Tana Water and Sanitation Project Mid Term Project Evaluation

Background

The Tana North Water and Sanitation Project (TWSP) is planned to run from 2013 to
2017, and its scope covers nomads or village dwellers of Somali, Warday and Orma
communities of Tana North District.

The overall development goal of the TWSP is to partake in alleviating the livelihoods of the marginalized inhabitants of Tana North District. A more specific objective of the TWSP is to participate in improving the water security situation in Tana North District by contributing to the construction of reliable and sustainable water points through community and government institutions.

The TWSP also aims at improving the health situation with regards to water borne diseases by conducting basic health and sanitation training among the communities targeted by the water development intervention as well as among other communities when required.

Purpose/objective

The midterm evaluation was on the ongoing project activities of Tana Water and Sanitation Project [TWSP] as per the project document, with specific focus on those activities that were implemented during 2013-2014 period.

The purpose of the evaluation was to draw lessons learnt and major challenges that the project has experienced in order to provide important direction for the on-going and future project activity implementation in water development in the area.

Methodology

The following key documents and sources of information were used during the evaluation: TWSP project proposals 2013-2017, Project agreement between TWSP, County Government of Tana River, project committees, Annual plans for the year 2013 and 2014, Financial and narrative reports from the project, annual and quarterly, Tana River CIDP Report – 2013, Field visits, Focus group discussions and interviews.

The sampling methodology utilized was sensitive to the needs of local community/project beneficiaries. At the grassroots level, the various project sites were sampled and key informants interviewed. Similarly, the same was done with key partners/ stakeholders in the project area. Overall, the exercise sought out a broad cross section of informants.

Key findings

Achievements:

• TWSP has a functional office in the project area
• Construction of water points has commenced and is at different stages on the four sites.
• Adult, health and sanitation training sessions have started and are on-going.
• The Project has established links with the County and Provincial administration as well as local leadership
• Creation of awareness on health and sanitation 
• Establishment of good relationships with the PHO/clinical officer/community health officer at the local dispensary 
• Involvement of most stakeholders during project initiation
• Religious Leaders/Local Elders: help in tree planting around the dam; conflict resolution, and also creating awareness.

Challenges:

• Reluctance of community to participate; they make promises which they don’t keep, e.g. to provide free labour on the construction of dams or even to submit names of health promoters, but they don’t deliver on their promises
• Dependency syndrome: beneficiaries demand payment for anything they do.
• Religious factors - Bringing men and women together is a challenge due to religious beliefs
• NGOs which had projects in the area previously used to pay the community for the work done but TWSP does not pay anything hence making the community unwilling to work for free.
• Lack of commitment and weakness of the water management committee.
• Not yet working with CDF (Constituency Development Fund), which has a big allocation of funds to support development projects at Constituency level

Recommendations:

1. Conduct a proper leadership and governance training for TWSP and its Committees.
2. The health component needs to be implemented more in the community rather than in the health facility. It is recommended that the project trains TOT and facilitate them to implement the health programme in the villages, with support of the Ministry of Health.
3. The Project also needs to actively engage the County health management team for guidance and partnership.
4. Improve communication between staff and the senior leadership in Bangale and between Bangale and Nairobi.
5. Strengthen the TWSP community mobilization effort, through training and deploying more personnel on each of the water sites
6. Strengthen and optimize the TWSP project synergies; ensuring that the different TWSP projects, namely; water, sanitation, health, and literacy are supportive/ complimentary of each other.
7. Mobilize the leadership of the community to come together and commit support for the project so that the people they lead can respect the decisions being made with regards to project sustainability.
8. Empower staff through training in community participatory approaches, e.g. Participatory Rural Appraisal [PRAs].
9. Put in place capable, trusted and committed water management and project management committees.
10. Given the hard rock in the excavation sites, the project should consider purchasing equipment that could break down the rock/ hard soils for the workers. 
11. Train more community mobilizers to be able to reach out to more people and also to deliver the right messages to the community.

Comments from the organisation, if any:

The mid-term evaluation has observed areas that require more attention. The project will choose to implement recommendations that are feasible in its context. One example is the excavation machine (bobcat) which has been bought in order to accelerate the excavation.

In order to strengthen community participation and ownership the project prefers community to participate in project activity voluntarily and without demand for payment and compensation. The project will opt for persistence, patience and perseverance in order to achieve community contribution.