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CARE HNTFEWr\lATHONU IN

COlktlMUMTY WATER AND SANITATION PROJECT IPEMMBm PROVINCE

Mid Term Evaluation Report CARE INTERNATIONAL IN MQZAMIUQUE

Mid Term Evaluation Report

FINAL REPORT'

gulp Ems CARE CARE International in Mozambique DNA National Directorate of Water Affairs Em Rural Water Station EPAR Provincial Rud Water Station GEQMOC E.E. Parastatal Drilling Company rn International Humanitarian Assistance Fund NGO Non Governmental Organization PEC Participation and Community Education Department PRONAR National RdWater Prograunme UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund US AID United States Agency for International Development VLQM Village Level Operation and Maintenance INDEX

1.INTRODUCTION...... '1 1.1 Background ...... 1 1.2 Project area ...... 2 1.3 Project description and objectives ...... 5

2 . TEE EVALUATION (mid-tern) MISSION ....6

3.1 Improved access to potable water sources ...... 7 3.2 Improved water supplies managed by users ...... 8 3.3 Improved rural sanitation ...... 10

4- IMPACT OF PROJECT ACTIVITIES 12

4.2 Water supply ...... 12 4.2 Sanitation ...... i5

S.EVALUATIBIr.....m.~....*...... m.. 16 5.1 Summary of project achievements and problems .... 16 5.2 Project perspectives ...... 19 I. INTRODUCTION

Inhambane province, in the south-eastern part of Hozambique, has been heavily affected by the drought of 1992. Because of this drought and because of the insecurity caused by the recently finished war, most of the province districts ha3 to cope with severe instability and shortage of water, in particular the northern and central districts. The traditional wells existing in most of the communities, usually hand-dug by villagers, contained very little water or were dried up completely. Due to the rare rainfall during the 1992/1993 rain season, the lowered water level could not improve. As a result, people had to spent days in search of drinking water. Besides this problem, many of the concrete-lined wells, hand-dug by government agencies, did not recharge during the rain season because of major fine sand infiltration. Some of the wells suffered fro= attacks by Renamo insurgents. During the war, large areas of the interior land had been abandoned by the villagers. With the end of the war in October 1992 and the brief rainy season in 1993, people were encouraged to return to their farmland and to rebuild their life. For most of those people however, water shortage was a major problem. With the purpose of alleviating this problem in 1992, the Inhambane Provincial Government made a plan to construct water points as part of the National Plan for Post-War Reconstruction and asked support from the National Government and NGO's. National Rural Water Programme was assigned to undertake this mandate. They received approximately USD 250.800 of UNICEF/CIDA funding . One of the assigned NGOs to respond to this emergency programme was CARE-International. From April until December 1992, on request from the Inhambane Provincial Emergency Commission, CARE conducted an emergency water supply intervention taking care of a water supply programme which benefitted about 6000 people in . The programme was successfully completed in 1993. In January 1993, seeing that the response to the water emergency programme did not ;meet local needs, the Inhainbane Provincial Emergency commission once again appealed to CARE for assistance. At the beginning of April, eaRE was able to respond with a USD 360.000 grant from the Canadian governmentfs International Humanitarian Assistance Programme (IhIA) . This funding permitted to implement a nine-month emergency water supply project in the two districts of , designed to construct 20 boreholes and 16 shallow wells which would benefit more than 26.000 people. IHA grant proposal was meant t~ fund CARE'S activities during the period April 1993/December 1993. In April 1993, a proposal for additional funding was submitted to USAID. This proposal was approved in September 1993 and a USD 867.468 USAID grant made it possible for CARE to broaden it's activities. According to the new proposal, this should be achieved by encouraging the sustainability of project interventions and extending the implementation period up to the end of December 1994. The project area was extended to include a larger number of districts in which another 30 boreholes and 10 shallow wells would he constructed. In addition to that, the project intended to construct 320 improved latrines in the whole area. Over 35.000 people would then benefit from improved access to water points and sanitation facilities.

CARE is the only WGO in northern Inhambane with water supply and sanitation as its principle activity.

