33516 Water and Sanitation Program An international partnership to help the poor gain sustained access to improved water supply and sanitation services The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this report are entirely those of the authors and should not be attributed in any manner to BNWP, the Water and Sanitation Program or the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations, or to members of its Board of Executive Directors or the countries they represent. Neither BNWP, the Water and Sanitation Program or the World Bank guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this publication or accept responsibility for any consequence of their use. This report was funded by the Bank-Netherlands Water Partnership, a facility that enhances World Bank operations to increase delivery of water supply and sanitation services to the poor (for more information see http://www.worldbank.org/watsan/bnwp). 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Washington, D.C. 20433 Tel: +1 (202) 473-9785 .ax: +1 (202) 522-3313, 522-3228 E-mail: info@wsp.org Website: www.wsp.org Discussion Paper Taking Sustainable Rural Water Supply Services to Scale: A Discussion Paper1 Jennifer Davis2 Parameswaran Iyer3 1 This work is supported by the Bank-Netherlands Water Partnership (BNWP) Water Supply and Sanitation Window. Nicholas Pilgrim, consultant to the Water and Sanitation Program, and Janelle Wright, graduate student in the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, conducted both desk and field research that contributed directly to this paper. We are also grateful to Alex Bakalian, Caroline Van Den Berg, .ranz Drees, Jan Janssens, Jennifer Sara, John Briscoe, Jonathan Halpern, Mike Webster, Rick Pollard, Scott Guggenheim, Vivek Srivastava, and Walter Stottmann for assistance and helpful comments. All opinions expressed in the report are those of the authors and should not be attributed to these colleagues, the BNWP, the Water and Sanitation Program, or MIT. 2 Assistant Professor of Infrastructure Planning, Department of Urban Studies & Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. email: jd@mit.edu. 3 Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist, Water and Sanitation Program, Washington, DC. email: piyer@worldbank.org TAKING SUSTAINABLE RURAL WATER SUPPLY SERVICES TOSCALE: A DISCUSSION PAPER Contents 1 Introduction 4 1.1 Terminology 5 1.2 Who comprises the target population for RWS planning? 5 1.3 Scalability versus sustainability 7 1.4 The new generation of pilots 7 1.5 Summary 9 2 Scaling up: Where are the bottlenecks? 9 3 Resource constraints 9 3.1 Financial resources 10 3.2 Human capital 11 3.3 Organizational and institutional capacity 12 3.4 Supply chains 14 3.5 Summary 14 4 Lack of knowledge/shared understanding 14 4.1 Summary 15 5 Resistance 16 5.1 Getting to Yes 16 5.2 Implementation 17 5.3 Summary 19 6 Untested implementation conditions 19 6.1 Where to pilot? 19 6.2 A consistent policy framework 20 6.3 Artificial institutional settings 21 6.4 Summary 23 7 Toward a research agenda 23 7.1 Institutional arrangements for scaling up 24 7.2 Summary 25 References 26 2 Abstract Whereas many successful rural water supply (RWS) initiatives have been documented, few have evolved into sustained national programs. In this paper we review some of the issues associated with scaling up an effective RWS initiative, by which we mean that it reaches (or is expected to reach) the vast majority of the target population with sustainable, improved services within a reasonable time frame (inclusion), and that a system of actors and institutions (public, private, and/or civic) is in place that has the necessary capacity and resources to carry out the RWS service delivery approach indefinitely (institutionalization). We identify four broad categories of constraints to scaling up in RWS: insufficient resources, lack of knowledge/shared understanding, resistance, and untested implementation conditions. Drawing on relevant literature and empirical data from a limited number of cases, we offer some preliminary thoughts on these bottlenecks and suggest an agenda for research that can yield guidelines for more scalable project design. 3 TAKING SUSTAINABLE RURAL WATER SUPPLY SERVICES TO SCALE: A DISCUSSION PAPER 1. Introduction project design, the philosophies of most In a recent letter to staff, World Bank development agencies exhibit a high degree of President James Wolfensohn identifies scaling congruence. What remains elusive is the up as the key to increasing the impact of transformation of these many success stories into development throughout the developing world. programs that benefit more people in The major challenge we face, Wolfensohn developing countries, not for a limited time notes, is turning what works for 1,000 people period, but indefinitely. into a successful program for 10,000, then 10 In this paper we explore the challenge of million, then 100 million.4 Scaling up is scaling up with reference to the rural water increasingly cited as a concern among decision- supply (RWS) sector. Despite continued gains makers and practitioners working in virtually all over the past several decades in the proportion sectors of development and in all regions of the of rural residents with access to a safe, adequate globe. Elaborated most thoroughly in the supply of water, roughly one billion rural development literature with reference to residents in developing countries remain expanding the scope and influence of non- unserved (WHO, 2000). These statistics might governmental organizations (NGOs) (Uvin et suggest that, despite sustained effort both in al., 1996 and 2000; Edwards and Hulme, research and project work, we have not yet 1992), scaling up has also been cited as a learned how to deliver sustainable, safe water principal challenge for developing-country supply services in rural areas. At the same time, initiatives in agriculture (.aminow and Klein, the literature is replete with cases that 2001), HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment accomplish exactly this albeit often limited in (DeJong, 2002), education (Healy and scope and divorced from RWS planning at a DeStefano, 1996; Elmore, 1996), nutrition and serious scale. What can be done to help these population (Pyle, 1981), irrigation (Pangare, initiatives reach more communities or, better yet, 2001; Korten, 1980), and urban slum upgrading to institutionalize them such that rural water (Cohen, 1988; Kar and Phillips, 1998). supply planning is reformulated to reflect these The growing emphasis on scaling up more sustainable, effective approaches? successful development programs could be Our goals for this paper are more modest interpreted to mean that consensus exists than attempting to answer this question. We regarding what constitutes an effective hope to contribute a set of terminology and a approach. Countless best practice cases framework for the discussion of scaling up published in the academic and professional (Section 1); present some overarching issues, literature, highlighting successes in different as well a taxonomy of common challenges, to sectors and with particular development tools scaling up effective RWS programs (Sections 2- across sectors (e.g., poverty or gender 6); and suggest an agenda for future research assessment), support this notion. Clearly, (Section 7). By conducting a broad literature innovation and experimentation remain review, we were able to draw on experience important elements of effective development related to scaling up across a number of work; after all, what was considered best development sectors. In addition, we conducted practice in a given sector even a decade ago approximately 50 interviews with practitioners, can be quite different from what is deemed best decision-makers, and other key informants in practice today. Nevertheless, with respect to six countries: China, Ghana, India, Indonesia, 4 Letter dated 31 May 2002, from James Wolfensohn to World Bank staff, written during a trip to China. 4 South Africa, and the United States. Although enables such scaling up is the ultimate goal of most of these individuals work in the RWS sector, this research effort. we also spoke with professionals in the energy, transportation and health sectors, as well as with 1.2 Who comprises the rural development specialists.5 Given the non- target population for RWS random selection of cases and informants, the experiences or findings related here should be planning? considered illustrative rather than generalized. Any discussion on scaling up RWS initiatives invokes the notion of a target population, i.e., 1.1 Terminology the set of persons to whom improved services are expected to be extended. RWS planning The term scaling up, is used with a variety of often gives scant attention to this important issue. meanings, the most common of which is simply Instead, the launch of an RWS initiative typically to expand a given initiative to benefit a larger involves estimating existing service coverage number of individuals. Our conception of levels, with the assumption that all un-served scaling up in rural water supply comprises two rural residents are members of the target elements: population. Setting aside the difficulty of (1) Inclusion: The vast majority of the target obtaining reliable RWS coverage statistics, this population is provided with sustainable, approach employs two problematic improved services within a reasonable time assumptions. .irst, households deemed to have frame. Inclusion should not necessarily be access to some type of improved service are equated with full coverage, as discussed in excluded from the target population, whereas the following section. they may want (and be willing to pay for) a higher (2) Institutionalization: A system of actors and level of service. Second, given a set of institutions (public, private, and/or civic) is requirements for participation in an RWS in place with the necessary capacity and initiative, not all eligible households may want resources to deliver sustainable RWS to participate. services indefinitely. The case of Bolivia can help illustrate these Clearly each of these criteria has a subjective points. At the start of the World Bank-assisted component, which leaves room for Yacupaj pilot project in 1990, Bolivias rural disagreement about the scalability of a particular population was 2.76 million, of which 24% RWS initiative in a particular context. At the same (662,000) were considered covered with time, focusing on what is easy to measure (e.g., improved water and sanitation services.6 The construction milestones) can divert attention project, which was implemented in four from what is important to measure. In the case provinces of the Department of Potosí, had a of rural water supply, this is, arguably, the extent target population of 115,000 unserved rural to which a set of policy, institutional, financial, residents. Of these, roughly 61,000 (53%) and human-resource supports has been received improved services through the project. established such that an effective approach can How should the remaining 54,000 residents of Scaling up operate indefinitely and can reach the entire these departments be classified when planning target population. Identifying a set of factors that to scale up theYacupaj project into a national comprises two elements: 5 We elicited the views of roughly a dozen development professionals who participated in an electronic conference entitled Scaling up Community Management in RWSS that was hosted by WEDC. Information and archives are inclusion and available at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/WSSCMANP.html. 6 All information on the Bolivia case was drawn from J. Sara et al. (1996), as well as from personal communications institutional- with Bank staff. ization. 