WATER DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION

FINAL REPORT
FOR
INSTITUTIONAL ASSESSMENT AND SETUP
CRITERIA AND GUIDELINE
SUB -WP2

PREPARED BY: -
DR. TEGENU ZERGAW
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT
E MAIL: tegzer@yahoo.com
TEL: +251911404854/922876419
OCTOBER, 2020
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TABLE OF CONTENT Page
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... 1

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................. 4
ACRONYMS ……………………………………..………………………………………… 5

1.0 Introduction …………………………………………..……. 7

1.1 Background ………………………..………………………………...…. 7

1.2 Objective of the assignment ………………………………………….…....9

1.3 Scope of the assignment ………………………………………….………. 9

2.0 Approach and Methodology ………………………………. 10

2.1 General Approach ………….………………………………………..… 10
2.2 Detailed Approach and Methodology ………………………………..… 10
2.3 Report preparation …………………………………………………..… 13
2.4 Time frame ……………………………………..……….………..………13

3.0. Literature Review …………………………………..…………14

3.1 General …………………………………………………….…………… 14
3.2 Local documents review ………………………………………….…. …. 14
3.3 Experiences of other countries ..…….…………………………….. ….. ..18

4.0 Summary of Field Assessment findings………………..…….. 21

4.1 Assessments of rural water supply schemes … ……………..……….….. 21
4.2 Problems of the sample rural water supply schemes …………..………... 29
4.3 Institutional survey results ……………………………………..………....29
4.4 Conclusion from the survey results …………………………..………….. 34

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5.0 Criterion for RWS Institutional set up…………………….. 35
5.1 Investment Criteria ………………………………………………………..35
5.2 Sustainability criteria …………………………………………………….. 35
5.3 Tariff setting criteria ……………………………………………………... 37
5.4 Organizational setup criteria ……………………………………………....40

6.0 Guidelines for Rural Water Supply ………….…………….. 44

6.1 Guidelines for on spot rural water supply ……..………………………... 44
6.2 Guidelines for RWS with distribution systems ………..………………... 48

7.0 Organizational Setup for Rural Water Supply ……………… 56

7.1 General ………………………………………………………………….... 56
7.2 Organizational structure for Kebele water supply ………………………… 57
7.3 Kebele Water Supply Service manpower requirements ……………….…. 59
7.4 Kebele Water Board ……………………………………………………… 60
7.5 Woreda Rural Water Consumers Union ……………………………….…. 61

8.0 Checklists and Formats …….……………………………….. 67

8.1 Checklists ………..….…………………………………………………… 67
8.2 Formats ………..…….……………………………………………....... 67

9.0 Conclusion and Recommendations. .………….……………. 69

10.0 Annexes …………………………..……….………………… 72

11.0 References ………………………………………………….... 99

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1 Types of sample water sources and number of beneficiaries ……….. 23
Table 2 Mode of financing and management status of sample schemes ….…. 25
Table 3 Modes of water supply ………………………………………………………………….…25
Table 4 Capacities of the water schemes ……………………………………………...……..26
Table 5 Water tariffs in the sample schemes …………………..………….…. 27
Table 6 Water tariff blocks and ranges for pipe water supplies ..………....…. 39
Table 7 Guidelines for on spot water supplies ………………………………. 44
Table 8 Guidelines for RWS with distribution systems ………………....…... 48
Table 9 Kebele Water Supply Service manpower requirements …….………. 59

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 : On spot schemes………………………………………………….… 22

Figure 2 : Discussion with WASSHCO served with distribution system …….. 28
Figure 3 : Kebele Water Supply Service organizational chart …………………58
Figure 4 : Woreda Rural Water Consumers Union organizational chart ........... 66

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The preparation of this research has involved many persons and organizations. The consultant
would like to express his deep whole-hearted indebtedness to Water Development Commission
(WDC) head office authorities and professional staffs for their critical and constructive
comments and suggestions on the reports.

The consultant also thank full to the two sample regions (Oromia and Amhara regions) “ rural
water schemes facilities management regional heads for their cooperation in availing
appropriate data and information at their disposal and who helped me in the selection of sample
zones.

Our gratitude also goes to the following zone and woredas water office heads and woreda staffs
of water facilities management staffs who devoted their time and energy to select sample
woredas, kebeles, WASHCOs and individuals for interview and organized focused group
discussions and individual interviews in their woredas without which this research would have
not been completed as scheduled. Thus, our thanks go to:-
a) West Gojam zone water and energy office, rural water supply schemes management team
leader.
b) South west Shewa zone water and energy office, water supply schemes management team
leader.
c) Arsi zone water and energy resources development office, water resources development
team leader,
d) Bahir dar zuria woreda water office head,
e) Awobel woreda water and energy office head,
f) Waliso woreda water and energy office head,
g) Tiyo woreda water and energy office head.

The consultant would further like to take this opportunity to express his thanks to all sample
kebele administrators and all the WASHCO members for their time and unlimited open
discussions and comments and suggestions on the rural water supply management in their
areas.