1.2 The Project Area While there was water shortage in whole Inhambane province, the lack of water was critical and life-threatening in the districts of Mabote, GOVUO, Vilankuls and Inkassoro. Approximately 70% of the total population of more than 226.600 inhabitants were affected by the acute shortage of drinking water. The people in Mabote and Vilankulo suffered the most. With no alternative water points, people in some areas drink salty borehole water of over 2000 mu's to ensure their survival. Due to the highly corrosive water, outmounted hand-pump designs not appropriate for village level 0&M, and no spare parts, hand- pump failures were (and still. are) common.

CARE'S -project - uses a strategy in which major attention is paid to appropriate technology choice. For the construction of water points drilled boreholes (40 65 meters depth) and hand-dug - - shallow wells (6-10 meters depth) were chosen which, whenever necessary, would be provided with VLOM hand-pumps. Although salinity was known to be a problem in deeper aquifers of the northern region of Inhambane which, apparently favours the use of hand-dug shallow wells instead of boreholes, the construction of hand-dug shallow wells was limited to a minimum. This was because of the soil characteristics at the region (superficial rock layers) which does not favour hand-dug constlruction of shallow wells. In order to reduce to a minimum the possibilities of pump failures due to corrosion of downhole components because of salinity, pups with these components made of WC or galvanized steel were chosen (Afridev C Volanta pumps). In order to achieve sustainable objectives, an approach was developed through which, technology choice is balanced with a strategy of coaeamonity involvement. Villagers are being encouraged to feel responsible for the care of constructed water sources. Tbrough a parternship approach, benefitted communities are involved in all stages of project implementation regarding the siting, construction, and the OhM constructed water points. Together with reliable and safe water sources, the project intends to provide the communities with sanitation education with emphasis to improved hygienic practices. Latrines are being constructed to ensure that the newly constructed water pofnts continue to provide clean potable water to the villagers. PROV~NCIA. - -. . .DE . INHAMBANE. - .. --

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ORRUHBENE

LIW?€ Dg OfSTR I f 0 ESTRAQA NAC. PICAOA 1.3 Project description and objectives The main goal of the project is to improve the health status of at least 35,000 people in Mabote, Govuro, Vilankulo and Inhassoro in Inhambane Province. This objective is meant to be achieved by: * increasing the access to a secure potable groundwater supply for communitieswith no easily accessible alternative sources,

* improving water supply points maintained & managed by users through users committees * developing an acceptable strategy for the development of an sustainable rural sanitation programme. Expected outputs by the end of the project according to project objectives, are:

50 boreholes drilled in the districts Vilankulo Inhassoro, Mabote and Govuro, each equipped with an apron drain and a Afridev or Volanta hand-pump on a sealed well head. Out of this number, 20 boreholes to be drilled in Mabote and Govuro districts according to the IHA grant schedule. 26 hand-dug shallow wells. Out of this number, 10 in Vilankulo and Inhassoro districts each with an apron drain and Afridev pump installed on a sealed well head and 16 in Mabote and Gowro districts each with apron drain, and a sealed lid with removable cover. 320 improved latrines constructed, clean and funcC.ioning transfer of technical skills to community and counterparts establishment of effective community training and participation programme

at least 40 village level water & health committees formed and trained as health promoters 160 community water source caretakers trained and equipped for pump repair and water point maintenance with adequate gender balance of participants

pilot users pay programme which includes 40 new developed water pints establishment of monitoring and evaluation programme. 2. THE EVALUATION (MID-TERM) Mf SSION From 16th to 25th May 1994, an evaluation mission was carried out in Inhambane Province by an external consultant with the main purpose of evaluating the actual progress of the project during the first nine months of implementation. Specific objectives of the mission were: to see if project objectives are being reached with particular attention to community involvement and the socio-economic conditions for community responsibility for on-going costs of hand-pump maintenance and repair,

a preliminary view on the impact of project activities on the health situation in northern Inhambane, + a preliminary evaluation of CARE'S capacity to implement the water and health activities as described in the USAID grant schedule and CARE'S Proposal, preliminary access to information about the impact of the project on the living conditions of the villagers with particular attention to women and their use of time, co gather information about the impact of project activities on the environnent.

