The following is Water Access Now’s project proposal with CRS Ghana for 2020
1. Introduction
Water Access Now (WAN) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS)-Ghana Program, in collaboration with the local government authorities, have supported over 194 health facilities, schools and communities to gain access to safe drinking water in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions of Ghana since 2007. To date, WAN has provided over $1.8 million to support the provision of safe water supply through the construction and rehabilitation of boreholes, including limited mechanized boreholes, and rainwater harvesting systems for deprived communities. In 2019, WAN approved funding of $279,000 to support CRS to continue this work with 28 new successful boreholes in CRS project areas in northern and Oti Regions of Ghana.
To further expand access to clean water in hard to reach and marginalized areas in 2020, WAN has approved $341,760 for the drilling of 25 boreholes and mechanization of two boreholes through a solar powered submersible pump to serve two health centers with large catchment areas. Additionally, provision has been made to supply clean water to three groundwater scarce communities using a simple water treatment business model for the treatment of available surface water sources. The intervention will contribute to improving the health and wellbeing of about 20,000 rural children and adults in communities, schools and health facilities in the project areas.
2. Selection of Beneficiary Communities & Facilities
CRS intends to apply the 2020 funds to construct approximately 25 potable water point facilities, including two mechanized water supply systems for two health facilities, by leveraging existing CRS partnerships and ongoing project plans. This strategy takes advantage of synergies with complementary CRS WASH programming to more efficiently identify target areas and facilitate work to ultimately increase access to water. CRS intends to work through the Integrated Community Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (ICOWASH) Project, Rural Emergency Health and Transport II (REST II) Project and Developing Acute Care and Emergency Referral Systems (ACERS) Project. The selection of beneficiary communities and facilities will be carried out in collaboration with officials of the District Assemblies (DAs), District Health Management Teams (DHMTs), the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS). This will involve visits to the communities to identify the communities/schools/health facilities within the project areas that have the great need. The criteria for assessment includes ‘hard to service’ communities, current water sources and year-round access to safe water, population size, need/demand, etc. The selection process also assesses community ownership by holding initial community discussions on appropriate maintenance measures to adopt for improved water facilities including willingness to pay, and also to ascertain the status of ground water availability.
Contingency provisions have been made in the budget for re-siting and re-drilling in the beneficiary communities should the initial drilling attempts prove unsuccessful. This measure is to ensure that the maximum number of successful boreholes (i.e. boreholes with yields ≥ 10 l/minute) is achieved. Budgetary provision is also made for the establishment of three small water business to supply safe water to groundwater scarce communities by using a simple water treatment technology, as well as to cater for fuel to enable preventative maintenance monitoring visits by the Area Mechanics Networks to installed community water points.
After all 25 viable sites have been successfully drilled, WAN and CRS will discuss any relocation of remaining contingency funds, with the goal of spending as close to 100% of the 2020 allocated funds to increase access to water.
3. Considerations for Sustainability
To ensure WAN boreholes are provided with full consideration of their long-term sustainability, CRS proposes that community systems and structures are established and strengthened to manage borehole maintenance. CRS will continue with the successful approach of establishing Water and Sanitation Management Teams (WSMTs) to facilitate sustainable operations and management of water facilities in target communities. The WSMTs will consist of seven members (with at least 3 women), in each of the beneficiary communities. Together with community members, the WSMT will take ownership over their water points and be expected to carry out routine checks and basic handpump maintenance. They will be responsible for the management and maintenance of the water facility, including sanitation improvement at the community-level. Additionally, the WSMT members will be trained in basic bookkeeping, community mobilization techniques, basic checks and maintenance of handpumps, conflict prevention and resolution, as well as fundraising to pay for regular borehole maintenance and repairs. The District Water and Sanitation Teams (DWSTs) who have the technical skills on handpump maintenance and repair works are mandated by government to support communities in borehole operation and maintenance, however, they are often unable to attend to communities’ needs in a timely manner due to inadequate resources (staff, logistics, equipment and tools). Therefore, it is key to strengthen community-level structures for ownership of their water points.