The consultant would also like to thank the staff of the following NGOs and consultants who
gave him their views on the current rural water management situation, strengths and
weaknesses and their suggestions for the betterment of the rural water supply managements in
the future:-
a. Plan International Ethiopia, Amhara region WASH Program Coordinator,
b. Organization Rehabilitation Development in Amhara (ORDA) WASH & Irrigation
Manager.
c. Amhara Design and Supervision Works Enterprise, engineer, socio-economist etc.
d. Metaferia Consulting Engineers (MCE), socio-economist.
e. Community-Led Accelerated WASH (COWASH) M&E specialist and Mr. Arto)
Our last but not least appreciation goes to USAID Lowland WASH Activities authorities and
staffs for financing the study and facilitating the consultancy works.
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 ACRONYMS
ADF African Development Fund
ANRS Amhara National Regional State
ApT Appraisal Team
BH Bore Hole
CSO Civil Society Organization
CMP Community Managed Projects
COWASH Community-Led Accelerated WaSH
CSA Central Statistics Authority
DA Development Agent
DW Deep Well
ELPA Electric Light and Power Authority
ESA Environmental Security Authority
EWDC Ethiopia Water Development Commission
EWRMP Ethiopia Water Resources Management Policy
EWSS Ethiopia Water Sector Strategy
FiniDA Finnish Development Agency
FGD Focused Group Discussion
GOE Government of Ethiopia
GTP Growth and Transformation Plan
HDW Hand Dug Well
HEW Health Extension Worker
ID Individual Interview
JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency
KWB Kebele Water Board
KWSS Kebele Water Supply Service
KWT Kebele WaSH Team
MDG Millenium Development Goal
M&E Monitoring and Evaluation
M3 Meter Cub
MFIs Micro Finance Institutions
MOWR Ministry of Water Resources
MOWIE Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy
NGO Non - Governmental Organization
O&M Operation and Maintenance
ORDA Organization Rehabilitation Development in Amhara
OWNP One WaSH National Program
PIR Primary Information Report
PT Public Tap
RWSDCG Rural Water Supply Design Criteria and Guideline
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RWS Rural Water Supply
RWSEP Rural Water Supply and Environmental Programme
SPD Spring Development
SW Shallow Well
SWAPs Sector Wide Approaches
SWPs Safe Water Promoters
TOR Term of Reference
TOT Training Of Trainers
UAP Universal Access Plan
UNDP United Nations Development Program
UNICEF United Nations International Children Education Fund
WaSHP Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Program
WASHCO Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Committee
WASHCOs Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Committees
WASHP Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Program
WB World Bank
WIF WaSH Implementation Framework
WMP Woreda Managed Projects
WHO Woreda Health Office
WRWCU Woreda Rural Water Consumer Union
WRWCUMB Woreda Rural Water Consumers Union Management Board
WSDP Water Supply Development Program
WSS Water Supply System
WUA Water Users Association
WWO Woreda Water Office
WWT Woreda WaSH Team
ZWT Zonal WaSH Team

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1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background
Access to improved water supply and sanitation is a necessary pre-requisite for eradicating
rural poverty and accelerating economic and social development. In developing countries in
general and in Ethiopia in particular water supply and sanitation is, however, characterized by
very low service coverage, poor operation and maintenance and lack of sustainability, and low
investment. To improve the situation, Ethiopian government together with the donors and
partners have formulated different policies, strategies and programs and made many efforts to
implement. Proclamation No. 197/2000, the Ethiopian Water Resources Management
Proclamation, which was issued in March 2000 was the initial effort. It assigned certain key
functions and regulatory duties, responsibilities, and authority among the various agencies
concerned with the water sector. The proclamation declares that “All water resources of the
country are the common property of the Ethiopian people and the State.” The proclamation
gives the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) the responsibility of developing water sector
policies, regulation, and resource mobilisation. The ministry was given the authority to allocate
and apportion water to all regions regardless of the origin and location of the resource.

Following the proclamation, comprehensive integrated water resources management policy

was issued by the then Ministry of Water Resources in July 2000. This document sets out
management policy on water resources in general and those that relate to water supply and
sewerage, irrigation and hydropower. It also defined policy on various crosscutting issues,
among others, those dealing with groundwater resources, watershed management, water-rights
allocation, trans-boundary concerns and technology. To translate the national water resources
management policy into action the ministry has also published the water sector strategy in
November 2001.

Regarding the water sector management institutional setup “The Ethiopian Water Resource
Management Policy” declares,

• Ensure that the management of water supply systems to be at the lowest and most efficient
level of institutional set up, which provides for the full participation of users and to promote
effective decision making at the lowest practical level.
• Develop coherent and streamlined institutional frameworks for the management of water
supply at the federal, regional, zonal, woreda and kebele levels and clearly define the
relationships and interactions among them.
• Develop coherent and appropriate guidelines, standards, principles and norms for
streamlining the intervention of ESAs, NGOs loans, grants and other donations.
• Develop a framework for the sustainable and effective collaboration amongst all
stakeholders including the public sector, donors, communities and the private sector at all
levels as well as creates and legalize forum for the participation of all stakeholders.
• Define and implement the respective roles of the various institutions and stakeholders at all
levels including Federal, Regional governments, ESAs, NGOs, private sector, etc.

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In line with the policy, the ownership and operation of the rural drinking water supply systems
are decentralized and handed over to the local beneficiary communities. Water and Sanitation
and Hygiene Committees (WASHCOs) are established in rural areas and took over the
responsibilities of the management and maintenance of their drinking water supply systems in
their vicinities. However, the committees lack financial and technical capacities as well as
conducive organizational structure to manage their drinking water system up to the
expectations of the policy mainly due to low capacity buildings provided to them and the
recently major changes made in the modalities of rural water supplies.