Specific activities carried out during the mission were : a review of project documents in specific USAID and CARE project proposals and progress reports, interviews with personnel involved with project implementation, particularly those people involved with community participation and education, and project implementation. visitsto water supplies and sanitation facilities constructed with project assistance; interviews with beneficiaries to access information about project impact and appropriateness on the living conditions of the villagers. A total of 14 water supplies and 3 project sites with sanitation facilities were visited in Mabote, Govuro and Vilankulo districts. meetings with project counterparts from the National Rural Water Brog~ammin specific those of the provincial stations (EPAR) and district station (CARE/ESAB-Vilankulo and re- Habote). 3. PROJECT ACHIEVEMENTS AFTER NINE MONTHS OF IMPLEMENTATION The first nine months of the execution of the project mainly involved the implementation of the rural water programme in the two districts Mabote and Govuro. This is the part of the project that was funded by IHA Grant Schedule.

1.n the sane period project activities of the pilot rural sanitation programme were started in the districts of Mabote, Gowro, Inhassoro and Vilankulo. This part of the project is funded by USAID. The following paragraphs give an overview of the project results achieved within these first nine months.

3.1 Improved access to potable water sources In view of the objective to improve the access to potable water sources, 20 boreholes were drilled and 16 shallow wells hand-dug in the districts of Mabote and Govuro. The achievements during the period of evaluati~nare:

Boreh~leconstruction Out of the 20 boreholes planned to be constructed, 17 boreholes have been drilled and developed. Out of this number, only 15 were successfuPly installed with handpumps. Borehole drilling involved two contuactors, namely Modrill Ltd and the parastatal company GEOMOC E.E.. The drilling programme with Modrill was basically executed in while the pasastatal company GEOMOC E.E. worked in Mabote district.

The drilling programme in Govuro district did not succeed 100% due to -';he non-completion of planned work by Modnrill (drilling success rate of 64%). By the middle of the second quarter of the project period a contract was signed with the project 's counkerpart EPAR-Inhambane to drill at one of the sites abandoned by Modrill. However, no drilling activity was done due to break-down of the new contractor's drill rig. The drilling programme in Mabote was successfully completed by the end of the second quarter.

I..- Following the recommendations from the national CARE'S national counterpart FRONAR, contracts were made with the National Df rectorate of Water Affairs for supervision of contractors work, in order to ensure that the National drilling procedures and standar&i were adhered by the drilling companies. Handl-pump installatior. was carried out by CPLRE with the collaboration of a pump mechanic from the Rural Water Programme. Although some delays were faced due to logistical difficulties in acquiring hand pumps and the available time of the handgump mechanics, by the end of the second quarter of the project period the campaign for hand-pump installation was successfully completed with 75% success rate.

Shallow well construction The construction of shallow wells in both Mabote and Govuro districts, was significantly supported by the Rural Water Station in Vilankulo in terms of personnel and heavy transport. The communities also participated. Despite the fact that the shallow well construction programme was slowed considerably due to several external fact~rs (deviation of logistic support for the borehole drilling programme, heavy rainfall and a relative lack of orientation in terms of site selection), by the end of the second quarter significant results have been achieved with a 73% success rate. The programme far shallow well construction faced a relatively big lack of interest of villagers with respect to community participation. This was particularly noted in places where alternative water sources exist. In these places, the presence of traditional wells hand-dug by villagers caused difficulties in mobilizing community members for the construction of water points assisted by the project. This has been noted during the shallow well construction programme in Govuro district in a area close to the District headquarters. As a result of it being a good agricultural land and never have been subject to insecurity, a number of traditional wells already existed. The same was noted in the village of Mahave in the same district where finally the construction of the planned shallow well was abandoned due to the total lack of interest shown by the local community.

Due to these adverse experiences and the fact that construction contracts for a large number of shallow wells was awarded to EPAR in the northern region of Inhambane, CAW proposed to abandon the remaining plans for the-construction of shallow wells. The proposal was approved by USAID. Considering these aspects, the achieved results by the end of the second quarter of the project forms the final resuits in terms of shallow well construction.

3.2 Improvaasnt of water supply points maintained and managed by users The project intended to realize adequate community involvement in all stages of implementation of the project activities. For this purpose attention should have been paid to: - community participation regarding to site selection for water points, - training and knowledge transference through the involvement of users in hand-pump mounting and, - the selection and training of users committees and water points caretakers for handpump maintenance & repair. Following an approach developed by CARE'S project-manager in collaboration with the National Rural Water Programme (PRONAR), the selection and training of users committees and water point caretakers should have to be carried out in accordance with the National PEC-Programme. Preliminary to community involvement, the project intended to select and train counterpart animators who would carry out the task of community education.

