Mbire district is a water stressed area and the community depends on groundwater for domestic requirements with deep wells and boreholes being the main sources of drinking water. 2.2. Data collection Data on the sustainability of the rural water supply and sanitation schemes was gathered through households’ survey, focus group discussion, key informant interviews and field observation. The household questionnaire was used to obtain primary data on issues related to water source and sanitation, investigation of demand responsiveness, type of community participation, and the role of water committees in the management of community boreholes. Key informant interviews were done to generate relevant data from the District Development Office (DDF), humanitarian organizations, Health office and National Coordination Unit (NCU) office. Physical inspections were carried out on all the thirty two (32) hand pumps and sixteen (16) toilets to determine the quality of the hand pumps and physical condition of both hand pumps and toilets. Main aspects assessed under physical condition were the overall functionality of the water supply points and construction quality for both the water points and toilets. A perfect physical condition score indicates that a water system is free of contamination, has high quality construction without visible defects in masonry and should provide abundant flow water at the first pump. A visit was made to the supplier of hand pumps and spares to assess the manufacturing process especially use of dimensional control tools, checking use of ‘‘Jigs and Fixtures’’ and use of go and No Go gauges for assuring dimensional tolerances and inter-changeability of parts from one pump to another. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were held with user communities and water committee members using a discussion guide. 2.3. Data analysis The primary data collected from household survey through structured questionnaires was first checked for accuracy and data entries coded. Data was then entered, edited and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 16.0 software. The Sustainability Analytical Framework adapted from UNDPWorld Bank Water and Sanitation Program report was used for analysis of the sub-indicators of sustainability (Sara and Katz, 1997). The five sub-indicators, such as, (a) financial management, (b) operation and maintenance practices, (c) consumer satisfaction, (d) physical condition of system and, (e) willingness to sustain the system. Modifications were made on the questions in the questionnaires to suit the context of study. Each sub-indicator score was based on a group of eight (8) to twenty (20) related questions collected by the study team. Each question was scored on a scale of zero to two, and the total score for the sub-indicator is calculated by combining these scores and converting to a ten-point scale. Overall sustainability index in each ward is an average of the five sub indicators. It is adjusted to a ten-point scale, with financial management comprising 12% of the overall sustainability score, and each of the other four indicators comprising 22% percent. The index for each project was grouped into three categories. Index above 6.67 was categorized as Sustainable, below 5.00 as Unsustainable and between 5.00 and 6.67 as potentially sustainable based on the Sustainability Framework from the UNDP-World Bank Water and Sanitation Program Report (Sara and Katz, 1997).
Please cite this article in press as: Kwangware, J., et al. Sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in Mbire district, Zimbabwe. J. Phys. Chem. Earth (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2014.10.001
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Harare Mutare
Gweru
Masvingo Bulawayo
Study Site Mbire District 1
2
5
3
4 12
9
17
11 16
15 10
13
8
7
14
6
Fig. 1. Location of study area in relation to Mbire district in Zimbabwe.
3. Results and discussion 3.1. Sustainability index of the projects In this study, sub-indicators of sustainability that measure the key technical, institutional and social sustainability at the community level were measured. These were physical condition, O&M, consumer satisfaction, financial management and willingnessto-sustain the system. Table 1 shows the sustainability scores for each sub-indicator for the different wards. Perfect score (10) indicates that the system performs well on all the measured aspects. 3.1.1. Physical condition It was found that average scores for physical condition (Table 1) were highest in the ward 10 (8.08), where the project was undertaken by IOM, followed by ward 3 (7.69) where the projected was implemented by Oxfam GB and lastly ward 12 (6.64) where WVZ implemented the project. Average scores for physical condition performs well for all the systems an indicator that quality of implementation of the system was better compared with other sub-indicators.
Table 1 Scores for each sub-indicator of sustainability. Ward Physical Operation number condition and maintenance
Consumer Financial Willingness satisfaction management to sustain
3 10 12 Average
6.03 6.54 7.59 6.72
7.69 8.08 6.64 7.47
6.19 6.92 7.22 6.78
2.65 3.38 3.33 3.12
5.34 5.63 4.90 5.59
3.1.2. Operations and maintenance It was found that average score for operations and maintenance was highest in ward 12 (Table 1) with an average score of 7.22, whilst wards 3 and 10 had average scores of 6.19 and 6.92, respectively. The average score for all the wards is 6.78 showing that all the communities perform well on 67.8% of the measured aspects. Due to lack of transport and poor roads, the district pump minders are not able to visit the villages to do major repairs which negatively affects the sustainability of rural water points.
