._______I V ~ ~ U ) EVALUATION OF RURAL WATER SUPPLY, ZIMBABWE —. — — — - -- L3~AR~‘~T~RN iC’N~-~EFE~EN-’CE ‘;‘~~ir~’WA~-R ~jP~LY ~ ~ A~Th~H~quS ~ ~Q~O) ~ )~ ~4. 141(142 ~r~:\S~J L~~ ~ ~3 Internationalh7fab Zimconsult PROJECT MANAGERS Economic & Planning Consultants The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Development Cooperation. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Executive Summary V Acknowledgements Xl’ List of Abbreviations Xlii. Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1 . 1 Background 1. 1.2 Norway’s Support to Zimbabwe’s Water 1 Sector 1 . 3 Scope and Focus of Evaluation 3 1 .4 Evaluation Methodology 3 1 .5 Team Members 4 Chapter 2 Rural Water Supply in National Development Context 5 2.1 National Context 5 2.2 National Objectives 5 2.3 Demographic and Environmental Determinants 6 2.4 Provision for Rural Water Supplies 7 2.5 Co-ordination 7 2.6 Decentralisation 8 2.7 Community Mobilisation and Participation 8 2.8 Other National Issues Impinging on the Rural Water Sector 9 2.9 Donor Influence 9 Chapter 3 Assessment of Norway’s Support to the Rural Water Sector 10 3.1 Format of Presentation 10 3.2 Evaluation Study Work 10 3.3 Objectives of Sector Programmes 14 3.4 Programme Planning 17 3.5 Programme Organisation and Execution 21 3.6 Integration of Water, Sanitation and Health Education 26 3.7 Applied Water Supply and Sanitation Technology 29 3.8 Community Participation 32 3.9 Development of Capacity for Maintenance and Repair 36 3.10 Other Aspects of the NORAD Supported Programmes 39 3.11 Conclusions 42 ii Chapter 4 Donor Influence on Water Sector Development 47 4.1 The Relative Importance of Donor Support 47 4.2 Co-ordination of Donor Inputs 48 4.3 Replicability of Donor Supported Programmes 49 4.4 Position of NORAD as a Donor to the Sector 49 4.5 Options for Improving Utilisation of Donor Support 49 Chapter 5 Issues of particular importance to sector development 51 5.1 Decentralisation 51 5.2 Development Strategy 53 5.3 Expenditure Coverage 54 5.4 Community Participation 55 5.5 Maintenance of Primary Water Supplies 57 5.6 Applied Technology 60 5.7 Institutional and Manpower Development 62 5.8 Health Impacts 64 5.9 Water for Productive Purposes 66 5.10 Gender Issues 67 Chapter 6 Options for Future Norwegian Support to the Sector 70 6.1 Possibilities for Change 70 6.2 Options for Change within the Current Agreement Period 70 Future Norwegian Support to the Sector 79 iii APPENDICES Appendix 1 Programme Details - ZIB 001, 003, 006 & 007 Appendix 2 Terms of Reference Appendix 3 List of Persons Interviewed Appendix 4 Fieldwork Programme in Zimbabwe Appendix 5 Annotated Bibliography Appendix 6 Case Study No. 1 - Makoni District Appendix 7 Case Study No. 2 - Chipinge District Appendix 8 Case Study No. 3 - Mt Darwin District Appendix 9 Case Study No. 4 - Murewa District Appendix 10 Maintenance Cost Model - Sample Print-out FIGURES Box 3.1 Characteristics of NORAD Supported RWS Projects - Findings from 4 Districts MAPS Map 1 Project Areas, ZIB 006 & ZIB 007 Map 2 Makoni District Map 3 Chipinge District Map 4 Mount Darwin District Map 5 Mashonaland East, West and Central iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The Evaluation Team was asked to review Norway’s support to the rural water supply and sanitation sector in Zimbabwe and to present options for future Norwegian support to the sector. With reference to the Terms of Reference for the Evaluation Study the Ministry of Development Cooperation had requested that emphasis should be placed on the forward looking aspects. The Norwegian support has covered a wide range of activities and it has played a major role in promoting sector development in Zimbabwe. Inevitably this has led the Team to discuss some of the major sector issues as they are both influencing and being influenced by Norway’s support. Four major programmes were the subject of the present Study, namely: * ZIB 003 — National Master Plan for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation, for which NOK 20 mill. was provided (1983 — 86) * ZIB 006 Borehole Drilling Programme - Mashonaland (the “Crash Programme”), for which NOK 28 mill, was voted and approximately NOK 24 mill, spent (1984 — 85) * ZIB 006 — Manicaland Integrated Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme, for which NOK 24.3 miii. was provided (mci. support to the inception of computer based information management) (1985 — 87) * ZIB 007 — Water Supply and Sanitat~6i~~ectorSupport Programme, for which NOK( 180 mill, has been committed (1987 — ) It is also important to observe that Norway supported rehabilitation, maintenance and new construction of rural water supplies through the ZIB 001 programme (1981 - 87). This programme was evaluated in 1984 and is therefore excluded from the present study. V CONCLUS IONS The National Master Plan for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (NMWP) was prepared at a time when Zimbabwe was still in the process of formulating its long term policy after independence and provided inputs to this process. Some