Counterpart field workers training Counterpart field workers training was an action undertaken by CARE as an institutional strengthening activity of CARE animators to help guarantee the work was done in field. In this respect, the specific actions carried out were those of CARE'S project manager and project training advisor who assisted the preparation and organization of a five weeks course in issues of community education and involvement in water and sanitation prcjects. This was done in collaboration with PEC-PRONAR. CARE intended to finance the participation of eight animators from Inhambane province, however, only two participants fron the provincial water sanitation in Maxixe followed the course. Afterwards these two trained animators became responsible for the training of two new CARE and Agua Rural animators. The one new animator was recruited and established in but the animator due to be trained for the field station in Vilankulo (ESAR-VilaPik\nlo) was not recruited finally. Because of maternity leave, th.2 two animators from CARE and Agua Rural who were placed at Eaabote district have been absent from the field station during the last months. Because of that, a new CARE'S animator was recruited andl established in this district. Counterpart training involved also participation in seminars and short courses.

Community fxafning and devePopmeat

During the 9 months evaluated by the mission, animators spent much of their the in training the commfties in developing a sense of responsibility towards their water pints. By the end of the period, in every water point provided with a handpump, a community users committee had been selected and trained. The training of community caretakers for handpup maintenance & repair showed high success rates with an average of 4 to 6 caretakers for each of the installed handpumps. Although users committees and caretakers have been selected and trained, difficulties in community involvement showed up during the handpump mounting programme. In Mabote district for instance, the execution of this programe by Agua Rural-Maxixe was done so quickly that it resulted in a poor follow up by community members. Besides this, the programme was dominated by technicians and pump mechanics who were not able to pay enough attention to the community participation. In most of the places, community education only took place after the pumps were mounted, This problem raised during the first quarter of the project period and was repeated during the 2nd quarter while installing six handpumps in Govuro district. Here, during the construction of apron drains, community participation was hampered, again due to the rapidity with which the work was done. Because of these kinds of problems, the animators could not play the role they were supposed to have in gaining adequate community collaboration and training.

3.3 Omproved rural sanitation At the end of the first quarter of the period the sanitation programme was initiated. In this period, major attention was paid to the planning of field resources surveys aimed to provide useful information for practical use by animators in selected villages for pilot sanitation projects.