The challenges the rural community faced in managing drinking water are complex. The local
administrators as well as the villagers had little knowledge about the management, operation
and maintenance of a local drinking water supply system and turnovers were also high and fast
in local government offices. Capacity building endeavors for WASHCOs and rural operators
were very low and are not continuous. As a result, where capacity buildings are stronger the
scheme management and O&M is also strong and vice versa. Guidelines and manuals were
also not available at the grassroots or WASHCO levels. Thus, their capacity has not yet been
built as per the will of the policy and strategy.

Supports and communications between the higher and lower level of the government offices
were also weak. Though roles and responsibilities at the lower levels are immense the
manpower and facilities allocated, including budget, are very low. More educated and
experienced manpower and better facilities are concentrated at zone and regional levels. These
problems are intricate especially with the advent of Rural Pipe Systems (RPS) whose
management requirement is beyond the capacity of the local administration, woreda water
offices and the community. Moreover, monitoring and evaluation works are almost none
existent at all levels.

The decentralization program is now more than twenty years .Since then so many changes have
happened but the structure of the rural water supply remain as it is. The WASCHCOs which
were envisaged to run the on spot schemes are still in operation for the RPS which is needs
better manpower qualifications and better management. In response some regions took by their
own initiative to react to the current situation but it needs detail study and guidelines to adopt
at national level.

To further improve the nation’s potable water supply and sanitation service management water
development commission was recently established, by regulation by Council of Ministers
Regulation No 442/2018, on 25th December 2018. One among the powers and duties given to
the commission is” prepare, disseminate and follow up the implementation of potable water
supply and sanitation study, design, construction, and utility management criteria, guidelines,
standards and manuals”.

Cognizant of the problems and to implement its power and duties, the “Water Development
Commission” has planned to tackle the problems and implement the water policy and strategy
in a new and better manner. One of these plans is the consultancy service of “the Rural Water
Supply Design Criteria and Guideline (RWSDCG) project” among which “Institutional setup

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assessing and developing Criterion and Guidelines for the rural water supply and pre urban
towns” is one of the components.

Consequently, this consultancy service assessed the rural potable water supply services existing
guidelines and organizational set ups, their problems and the course of action to be followed to
improve the guidelines and organizational setups in light of the current development which
helps to improve the future organization and management of rural water supply to the rural
community and pre-urban areas on sustainable and affordable basis.

1.2 Objective of the assignment

According to the client's ToR the overall objective of the assignment is “to prepare an
institutional set up assessment criteria and guideline” for rural communities including rural
towns or growth centers and pre - urban areas which are supplied by spot or piped water supply
system”.

1.3 Scope of the assignment

As per the ToR the consultant has carried out the following major activities: -

➢ Reviewed national and international experience,

➢ Reviewed the existing institutional modalities and to determine the procedure to fix modes
and respective components of institutional set up,
➢ Developed assessment and selection criteria for each component and mode of institutional
set up.
➢ Developed organizational structure and required resources and activities,
➢ Determined the institutional performance evaluation criteria,
➢ Prepared standard formats and template.

In line with the objectives and scope of the assignment the consultant has done to the best
knowledge and capacity which are presented in detail in the following chapters.

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 2.0 Approach and Methodology
2.1 General Approach

The working methodologies and approaches to carry out the assignments are framed with the
scope of the services, timely completion and expected outputs without compromising quality
in each steps of work process. The general approaches used were: -

 Collecting and reviewing the existing water sector documents and reports,
 Preparing questionnaires and checklists necessary for field works and get approval of the
client;
 Visiting the sample regions, woredas, kebeles/WASHCOs/small towns and collecting
data/information,
 Conducting Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and Individual Interviews (ID)
 Collecting secondary data from documents, reports, sample regions, woredas and kebeles.
 Data entry and analysis,
 Preparing draft final guideline and criteria and submit to the client for review,
 Present the draft final guideline and criteria in a workshop to get feedbacks,
 Producing the final guideline and criteria by incorporating the review comments.

Below are the detailed approach and methodologies used to carry out the tasks and activities
and outputs expected from the consultant.

2.2 Detailed Approach and Methodology

2.2.1 Data Collection tools preparation

Data collection involves the set of activities that will be performed by the consultant in search
of information from different sources. Data collection started from the federal and ended at the
lower level or WASHCOs/Kebeles. The consultant prepared a comprehensive information
collection questionnaires and checklist which are used to collect relevant data and information
required from sample regional, zonal and woreda water offices and WASHCOs. The consultant
has also prepared separate questionnaires for sample NOGS, consultants and contractors
working on rural water supply too.

2.2.2 Data Collection Methodology

Qualitative and quantitative data collection and data analysis methodologies were utilized. The
methodologies used here by the consultant to conduct the study involved the following set of
activities:-

i. Secondary data collection

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 Regarding secondary sources of data, the consultant used official reliable sources i.e. existing
published and unpublished documents, reports, publications in hard and soft copies. The
consultant has collected and reviewed the following documents to ensure a thorough analysis
of the present situation and problems in the rural water supply institutional setup.