To avoid substantial borehole downtimes, the WSMTs will be linked directly to Area Mechanics (local pump artisans), whose capacities have been built and equipped with repair toolkits under the ICOWASH project, to carry out major repairs/maintenance on the two standardized types of handpumps (i.e. Afridev and India II) on a ‘service for fee’ basis. The Area Mechanics have also been assisted to form an ‘Area Mechanics Network’ for the coordination of handpump maintenance and repair activities, as well as knowledge and experience sharing. They have direct access to spare parts dealers who have been assisted to stock-pile spare parts for hand-pumps at identified sales points in the district. In collaboration with the DWSTs, the Area Mechanics will be expected to conduct after-repairs support services to communities on boreholes maintenance with the aim of increasing handpump functionality. Additionally, provisions have been made to provide support to trained Area Mechanics to conduct preventive maintenance and monitoring visits, as well as sensitization of beneficiary communities to ensure continuous borehole/water point functionality and long-term sustainability.
4. Results Framework
Strategic Objective: Communities have sustainable access to safe water
Intermediate Result (IR) 1: Communities have access to functional water facilities
Activity 1.1: Selection of communities/schools and health facilities:
As part of the initial activities, CRS will work with partners (district assemblies, GES and GHS) to identify the communities/schools/health facilities with the greatest need for water points. Following nominations by partners, site visits will be conducted to confirm and rank the selected communities as beneficiaries. These visits will facilitate the initial discussions with members of the beneficiary communities/schools/health facilities and will be preceded by working with the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) and the District Water and Sanitation Teams (DWSTs) to gather data on water access coverage, demand and willingness to pay for regular borehole maintenance services. This will involve a robust demand assessment of the targeted communities’ willingness and ability to pay for the operation and maintenance of the water points, post-construction water quality and DWST monitoring, as well as payment of stipends to the WSMT members to ensure increased dedication, accountability and sustainability of the water points.
Activity 1.2: Hydrogeological Investigations:
Once the sites are confirmed, CRS will engage hydrogeological consultants through competitive bidding to carry out investigations on groundwater potential and select suitable sites for drilling. They will also support with the supervision of the borehole drilling and construction activities. Should the initial two drilling attempts in a community prove unsuccessful, contingency plans allocated in the budget will be utilized for re-siting and drilling.
Activity 1.3: Mobilization of target communities:
The WASH Officer, together with a combined team of CRS and Local Government partners, will sensitize beneficiary communities/institutions on their responsibilities as owners of the water facility for the operation and maintenance for sustained use. These sessions will also focus on the gender-sensitive election of members to the WSMTs to operate and manage the borehole, as well as ensure sanitary conditions around the facility. The prospects of operating a water point insurance scheme will also be discussed with community members – where funds raised by the WSMT will be leveraged for signing of agreements with the Area Mechanics Networks to enable them to undertake routine preventive maintenance works for community water points. The communities and Area Mechanics Networks will be linked for them to provide preventive maintenance of down-hole components twice a year and repairs on demand on a ‘service for fee’ basis
Activity 1.4: Borehole Contracting:
CRS will engage suitable and qualified drilling contractor(s) to drill, develop and construct the boreholes through a competitive bidding process.
Activity 1.5: Borehole Drilling and Construction:
The process of drilling and construction of the boreholes will include these sub-activities:
Introduction of hydrogeological consultants and drilling companies to the DAs and beneficiary communities
Hydrogeological investigations to select prospective sites for drilling, with active community consultation and participation in site identification, investigation and selection.
Borehole drilling, development and construction
Pumping tests to determine the borehole performance (ability to discharge specified yield for at least 6 hours for hand-pump boreholes and 24 hours for mechanized borehole) and other aquifer characteristics, such as transmissivity/specific capacity
Water quality assessment by sampling the water for laboratory water quality analysis (physico-chemical and bacteriological assessment)
Construction of concrete pad/apron to protect the borehole and maintain sanitary environment around the borehole
Installation of hand pump and borehole disinfection
Embossment of borehole identification plates on each of the borehole pad/aprons
Training of hand pump caretakers (two per community/facility) and provision of basic repair toolkit to undertake routine maintenance
· Activity 1.6: Water Business Model for the provision of clean water supply using simple water treatment technology for surface water sources:
Engagement of Saha Global to train women groups in groundwater scarce communities to start small water businesses in their communities to provide safe and affordable drinking water, as well as enabling the women to earn supplemental income.
