With funding from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, this year The Water Trust and The Aquaya Institute will begin a two-year project to rigorously evaluate the impact of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), also referred to as Self-Help Groups, on rural water point functionality.
“This study illustrates how practitioners and researchers can collaborate to learn what solutions work and what their limitations are so that governments can make evidence-informed policy decisions,” said Dr. Caroline Delaire, Director of Research and Programs at Aquaya.
VSLAs are a promising solution to improve community resilience to hand pump failure. In rural Uganda, estimates suggest that 40% of handpumps, the primary source of drinking water for over half of the population, are non-functional at any point in time. One key challenge is that many rural communities in Uganda do not have robust mechanisms to set aside funds to pay for hand pump maintenance.
Observational evidence from VSLAs trained by The Water Trust and Aquaya suggests that training VSLAs to manage water user fees can be game changers for rural communities. VSLAs have strong financial management and accountability mechanisms that promote trust amongst members, and are much more effective at collecting water funds than pre-existing committees.
Aquaya will conduct a randomized controlled trial to rigorously evaluate the impact of VSLAs on water point functionality and community behaviors. The trial will involve 100−200 communities in Kabarole District, Uganda.
In half of them, The Water Trust will establish and support VSLAs to take responsibility for collecting and managing water funds. The other half, the control group, will not receive such support in order to compare outcomes. All communities (VSLA and control) will receive standard promotion of safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) behaviors as well as a chlorine dispenser to be installed next to the handpump. Over the course of two years, Aquaya will compare maintenance expenses and water point functionality between VSLA and control communities, as well as community WASH behaviors.
In addition, the project will engage government staff in VSLA training and oversight. The project will evaluate which roles government staff can successfully take up and what external support would be necessary to support the program's implementation through government at scale.
“The water, sanitation, and hygiene sector needs rigorously validated solutions to the challenge of rural water sustainability,” said Chris Prottas, Executive Director of The Water Trust. “We are excited to learn from the study, and hopefully demonstrate that savings groups are a high-impact solution ready to scale across East Africa.”
Additional resources on the VSLA approach to sustainable water:
About The Water Trust
The Water Trust empowers the poorest rural communities in East Africa to provide their children clean, sustainable water and healthy, hygienic homes. Since 2008, The Water Trust has trained more than 1,200 VSLAs to sustain access to clean water for more than 300,000 people. As a trusted partner of leading corporations, foundations and multilateral institutions, The Water Trust implements and evaluates data-driven, community-led solutions to the challenges confronting poor rural communities. Learn more at watertrust.org. For more information on The Water Trust and the VSLA approach, please contact Program Director Fiona Aber at faber@watertrust.org.
About The Aquaya Institute
Aquaya is a research and consulting nonprofit dedicated to advancing global access to safe water and sanitation. Aquaya delivers critical data and insights to empower both local and international institutions to make informed and impactful policy, program, and financing decisions. By strengthening evidence, collaboration, and capacity, Aquaya strives to advance access to safe water and sanitation for underserved populations, enhancing human health and well-being. Please visit www.aquaya.org to learn more.
About Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
International hotelier Conrad N. Hilton established the grantmaking foundation that bears his name in 1944 to help people living in poverty and experiencing disadvantage worldwide. Today, the work continues, concentrating on efforts to ensure healthy early childhood development and sustainable livelihoods for youth and refugee populations, support young people transitioning out of foster care, improve access to housing and support services for people experiencing homelessness, identify solutions to safe water access, and lift the work of Catholic sisters. Additionally, following selection by an independent, international jury, the Foundation annually awards the $2.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize to an organization doing extraordinary work to reduce human suffering. The Foundation is one of the world’s largest, with approximately $7 billion in assets. It has awarded grants to date totaling more than $3.2 billion worldwide, and $290 million in 2023. Please visit www.hiltonfoundation.org for more information on the foundation and the Safe Water Initiative.
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