❖ Ethiopia Water Resource Management Proclamation, Proc. No. 197/2000

❖ Ethiopia Water Resource Management Policy, MOWR. July 2000,
❖ Ethiopia Water Sector Strategy, MOWR, November 2001
❖ MWR Issues Papers on Water Supply project design, tropics Consulting Engineers,2003,
❖ WASH Implementation Framework (WIF), April 2011,
❖ One WASH National Program, (OWNP), July, 2013,
❖ Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP-1) (2011 to 2015) or (2003-2007 EFY).
❖ Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP-2) (2015/16 to 2019/20) (2008-2012 EFY).
❖ Definition of Power, Duties and Organization of the Water Development Commission,
Council of Ministers Regulation No. 442/2018, Addis Ababa, 25th December, 2018.
❖ Rural water supply in Ethiopia: - A political economy analysis, Florence Pichon, July
2019.

In addition to these various international and developing countries publications, which are
relevant to this study, have also been collected from different sources for references to exploit
their experiences in the rural water supply management. The followings are among the
documents collected and referred for the assignment:

✓ Community management of rural water supply and sanitation systems, points for
practitioners), World Health Organization, Regional Office for Africa, 1996.
✓ Impact of current institutional setup on water service delivery, Asynoposis of two water
Authorities in Botswana, Thesis paper by Tshoganetso Tiroyamatodimo, June 2007.
✓ Evaluation of the institutional arrangements for rural water supply in Enugu state, Nigeria,
Journal of geography and regional planning, January, 2017.
✓ Catholic Relief Service, Guideline for the development of small scale rural water supply
and sanitation projects in East Africa, east African Regional Office, Nairobi, Kenya 2009.
✓ India: Bringing clear drinking water to Indian villages, May 24, 2016.
✓ Rural Water supply and sanitation Initiative, framework for Implementation “A regional
response to Africa’s rural drinking water and sanitation crises”, Africa Development Bank,
2002.

ii. Primary Data Collection

Primary data are collected mainly through conducting interviews and holding focused group
discussions with local water supply authorities, beneficiaries and stakeholders in the two
sample Regions and selected sample zones, woredas, kebeles and WASHCOs. The consultant
has prepared comprehensive data collection questionnaires and checklists for this purpose. The
formats of the interview for the respondents were semi-structured interviews. The interviews
and focused group discussions were administered by the consultant. The major primary sources
of data/information for the assignment were:-

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 • Regional Water, Mine and Energy Bureaus
• Zonal Water and Mines Offices
• Woreda Water Offices,
• Water and ,Sanitation and Hygiene Committee (WASHCO)
• NGOs working on rural water supply,
• Consultants working on RWS, and
• Consultant’s personal professional observations.

The consultant used structured questionnaire to collect data to assess the rural and small towns’
water supply institutional setups. Eight targeted questionnaires were developed for different
stakeholders. The number and size of samples to be interviewed and focus group discussion
participants were refined during the discussions with the woreda water offices.

The consultant adopted a participatory approach in collecting data and information and holding
focused group discussions whereby concerned stakeholders, woreda officials, kebele
administrators and WASHCOs members were consulted in assessing and evaluating the
institutional setup, its problems and the ways forwards.

Regional water bureaus , zonal water offices and woreda water offices rural water supply
facilities management heads and experts and kebele administrations have actively participate,
in group and individually, in the study by making available appropriate data that would help to
evaluate the rural water supply institutional setup in their areas.

iii. Sampling

The number of target population for the assessment of the institutional setup were fixed based
on the prevailing conditions in the study area and accessibility of the Woredas and WASHCOs
and types of schemes (piped or on spot) that WASHCOs are managing. The sampling tried to
include all the modalities and two out of the representative regions already selected by the
study team to be Oromia, Amhara, Afar and Gambella on the meeting of January 15, 2020 due
to shortage of time and manpower. Woredas and Kebeles were selected from the two regions
through discussions with the water bureaus/zone and woreda water offices/desks. Since
institutional setups in the same modalities are believed to be almost homogeneous in many
aspects the samples could reflect the reality in the other regions and woredas. Shortage of
consultancy period and manpower were the deterrents for sample limitations. Overlapping of
the consultancy work period with the government training programs for its higher and middle
level managements /cadres also has affected the number and types the sample. The field survey
was conducted between February12 to 29 2020 GC. As a result it was not possible to conduct
focused group discussions and get higher officials as planned.

The consultant has manipulated both the focus group discussion as well as individual interview
to capture, as much as possible, relevant data concerning the issues posed.

iv. Physical Observations

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Physical observation provides the opportunity to see real situations on the ground and develop
personal impressions for undertaking situational analysis of the present and possible
intervention options in the future. Thus, the consultant, in addition to the individual interview
and group discussions held extensively, have utilized the site visits and observed rural water
supply activities undertaken in the rural settings. The conditions and the current status of water
supply facilities constructed and their management situations at community level were among
the major observation of the consultants. Both individual interviews and focus group
discussions were managed by the assigned consultant which gave good opportunity to observe
well the rural water supply overall managements. These personal observations helped the
consultant to make the own independent and personal observation of the situation in study area.

2.2.3 Data Entry and Analysis

Data entry and analysis is a process of data cleaning; refining, entering and processing where
the results will be used to analyze the collected data. Accordingly, the consultant has
summarized the data he himself collected and did the analysis and produced the
reports/guidelines. Since the questionnaires were many, open ended and bulky it was tedious
to summarize and analyze which took large part of the time for analysis.