3.1.3. Consumer satisfaction The average consumer satisfaction scores were slightly higher than the other sub-indicators of sustainability. The low score was in ward 3 in Bandazi village where the borehole was not functioning, and the highest scores were in ward 10 (Chikafa clinic, Nyambabwe and Nyambudzi village boreholes) and ward 12 (Nyamara and Tongogara village boreholes). Communities in ward 12 and 10 expressed most satisfaction with their boreholes. It is important to highlight that these scores are measures of perceptions. As such, people at times reported being very satisfied with a poorly functioning system, because they considered it to be better than what they had before. In addition, these scores may reflect a cultural bias and a community’s willingness to be openly critical. It is worth to note that levels of consumers’ satisfaction is one of the major factors influence their willingness to pay for water services (Bhandari and Grant, 2007). Experience gained in Tanzania indicates that cost recovery is one of the key factors promoting sustainability of rural water supply projects (Nkiwane, 2007). Mayo and Nkiwane (2013) reported that about 94% of water users in two projects in Hai district in northern Tanzania were willing and able to pay for water services largely because of sense of ownership of the two projects.
Please cite this article in press as: Kwangware, J., et al. Sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in Mbire district, Zimbabwe. J. Phys. Chem. Earth (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2014.10.001
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3.1.4. Financial management Table 1 show that financial management average score (3.12) was the lowest among all the sub-indicators of sustainability. Communities were not having a treasurer and where they have the treasurer was not educated, cost for repairs was not being paid, no tariffs, no sanction of people for non-payment. It is worth noting that poor cost recovery have led to failures of water supply projects (Sanders and Fitts, 2011; Sharma, 2012). It was found out that all the water point committees only collected money during times of breakdowns of water supply facilities, as villagers did not want to contribute the money on a regular basis for fear of abuse of the money. Whittington et al. (1990) observed similar behavior in rural Nigerian district of Nsukka where consumers refused to commit themselves to pay for water services because they do not trust public service providers. The major weakness appears to be the development of institutions for collection and management of funds collected from the communities. There are many models of institutional arrangements that are accepted and widely used in rural water supplies around the world (Mohan, 2003; Nyirishema and Verweij, 2013). Mayo and Nkiwane (2013) reported that Uroki-Bomang’ombe and Lawate water supply projects in Tanzania formed water supply trusts, which are responsible to the communities, but are professionally managed. Nyirishema and Verweij (2013) reported that the existing community managed water supply systems in Rwanda have suffered from a lack of accountability, low technical and administrative skills, which has contributed to poor cost recovery and hampered the rehabilitation of water supply infrastructures, leading to many dysfunctional water points. As a result, recent developments have attempted to encourage Private Public Partnership (PPP) implementation in four districts of Rubavu, Nyabihu, Musanze and Burera. 3.1.5. Willingness to sustain the system Table 1 show that the willingness to sustain the system scores for ward 3, 10 and 12 were 5.34, 5.63 and 4.9, respectively. The lowest scores were recorded in ward 3 (Bandazi village) where one of the boreholes was not working. The low score values recorded in this sub-indicator shows that generally people in Mbire district are not willing to sustain the service. This might be attributed to the fact that people in rural areas still believe that it is the role of the government to sustain rural water supplies. It is also worth mentioning that communities were not involved in project idea initiation and choice of technology. This indicates that projects were supply-driven instead of being demand-driven (Kwangware, 2013). It is important to promote beneficiary participation that gives them greater opportunity to manage and decide on issues affecting their water supply systems as it develops a sense of project ownership among the community, which increases the willingness of the community to sustain the system.