important national policy issues had, however, not yet been resolved, for example the status and autonomy of local governments. The NMWP presented recommendations in respect of policies, strategies, technology selection, implementation methods, manpower development, organisational reforms, and financing of sector development. The Plan covered communal lands and resettlement areas only and was further limited to water for domestic and cattle watering purposes. Under the auspices of the interministerial National Action Committee (NAC), these recommendations have been extensively discussed and most of them have been adopted for practical implementation. The NMWP document and in particular the process of sector review Thit ti .Study initiated, have been valuable conributionsto sàuKd se~or development. However, the NNWP has not yet been approved by the Cabinet although several draft recommendations have been prepared by the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources and Development (MEWRD). The fact that NAC has not yet been able to reach concensus in these matters reflects on the conflicts still existing between the water sector ministries. Not least the dispute concerning ~.J~e~ponsibilities ~for borehole drj11i~ betw~e~1~RDand District Dev~T~i~iéntFund (DDF) has been a major cause of this delay. The ZIB 006 - Crash Programme was initated as a drought relief programme in the three Mashonaland provinces following the severe drought during the early 1980’s. As a project it was successfully completed within only 9.5 months, much owing to efficient administration by the MEWRD combined with good performance by consultant and contractor. 320 boreholes were completed with ancillary headworks facilities, potentially serving upto 275,000 people during drought when other sources dry up. The urgency of the drought relief precluded the level of community participation which the emerging recommendations of the NMWP advocated. The efforts aimed at creating local water committees and training of pump caretakers have not given the expected results; the committees have mostly ceased to exist and the caretakers have received little support. Important lessons were learnt, however, and a general awareness of what community mobilisation for water projects involves, was brought about. The ZIB 006 - Manicaland Programme was the first attempt to implement rural water supply and sanitation projects in accordance with the integrated approach as recommended by the NNWP. The complexity and time requirements of this programme concept were underestimated and delays occurred. However, at the end of the extended programme period a total of 250 boreholes, vi 250 deep wells and 850 latrines had been completed, all with a substantial element of community participation. The programme implementation was organised under MEWRD with a consultant in charge of planning, community mobilisation and construction supervision whereas a non-governmental organisation carried out well sinking. Extension workers of other ministries were utilised in the field, but no funds were specifically allocated for their ministries. Hence, these ministries felt little responsibility for the projects and their continuing support to the local water committees has proved to be a problem.~ Similarly, the communities are often not aware of who to contact \ when they need assistance. In spite of the shortcomings resulting from deficiences in the programme organisation, the overall implementation was still successful. Procedures for community involvement were substan- tially improved and the programme progress was to a great extent determined by the premises implied by community participation. The review of programme activities in the two districts, Makoni and Chipinge, also revealed the problem of local priority and need assesment. In Makoni people considered the new facilities as a useful back-up for dry season use whilst they continued using their traditional sources for most of the year. In Chipinge - a rather marginal area with severe water problems - the new installations resulted in immediate time savings for the local population as their traditional water collection journey could often be 5 - 10 kms. This fact further confirms the need to consider each district as a unique project area. The ZIB 007 - Sector Support Programme addresses most of the problems noted during the past implementation programmes. It is based on coordination and cooperation among the ministries assigned specific roles for sector development according, to the NT4WP. Each of these ministries are allocated separate funds for their participation within the coordinated planning and implemen- tation under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development (MLGRUD). The NORAD supported National Coordination Unit (NCU) has been instrumental in the promotion and orderly management of the programme. An important and promising aspect of this strategy is the attempts at decentra].isation; planning and implementing responsibilities have been devolved to the District level.