2.3 Report Preparation

Inception, draft and final reports of institutional set up assessment criteria and guideline are
produced and submitted by the Consultant according to the schedule.

2.4 Time Frame

The field works was conducted for more than 30 days including Addis Ababa/Finfinne where
one regional bureau (Oromia) and major NGOs and consultant are available. Draft institutional
setup and guidelines report writing, draft report review by the client and final institutional setup
assessment criteria and guideline report preparation followed the field work which took the
major part of the consultancy work. The overall consultancy work was planned to take about
100 working duration but extended due to spread of Crona virus (COVID-19) in the country.

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3.0. Literature Review
3.1 General
The consultant has collected many literatures and documents, both local and international,
written on the topic under study. The summary of the findings from the desk document review
of these literatures is presented briefly in this chapter.

It is clear that the findings may not be exhaustive but the consultant strongly believe that this
will be sufficient to show the enabling environment/ prevailing situation and to indicate
experiences of other countries for the existing situation assessment and analysis. Most of the
data and information used in this section were obtained from the published and unpublished
documents of the Ministry of Water of water Resources listed above.

3.2 Local rural water supply management documents review

3.2.1 Ethiopia Water Resources Management Proclamation No.197/2000

The purpose of this proclamation is “to ensure that the water resources of the country are
protected and utilized for the highest social and economic benefits of the people of Ethiopia,
to follow up and supervise that they are duly conserved, ensure that harmful effects of water
are prevented, and that the management of water resources is carried out properly.”

The proclamation declares among others” All water resources of the country are the common
property of the Ethiopian people and the state (Article 5). Regarding water uses the
proclamation says: ”Domestic use shall have priority over and above any other water uses
(Article 7).The supervisory body (MOWR) may, in consultation with the appropriate public
bodies encourage the establishment of water users associations as it deems necessary to utilize
water for beneficial uses (Art. 27).

3.2.2 Ethiopia Water Management Policy and Strategy

Concerning the country’s water supply the policy declared:

a) Recognize that water supply is an integral part of the overall water resources management
and incorporate water supply planning in the domain of comprehensive water resources
management undertakings.
b) Promote the development of water supply on participation driven and responsive
approaches without compromising social- equity norms.
c) Integrate and co-ordinate the development of water supply with other sector development
objectives including irrigation, hydropower…etc.
d) Create and promote a sense of awareness in communities of the ownership and their
responsibilities for operation and maintenance of water supply systems and develop
participatory management practices.
e) Enhance the development of different indigenous water sources being used by
communities to improve rural water supply.
14
f) Ensure that rural drinking water and livestock water supply undertakings shall be integral
part of the overall socio-economic development, centered on self-reliance, community
participation and management.

As regards the water sector management institutional setup the policy says,

• Ensure that the management of water supply systems to be at the lowest and most efficient
level of institutional set up, which provides for the full participation of users and to promote
effective decision making at the lowest practical level.
• Develop coherent and streamlined institutional frameworks for the management of water
supply at the federal, regional, zonal, woreda and kebele levels and clearly define the
relationships and interactions among them.
• Develop coherent and appropriate guidelines, standards, principles and norms for
streamlining the intervention of ESAs, NGOs loans, grants and other donations.
• Develop a framework for the sustainable and effective collaboration amongst all
stakeholders including the public sector, donors, communities and the private sector at all
levels as well as creates and legalize forum for the participation of all stakeholders.
• Define and implement the respective roles of the various institutions and stakeholders at all
levels including federal, regional governments, ESAs, NGOs, private sector, etc.

These show the necessity of decentralization of the water supply management, developing
water management at different levels and the need of clearly defining the relationships and
interaction among water sector stakeholders at all levels etc. Since then many Water Supply
and Sanitation Committees (WASHCOs) in the rural areas and water utilities in the urban are
established to be involved in the planning, implementation and post implementation
management of the water and sanitation facilities. However, since considerable drawbacks
exist in managing, operating, and maintaining water supply facilities, especially in rural areas
many water supply and sanitation services were not properly functioning in almost all regions.

The policy also recognizes water supply and sanitation services are inseparable and integrate
the same at all levels through sustainable and coherent framework.

3.2.3 Water Sector Strategy

Basically, policies are essentially selected options to be used as an instruments for achieving
intended goals and objectives. They serve as a general and directive principle in a wider scope.
Hence, it was essential to adapt development strategies, policy implementation methodologies and
pertinent action plans to translate the water policy into practice. Thus, to implement the water
resource management policy the government issued water sector strategy in March. 2001.
Regarding institutions and stakeholders the strategy states the followings: -

o Establish effective institutions to secure sound institutional basis for sustainable

development and management of water resources.
o Establish appropriate and effective river basin management institutions.
o Establish autonomous or semi-autonomous utility agencies or companies in big towns.
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o Promote local artisans and the private sector to establish association for proper and sustainable
O&M activities.
o Promote the creation of Water Users Association (WUA) and Irrigation Agencies, where
appropriate.
o Encourage the establishment of water committees at Woreda, Zonal, Kebele and water scheme
levels.
o Decentralize the water services, to the extent possible, to financially autonomous utilities and
institutions, which may be public corporations, private firms, cooperatives or user groups.