During the second quarter, a seminar was held at the CARE office in Vilankulo. It involved all animators responsible for pilot sanitation projects in the northern region and was meant primarily to present and analyze the information gathered during the surveys which could be used in the planning of further steps to be followed during the implementation of the pilot sanitation programme. The seminar also involved supervisors from the PEC/Sanitation Programme from EPBR-Inhambane and the project's counterpart from the same entity. The major outcome of the seminar was a strategy paper produced by CAWE which subsequently acted as a guide for the initial steps of implementation of the pilot sanitation programme. Significant actions within this programme were undertaken during the 3rd quarter of the project period. Despite many logfsticall constraints, the sanitation programme made a promising start in the districts of Govrsro, Vilankaalo and Mabote. Highest results were achieved in Mate district in terms of the number of constructed latrines and wash rooms and the quality of constructed facilities. Despite the lack of materials for the con8tmction of walls, a 50% success rate was achieved when compared to planned figures. In Vilankulo, only one village was incorporated in the sanitation progranme. Although in this area construction went slowly due to the lack of organization of the families, community participation was successful, resulting in almost 100% locally obtained material. The fact that the project supported the communities by paying the services of the local constructor and the transport of materials contributed significantly in achieving this level of community participation. The lowest results were obtained in the two villages in Govuro district. This was because of problems with the constructor in specific regarding to the quality of his work, and because of the inaccessibility of one of the pilot project areas. In Pande, one of the selected community for the rural pilot sanitation programme, cornunity participation with respect to contribution in materials was surprisingly low, given the apparent availability of local materials. 4. IMPACT OF PROJECT ACTIVITIES 4.1 Water supply Increased number of water points The part of the project considering the increasing of the number of water points, has been very successful. During the first nine months of implementation 24 water points have been constructed out of the 36 which had been planned in the project proposal. In the two districts where the project activities focused on, more than 75% of the population, originally affected by the shortage of water, benefits now from accessible and safe potable water. This achievement promises good results for achieving the main project goal. utilization of water points In order to gather information about the impact of the project activities, 14 communities inyabote and Govuro district provided with water points, were visited. At the communities where meetings with beneficiaries were possible, interviews were carried out about the utilization of water points in practice with emphasis to the issues daily amounts of collected water collected and the difficulties still being faced by the villagers in reaching water points (distances, availability of time). Fromthe interviews it appearedthat the constructed water points are having significant impact on the licving conditions of the villagers particularly 5n thcse places where alternative water sources hardly exist. From the interviews, it appeared also that at the places where traditional sources are available, their use by villagers had been reduced significantly as a result of the availability of new water points constructed with project assistance. Nevertheless, evidences exist that many of the villagers, still prefer their traditional sources as long as they are located in places close to their houses in comparison to the location of the new water points. In Mabote district for instance, this was found to occur in Matsacale and Mucoco where, apart from water points constructed with project assistance, alternative sources exist close by. In the later community, water quality problems also contributes for this. In Govuro district, similar problems were reported at the two water pints const~ctedat the villages close to the save river. It shou1d be noted however, that this usually occurs during rainy season when the number of alternative sources increases significantly. Although apparently, the constructed water points are being used at a significant utilization rate, from the interviews it appeared also that difficulties still exist with regard to reaching the water points. The nuanber of water points has been increased significantly however, some of the villagers still have to cover long distances (of more than 2 hours walking) to reach the water points. Because of that, these villagers are only able to look for water once or twice a day which results in relatively low amounts of collected water for household purposes (5-10 l/cap.d). In places where alternative sources exist close to villagers living places this became also a reason for them to still rely on their traditional water sources. With few exceptions, traditional beliefs or water quality problems had been reported as causing impediments ill the use of water points. Evidences of that where found in Mabote district at the borehole constructed in Mucoco which is hardly being used due to quality problems (salty water). In the same district, one of the three shallow wells constructed in Tessolo is also not in use apparently due to traditional beliefs. Through observation and interviews with the community maintenance groups, we were able to get insight into the level of awareness of the communities regarding to the need to keep the water points clean. On a general basis in all the visited communities the visual outlook of water points indicates a significantly high level of interest of villagers in keeping water points clean. A relatively high lack of interest in this respect was found i.n 2 of the visited communities (in Save) given the state of cleanliness of the water points. From the interviews it appeared however, that the cleaning task is mainly carried out by the maintenance groups without a fully participation of the rest of the cornunity members. Apparently the availabi1i::y of alternative water sources in sufficient numbers and quantity to suffice the water needs of the villagers, contributes significantly for this lack of interest of villagers in this respect. This might be caused by the fact that the way villagers see the newly constructed water points is mainly directed to the gained benefits in terms of quantity and easy access rather than on quality improvements. Besides the availability of alternative sources, it appeared also that in some places, a certain lack of authority of the users committees also contributes to the low participation degree. In order to get insight in the level of villager's awareness of the need to keep water safe between collection and use, and the haplenaentation in practice, interviews were carried out with v&lPagers, Relevant aspects were the my of transport and storage of water in the house, From that, it appeared that villagers are aware of the care needed to keep water safe from contamination. Tbe implementation in practice of these issues however, was found ts be pear in most of the visited households. Apparently this is due to the lack of appropriate containers for the transport and storage of water, which on itself results from a lack of funds to buy those containers. certainly higher than expected. Looking at their socio- economic conditions, paying for hand pump maintenance and repair could be a problem. , A remarkable aspect however is the fact that in certain communities there are individuals able and willing to pay all the repair costs, as long as this means that they can enjoy having good water available. Another problem reported is related to villages where no market activities exist close by (for instance at Chibiquela). In these areas, villagers raised the question of where to get cash money to be able to buy spare parts in case the handpump breaks down.

4.2 Sanitation The work done within the rural sanitation programme is still in a pilot phase. Because of that, a detailed evaluation of the project impact on the living conditions of villagers was somewhat difficult . Nevertheless, based on the achieved progress up to now, an evaluation was carried out on issues related to technology choice and the sustainability of project activities in the future.

