Abstract

Inadequate water supply provision to most rural communities in developing countries and Sub-Saharan Africa including Malawi is one of the critical problems affecting people’s well being and productivity. Low accessibility to safe water supply in these regions is attributed to poor sustainability of services, which is consequently associated with ineffective community participation in project initiation. As a result, water facilities break down; hence, many rural communities access water from unsafe sources. Consequently, people especially children are at risk of contracting or even dying from water related illnesses like diarrhoea. It is against this background that a study was conducted to assess the prospects of sustaining demand-driven interventions in Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) and Community Water, Sanitation and Health (COMWASH) supported projects in Thyolo District. Data were collected from individual household surveys, key informant consultations and focus group discussions (FGD). The study used the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) computer software for analyzing quantitative data. Qualitative data were analyzed by sorting and coding them into themes and sub-themes emerging from the discussions to identify similarities and differences of opinion between participants, within and among groups. Results indicate that more respondents in MASAF projects feel that communities were responsible for project initiation than those funded by COMWASH. However, qualitative inquiries used to triangulate survey results showed that outsiders or other local representatives initiated the interventions and only consulted the intended beneficiaries at implementation stage. Nevertheless, the results revealed that these investments addressed beneficiaries’ priority need. Moreover, results show that beneficiaries’ contribution towards construction was high in both areas. Results also show that many respondents in the study sample feel that the services are reliable and satisfactory. Among other reasons, the study observes that system reliability has had a major influence on consumer satisfaction. In addition, water users in MASAF sites express more sense of ownership on the facilities than those in the COMWASH. Both quantitative and qualitative investigations reveal that many respondents barely believe that they own the services because of their disappointment with facility performance including information flow in the scheme. Concisely, the results suggest that there are prospects for sustainability in demand-driven projects. Therefore, encouraging the communities’ participation in processes of installing new facilities has shown that it helps in locating investments in convenient and acceptable sites. In addition, satisfying beneficiaries’ needs including providing users with community mobilization and maintenance skills has proved to be effective in ensuring continued service delivery. The study recommends that agencies in the water supply sector encourage users’ involvement in choice of investments. It is critical too that stakeholders in the sector agree on one understanding of the DRA and that local assemblies improve their capacities to effectively carry out monitoring of water services, which proves to be quite a challenge at the moment.

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School	: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Issued Date	: 2007

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