The Healthy Village Committee in Soya, North Kivu. Village management committees have been set up to oversee improvements in sanitation and hygiene
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Maureen Ndamwe, Radio Maata presenter, Turkana. Radio broadcasts are one way in which SWIFT will work to maintain the changes brought about in sanitation and hygiene behaviours in Kenya
The SWIFT Consortium has embarked on the second phase of its programme: the ‘outcomes’ phase, during which the focus shifts from implementing activities to building capacity in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of its interventions.
Over the next two years, SWIFT will continue to work with communities, local authorities, health bodies, utilities and radio stations to ensure the changes it has brought about will endure well into the future.
Monitoring frameworks
Following workshops held in DRC and Kenya, country teams have prepared sustainability monitoring frameworks with multiple indicators, organised around five dimensions of sustainability: functional, institutional, environmental, financial and equity.
Monitoring surveys will be conducted regularly, using digital technology in the DRC, and the information collected will feed into a traffic-light system. This will give an easy-to-read sense of where the building blocks for sustainability are in place, and where follow-up support may be needed.
Statistically representative surveys will be conducted at the end of 2016 – the midline – and the end of 2017 – the endline, with reports published in January 2017 and 2018 respectively. Twenty percent of SWIFT’s contract – which is worth nearly £20m in total – is linked to the consortium demonstrating sustainable outcomes in 2017 and 2018.
Management committees
Since the start of the programme, SWIFT partners in Kenya have been working with communities to set up water management committees to take ownership of new water systems. These elected bodies agree tariffs, collect payments, and oversee the operation and maintenance of water sources to ensure their long-term sustainability. Other activities focus on maintaining changes brought about in sanitation and hygiene behaviours.
In DRC, SWIFT is implementing the government-approved Healthy Villages and Schools approach (Villages et Écoles Assainis, or VEA), which involves setting up village management bodies to oversee improvements in sanitation and hygiene, and water users’ committees similar to those in Kenya. The committees collect fees and maintain the new and rehabilitated water sources, with women encouraged to take up leadership positions.
