April 2024
How to Support Rural Water Operation and Maintenance in Uganda?
Motivation
In rural Uganda, around 40% of handpumps, the primary source of drinking water for over half of the population, are non-functional at any point in time. To improve water access in rural areas, Uganda’s National Framework for Operation and Maintenance of Rural Water Infrastructure (the “O&M Framework”) proposes a strategy relying on:
i) professional area service providers to maintain infrastructure, and
ii) financial participation from water users.
In the Kabarole district, however, inadequate professional capacity for handpump Operation and Maintenance and limited water user payments hinder the implementation of the O&M Framework and progress toward achieving universal coverage of safe and sustainable drinking water supplies.
Prior Research
In 2021-2023, Aquaya worked with Kabarole’s District Water Office to experiment with village savings and loans associations (VSLAs) as a platform to collect water user fees. In this approach, water users form a VSLA, which then maintains a savings account dedicated to water system management, called the “water fund.” The pilot was promising: ten communities that used to have no reserve funds for handpump maintenance raised an average of 112 USD annually. Additionally, the village savings and loans associations–water fund approach improved community participation in water point management, as seen through source protection and cleaning schedules. These results prompted the District Water Office to expand the approach to an additional 25 communities.
Gaaki Fred Rwaitanga, the local council chairperson of the Hakibaale subcounty in Kabarole district Uganda. Next to him is a community water point Kibuurara village that has been non-functional for over five years because the community members failed to raise funds to repair it, and now they are using open wells that are highly contaminated. He praised the VSLA-led water fund approach for improving community participation and water user fee contributions for water point management.
“I no longer get complaints from communities with the village savings and loans associations program because they can fix their water points whenever they get a breakdown.” – Gaaki Fred Rwaitanga
Current Research
This project aims to support the implementation of the Operation and Maintenance Framework in the Kabarole district through:
- Evaluating the extent to which VSLA-based water funds improve handpump maintenance and community WASH behaviors
- Understanding the key challenges and good practices to strengthen handpump maintenance service providers
The Aquaya Institute is grateful for financial support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