Technology choice L sustainability In the visited communities the principle of pit latrines for the disposal of human wastes appeared to be already known. Only small differences were noted between the existing traditional latrines and those constructed with proj9ct assistance. The most significant differences had to do with the type of materials used for the wall construction (traditional latrines are made from local materials), and with the absence of a roof on the traditional ones. Through observation of the households in the way they handle human and animal waste disposal, it appeared that in all areas, a significant level cf hygiene awareness exist. Considering Mefact that the two latrine technologies are very similar, and that the newly constructed latrines are used seldom, one may question the sustainability of the new latrines. At the actual stage of the programme, most of the construction materials are being given by the project. Part of these materials are hardy found in these places, therefore large inputs are being asked from the project and very Bitthe from the communities. Considering this strategy of cooperation between the project and the communities, it is questionable whether the villagers will not return to their traditional way of latrine construction after the finishing of Me project. 5. EVALUATION

5.1 Sununary of project achievements & problems. During the first nine months of the project implementation, significant progress has been achieved in developing a reliable infrastructure for water supply in Mabote and Govuro, two districts of northern Inhambane. Despite the difficulties faced during the drilling programme, a significant number of water points have been constructed with the activities running close to the proposed schedule. Within the focused districts, the achieved number of water points constructed and being used, certainly contributes to an improved access to reliable a potable water sources, in fact the main goal of the project. Parallel to the improved water supply, conditions for a "s~stainable~~management of project facilities by villagers has been created.

The practice of rural water supply & sanitation had shown that the best guarantee to attain accepted and sustainable water supply management by the communities, is to create, right from the beginning, an interactive approach between the communities and implementing/funding agencies. There should be adequate community participation with respect to siting, technology choice and the construction of facilities. Besides community participation, proper selection and training of users committees also plays an important role. During implementation of the project, particular attention was paid to these aspects. The fact that only few places showed a low level of community participation in keeping water points clean, indicates that the work and intentions of the animators and project managers is being understood and taken over by the communities. Considering the difficulties faced during the handpump installation regarding to community.participation and knowledge transfer, one could expect installed handpumps not to be VLOM. Apparently this is not the case if one considers that evidences exist that whenever asked for, the population has shown its capacity to carry out handpump repair after spares have been sued. From this, it appears that installed handpumps are VIAlM. Although villagers have been provided with an improved access to water points, there are no significant indications that the newly built hfrastructure is contributing significantly to the inprovement of the health status of the communities within the project area. One of the reason behind this fact is tha% many villagers are only able to collect relatively low amounts of water. Villagers spend much of their time on their farms (which usually are located far from their houses and the water points), and do not have much time to spend on water collection. Besides this, the way villagers use to transport water does not offer many possibilities to keep it clean and safe between collection and use. With regard to this, it has appeared that villagers do not adapt easily the recommendations given during hygienic education. A major part of the villagers still use the traditional practice of covering water containers with leaves as a way to avoid water spiling during transportation. Not being selective with respect to the leaves used however, this practice increases the risk of water contamination. Some villagers who do consider the rules of hygienic education, use other kinds of materials (like plastic bags) to cover the water containers. Although this last group of villagers show that they consider given information about hygiene, it can be questioned whethr these new practices actually have positive impact on the conservation of water. Most of the time, the alternative materials are not safe either therefore, the risk of water contamination duringtransportation still exist andprobably even on a higher level than when using the traditional practices. The ~racticeof water conservation within the IhousehoPds is also fouid to be poor. Apparently this results from the weak financial conditions of the villagers who cannot afford appropriate containers for water conservation. In respect to this issue, it can be questioned whether