5 TAKING SUSTAINABLE RURAL WATER SUPPLY SERVICES TO SCALE: A DISCUSSION PAPER program? The typical approach would be to Program rules and obligations for users will consider them as remaining members of the dictate, for a given initiative, which types of target population. Yet surveys suggest that the households will receive improved RWS services vast majority (~85%) of these residents did not and which will be left behind. .or example, the have effective demand for the project; in other current emphasis on demand filters, such as cost words, they were satisfied with their existing sharing and community participation in RWS service levels, and/or were unwilling or unable services, while demonstrably linked to longer- to meet the projects cost-sharing requirements lived systems (e.g., Katz and Sara, 1997), may for service improvements.7 be less scalable to communities with limited One interpretation of these findings is that financial, institutional, and human-capital for any rural water and sanitation (W&S) project resources. In Indonesias multi-sector in Bolivia built on Yacupaj principles, one should Kecamatan Development Program (KDP), for expect that 40% of residents will not be included. example, one facilitator noted that villages In Yacupaj, 45,900 of the 115,000 members whose residents have higher incomes and more of the target population opted out of the project, education have less trouble writing proposals despite having full information about it. The and their proposals are judged better. [In national program, PROSABAR, that emerged contrast,] the very poor villages do not have the out of the Yacupaj experience could be viewed administrative capacity to prepare proposals or as reaching full coverage of the target receive money for grants. So, KDP does not reach the poorest. Our objective is not to population long before it provides improved question the design of particular initiatives, but water supply services to all of Bolivias rural to note that effective RWS planning must grapple residents.8 Critics might understandably be with the fact that some proportion of households, concerned that those residents excluded from to whom we would like to extend improved PROSABAR are among the countrys most services, will nevertheless be unwilling and/or disadvantaged rural households. As Grey unable to meet the participation requirements. (1988) notes, a common conundrum in Such households should not be considered part developing countries is that the poorest people of the target population. Alternative strategies, tend to be those living in the driest area of a either within the RWS sector or apart from it (e.g., country, where the cost of water supply provision poverty reduction programs), will be needed to is generally highest, the need greatest, but the attain the universal service goals so often ability to pay is lowest. articulated by government.9 7 A smaller proportion was also ineligible for participation in the project because physical conditions (e.g., location of nearest water source, widely dispersed settlements) resulted in per-capita costs of improved supply exceeding the projects limits. 8 It is important to note that the per-capita cost limits in PROSABAR were somewhat higher than that of the Yucapaj pilot project. In addition, several respondents noted that the provinces served in Yacupaj were among the poorer and more technically challenging in the country. Both these factors should serve to increase the proportion of rural households that PROSABAR could reach; however, its unclear how big this increment might be. 9 In the US, a mix of programs and policies extended full coverage of water and sanitation services in rural areas. Programs to support the 200,000 public rural systems in the US, as well as for the 40 million Americans, who obtain their water from private wells, are administered by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture, among others. Households benefit from direct and indirect subsidies, while communities can receive grants, subsidies, and technical assistance. China has also developed multiple mechanisms to supply different kinds of rural communities with improved water supply services. Smaller, remote communities with limited effective demand typically receive basic water supply services (e.g., hand pumps and rainwater collection systems) funded by government and provided for nominal fees or free of charge. Larger and more affluent communities can receive higher levels of service (e.g., household connections) through externally-supported programs that require substantial cost recovery from users. 6 1.3 Scalability versus community level; and the delivery of services sustainability that users want and for which they have Those familiar with externally supported RWS developed a sense of ownership (e.g., through initiatives over the past several decades cost-sharing and/or participative decision- recognize that scale is often invoked to explain making). Such research, along with the lessons the disappointing results of some projects. Many of previous decades, has driven the movement of these critiques, however, conflate issues of toward a new RWS planning approach that the scale with both scope and a supply orientation. World Banks Senior Water Advisor describes Multi-sector development initiatives were often as comprising the four steps of listening, piloting, deemed too complex, which generally meant demonstrating, and mainstreaming (World their broad scope required coordination among Bank, 1998b). This approach also gives more a number of sectoral institutions that were emphasis in RWS service delivery to unaccustomed to working with one another decentralized and locally based institutions (World Bank, 1988a and 1977a). Rural water an issue to which we return in Section 3. supply projects were criticized for employing cookie cutter planning approaches and focusing 1.4 The new generation of excessively on physical construction targets, both pilots of which have become associated with a lack A final point should be made in this section of service sustainability (e.g., Therkildsen, 1988). regarding the presumption that many, if not Because many of these projects were also large- most, RWS initiatives follow this four-step model scale i.e., they were designed to deliver of pilot or small-scale initiative, followed by a improved services to a high proportion of the process of expansion. Some individuals we relevant target populations big projects were, interviewed felt that the idea of pilot RWS by implication, unable to deliver sustainable projects that emerges from a discussion of services.10 Today, observers still regularly call for scaling up seems outdated. This reaction results donor agencies to support a larger number of principally from the association of the term, pilot smaller-scale projects. project, with the testing of RWS technologies, Thus, on the face of it, the growing call to such as that pioneered by IDRC, UNDP, and The growing scale up RWS initiatives seems to countermand other agencies in the 1960s and 70s. It is still call to scale the critiques of scale arising from the rural the case, however, that most RWS initiatives up RWS development literature of the past three decades. follow a pilot or staged approach, and that most initiatives Much of the literature on fostering sustainability of our respondents identified substantial benefits in rural water supply services has identified of this strategy. .or example, early stages of an seems to features that one tends to associate with smaller- initiative are often used to pilot administrative, countermand scale initiatives.11 These keys to sustainability financial, or technical innovations. Indonesia for the critiques include meaningful involvement of local example, used a pilot phase to experiment with institutions and users in the planning, a new funds disbursement procedure. Seeking of scale implementation, and operation of W&S systems; to give greater autonomy to kecamatans (the arising from social intermediation and education at the sub-district level of administration in Indonesia), the rural development 10 Some critics of the UNs Millennium Development Goals note that the agencys renewed emphasis on extending coverage to large numbers of unserved households will encourage a return to unsustainable supply-side RWS literature of planning. As with the critiques of projects in the 70s and 80s, these warnings presuppose that large scale and supply orientation go hand in hand. the past three 11 See, for example, E. Kleemeier (2000), S. Manikutty (1997), and W. Reweta and R. Sampath (1998). decades. 