Table 2 Overall sustainability index. Ward number
Name of project implementer
Overall sustainability index
3 10
Oxfam Great Britain International Organization for Migration World Vision Zimbabwe
5.87 6.38
12 Average
6.20 6.15
Narayan (1995), development practitioners working with communities argue that communities need to be given greater opportunity to manage and decide on issues like water supply projects. Community participation enables the beneficiaries to play an active role during project implementation and develop a sense of project ownership. Participation of communities enables them to initiate project ideas, decide on technology type, and location of facilities that best fit their needs including costs and commitment to bear upcoming maintenance and operational cost. NGOs and governmental offices were the major stakeholders who decided on the type of technology that need to be installed for the water supply scheme. According to Carter (2010), the kind of technology that cannot serve the best interest of the beneficiary in terms of the quality and durability can cause further problem for maintenance and negatively affects the sustainability of the projects. Although the communities were not consulted on the choice of the technology, they were very much satisfied with the technology provided by the government. 3.2.1. Women participation Results show that representation of women in water committees is only 25.8%, which was perceived by the majority of the respondents (76.3%) as adequate although 93.8% of the respondents admit that representation of more women in the committee is good for the society (Fig. 2). This low level of representation of women in water user committees can be attributed to strong cultural views towards women in most rural districts of Zimbabwe Key informant interviews with the local water authority revealed that the quarter system reserved for women was actually a requirement for all water committees in the district by the local authority. It is widely believed that social, economic and cultural
3.1.6. Overall sustainability index Table 2 shows that the average sustainability index for all the projects is 6.15. This indicates that the projects are performing well on only 61.5% of the technical, institutional and social aspects. Ward 10 where IOM implemented the water supply project has the highest sustainability index of 6.38. Projects implemented by Oxfam Great Britain and World Vision Zimbabwe have sustainability indices of 5.87 and 6.20, respectively. The analysis revealed that all the projects fell in the potentially sustainable category (between 5.00 and 6.67). 3.2. Community participation in water supply and sanitation projects It was found that community participation was minimal and restricted to providing labor and local materials. According to
Fig. 2. Women participation in water point committees.
Please cite this article in press as: Kwangware, J., et al. Sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in Mbire district, Zimbabwe. J. Phys. Chem. Earth (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2014.10.001
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reasons limit the women participation in water committee (Mwamsamali, 2007; Kwangware, 2013; Tedesse et al., 2013). In their survey in Mzinga project in Malawi, Mwamsamali and Mayo (2014) reported that the major factors affecting gender mainstreaming in rural water project brought forward by the community include lack of incentives in water sector, lack of gender training, lack of support from supervisors, ignorance of gender issues and strong cultural beliefs vis-à-vis women’s position in society. Furthermore, there is ample evidence to indicate that a more active involvement of women can optimize the results and impacts of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) projects (Mukherjee and Wijk, 2003).
support by non-governmental organizations. However, the average downtime of 3 weeks is longer than the 2 days recommended for reliable boreholes because of users’ unwillingness to contribute money for repairs of the water points. 2. The sustainability of water supply and sanitation projects implemented by the three humanitarian organizations in the three wards studied are potentially sustainable with sustainability index ranging between 5.00 and 6.67. However, the potential threats to sustainability are poor financial mechanisms for effective borehole maintenance and poor quality of construction and lack of users’ sense of ownership of the projects.
3.3. Quality of implementation of the projects
Conflict of interest
The quality of implementation of the projects was studied by assessing the hardware and software aspects of the projects. Hardware aspects studied were procurement procedures, quality of the hand pumps, construction quality, supervision and enforcement of standards. Software aspects studied are institutional and human capacity development and promotion of hygiene education. It was found that the quality of implementation of the projects was good with transparent procurement procedures, good quality hand pumps from reputable supplier and all the organizations carried out institutional and human capacity development. However, the quality of construction of the water supply systems was found to be bad and this was attributed to poor supervision of the works by the local water authority. According to WaterAid (2011), proper supervision and rigorous enforcement of standards increases sustainability of projects. It was found out that all the project implementers actively carried out hygiene promotion and trained pump minders and village health workers. According to the key informant interviews done with the humanitarian organizations, all the organizations made sure that all men, women and children of all ages are aware of key public health risks and are mobilized to adopt measures to prevent deterioration in hygienic conditions and to use and maintain the facilities provided. 