these villagers do realize the practical link between water usage and water born diseases. Knowledge about this link is necessary for them to realize that keeping water safe is of the utmost importance. In practice, for most of the villagers any source of water is a reliable source as soon as they like it's taste and it is easily accessible. The most important for these villagers is to avoid water spilling during transportation. It does not matter what material is used for that as long as their goal is achieved. Following the rules of hygienic education implies for most of the people significant changes in their attitudes and traditional practices in hygienic behaviours. The task of community education with regard to changing the hygienic behaviour is the responsibility of PEC-animators. The few animators established at the districts covered by the project has to deal with relatively large areas. This indeed, causes difficulties in approaching the communities in a systematic way that can ensure that villagers are systematically reminded about the need for changes on their hygienic attitudes whenever necessary. Besides this, while doing their work, the animators has to cope with other problems like differences in hygienic attitudes within the various villages and communicative barriers resulting from differences in age and cultures between animators and some of the villagers. Considering all this aspects then, PEC-animators are requested to be capable of, on their own, be able to overcome these barriers and to be able to identify what the best approach to be used on the basis of the particulate conditions they find within the concerned communities. In practice, this is not the case. PEC-programmes are still being done on a old-fashion basis with a standard approach to communities that may not fit to all the encountered situations in practice. Although the animators are trained beforehand they still are not able to cope with such differences in behaviours of communities. In this particular case the fact that the recruiting of PEC-animators did face some problems may also being contributing for the failures being faced with issues related to community education. These aspects may be seen as constraints towards an improvement of the health status in the region. At this stage of the project, the sustainability of handpump maintenance & repair, gives reason for discussion. This is because the success of this programme depends , besides on proper community involvement and training, on: - whether communities are willing to pay for it - whether communities can afford the costs for handpump maintenance & repair - the costs of handpump maintenance on itself depending on the type of used handpump (VoPanta or Afridev) and on its reliability. During the evaluation, it appeared that the willingness of the people within the communities to pay for the costs of handpump maintenance is not the problem, But considering the fact that they do not have a notion of the actual costs, the question rises whether the villagers really can afford the maintenance costs. It has been reported that the installed handpumps (Afridev mainly) have a high rate of breakdowns due mainlyto broken rods and falling down of raising tubes, Until 'now the communities did not have to worry about this because the project always provided spare parts. Besides, CABE8s project activities are located in geogrcphical areas covered by the Rural Water Programme which supplies free spares as well. Under this conditions the issue of sustainable handpump maintenance programme through communities can only be evaluated on the basis of the interest shown By villagers in supporting the concerned costs. The fact that the interest in paying, bas ken demonstrated by communities and individuals indicates that if the co~unitiesare asked to take the responsibility for handpump repair the level of response to will be such that maintenance costs will be covered. Even in those places where no marketing exist and possibilities to get cash money hardly exist, concerned villagers stated their willing to jointly collect and sell their farm productions to be able to pay for it. Considering that the higher levels of acceptance of constructed water points was found to prevail in places where alternatives water sources hardly exist then, the higher possibilities for the success of the programme will also be influenced by this factor. Together with the above mentioned aspects, the success of this programme depends on the availability of a reliable network for acquisition of spare parts by villagers. Provided all these conditions are fulfilled then the establishment -of a decentralized maintenance programme have great possibilities to succeed. The question of how spare parts will be distributed to communities does not lie within the responsibility of the communities them self, In this respect, the project and the project counterpart should have to play the greater role in establishing an appropriate mechanisms for the purpose. In respect to that, actions had already been taken by CARE and its counterpart in working a pilot area to try and set up a community-funded handpump maintenance with commercial availability of spare parts. In parallel to that the project started also encouraging the commercial sector in supply of spare parts in retail.