7 TAKING SUSTAINABLE RURAL WATER SUPPLY SERVICES TO SCALE: A DISCUSSION PAPER KDP released project funds directly to village to begin implementation in two of the countrys councils through a kecamatan forum, nine provinces. A similar approach has been comprising village representatives and key local followed in the World Bank-assisted multi-village officials. We had to test this out, one RWS program in China. In fact, today only a respondent recalled. Making sure that all handful of RWS initiatives are truly national councils could set up bank accounts, and in scale. .or some countries, a national RWS thinking through how to keep the process program is viewed as the only politically transparent, was not easy. feasible way forward in the sector. One Early phases of an RWS initiative may also Ugandan official commented that the serve as a period of consensus-building that countrys history of civil strife has created an precedes implementation activities. As one Bank environment in which serving selected staff member noted, Pilots are still an important communities or districts would likely generate means of demonstrating to decision makers that public turmoil. In other cases such as Rwanda, an approach can work. In India, for example, rural water supply is one among several senior officials flatly rejected a full-scale national elements of a larger national rural development RWS program as too risky to garner widespread program (called the Poverty Reduction Strategy political support. Instead, the recently launched Paper, or PRSP).12 Indian Sector Reform Program (SRP) covering Debate will persist regarding the best strategy 10% of the countrys 593 districts was viewed for bringing effective, sustainable water supply as the only feasible strategy for introducing a services to a countrys rural residents new RWS service delivery approach that would launching a national RWS program, include a decreased role for state-level public incorporating RWS into broader rural health engineering departments, cost sharing development initiatives, or building gradually by users, and new responsibilities for local from a limited or pilot program.13 In this work government. We must have the pilot we focus principally on the process by which a program to demonstrate the effectiveness and successful, yet limited, RWS initiative is taken to public acceptance of these new approaches, scale nationally. Nevertheless, our findings one senior Indian official noted. One cannot should also be of interest to those involved with simply launch the program at a national currently unfolding large-scale RWS programs, level. A first-stage or pilot initiative is thus inasmuch as establishing rules that determine often considered an essential proving ground which communities and households will be for generating political support of a new served first creates a de-facto staged approach RWS strategy. as well. Thus, for virtually all decision-makers Even RWS programs that are deemed and practitioners, understanding the persistent national-scale initiatives typically follow this obstacles to scaling up is critical to increasing staged approach on the ground. Sri Lankas rural households access to improved water national RWS program, for example, is expected supply services. 12 As of March 2002, seven World Bank-sponsored PRSPs included a rural water supply component. See Review of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) Approach: Early Experience with Interim PRSPs and .ull PRSPs, IDA/IM., March 26, 2002. http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/strategies/review/earlyexp.pdf 13 While not necessarily promoting the idea of piloting with subsequent scaling up, the World Banks new emphasis on programmatic lending appears to embrace the idea of a sequence of operations, each building on the previous ones. With respect to RWS, [I]nvestment operations with a sector-wide focus may or may not be programmatic, depending on whether they are designed as [a] series of operations or as self-standing one-off operations (World Bank, 2002). 8 1.5 Summary (4) Untested implementation conditions: When The persistent shortage of safe, reliable water extended to new areas/communities, a supply services for rural households in the successful initiative encounters difficulties developing countries is driving the development because of its unique features (e.g., community to call for the rapid scaling up of technical, social, policy, user demand) not RWS initiatives. Yet most effective, sustainable confronted in the pilot communities. projects documented in the rural development The implication of this simple categorization literature embody a small is beautiful philosophy. is that investigating the scaling up of sustainable How can such initiatives be scaled up without RWS approaches incorporates issues related to losing the characteristics that made them the dissemination of information, ideas, and new successful in the first place? What are the technologies; political economy of resource challenges that arise when an effective RWS allocation; organizational learning and change; initiative expands to include all members of the public finance; project management and public target population? A taxonomy of such scaling administration. We drew to some extent on all up challenges is presented in the following section. of these fields in formulating this taxonomy, which is a first step in thinking about the 2. Scaling up: Where necessary and sufficient enabling factors for are the bottlenecks? scaling up sustainable RWS initiatives. We could find no published or processed work that Accepting the notion that successful RWS investigates scaling-up bottlenecks in initiatives exist, our interviews and literature development initiatives systematically, much less review yielded four broad explanations for the in the context of rural water supply.14 The failure to take them to scale: following sections elaborate this scaling-up (1) Resource constraints: Inadequate funding, taxonomy, drawing on our literature review and human capital, institutional capacity, supply primary data collection activities. chains, or other resource limitations render a successful small-scale initiative infeasible 3. Resource on a larger scale. (2) Lack of knowledge or shared understanding: constraints Individuals responsible for planning or Clearly, a rural water supply initiative can Understanding implementing an RWS initiative do not fully only be extended insofar as resources are the understand its principles and/or the roles available to do so. Resources of all types were persistent they are expected to play in scaling up. the most commonly cited bottlenecks to scaling obstacles to (3) Resistance: Despite having full up in RWS among respondents we interviewed; understanding of a successful, sustainable the issue has long been acknowledged in the scaling up is approach to RWS service delivery, key development literature as well (e.g., Churchill, critical to stakeholders are unwilling to support 1987).15 In this section, we discuss four types of increasing scaling up. resource constraints that inhibit scaling up in rural 14 Robert Boydell (1996) did author a short piece on scaling up rural water and sanitation projects for a WEDC households conference, but his focus is to argue for the scalability of demand-responsive RWSS planning rather than to identify scaling-up bottlenecks more generally. access to 15 .rom Churchill (1987): To be replicable, a program must be financially sustainable, not just at the demonstration site but also on a large scale. Programs fail to be replicable when they are too costly (for example, if overly improved expensive technologies have been employed), when insufficient funding is available to cover the costs (for example, from user payments or subsidies), or when the design is not flexible enough (for example, unable to adapt to water supply different or changing consumer needs). services. 9 TAKING SUSTAINABLE RURAL WATER SUPPLY SERVICES TO SCALE: A DISCUSSION PAPER RWS: insufficient financial resources, lack of accounts, quite successful, he felt that the costs human capital, inadequate institutional and of making [them] sustainable were prohibitively organizational capacity, and weak supply high to think about taking the approach to any chains. As noted in Section 1.2, without a clearly sort of scale. identified target population, it is difficult to know what having enough resources 3.1 .inancial resources means. Respondents who cited resources As with the PROSAGUAS case, most constraints to scaling up conceded that they respondents we interviewed acknowledged that rarely undertook analysis designed to identify a they did not undertake a financial scalability target population accurately and estimate the analysis in which cost estimates for reaching a resource requirements of reaching it with target population were compared to financial improved services. commitments expected from government, users, Several respondents made the related point and other sources. Yet it is only with such analysis that the considerable amount of off-book that the tradeoffs between coverage and project resources often afforded to pilot communities, rules, such as per-capita cost caps, subsidy make it exceedingly difficult to carry out an levels, and planning time horizons can be accurate analysis of a projects scalability. In El clarified.16 As one example, the Government of Salvador, for example, the first phase of a India (GOI) has publicly committed to full national RWS program, PROSAGUAS, coverage of rural areas with water supply implemented by the NGO, CARE, installed services by the year 2005. In the state of Andhra about 80 systems benefiting more than 130,000 Pradesh (AP), scaling up the new Sector Reform rural residents. Evaluators gave the program Program (SRP) to all rural habitations will require high marks for sustainability after five years, an investment of roughly US$192 million. crediting a very strong community participation During the 2001-02 fiscal year, the state in the implementation process, a strong focus expended US$35 million on the sector, which on financial management and administration, includes all capital, operations, and the formation of water user associations and maintenance expenditures for both SRP and the generally high levels of inputs on the part of non-SRP districts. Unless additional sources of CARE during the implementing phase (EHP, funding become available, Andhra Pradesh will 2001). As one program staff member noted, require a minimum of 10 years to expand water however, PROSAGUAS enjoyed a Cadillac supply service to the states un- and under- approach to RWS, whose true costs were not served rural residents more than three times captured in its documentation. One member of the length of time pledged by the GOI.17 the review team noted that no one was able to The case of South Africa reminds us that estimate either the per-scheme or per-capita tradeoffs between costs and coverage are made costs of the project, inclusive of indirect, within a political environment that may sacrifice software, overhead, and other off-book costs. inclusion for other objectives. A low-cost Whereas the 80 installed systems were, by all approach to rural water supply planning 16 Even if per-capita costs are deemed affordable at the local level, such scalability analysis should also assess how, when extended to the entire target population, the fiscal burden of a full-scale program will be met. 17 Better accounting would also shed light on which cost components tend to rise, fall, or remain constant as an RWS initiative goes to scale. Respondents were divided on this issue, and cost functions likely vary by case (we have assumed a linear cost function in our discussion of the Indian Sector Reform Program above). Several respondents felt that learning curve effects would allow costs to fall during scaling up, while others felt that the costs of added administration (e.g., at the regional and national levels) necessary to scale up most RWS initiatives will raise unit costs. 