CRS will work with local government partners and Saha Global to identify suitable communities to implement the water business model.
Through Saha Global, CRS will provide each women’s group a set of materials and tools to build the water business (treatment center) – including a ,1000 litre capacity Polytank, stand, and three 200 litres blue drums.
CRS and Saha Global will jointly train the women’s groups on the operation and management of the water treatment center.
Safe drinking water storage containers will be distributed to households in the selected beneficiary communities to prevent re-contamination of the treated water at home.
CRS and Saha Global will conduct joint monitoring visits to the beneficiary communities to provide technical support and mentoring for efficient management of the businesses. A 10-year monitoring plan will be developed, leveraging on both CRS and Saha Global’s presence and ongoing projects.
· Activity 1.7: Borehole Mechanization:
Mechanization of two drilled boreholes with solar-powered submersible pump (i.e. pumps are directly solar powered without inverters)
Construction and installation of overhead tanks (10m3 polytank reservoir)
Plumbing works, including pipe laying and connections to health facilities and a standpipe (outside the facilities)
Training of mechanized water system caretakers, including two community members and two health facility attendants per each of the two health facilities. The teams will be provided basic repair toolkit to undertake routine maintenance. The water system caretakers will be connected to the supply agents for the installation of the solar panels and submersible pump for regular maintenance and repairs, when needed for a fee (after the product guarantee period). They will also be linked to local artisans, especially plumbers to assist in plumbing repairs of water transmission lines and pipe fixtures.
Key Performance Indicators for monitoring IR1 are as follows:
· Number of functional safe water points (boreholes) constructed by the project
· Number of communities/schools/health facilities with access to safe water points
· Percentage of households with access to a minimum of 20 liters per day (lpd) per head
· Number of water businesses created by the project
Intermediate Result (IR) 2: Communities facilitate sustainable operations and management of water facilities
Activity 2.1: Formation and Training of Water and Sanitation Management Teams:
The underlying principle of sustainable operations and management of water facilities is the emphasis on community ownership and management. This process entails effective community participation in the planning, implementation and management of the water and sanitation facilities with the expectation that, as custodians, communities will ensure the sustainability of these systems. A necessary condition for promoting good health requires a change in behaviors and attitudes towards hygiene, therefore, another important aspect of the approach is to maximize health benefits by integrating water, sanitation and hygiene education/promotion (including hand washing) interventions. In this regard, a seven-member WSMT comprising of both men and women (at least three women), will be set up in each of the beneficiary communities with the responsibility to manage and maintain the water facility, including sanitation improvement at the community-level, with the support of the DWST.
To build their capacity to function effectively, the WSMT members will be trained in basic bookkeeping, community mobilization techniques, basic maintenance of boreholes, conflict prevention and resolution, as well as fundraising for borehole maintenance. Each WSMT will need to develop a Facility Maintenance Plan (FMP) with corresponding responsibilities for individual members to ensure proper maintenance of the boreholes and implementation and monitoring of hygiene and sanitation activities around the facilities. The responsibilities in the FMP will include plans for fundraising; budgeting of annual cost of running the facilities including an MOU with the Area Mechanics network for preventive maintenance and repairs visits, at least twice a year on a ‘fee for service’ basis; compensation of WSMT members, and systems for rendering accounts to the community. The FMP will also include basic water safety measures to prevent contamination of the immediate borehole environment. The committee members will also be trained on how to use water for improved sanitation behaviors as an important strategy to reduce risks of diarrhea and other water-borne and sanitation-related diseases for improved overall health and wellbeing.