5.2 Project Perspectives

For the period until December '94, efforts within the project will be made in actions necessary to complement those carried out as function of the PHA-grant schedule. Specific tasks are those funded by the USAID-grant schedule. With the planned activities, the project area is extended to a total of four districts in northern Inhambane and the beneficiary population increased to more than 35,000 people. For the achievement of this objective, 34 more improved water points (boreholes provided with a VLOM handpump on a sealed well head) will be constructed in the four distr4cts covered by the project. With respect to the rural sanitation programme, during this period attention will be paid to concrete actions of improvements for community involvement so that by the end of the project, about 320 improved pit latrines will be constructed and properly used. In addition to infrastructure construction, during this period, CARE will ,continueto assist community education and counterpart- animators training so that by the end of the grant the knef iciary communities are adequately prepared to take responsibility for the management and maintenance of constructed facilities. The success in realization of these objectives basically depends on how successfully are the activities carried out during the following stages of project implementation: - Borehole construction - Handpump mounting programme With respect to borehole construction the success of the project depends on the effectiveness and quality of work provided by contractors. During the first period of implementation, basically two contractors were involved namely Modrill Ltd. and the parastatal drilling company GEOMOC E.E.. Both contractors dsmonstrated a number of limitations with respect to contractual obligations, adherence to technical criteria specified in CARE'S contract and the National borehole drilling criteria and appropriateness of drilling equipment. Despite these aspects both contractors performed sufficiently well the drilling programme to give the minimal acceptable quality of work. In this respect, the presence of @AREfs qualified Engineer collaborating with DNA inspection team in supervision of the work contributed significantly in achieving the objectives. For the period until the end of the project, approximately 34 boreholes will be drilled within the four concerned districts. Contracts for geophysical surveys and the drilling programmes are already drawn up and finalized and the contract for the drilling programme awarded to Modrill Ltd. The experience in working with Hodrill, showed that despite the problems mentioned before, this company shows significantly high production rates with an acceptable quality of work. In this respect, if provided that the drawbacks noted during the first period are surpassed then, the possibilities for a successful drilling programme are quite secure. With respect to the handpump mounting programme, the major problems noted during the first period of project implementatioh concerned delays caused by slow procedures for acquisition of handpumps and spare parts. Besides that, problems arose with regard to the quality of handpump parts. These problems have been discussed and reported to the pump ma~ufacturersand suppliers. Practical solutions for some of these problems have already been found by the project engineer which apparently function well. Based on those solutions, a document with key recommendations for Volanta handpump mounting has been produced. The experience with the Afridev handpump mounting programme showed that whenever the pump is installed beneath a certain immersion depth (using less that 14 rods), they show a lower frequency of breakdowns. This knowledge should be used as technical recommendation when installing Afridev handpumps in future . Knowledge transfer sf technical skills to community and counterparts had also faced problems during the first phase of project implementation. Besides the rapidity under which the handpump mounting programme was carried out it was dominated by technicians and pump mechanics who were not able to pay enough attention to community participation and the role sf animators in community training. In respect to this, the fact that the project is now enforcing the training of PEC-animators also in technical matters can be seen as step forward in minimizing these kind of problems in future. Considering all these activities during the first phase of the project, it is likely that problems will be minimized during the second phase. CONCLUSIONS Considering the main goals of the mid-term evaluation and the results of the evaluation carried out, it may be concluded that: during the first phase of project implementation, a significant infrastructure for water supply has been created in the districts of the project area which ~ertainly contributes in assuring an improved access to gecure potable . water sources for the beneficiary communities, conditions for community based management of the water points have apparently been created in respect to selection and training of maintenance groups and water point caretakers, despite the difficulties faced with respect to knowledge transfer caused by the rapidity way under which the handpump mounting programme was carried out, efforts where done +o.ensure that community training was carried out -. . - ' --.r\.dpumphanding over. The achieved results in this r-spect are quite promising with respect to handpump maintef-c ,! by the benefited communities, although a better infrastructure for water supply has been created, few indications exist that constructed water .points brings significant improvements on the health :"'; situation within the beneficiary communities, apart from those resulting from a better availability of water, the availability of alternative water sources in certain communities is noted as a negative factor leading to the lack of interest of coflmunities in the construction of water points based on shallow wells, and therefore abandonment of the programme by the project. Availability of. alternative water sources is also contributing to a lack of interest of communities in the management of water points in general. Communities where alternative water sources hardly exist, the constructed water points do have a big impact. although the number of points has been increased significantly, it appeared that difficulties still exist with regard to reaching the water points. Long distances have to be covered, limiting the amounts of water to be ,, collected to figures of 5 to 10 l/cap/day. looking at soclo- economic conditions of villagers, paying far handpump maintenance and repair can be a problem. The interest shown by villagers . -- gives reasons to believe that the implernxAatIc, of a decentralized programme for handpump maint.:nance may succeed in most of these communities. - r. .. Considering the results from the mid-term project evaluation, it may be concluded that, despite some problems, the conditions are right to be able to achieve the main project goal. PHOTOS euemuea :w?x?stp swqen 'ztaqonq e pue seeTpufm e ~?TMTTaM MoTTeqs Members of the maintenance group of the water point. Mabote District; Pangue

PEC-animators giving instructions to coramunity members of the maintenance groups. Mabote District; Chibiquela Poor conservation of water point. Borehole with a Afridev handpump. Save.

Villager preparing leavee to cover water container during water transportation. Govuro district; Luldo Water transportation; Luido

Community member helping in digging for latrine constmction. Mabote District; Gubogubo Borehole with Afridav handpump and a wooden Pence for Sanitary protection. Habote District; Chibiquela

Borehole with Volanta handpump. Govuro; Luido Pit latrine constructed with project assistance. Pande-sede.

Field station constructed with project assistance. Mabote; Mabote Sede