10 pioneered by the Mvula Trust in the early 1990s The big pinch now is finding organizations that was rejected by government in favor of one can do the participation work[You] see whose financial scalability is infeasible given everyone is scrambling to identify these groups current RWS budget allocations. Mvulas low- and sign them up. tech approaches carry an average per-capita Several respondents cited cases in which cost of US$40, of which communities were insufficient sources of social intermediation skills expected to contribute 5%.18 The governments proved a binding constraint to scaling up. .or Community Water Supply and Sanitation example, during its second year of operation, Program (CWSSP), by contrast, requires no cost Indonesia trained 15,342 village and 959 sharing from communities and permits kecamatan facilitators. These facilitators were substantially higher per-capita scheme costs expected to disseminate information about (~US$125). By one estimate, extending service program procedures; to direct participatory to the CWSSPs target population within the planning activities; and to help villagers submit 10-year timeframe will require an annual proposals for KDP funding. Whereas the investment of US$240 million; the governments program had little trouble recruiting sufficient current budget allocation is approximately numbers of qualified engineers to provide US$90 million a year. Several explanations have technical support to the program, finding been offered for governments adoption of a personnel with appropriate training in policy that implies a three-fold increase in the community organization and facilitation presented financial resources necessary to extend services a significant challenge. Indeed, for a period the to 7.6 million unserved rural residents, including program capped the number of villages able to the need to avoid the perception that residents participate in part to limit the number of were being provided sub-standard services; an facilitators required (World Bank 1998c).19 imperative to construct schemes quickly; and Training in social intermediation is vested interests that favored the use of large particularly challenging in the context of scaling private-sector contractors. up because an approach is needed that is standardized while also allowing for unique 3.2 Human capital community characteristics (e.g., cultural norms, Given the increasing emphasis on leadership, social structure). Many commonly community involvement in planning, used facilitation techniques provide a solid Tradeoffs implementation, and management in RWS framework for understanding the history, current initiatives, it is not surprising that many conditions, and felt needs of a community. Social between respondents cited as a resource constraint the intermediation professionals working with RWS costs and identification of sufficient trained social initiatives, however, are generally expected to coverage are intermediation professionals, who could move beyond this initial stock taking to help motivate, organize, and train community community members engage in a planning and made within members to play an active role in planning and implementation process that they own and a political service delivery. As one staff member of an manage. This is a highly localized exercise that environment international NGO observed, We know how often does not lend itself to the kind of that may to do the engineering. Everybody knows that. widespread replication that scaling up implies. sacrifice 18 This cost-sharing policy has had to be changed, however, with the issuance of RSAs national water policy in inclusion for 1996. All RWS capital costs are now borne by government. 19 In particular, within eligible kecamatans containing 10 or fewer villages, all of those villages were permitted to other participate in KDP; in kecamatans with more than 10 villages, only half were allowed to participate. objectives. 11 TAKING SUSTAINABLE RURAL WATER SUPPLY SERVICES TO SCALE: A DISCUSSION PAPER By contrast, the work of engineering viewed as the most promising institution to professionals in RWS initiatives is arguably more assume a lead role in RWS service delivery. In standardized, and few respondents indicated a Latin America and parts of Southeast Asia, civic lack of technical expertise as a principal concern organizations are assuming greater for scaling up.20 Nor were most respondents responsibility for the sector. .or some concerned about shortages of private-sector practitioners we interviewed, identifying an technical support (e.g., drilling or repair services) effective institution that can operate at scale is as a major constraint for scaling up.21 In some the bottleneck for RWS. One practitioner in cases, individuals trained during a pilot or first- Cameroon noted, There are a good number stage project did leave to pursue other of NGOs in Cameroon, but most have opportunities before an initiative could be scaled difficulties setting up and delivering the services. up. In South Africa, for example, the Mvula Trust Most are young people with little experience and emphasized the training of black engineers for limited resources, though they show the interest RWS work. With a new set of professional to render services. On the other hand, there possibilitiesavailabletothem,manychosetoleave are local governments (councils), which have their home areas for higher-paying employment well developed structures, though lack capacity elsewhere. Similarly, in Bolivia substantial building capabilities. Another African RWS investments were made in training private-sector specialist noted, We need time, and a lot of firms for the Yacupaj pilot project. Without a hand-holding, to create a system that can really mechanism to maintain contact with these firms, deliver services effectively. Aid agencies dont however, many disappeared into the towns before want to hear thisThey want results right away. the national PROSABAR program was rolled out. But it is difficult for us to point to something 3.3 Organizational and specific and say, This is what we have done, we have built capacity in this council. institutional capacity The challenges for scaling up are twofold. A common theme in RWS sector reform is .irst, problems can emerge in the form of turf the shifting of responsibility for planning, conflicts as the influence of organizations, implementing, and management of services traditionally involved in RWS service delivery, is from centralized public agencies to a new set diminished; staff of these agencies are often of institutional actors.22 In South Asia and parts expected to develop new sets of skills related to of Africa, local government is increasingly facilitating the operations of new service 20Having adequate technical capacity to maintain RWS infrastructure has, of course, been repeatedly identified as a principal challenge for the sustainability of installed systems. This issue is discussed further in Section 3.4. 21One exception is in Malawi, where only about a dozen out of 130 registered drilling companies own their own equipment. One practitioner working in Malawi felt that this situation has led to increasing politicization and corruption in decisions about the staging of communities for participation in a large-scale RWS initiative. 22Indeed, respondents noted that a principal advantage of a staged approach to RWS initiatives was the ability to shift responsibilities gradually to institutions as they developed the capacity to manage them. In the first Ghana Community Water and Sanitation Project (CWSP-1), for example, District Assemblies (DAs) were expected to apply eligibility criteria and select communities for project participation. In CWSP-2 DAs have also been given the responsibility of contracting drillers and hydrologists for scheme installation, as the number of communities participating in each district is also increasing. By contrast, where RWS initiatives have been launched on a larger scale, some have met with disappointment as institutional weaknesses became apparent. With the national program, one respondent recalled, realizing that district institutions werent able to fulfill their role meant a major delay, and eventually major disappointments regarding the program objectives. If we had worked with just a few districts, we could have held their hands through it. That would have made the job in the other districts much less painful for everyone. 12 providers. These issues are discussed further in challenges, from developing the capacity to Section 5. Second, a new set of organizations provide management training to 6,000 village may be ill prepared to assume the responsibilities councils per year to establishing a system for of RWS planning and service provision, and/or reviewing project receipts in 3,000 sub-districts. may not be supported by appropriate institutions This transition from small to large project, as a from the local to national level (e.g., budgetary step toward full institutionalization and scaling authority for long-term planning). The up, requires capacity-building beyond simply implications for scaling up are daunting: replicating the one undertaken during Whereas we were once able to focus on pilot activities. improving the capacity of a few large agencies, Indeed, several respondents shared the view scaling up of the dominant state as a facilitator that unlike deficiencies in human capital, model requires building capacity in dozens or which can generally be identified through ex even hundreds of local institutions. If we are ante analysis identifying institutional and serious about scaling up, we need to be serious organizational capacity-building needs for RWS about the entire service system, from the center service delivery at scale is best accomplished out to the edges, one bilateral aid agency staff with a learning-by-doing approach. This member noted. A Bank staff member concurred: philosophy has permeated the decentralization We focus so much [on the central W&S agency] program in the state of Kerala, India, where the and just assume that, once we finally take control State Planning Board (SPB) has used a series of from it and give it to local institutions, they will standing orders each of which can be know what to do.23 superseded by a later order to implement its A phased approach to implementing a new new rural development planning procedures. RWS initiative can provide