According to the strategy stakeholders at each level in the water sector will be consulted and
their participation in decision-making will be secured. Attention will be given to the
disadvantaged groups, especially women, who normally have little say in water management
and planning. It is indicated in the strategy:-

➢ Promote and enhance the participatory approach in project identification, planning,

implementation, operation and maintenance of water resources projects.
➢ Involve all stakeholders as partners in decision-making in water resources projects from
inception to completion.
➢ Enhance and encourage the devolution of management responsibilities to the lowest
appropriate level in water schemes.
➢ Establish mechanisms for stakeholder involvement such as, water committees, water boards,
and water users associations, professional and civic associations.

Appropriate tariffs play an important role in ensuring that the water supply services do get
adequate income either for full cost recovery or the recovery of operation and maintenance
costs. It is depicted in the strategy as follows: -

Promote and ensure that tariff setting is site specific, and will depend on the project
specifics, location, the users, the cost and other characteristics of the schemes (such as the
level of technology chosen), using fairness and transparency. Water will be recognised as
an economic and social good; and it will be ensured that fees paid are for services rendered;
and a reasonable and fair charge for use of water will be applied.
Develop and implement water pricing measures that leads, stage by stage, to full cost
recovery based upon user’s payment capacities and by giving due consideration to
appropriate technologies.
Promote that capital costs of water projects for the poor communities are borne by the
government provided the communities pay for the O&M of the water schemes. Provide
subsidies to aid the poor; rectify price inequalities and encourage service expansion.

Following the water policy and strategy many programs Water Sector Development Program
(WSDP), Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Program (WASHP), Universal Access Program, One
Wash National Program (OWNP), Growth and Transformation Program I&II (GTPI&II) were
designed and implemented. This brought significant changes in the rural and urban water
coverage of the country. Provision of access to clean water supply has increased from 23% to
35% in rural areas and from 74% to 80% in urban areas during the period 2001/02 to

16
2004/05;/PASDEP, Sep.2006 P.10/. According to WDC, “the water supply access coverage
for rural, urban and total has reached 82%, 91% and 84% respectively by 2007 EFY as per
GTP-1 service standard.”

The policy and strategy also promoted community management and participation of all
stakeholders in water resource management. As a result many autonomous urban water supply
services and Enterprise in urban areas and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Committees
(WASHCOs) in rural areas were created and are administering their communities’ water supply
at local levels. Federal water resources development minster, regional water resources bureaus,
zonal water development offices and woreda water offices, with defined role and
responsibilities, were organized and were implementing the programs.

Further more recently, Water Development Commission was established to improve the
nation’s potable water supply and sanitation service management by regulation by Council Of
Ministers regulation No 442/2018, on 25th December 2018. The commission was given the
following power and duties among others:

Coordinate and conduct potable water supply and sanitation infrastructure study, designs
in rural and urban areas,
Provide support to the regions for infrastructure development of potable water supply and
sanitation service in urban and rural areas,
Ensure potable water supply and sanitation development to be based on the principle of
cost recovery and equitable use,
Follow up and monitor potable water supply and sanitation infrastructure development
study, design and construction financed by the government and loans and grants from
abroad are in line with the national design quality standards,
Prepare, disseminate and follow up the implementation of national potable water supply
and sanitation study, design, construction and utility management criteria, guidelines,
standards and manuals,
Provide support to raise the potable water supply and sanitation infrastructure coverage,
Ensure the participation of beneficiary communities in the implementation of water supply
and sanitation infrastructure,
Provide support to youth and private sector so that they can involve in the study,
design, construction, operation, and maintenance as well as management of water supply
and sanitation
Ensure the participation and benefits of women in the potable water supply and sanitation.
etc.

Though short time the commission has reorganized itself and has started aggressively to
address the problems of the water supply and sanitation activities in the country.

Hence there are no major policy and strategy hindrance for the water sector development in
general and that of the rural water supply in particular. It is now more than twenty years since
the National Water Policy and strategy were launched. During this period, many changes have
taken place in the sector with major emphasis on active participation of communities, private

17
sector, NGOs and local governments as the role of central government in services provision
has gradually diminished. In light of these a new water policy is under preparation which is
hoped to improve the policy in light of the current level of development and experiences
gained.

3.3 Experiences of other countries

Problems of water supply in general and that of rural water supply are similar especially in
developing countries. Similarly as Ethiopia other countries tried their own ways to tackle the
problem. There are ample of countries that have good experience to share us but due to shortage
of time and span of the work the following countries are briefly included in this study.

3.3.1 India
India has rich experiences in water supply and sanitation for three generations each one built
on the lessons learnt from earlier generations and continuing to push the frontier of sector
practices. Following are the main lessons:-

a) Implementing New Institutional Models at Scale: Most projects, especially the SWAPs,
showcase how the State Departments are gradually taking on a facilitating role promoting
the adoption of reforms, building capacity and providing technical guidance, while service
delivery responsibilities are being decentralized to district and village levels.
b) Demonstrating Inclusive Community-based, Participatory, Demand-responsive
Approaches: These projects have facilitated the development and implementation of
decentralized service delivery responsibilities to the Primary Information Report (PIR). At
the scheme level these included community mobilization and awareness generation,
women's empowerment, hygiene and sanitation promotion, community-based planning,
construction, oversight and operation, water resources management, and monitoring and
evaluation. The projects have also designed special programs targeting tribal areas and
SC/ST population.

