Monitoring Methods for Systems-Strengthening Activities Toward Sustainable Water and Sanitation Services in Low-Income Settings

Daniel Hollander, Brittany Ajroud, Evan Thomas, Shawn Peabody, Elizabeth Jordan, Amy Javernick-Will and Karl Linden
Additional contact information
Daniel Hollander: Mortenson Center in Global Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80303, USA
Brittany Ajroud: Environmental Incentives, Washington, DC 20005, USA
Evan Thomas: Mortenson Center in Global Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80303, USA
Shawn Peabody: Environmental Incentives, Washington, DC 20005, USA
Elizabeth Jordan: United States Agency for International Development, Washington, DC 20004, USA
Amy Javernick-Will: Mortenson Center in Global Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80303, USA
Karl Linden: Mortenson Center in Global Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80303, USA

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 17, 1-16

Abstract: To address the complex challenge of sustaining basic water and sanitation services in low income settings, international organizations and local and national government entities are beginning to design and implement interventions explicitly aimed at addressing system weaknesses. Often referred to as “systems approaches,” these interventions seek to understand, engage with, and positively influence the network of actors and the interacting factors that deliver services. As WASH sector assistance and support activities shift toward systems approaches, many associated intermediate results and desired outcomes become less quantifiable than those of more traditional WASH activities. This paper reviews systems approaches, evaluation methodologies, and several applications in East Africa, at varying geographic scales. Early findings from the application of outcome mapping and system-wide assessments within the USAID-funded Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership (SWS) indicate the importance of including both within an overall monitoring approach to support systems strengthening of water and sanitation services. The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views and opinions of the United States Agency for International Development, or the U.S. Government.

Keywords: monitoring; sustainability; water; sanitation; systems; development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/17/7044/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/17/7044/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:17:p:7044-:d:405821

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().