the opportunity to When we receive information about a problem, identify and address capacity-building or a good suggestion on improving the water deficiencies in Indonesia (see Section 1.4). planning procedures, we can simply issue a new Nevertheless, scaling up requires institutional order immediately, a senior SPB official capacity and logistical networks beyond simply explained. We also admit that we are still adding the new implementing institutions at the learning. When we have perfected the rules, we local level. .or example, following its pilot phase will ask [the legislature] to formalize them. in six kecamatans during 1997-1998 the KDP While this may indeed be an effective means expanded to include 501 kecamatans, of building institutional capacity, it typically also Scaling up comprising 3,524 villages, in its first year of requires considerable time to develop effective requires operation (World Bank, 1998c). In only four service delivery systems with obvious institutional years, the number of households served by the consequences for scaling up. Using RWS program increased by almost 500-fold initiatives for capacity-building objectives may capacity and (Guggenheim, 2002). Such rapid scale-up also demoralize communities and logistical presented any number of institutional implementation staff, as recounted by one local networks beyond 23 With the increasing emphasis on partnerships for RWS service delivery, many respondents cited inter-organizational simply adding coordination as a principal institutional capacity building need. In China, for example, one official admitted that we ourselves are a bit unclear about which ministry would have primary responsibility for RWS. The Ministry of the new Health is responsible for water quality; the Ministry of Water Resources controls water source development; the Ministry of Construction is responsible for water and sanitation services in small towns; and the State Department implementing of Planning approves annual plans and budgets for all three. Respondents in both the Ministries of Health and Water Resources claimed their agency was responsible for the major share of RWS policy and were somewhat institutions at dismissive of their competitors claims to a central role. the local level. 13 TAKING SUSTAINABLE RURAL WATER SUPPLY SERVICES TO SCALE: A DISCUSSION PAPER government head in Kerala: This is the first time stage) RWS program; only when coverage for many [local governments] to plan water exceeds some threshold would it be profitable supply projects. I think only about 30% of the for entrepreneurs to invest in such RWS support projects are good projects.It is not that the activities. If true, this observation suggests that other 70% do not have the right objectives, only staging RWS investments in geographically that they are inexperienced. They will gain concentrated areas (e.g., pursuing full coverage experience with these first projects and could in one district before starting work in another) be better prepared in future.[But] the people might promote supply chain development to a are disappointed. There is a loss of confidence greater extent than a scattershot approach of [in the decentralization process]. Maybe they will one or two villages per district that is sometimes not want to give this approach another chance. pursued for political or equity reasons. It is unclear whether developing new institutional capacity requires more time and 3.5 Summary resources than would be needed to re-orient a Among the resources needed to scale up traditional provider of RWS services and RWS initiatives, interview respondents identified associated institutional supports toward a new social intermediation skills, as well as approach. We return to these issues again organizational and institutional capacity as in Section 5. principal bottlenecks. Weak supply chains were not considered by respondents to hamper 3.4 Supply chains scaling up substantially although we expect The development of robust supply chains to the issue warrants greater consideration with ensure availability of hardware, spare parts, and respect to generating private-sector interest in maintenance services is generally a focus of providing the goods and services necessary for literature on the sustainability of water and long-term sustainability. Whereas financial sanitation schemes, which perhaps explains why resources were also often cited a binding so few respondents mentioned supply chains as constraint, it was difficult to explore this issue a constraint for scaling up.24 Given adequate because of an almost complete absence of financial resources, it is generally not difficult to documented analysis regarding the identification procure and install water supply infrastructure. of target populations and expected financial The supply chain that supports operations and commitments to the sector by government, maintenance, however, is critical for sustainable donors, and users. service delivery in the long term (WSP, 2000). The relationship between supply chains and 4. Lack of scaling up has received less attention, yet there knowledge/shared exists a critical scale for each RWS initiative beyond which the private sector will be interested understanding in its supply chain. .ew shop owners will be A second challenge for scaling up concerns interested in stocking spares for a small (or first- the extent to which key stakeholders25 24 .or more information on supply chains in rural water supply and sanitation, see www.wsp.org/english/activities/ supply-chains.html. 25 By stakeholders we mean those individuals or group representatives who have the ability to influence, directly or through other stakeholders, decision-making relevant to taking an RWS initiative to scale. Stakeholders could therefore include elected officials at various levels of government; staff of planning, rural development, water and sanitation, and other bureaucracies; staff and leadership of private-sector, non-governmental, civic, and community organizations; and donor agency personnel. 14 responsible for expanding a new RWS initiative workshops for key implementation personnel in share a common view of its objectives and pilot districts. Nevertheless, a recent assessment elements, as well as the roles and responsibilities of the program identified a lack of clarity of relevant actors. Our focus here is on the regarding roles and responsibilities of performance of implementation personnel and implementing institutions as one of the key the ways in which their understanding of obstacles to progress in the SRP (WSP, program rules, as well as their and others 2001a). In many instances, the work on the responsibilities, affect program functioning and SRP has come to a standstill awaiting scaling up. In one sense, this category of guidance from [Government of India], State bottlenecks could thus be viewed as a form of or District level institutions, the review notes, organizational capacity (Section 3). A lack of citing many examples of a lack of clarity knowledge among implementation personnel about and shared understanding of is often attributable, however, not to principles, systems and processes to be shortcomings within implementing organizations followed in the SRP. It was noted, for example, but to fundamental differences among the that implementers are unclear whether most philosophies of other stakeholders that translate or all [of the programs cost-sharing into unclear directives to implementation staff requirements] can be in-kind. Where a on the ground. .or example, some senior donor shared understanding of program elements agency staff we interviewed said the objectives is absent, scaling up will either be slowed, as of their RWS programs were to advance in this case, or may proceed only to result in democratization, decentralization, or creating a large-scale program that loses much of citizens with the confidence and capacity to what made it effective in the first place. The demand services and accountability from public SRP review notes that a major risk to scaling up institutions. The fact that these goals were being the program is a lack of clarity or, worse, an pursued in the context of a rural water supply over-simplified understanding of the processes initiative was almost incidental. Others and institutions at the scheme user and village/ principally actors within implementing community levels. institutions, as well as local leaders and politicians tended to be much more focused 4.1 Summary on the particulars of planning and delivering Ideally, a staged approach to RWS planning improved RWS services and ensuring their provides opportunities to test and refine the .undamental sustainability. Such disconnects among strategies used to develop a shared vision stakeholders give rise to a number of challenges. among implementation staff. Pilots are an differences .irst, the groups have very different ideas about opportunity to get the message right among what constitutes success and how it should be developing the training materials and simple stakeholders measured. They also emphasize different messages, one senior Bank staff member aspects of the program when interfacing with philosophies noted. As one example, he recalled that what communities, which was noted in one case to seemed to be a fairly simple cost-sharing policy translate into create confusion and mistrust that stalled scaling in an RWS initiative in Malawi resulted in poorly unclear up of the initiative. coordinated and varied responses because directives to Indias SRP illustrates a lack of knowledge consultants interpreted and implemented the among implementing personnel can stall or de- policy in different ways within different implementation rail a new RWS initiative. In launching the SRP, communities. A shared understanding both of staff on the the Government of India held three-day training content (e.g., program rules) and process (e.g., ground. 