c) Building Capacity of State Departments, Sector Institutions, Local Governments and

Communities: The projects have identified local institutions for developing training
modules for planning, designing and implementing the schemes, including technical,
managerial aspects, procurement and financial management of schemes.
d) Integrating Governance and Accountability Aspects into Project Designs: Governance and
accountability measures have been introduced in the planning, implementation and O&M
phases for independent monitoring, technical, financial and social audits. Specially
designed grievance disclosure measures are included for addressing complaints by the
villagers. In addition, comprehensive monitoring and evaluation programs have captured
inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes under these projects.
e) Improving Sustainability - Financially, Source-wise, Service Delivery and Community
Satisfaction: Communities are involved right from the planning stage to ensure schemes
are designed and implemented as per their needs and affordability. The token community
contribution towards capital cost (in cash and/or kind) promotes ownership of the design
of scheme, and agreement for affordable O&M cost which is later recovered through user
18
 charges except in the case of high cost schemes which need to be subsidized. The projects
focus on integrating approaches for scheme and source sustainability, water supply and
sanitation, for maximizing sustainable water supply services with health and hygiene
benefits to the communities.
f) Designing and Implementing Sector-wide Programs (SWAPs) to Scale-up Reforms: One
of the most challenging issues in the sector today is how to scale up reforms demonstrated
under earlier projects and to replace the multiplicity of parallel programs. The latest World-
Bank assisted RWSS project are supporting State and District RWSS SWAPs, moving
away from a project driven mode to a more programmatic approach for implementing
uniform policies and institutions across the sector.
g) Enabling Achievement of 'Open Defecation Free' Clean Villages through Effective
Sanitation Programs: Similarly sanitation and environmental sanitation programs,
following Community Led Total Sanitation principles, are integrated to improve household
and village sanitation. Specially designed IEC and capacity building programs are
implemented for raising health and hygiene awareness at the household and village levels.
Safe sanitation technologies are promoted through sector institutions and support
organizations.

There are good experiences we could tap from India’s long year experiences and reforms
especially from World Bank Sector Wide Approaches (SWAPs) and there by incorporating to
our experiences in the water sector reforms.

3.3.2 Innovative ways of managing rural water supply in Vietnam, Senegal and Haiti

Another good experience is experiences is study made by World bank expert Meleesa
Naughton on World Bank projects in three countries innovative ways of managing rural water
supply. The study was published on the water Blog,June 25, 2013. The document says” Three
approaches from recent World Bank projects used innovative concepts to establish sustainable
rural water supply”. The countries and their innovative approaches are the followings:-

a) In the Red River Delta Rural Water Supply and Sanitation project in Vietnam, four
provinces piloted the establishment of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Enterprises to
manage the schemes built under the project. The Enterprises are accountable to, and part-
owned by, local government and the local communities served by the schemes. The pilot
aimed at recovering direct operating costs within the first 3 years of operation in order to
guarantee reliable supply beyond the life-cycle of the project. This necessitated strong
support from the local communities and the local government, and willingness for both to
commit to higher tariffs for water. Already in its first year, the Enterprises are able to
recover the direct costs of producing water and are on track to start repaying the investment
loan in the next 3 years. The same project also successfully scaled up a revolving fund for
low-income families to improve household sanitation, managed by the Women’s Union,
which effectively combined microfinance, demand generation for sanitation and hygiene
promotion activities.

19
b) In Ndieng Diaw in Senegal, a water supply scheme servicing over 100 villages (initially
funded by Saudi Arabia) is managed by a Water Users’ Association, or ASUFOR in French.
ASUFOR, upon obtaining a license from the Directorate of Operations and Maintenance,
signs a management contract with a private operator for daily operations of the network,
and sets water tariffs. The Directorate of Operations and Maintenance is responsible for
overall Exploitation and maintenance of assets, validation of technical specifications of
pumping systems, rehabilitation, renewal and extension of pumping systems, and oversight
of the ASUFORs.

This system of institutional checks and balances has led to a significant increase in coverage,
production and population served since the project started in 2004; community participation
is crucial to affordable tariff-setting, though network extension remains a challenge as it is not
covered by the tariff and funds come from central government. Strong capacity building for
planning of maintenance, rehabilitation and extension of network, strong regulation, oversight
and control of management contracts; and a sound asset management policy and investment
planning are 3 key ingredients to ensuring the sustainability of this model.

c) The Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project in Haiti introduced a professional
management model involving local entrepreneurial water operators selected by the
community to operate, maintain and manage the water supply systems, based on a contract
signed with the communities. Professional operators were trained to manage piped water
connections and water kiosks built under the project, including billing, expansion of
network and daily operations, and they are supported at the local government level by the
National Water Directorate’s (DINEPA) decentralized technical Rural Units. The Project
promoted cost recovery, metering, and the use of household connections and water kiosks,
as well as gravity-fed piped systems, and where pumping was necessary and cost-effective,
the project gave a strong preference to renewable energy, such as solar. Most professional
operators are currently able to cover their operating costs with the current tariff structure
and some are able to generate net benefits. While the delegated professional management
model for water systems was lengthy to implement and still needs to be refined, the
DINEPA has received requests from communities outside the project area who have heard
about the model.

