Dear All,Monitoring is ...

Dear All, Monitoring is systemic as well as procedural, but all depends on what, why and how the monitoring is done. For WASH, the first step is through the establishment of a regulatory body for WASH at the desired level drawn directly from the primary beneficiaries. At the rural level we have the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Committees (WASHCOMs) who oversee these services at this level. At the Small Towns level, there is the Water Consumers Associations (WCAs) down to the urban settlement where the system becomes more advanced, complicated and segregated into different groups handled by different agencies. By this I mean for any WASH system to be sustainable, the direct beneficiaries should be able to operate and maintain the facilities and not an external body of government. the strategy for operation and maintenance is through the establishment of a supply chain and establishment of sanitation centres for the sale of fast moving spares for the maintenance of water facilities and components for the construction of sanitary latrines. These three structures (WASHCOMs, Supply Chain and Sanicentres) will make sure the project continues to serve the beneficiaries appropriately. The WASHCOMs should be able to institute a tariff system to generate funds for the maintenance of the facilities and also keep necessary records of the project. So once a project is complete, the WASHCOMs at the community level should take charge but it does not prohibit the government or NGO to periodically make visits to these projects to ascertain the status and examine the outcome.