15 TAKING SUSTAINABLE RURAL WATER SUPPLY SERVICES TO SCALE: A DISCUSSION PAPER the allocation of authority among 5.1 Getting to Yes stakeholders) is essential to maintain Most of our respondents, including both momentum in scaling up. A consistent donor agency staff and those working in the message must also extend upward, including public or private sphere in developing countries, senior levels of decision-making, which is subscribed to a theory of political elites with related to generating political buy in for a new respect to policy change: A new initiative must initiative. We discuss this issue further in the be championed by one or more influential following section. decision-makers for it to be adopted at the 5. Resistance national level. This was felt to be true irrespective of the extent to which empirical information Although a majority of our respondents indicates that the approach is successful on the mentioned resource and knowledge constraints ground. Information from the pilot is used by to scaling up RWS initiatives, most had strategies your champion to convince others, so it is to address these challenges (although not always definitely essential, one bilateral staff member the time or support to do so). By contrast, our working in South Asia explained. But without third bottleneck category resistance to the champion, no amount of data from the pilot change in RWS service delivery systems by key would convert other decision-makers. stakeholders elicited a palpable sense of Although an advocate is important for frustration and far fewer solutions from increasing awareness of, and negotiating practitioners and decision-makers. Resistance cooperation with, a new RWS initiative among impedes scaling up in rural water supply at two key stakeholders, the principal function s/he principal junctures: with the decision to adopt a serves appears to be as a scapegoat in the event new RWS planning approach and associated of program failure. As a consultant working in policy reforms, and in the launching of new Brazil noted, You need someone who can take procedures, training, and activities during on the riskIf something goes wrong, he will implementation. be the one who takes all the blame. An aspiring 16 politician in Kerala, India, agreed: No one where they can show results.the Danish wants to back a program that might fail, development agency (DANIDA) have been especially if it means disturbing powerful determined to implement in their [three] regions. interests. One Bank staff member noted that And there was some concern by the bi-laterals young, idealistic officials, as well as senior guys, that the World Bank had hijacked the [national on their way out, who wanted to make one last RWS] program. Indeed, another official felt that stand, were those most willing to accept this the principal audience of the World Banks first kind of political risk. RWS initiative in Ghana, the Community Water Another World Bank staff member noted that and Sanitation Program-I (CWSP-I), was not the champion of a new RWS initiative faced the government but the other donors working in the dual challenges of raising awareness about an countrys sector. The idea was that if the project innovative approach and creating an worked, then other donors would buy into the environment in which decision-makers take [it] approach, he recalled.26 up as their own idea. Successful promotion may actually impede local uptake in some cases. In 5.2 Implementation South Africa, for example, the Mvula Trust was Respondents were more divided about established in 1991 and operated as an interim addressing resistance from stakeholders water supply agency in the countrys rural areas responsible for implementing a new RWS until such time that a new government RWS approach. The most effective strategy depends program could be launched. Staff devoted on whether the initiative relieves, re-defines, substantial energy to creating what several and/or adds responsibilities to service providers, respondents termed the Mvula brand name. as well as the socio-cultural context in which it Some observers noted that the effectiveness of is implemented. Most respondents adopted a this branding actually discouraged the South rational choice theory perspective, emphasizing African Department of Water Affairs and .orestry the role of incentives in convincing key (DWA.) from adopting elements of the Mvula stakeholders to support a new RWS initiative approach when their own RWS program was (e.g., Simon 1995). Think about it, one NGO formalized. [The DWA.] needed to have Director in Latin America observed. You are something of their own, one Mvula affiliate asking [public water agency] staff to do more, noted. Politically it was notacceptable to use to work harder, but there is nothing in this deal an approach that would be recognized as for them. Their salary does not increase[most belonging to another organization. of them] will not even [personally] see the results Branding can also be an issue of contention in the villages. Other respondents felt that among donor agencies. One Ghanaian official conversion of the elected leadership could go familiar with the countrys national rural water a long way in bringing other stakeholders in It is equally supply program noted that [the] bi-laterals have line; particularly individuals in South Asia, been concerned to have a geographical patch, where comparatively stronger ties between challenging to help an 26 The CWSP-I in Ghana was one of the few cases we documented that attempted to confront the challenge of institution to generating donor consensus directly. A series of meetings between 1987-1991 resulted in a general agreement among donors and the government on a community-based approach for RWS. To allow each donor its piece of do less as it the pie yet maintain a program with national character, regional offices were established to allocate and coordinate projects. Bi-monthly meetings were set up to share information and ensure that donors continued to sing from the is to help same hymn book. Nevertheless, consensus over key policy elements appears to be fragile. .or example, it is several of the donor partners, rather than politicians as is typically expected, who continue to resist and even another do sabotage the CWSPs 5% capital cost-sharing requirement. more. 17 TAKING SUSTAINABLE RURAL WATER SUPPLY SERVICES TO SCALE: A DISCUSSION PAPER politicians and the bureaucracy exist, voiced interviewed could identify a potential this perspective. professional benefit of the new arrangement Elected officials, bureaucrats, and the exposure to different kinds of problems that consultants from developing countries gave would challenge his ability to innovate particular emphasis to reform and re-orientation technically. [But] I dont think many other of implementing organizations as a bottleneck engineers will have this view, he acknowledged. to scaling up. It is equally challenging to help Most people are very worried and are asking an institution to do less as it is to help another the Secretary [of KWA] to take some action to do more, a government official in Kerala, India, prevent the programs implementation. observed regarding his states policy of Similar accounts of generally centralized devolving substantial responsibility for RWS to public agencies struggling to retain control over local government. The Kerala Water Authority resources and influence in RWS planning were (KWA), which has managed both urban and offered by more than a dozen respondents. In rural water and sanitation services in the state Paraguay, both the World Bank and Inter- since 1984, is now expected to supply engineers American Development Bank are pursuing rural for technical backstopping in RWS services water supply projects in collaboration with the managed by district government. KWA National Environmental Sanitation Service engineers have no incentive to support the (SENASA). Staff of both agencies described proposal, which will shift a substantial proportion difficulties in convincing SENASA personnel that of staff from urban to less attractive rural posts; partnerships with private and civic organizations make them directly accountable to local could be an effective way of overcoming government; and significantly reduce their capacity constraints within the agency. There involvement in contracting and procurement. is no hope that SENASA will be able meet all Only one of the 23 KWA engineers we the needs, one respondent observed. Scaling 18 up for SENASA is stalled by resource constraints. Supports such as off-book allocations of time [T]here are resources availableand we could and expertise to first-stage communities (Section be doing more. But SENASA wants to keep 1) are typical of the accommodations that many control of everything. A related challenge respondents feel are needed to establish an early concerns the need for such organizations to success and thus generate support for a new develop skills related to their new roles as RWS planning approach. Insulating an initiative facilitators and backstopping agencies (e.g., from the conditions that confront everyday contract administration and technical review of service delivery systems, however, may engineering designs). One respondent noted: undermine the long-term prospects for scaling This moves bureaucrats out of their comfort up of sustainable RWS services. zone and may empower younger (and more junior) actors within the sector agency, who 6.1 Where to pilot? could more easily develop these new skills. Whether planning a pilot or a first stage of 5.3 Summary investment in a large RWS initiative, program architects must decide where they will begin While dangers exist in giving inexperienced activities. .rom a scalability perspective, the first institutions principal responsibility for a new rural set of districts or communities would ideally be water supply initiative (Section 3.3), entrenched fairly representative of the entire target resistance to a new RWS approach within an population with respect to technical challenges; existing service agency and among its allies in the socio-cultural profiles of communities; the private sector and government may make priorities, preferences, and demand for this the only viable strategy. Another approach improved services among residents; and one with potentially detrimental implications capacity of key institutions. Representativeness, for the institutionalization needed for long-term however, was not named as an objective in first- scaling up is to create temporary stage RWS planning by any of our respondents. arrangements for program implementation Instead, decision-makers and practitioners said Insulating an while parallel efforts in policy and institutional that the areas selected for first-stage investment reform are undertaken. This is the theme of our in an RWS initiative were chosen because thats initiative from final category of scaling-up bottlenecks, where we knew [the approach] would work, or the conditions discussed in the following section. we could negotiate political commitment to that confront the approach with particular selections. 