We achieved are our targets! Even if the past year 2072/2073 was a tragic year for Nepal, the joint effort together with our different stakeholders during the final trimester resulted in excellent progress, after all!
The past year (Nepali Fiscal Year, mid-July 2015 – mid-July 2016) was a year of hundreds of after-shocks following the earth quakes, and a year of pro-longed protests and blockages along the Nepal-India border. As a result, there was a serious shortage of construction materials, fuel and other basic items. The progress was not looking promising by the mid-year, and in our Semi-Annual Progress report FY03 in mid-January 2016 were had to list a number of cases that could not proceed due to lack of construction materials or fuel for transport, or could not sign agreements for the new water supply schemes due to uncertainty related to the actual cost of the materials in the market even if available.
RWSSP-WN II major achievements during its third fiscal year (Brief 8-2016):
Eleven out of fourteen districts in RWSSP-WN II working area have reached Open Defecation Free status since 2012. Two districts, Syangja and Rolpa, declared ODF within the past year. The total population with access to sanitation is 2,7 million.
Nearly 70,000 people have adopted hygienic behaviours and use of improved technologies in 164 Total Sanitation declared wards supported by RWSSP-WN II.
Over 84,000 people have gained access to improved water supply in RWSSP-WN II supported districts.
Sustainability of 397 rural water supply projects has been improved through rolling out of various Post-Construction support activities such as VDC and District PoCo workshops and Water Safety Planning.
VDC wide WASH planning is the main tool for finding the unreached pockets and prioritizing water supply projects; so far 71 V-WASH Plans have been endorsed by VDC councils, with another 20 being in various stages of finalization. We have managed to find the unserved: the beneficiary data of water supply projects shows that 87% of our households can be defined as previously unreached – i.e. households who have never received external support for an improved water supply (69%) and households who have received support for water supply but the design period of their scheme is over (18%). One fifth of the beneficiaries belong to Dalit group, often considered as a disadvantaged group in Nepal; this proportion being higher than their proportion in the districts´ total population (13%).
RWSSP-WN II has a results based approach where quantifiable results targets are set for each fiscal year. Photo below shows how the districts themselves assessed their situation against each results indicator for FY03: 'GREEN' indicating that they are on track, 'YELLOW' calling for more attention and 'RED' being critical. See the details in the RWSSP-WN II Annual Progress Report FY03 (CY 2015/2016 – FY2072/073) Volume II District Reports. RWSSP-WN II is not only about physical and financial progress, but also about research, development, knowledge management and approach development. RWSSP-WN II contributes to a range of thematic issues that are also valuable for the wider sector development. These indicators together with the number of new studies and Briefs show the range of topics that RWSSP-WN II is working with.
RWSSP-WN Brief 1-2016 focuses on the public, institutional and school sanitation in Western and Mid-Western Nepal.
RWSSP-WN Brief 2-2016 re-visits the findings from the sanitation related behaviour change communications (BCC) study made in 2015 in three Tarai districts.
RWSSP-WN Brief 3-2016 entry point is that Water Users and Sanitation Committees (WUSCs) need to be able to collect some cash for their operation and maintenance (O&M) needs. This cash needs to keep its value, stay safe and be available when it is needed.
RWSSP-WN Brief 4-2016 gives an overview of the WSP++ concept promoted by RWSSP-WN II.
RWSSP-WN Brief 5-2016 summarizes the findings of a source yield study completed in 2015 by RWSSP-WN II. Altogether 2,387 water sources were analyzed in the study.
RWSSP-WN Brief 6-2016 outlines the top-line findings whether the areas declared as Open Defeacation Free (ODF) truly are open defeacation free in 19 VDCs and 4 municipalities, in 27 Wards of which 23 Wards were declared as ODF, in Western Nepal. The total sample included 5,517 household observations.
RWSSP-WN Brief 7-2016 (also in Nepali language) provide step-by-step clarity into the procurement process.
The forthcoming Briefs focus on springshed management (Brief 9) and the development of browser-based Management Information System (Brief 10), both of which were important new topics for RWSSP-WN II over the past six months. The following documents bring you more insights: the Volume I provides the main report while the Volume II is a compilation of individual districts progress report, bringing in more operational and district-specific details.
Based on the RWSSP-WN II Annual Progress Report FY03 (CY 2015/2016 – FY2072/073) Volume I and RWSSP-WN II Annual Progress Report FY03 (CY 2015/2016 – FY2072/073) Volume II District Reports.
Available also as RWSSP-WN Brief 8-2016 (prepared by Sini Pellinen 20.09.2016), click on the links above for the full reports! See also RWSSP-WN II action in 2015/2016 in www.facebook.com/rwsspwn
With great appreciation to all who made this year a success,
after all and for all!
Sanna