3.4. Reliability of the systems Information from key informants and physical assessments of the facilities suggest that the reliability of the systems is very high with a total of 97% (31 out of 32) of the boreholes in all the three wards functional. The high number of functionality was linked to the active District Development Office, effective water committees and external support by non-governmental organizations. However, the average downtime of 3 weeks is longer than the 2 days recommended for reliable boreholes (Dayal et al., 2000; Hoko and Hertle, 2006). The long downtime was attributed to unwillingness by the communities to contribute money for repairs of the water points and availability of other sources of water. It was found that all studied latrines were functional although most latrines were improperly constructed with 57% of the toilets having deep cracks. About 75% of the toilets were deemed to be in a bad condition and 25% to be in a good condition based on their cleanliness and condition of the walls and floors. 4. Conclusions Based on the results, the following conclusions were made: 1. About thirty one (31) out of thirty two (32) boreholes (97%) in the study area were functional largely due to the active local water authority, effective water committees and external
There is no conflict of interest. Acknowledgements This paper presents part of the research results of an MSc study by Johnson Kwangware at the University of Dar es Salaam under a WaterNet fellowship. The authors would like to express their gratitude to WaterNet for the support and assistance during the study. References African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), 2010. Mbire District Natural Resources Management Plan, AWF, Guruve, Zimbabwe. AMCOW, Second Country Status Overview: Zimbabwe (CSO2), 2009/10. Water Supply and Sanitation in Zimbabwe. Bhandari, B., Grant, M., 2007. User satisfaction and sustainability of drinking water schemes in rural communities of Nepal. Sustain.: Sci. Pract. Policy 3 (1), 12–20. Carter, R., Rwamwanja, R., 2006. Functional Sustainability in Water and Sanitation: A Case Study from South-West Uganda. Tearfund, UK. Carter, R.C., 2010. Study of Sustainability of Water Supply Services in Madagascar. Water Aid, London. Dayal, R., Wijk, C., Mukherjee, N., 2000. Methodology for participatory assessments with communities, institutions and policy makers: linking sustainability with demand, gender and poverty. The World Bank Water and Sanitation Program, Washington DC. Fritz, H., Saïd, S., Renaud, P., Mutake, S., Coid, C., Monicat, F., 2003. The effects of agricultural fields and human settlements on the use of rivers by wildlife in the mid-Zambezi valley, Zimbabwe. J. Landscape Ecol. 18, 293–302. Government of Zimbabwe/United Nations Development Programme (GoZ/UNDP), 2010, Millennium Development Goals Status Report, Zimbabwe. Hoko, Z., Demberere, T., Siwadi, J., 2009. An evaluation of the sustainability of a water supply project in Mt Darwin District: Zimbabwe. J. Sustain. Dev. Afr. 11 (2), 98–112, University of Zimbabwe. Hoko, Z., Hertle, J., 2006. An evaluation of the sustainability of a rural water rehabilitation project in Zimbabwe, the case of Mwenezi, Gwanda, Bulilima and Mangwe. J. Phys. Chem. Earth 31 (15–16), 699–706, University of Zimbabwe. Kamruzzaman, A.K.M., Said, I., Osman, O., 2013. Overview on management patterns in community, private and hybrid management in rural water supply. J. Sustain. Dev. 6 (5), 26–36. Lower Guruve Development Association (LGDA), 2009. Mbire District Baseline Survey Report, Guruve, Zimbabwe. Kwangware, J. 2013. Sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in Mbire District, Zimbabwe. Masters of Integrated Water Resources Management Dissertation, Department of Water Resources Engineering, University of Dar es Salaam. Makoni, F.S., Manase, G., Ndamba, J., 2004. Patterns of domestic water use in rural area of Zimbabwe, gender roles and realities: case of Mt Darwin and Bikita. J. Phys. Chem. Earth 29, 12–91. Mayo, A.W., Nkiwane, L., 2013. The role of community participation on cost recovery and sustainability of rural water supply projects in Hai District, Tanzania. J. Environ. Sci. Water Resour. 2 (11), 388–395. Moe, C., Gangarosa, E.J., 2009. Improving Water and Sanitation Access in Developing Countries: Progress and Challenges. Emory University, Atlanta, United States of America. Mohan, R.V.R., 2003. Rural water supply in India: trends in institutionalizing people’s participation, International Water Resources Association. Water Int. 28 (4), 442–453. Mukherjee, N., Wijk, C. (Eds.), 2003. Sustainability Planning and Monitoring in Community Water Supply and Sanitation. IRC Water and Sanitation Centre and the World Bank. Musonda, K., 2004. Issue Regarding Sustainability of Rural Water Supply in Zambia. Master Thesis, The University of South Africa.
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Please cite this article in press as: Kwangware, J., et al. Sustainability of donor-funded rural water supply and sanitation projects in Mbire district, Zimbabwe. J. Phys. Chem. Earth (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pce.2014.10.001