Activity 2.2: Preventive Maintenance monitoring visits by Area Mechanics:
Area Mechanics (AMs), who are usually located in area councils within a District, are trained individuals with specialized skills in borehole repairs and maintenance, and they serve as key stakeholders in ensuring water points sustainability in communities. Under the CRS WASH Program, AMs have been trained in two Districts (West Mamprusi and Talensi) and equipped with various tools to aid in their activities. They have also been guided to form Area Mechanic Networks (AMNs) to synergize their efforts in conducting borehole and water point repair and maintenance services for various communities within the two Districts. The network formation also seeks to revamp the entrepreneurial mindset of the individual Area Mechanics and present them with opportunities for joint ventures.
Although this is a promising model, AMNs have often been under-utilized because WSMTs are unable to raise enough funds to pay for the services. The inability of WSMTs to raise sufficient funds stems from weak linkages between WSMTs, financial institutions and the DWSTs, as well as weak community mobilization efforts. At times, this situation has resulted in substantial borehole downtimes and use of unsafe water sources by communities during downtimes. Therefore, with funds from WAN, CRS will work with existing AMNs (or form new networks) and support them with training and provision of stipends to cater for fuel and maintenance for their motorbikes to conduct routine preventive maintenance monitoring visits to WAN beneficiary communities. CRS will also work with the constituted WSMTs to enter into agreements with the AMNs and to leverage funds raised by the WSMTs to pay for the repairs conducted during these monitoring visits. Only the cost of AMs motorbike fuel and maintenance will be covered by the WAN project. Monitoring visits would be conducted at least twice every quarter (i.e. about 8 visits per community during the project period). The project’s long-term aim is to facilitate the linkage of the WSMTs and AMNs with a water point insurance scheme to guarantee AMNs of available funds for routine preventive maintenance of water points, as well as guarantees WSMTs and communities of continuous flow of water all year round.
Key Performance Indicators for monitoring IR2 are as follows:
· Percentage of water points with functioning WSMTs committees (operating a tariff system)
· Number of WSMT with functional water management/safety plan
· Number of WSMTs regularly contributing into a water point insurance scheme for preventive maintenance by AMNs
· Percentage of water points receiving at least four preventive monitoring visits by the AMNs during the project period
· Percentage of WSMTs with post construction water quality monitoring built into their water tariffs.
· Percentage of WSMTs that receive at least four monitoring visits from DWST during project period
· Percentage of WSMTs with post construction monitoring visits by the DWST built into their water tariffs.
· Percentage of boreholes that are functional at time of spot-check
5. Monitoring
CRS Ghana will use a robust monitoring system to inform project implementation and proactive planning. Monitoring of the project will be undertaken by CRS, and the DWST of the District Assemblies from the period of siting through boreholes drilling. Joint monthly visits will be made after the successful construction of boreholes to analyze and reflect on implementation and monitoring data to produce action items with assigned responsibilities to ensure effective use and functioning of the boreholes. This will include testing the borehole yield, assessing the performance of WSMTs and communities against a standard checklist and soliciting community feedback on the established water management systems, such as the tariffs, and the implementation of water management/safety plans. Prior to the ceremonial dedication and commissioning, a team of DWST staff will visit each facility with the CRS borehole construction/monitoring checklist to ascertain whether all parameters and technical specifications have been met. A US-based WAN delegation will visit beneficiary communities in June or July 2020 to interact with community members and celebrate the successful construction of water facilities.
Under the ICOWASH Project, progress towards annual targets on behavior indicators will be measured by beneficiary-based annual surveys. To promote evaluative thinking and adaptive management, CRS will hold learning-to-action discussions (short events involving CRS staff, partner staff, and beneficiaries to reflect on key learning and plan actions for success) and use data checklists to facilitate reflection meetings. The project will be supported by ICOWASH’s MEAL Specialist responsible for WAN’s MEAL (monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning) activities. Together with the WASH team, he/she will ensure that the utilization and management of the water facilities are measured, discussed and lessons documented. The results will be used to engage and influence various stakeholders, such as government authorities, donors, peer NGOs and communities for continued collaboration and support for WASH interventions.