6. Untested everyday Clearly both decision-makers and implementation practitioners have strong incentives to select service delivery conditions areas in which the likelihood of successful implementation of their RWS initiative is high. systems, A common theme in our discussions with Picking the low-hanging fruit, as this strategy is however, may respondents about scaling up sustainable RWS sometimes termed, can be effective in garnering approaches is that many features of pilot or first- support for scaling up. Regions might be undermine the stage initiatives that make them successful are selected in part because gravity schemes, rather long-term often not maintained during scaling up. Many than more expensive and complex pumping prospects for respondents spoke of the nurturing, excessive schemes, are sufficient to improve water supply. scaling up attention, or even babying that new initiatives Districts with sympathetic officials or local receive but that are subsequently withdrawn or government that is entirely defunct and moldable of sustainable spread more thinly as the programs expand. will also be more appealing. Such cream RWS services. 19 TAKING SUSTAINABLE RURAL WATER SUPPLY SERVICES TO SCALE: A DISCUSSION PAPER skimming continues at the village level as well. subsequently used his influence to convince Communities with comparatively homogeneous reluctant communities to comply with the class and ethnic profiles, or those without programs cost-sharing requirements; in conflicts over access to water points, might be particular, he promised to construct primary chosen to minimize delays during project schools for three clusters of villages if they implementation. In India, the Water and successfully constructed piped water supply Sanitation Program (2001b) itself has advised systems. As one senior program officer noted, that sector reforms will be easier in single The demand we are meeting is the demand source villages and districts should be for a school not the demand for water. encouraged to select habitations with this in mind. 6.2 A consistent policy With such a strategy, of course, an RWS framework approach is tested in places where technical, One of the more important differences financial, political, and/or social challenges are between the institutional context of RWS pilots minimized, rather than against a range of and that of their target populations concerns conditions that better reflect real world the policy environment in which they are carried circumstances of the target population. Selecting out. Many first-stage initiatives are granted policy a small number of easy or homogeneous trial exceptions (e.g., with respect to subsidy ceilings, communities does not allow for the re- technical standards, and cost-sharing) to allow evaluation of program elements based on a a new approach to be demonstrated and variety of field experiences. Little opportunity refined. This strategy allows progress to be made exists to develop the flexible program guidelines quickly, without the need for lengthy negotiations that many researchers have documented as that typically accompany policy changes. being fundamental to the effectiveness of rural Moreover, if a new approach to RWS planning development initiatives. Working in communities is being tested, a flexible policy framework with relatively high effective demand may also prevents the cementing of changes that may under-estimate resource requirements for themselves need subsequent modification (e.g., scaling up if good data relating demand with the Kerala case discussed in Section 3.3). socio-economic and demographic In order to scale up, however, a national characteristics are not available for the pilot and policy framework that addresses ownership of target populations. systems, authority for planning and budgeting, Similar problems can arise when states or tariffs, cost-sharing rules, etc., must eventually districts are selected in view of political be established and aligned with provincial, state, considerations. A senior official, when asked and local policies. As one UNICE. officer about the choice of six pilot districts for a large observed, All policies relating to communities RWS initiative, replied that the selection was must be in harmony the national constitution, probably not adequately debated. He named the water policies, local government laws, etc. five senior politicians who, he said, were He noted that, in Uganda, the Water Act of responsible for the selection of five of the 1995 gives rural communities ownership of districts; the sixth was chosen for regional water development projects, while the Local balance. In another case, the education minister Government Act confers ownership to local was brought on board a new RWS initiative government of all development within its through the inclusion of his home district in the jurisdiction. Elected officials will point to the first round of investments. The minister policies that serve their needs at any given 20 moment, thus creating an uncertain environment users and implementing personnel. In South for scaling up. Africa, staff of the Mvula Trust felt that their Respondents we interviewed offered different policies of (1) using low-tech, inexpensive views regarding the best strategy for establishing approaches and (2) requiring 5% of capital cost- a supportive policy framework for RWS service sharing by users were undermined by the newly delivery. Some felt that a clearly articulated created government Department of Water and sector policy would increase the transparency .orestry (DWA.), which installed more costly of budget allocations and more clearly delineate systems with no user contribution. In many roles and responsibilities among stakeholders. cases, there was no possibility of [DWA.] Others supported the integration of RWS implementing a project for many yearsso we planning into a comprehensive rural were seen as a villages only option, one former development policy (e.g., the Poverty Reduction Mvula associate recalled. But there were some Strategy Papers mentioned in Section 1). cases in which we were asked why we were Proponents of this latter strategy felt that the charging more to deliver less.It is not a very impact of budget raiding that inevitably occurred satisfying answer to say Just wait, and in the would be diminished if water supply were long term youll see why this approach is better. integrated into a package of rural development Similar tensions have been documented in the or poverty alleviation activities. This type of broad Sector Reform Program (SRP) in India, where lending approach has been identified as a good one evaluator noted that the continuance of opportunity to support fiscally sustainable the conventional supply-driven paradigm strategies for countrywide scaling up of RWS alongside the SRP poses significant challenges sector reforms (WSP, 2002). Because for user communities and institutional A few respondents also noted that one stakeholders (WSP, 2001a). This appears to be wresting derives a false sense of security from a highly a persistent challenge for practitioners using a control from detailed RWS policy. In a country like India, staged approach to RWS planning. currently one elected official felt, it is not possible to describe one process by which rural water supply dominant RWS will be improved in all of the states. At the same 6.3 Artificial institutional organizations time, some degree of standardization is essential settings seems one of to establish a national program flexibility is Because wresting control from currently the most thus both essential and problematic to scaling dominant RWS organizations seems one of the up. In fact, the recent review of Indias Sector most difficult changes to make, it is common difficult Reform Program notes that in many cases, the for architects of new initiatives to avoid serious changes to states do not have a clearly articulated RWS engagement of the problem during pilot or first- make, it is policy, beyond the compliance to nationally stage activities. The IDA-assisted rural water common for accepted prioritization by coverage and quality. supply in Azad Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan, architects of [The SRP] needs to take account of the provides a good example of the compromises differing levels of importance accorded to sector that are often struck between institutional reform new initiatives reforms sector across states and consider goals and practical considerations in launching to avoid serious developing a basic minimum agenda for states RWS initiatives. A formal project management engagement of to ratify in their State Water and Sanitation unit was not established in the project, although the problem Missions (WSP, 2001a). a clear division in administration was created Scaling up is particularly impeded when a between core and project staff of the Local during pilot or new RWS approach co-exists with another Government & Rural Development Department first-stage strategy that places different requirements on (LGRDD) that historically managed rural water activities. 21 TAKING SUSTAINABLE RURAL WATER SUPPLY SERVICES TO SCALE: A DISCUSSION PAPER supply and sanitation. After a disappointing perceptions of the LGRDD as an unresponsive attempt at promoting the project among LGRDD government agency. technical staff, the Bank approved hiring of Artificial institutional arrangements are not contract staff, who faced a distinct set of limited to those responsible for implementing an incentives and motivations as compared to their RWS program. The use of externally supported core counterparts (Davis et al., 2001). supply chains, for example, is also common both This approach clearly created a sense of to promote particular technologies and to pride and commitment among project staff; it encourage rapid adoption. The international also promoted competitive pressure between NGO Development Workshop, for example, has core and project employees that resulted in been working with a private South African increased monitoring and scrutiny of the project. company and Angolan merchants to develop a Capacity building and motivational training, supply chain for the A.RIDEV pump and however, were often limited to project staff, and associated spare parts in Angola. In the short what began as healthy competition in some term, Development Workshop itself is stockpiling cases turned to bitter resentment. Because spares in order to keep momentum in their regularization of project staff was held up for program. We heard many similar accounts of several years in the legislature, many of the most NGOs, donors, and central government filling talented individuals trained by the project left to this supply-chain role temporarily. Often, take positions in other organizations. Equally however, such stop-gap arrangements end important, the efforts of project staff to create before a strong local supply chain is established, an IDA project identity apart from the LGRDD thus limiting both the extent to which RWS undermined efforts to change public initiatives can expand and their longevity. 22 6.4 Summary scaling-up challenges embodies an ex-post It is important to note that the artificial perspective while we are working toward conditions, under which many pilot or first-stage guidelines for ex-ante consideration of scalability RWS initiatives are carried out, are often created in project and program design. We found no in response to resistance, resource constraints, prospective research that traces the evolution or the need to develop a shared vision regarding of pilot projects in any rural development sector a new approach to service delivery. Many through a process of scaling-up, successful or respondents felt that supports such as donor- otherwise. A minority of our respondents said organized supply chains, project management that they had considered how different features units, and policy holidays were needed to of projects and programs in which they were establish early success with and generate involved might affect the prospects of scaling support for a new RWS service delivery up. The more common strategy appears to be, approach. Others were skeptical that as one NGO staff member termed it, pray big, government officials would follow through with but work with what you havemake whatever lasting policy reform once a new RWS planning progress you can on the ground, now. approach was demonstrably successful. Thats Scalability appears to be a distinct and no way to proceed, a consultant working in secondary objective to making a pilot initiative Brazil scoffed. [The government] want[s] the successful, rather than a design criterion that funding and will agree to anything as long as receives consideration from the start. As one its small enough to be off the political World Bank respondent noted, Most of these radar.The pilot could be very successful, but [rural water supply] projects didnt expand it will never go any further than that. Another because they were never designed to. said his sense is that government is very happy Incorporating scalability planning into RWS to make all sorts of exceptions for the pilot, but project design is challenging not simply because if it happens to be a success then they find they of the nature and extent of uncertainty involved have a problem on their hands. They know they (e.g., as regards the size of the true target cant possibly support its expansion. population, extent of available human capital, Recognizing that the choice may be one between etc.) but because it is affected by many factors Scalability an insulated first-stage RWS initiative or none outside of the sector. Indeed, critical supports, appears to be at all, it appears that the likelihood of scaling such as funding commitments and policy reform, a distinct and up is inversely related to the degree of artificiality may be forthcoming only upon successful of institutions and organizations, as well as to demonstration of a new approach, thus setting secondary the extent of non-representativeness of the stage for a host of scaling-up challenges objective to communities involved in the pilot phase. described in Sections 3-6. Returning to the four-part approach to rural making a pilot 7. Toward a research water supply promoted by agencies like the initiative agenda World Bank (listening, piloting, demonstrating, successful, and mainstreaming), it seems clear that most rather than a Thinking about the kinds of research that can practitioners we interviewed would emphasize support scaling up sustainable RWS the need for research on mainstreaming design approaches, we note that our taxonomy of effective RWS service delivery approaches.27 criterion that receives 27 One of the principal recommendations from a focus group discussion at the World Bank in May 2002, involving more than 20 RWS professionals, was a set of detailed case studies that present real world strategies for addressing consideration scaling-up bottlenecks. from the start. 23 TAKING SUSTAINABLE RURAL WATER SUPPLY SERVICES TO SCALE: A DISCUSSION PAPER Practitioners expressed a pressing need for institutional arrangements for sustainable RWS concrete suggestions about addressing many service delivery and scalability. Our taxonomy of the obstacles to scaling up, particularly those of scaling-up challenges was deliberately related to generating political consensus and developed with reference to cases representing overcoming resistance of implementing a variety of institutional settings. Are particular organizations. Many noted that the best practice arrangements more conducive to scaling up literature gave scant attention to such sustainable RWS service delivery than others? It challenges, while the prescriptive literature was is the qualifier, sustainable, that makes this issue too general to be of practical use. Developing particularly hard to tackle. Historically, large a series of case studies that focus on issues of centralized organizations have done a good job scalability including candid and detailed at installing improved water supply services that discussion of both successful and failed strategies28 would be a valuable contribution have been unsustainable. Smaller and/or locally toward helping existing initiatives reach based organizations, from community more communities. associations to local government, are often With standardized analysis, such case studies portrayed as having better records on could suggest which pilot or first-stage project sustainability, but are inherently limited in scale. design elements have important (positive or Social funds have been the subject of recent negative) effects on scalability. .or example, debate regarding both the sustainability of their reviewing design points from a set of RWS outputs and the prospects of institutionalizing initiatives could suggest whether focusing on the decision-making processes they employ low-hanging fruit is actually a useful strategy for (e.g., Abraham and Platteau, 2001; generating support around scaling up, or is Tendler, 2000). detrimental because it diverts resources toward Given the complex relationship between first-stage initiatives that decision-makers are scalability and institutional form, the scope rarely committed to expanding. Ultimately, such for comparative research may be limited. investigations are only valuable if they lead to Indias SRP, however, is an important the design of more scalable projects. While exception. In the state of Kerala, the SRP is academics and practitioners alike have been administered through local government, with advocating a more institutionalized approach the Kerala Water Authority (the historical RWS to development planning for some time (e.g., provider for the state) entirely bypassed. In Tendler, 1975), few have gone beyond general Uttar Pradesh and Assam, the Rural explanations for the persistence of projectized Development Department and Public Health development work to investigate the conditions Engineering Department, respectively, have under which projects are most likely to be assumed a predominant role in the SRP expanded and institutionalized. process. .lexibility in the SRP guidelines gives states a variety of institutional options for the 7.1 Institutional initiatives implementation. As such, this case arrangements for scaling up could provide an interesting opportunity to Our respondents held strong and diverse examine the comparative scalability of opinions about the relationship between different institutional arrangements in 28 As one bilateral aid agency staff member noted, We have dozens of cases where it appears that everything worked perfectly, and you know its not true. Why wont anyone write cases that really show what went right and what went wrong? We learn as muchwe learn morefrom the failures as we do from the successes. 24 delivering sustainable W&S services to Indias 7.2 Summary rural areas. The shift during the past two decades toward Seeking a best institutional form for RWS a phased approach with piloting has delivered service delivery is misguided, however, because more sustainable and successful RWS projects both the effectiveness and the scalability of any in developing countries. Clearly, changes in the given arrangement is affected by the positioning design of pilots (such as those discussed in of the sector within the larger development policy Section 6) can increase the likelihood that such context. Current approaches include initiatives will be expanded and institutionalized. incorporating rural water supply into national At the same time, it is important to recognize rural development policy, with the idea of that some aspects of scaling up have little to do exchanging some degree of local planning with experiences in pilot or first-stage authority for explicit budgetary commitments to communities (Section 3.3). Practitioners, thus, the sector; devolving planning and/or budgeting need different kinds of support at different authority to local-level institutions; and junctures, including designing more scalable maintaining highly centralized control over both pilots, garnering the support necessary to budgeting and planning RWS initiatives, with expand and institutionalize projects, and local institutions limited to an implementation addressing the management and logistic role. A variety of organizational arrangements challenges that arise once scaling up begins. for planning and service delivery are possible .ocused investigations with practical advice from under any of these arrangements. Exploring how other professionals were emphatically the policy context and organizational structure encouraged not only by the RWS specialists we interact, however, is essential both for interviewed but by those working in other areas understanding where scaling-up bottlenecks of rural development. Indeed, given the exist and what types of external support for widespread interest in scaling up, such research scalable RWS initiatives will be most effective has the potential, in James Wolfensohns terms, (e.g., sector investment loans versus sector to make a substantial contribution toward adjustment loans). increasing the impact of development. it is important to recognize that some aspects of scaling up have little to do with experiences in pilot or first-stage communities 25 TAKING SUSTAINABLE RURAL WATER SUPPLY SERVICES TO SCALE: A DISCUSSION PAPER References Abraham, A. and J.P. Platteau. 2001. Participatory development in the presence of endogenous community imperfections. Paper presented at the 13th Annual Conference on Development Economics, World Bank, Washington D.C. Blackburn, James and Jeremy Hollands, Eds. 1998. Who Changes?: Institutionalizing participation in development. London: Intermediate Technology Group. Boydell, R. 1996. 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