From the above three countries experiences (Vietnam, Senegal and Haiti) we observed three
management models viz. establishing rural water supply and sanitation enterprise, Water Users
Association and local entrepreneurial water operators, to manage the rural water supplies. In
all cases the role of local governments and local community was significant and the skills and
knowledge they demands are also high. The contribution of the private sector is also
worthwhile. Thus, we can also consider these options in our future water sector policy and
strategy.

20
4.0 Summary of Field Assessment Findings
4.1 Assessments of rural water supply schemes
The major water supply sources of rural areas in Ethiopia are hand dug wells, springs, shallow
wells, and deep wells depending on the water source potential of the area. Some are on spot
supplies while others are with distribution systems. For comparison purposes we divided the
surveyed scheme in to two i.e. schemes with on spot supply and with distribution systems as
follows.

4.1.1 On Spot Rural Water Supply

The majority of rural water supplies in rural Ethiopia are on spot supplies because of simplicity
of their managements and low costs of supply and maintenances. The major water sources of
on spot water supply are hand dug wells, shallow wells and springs. These water sources are
available in many parts of the country and could be developed without much capital and
technology.

From the samples covered by these survey three are on spot water supplies financed by Plan
International Ethiopia, COWASH FiniDA and RWASH. Two are Shallow wells while the third
is Hand dug well all are managed by WASHCOs.

Community participation was strong, among others, due to critical water shortages in the areas.
They participated in cash contributions and in labour and materials. Cash contribution is 5%,
20% and 2000 Birr for RWASH, FiniDA and Plan International projects respectively. In
addition the beneficiary communities are expected to contribute labour and material for the
schemes construction and for fencing the schemes.

The volume of water produced and distributed is small and hence serves only about 30 to 150
households (150-250 people) for HDW and about 400 peoples for springs and shallow wells.
Only those families who contributed in cash, labour and materials for the scheme construction
and agree to contribute for O&M use water from the sources. Most families get water in shift
or fixed volume per day per household when discharges are low. For example on Baka village
the committee distributes 40 liters per day and in Tikurit 80lt/d/HH per household.

Payments for water is very low and not attached to volume of water collected. They pay fixed
amount per month (5-10 birr), and even some pay per year (15 Birr/year), for the scheme
maintenance and water distributer/guard. The water tariffs are fixed by the beneficiary
communities. No revisions have been made for many years. However, due to good financial
management of the water committees, who serves voluntarily for free, they made some savings
in the banks. All the WASHCOs have their own bank accounts. They have Birr 4,000 - 27,763
savings in the Banks. It is the result of capacity buildings done and supervisions made and the
devotions of the committee members.

21
Figure 1: On spot schemes

Though in theory it is said number females in the WASHCO should be more than 50% in the
samples studied females constitute only 20-40%. Regarding the positions the females held
chairman and cashier positions in two of the WASHCO visited.

22
 The committee member got trainings and necessary manuals from organizers and were fully
participated in the construction of their scheme because the financers followed the CMP
approach. Thus, they developed strong management skills and ownership feelings. Some
committee members also got technical trainings and maintenances are done by own force
which has reduced their expenses. Woreda water offices also do the maintenances for those
who have not got trainings. The committee purchase spare parts from the nearby towns for
maintenances.

Only one of the sample WASHCOs has got legalization certificates from the regional water
bureau (Amhara). They do not have printed receipts and collect money on documents. The
committee cashiers collect fees and save in the bank. The controller checks the bank accounts.
There were no financial audits done so far.

Financial control mechanism is bit longer but is good. Expenses are ordered by the committee
chairman and chairman, cashier and controller signs on requests and the woreda water office
confirms the expense for the banks with letter and the cashier collects the money from bank
and settles the expenses.

The WASHCOs have records like financial, list of members, minutes of meetings, manuals
like financial, procurement, by laws etc. but are not well organized and put in safe places. Since
they have no office the documents are kept at individual houses and are at risk.

There are Health Extension Workers (HEW) and Development Agents (DA) in the kebeles.
Hence hygiene and sanitation awareness’s are good in the area and the majority of the
households have toilets in their homestead. There were no major water born disease like
cholera breakouts in the area. Chemicals are added to the water and the community fenced and
keeps the area clean.

4.1.2 Rural water supply with distributions

These group includes rural water supplies that distribute water to their communities through
water fountains and yard connections. Major sources of water are gravity spring with
distribution, spring with distribution, deep well with distribution and deep well with solar. The
schemes currently serves 6000 to more than 63,000 peoples as shown in the table below.

Table 1 Types of sample water sources and Number of beneficiaries

Ser. Name of the water Type of water source Number of
No supply beneficiaries
1 Siltana Spring with distribution 24,353
2 Korke Deep well with distribution 7000
3 Haro & Shala Chabetti Spring with distribution 6000
Gravity spring with
4 Kersa Gedo distribution 63,466
5 Laga and surroundings deep well with solar 21,200
23
Source: Field survey data
The schemes were initiated by the community and government due to severe water shortages
in the areas and establishments of health center for Haro and Shalla Chabettii.

The major problems of these rural water schemes reported by the water committees are:-

✓ Water supply design problems (locations of PT, reservoirs, pipelines, etc.) water cannot
reach some water points and areas.
✓ Construction problems i.e. cracks of PT and low capacity reservoirs. There are also
uncompleted activities.
✓ There are pipe bursts and theft here and there. The pipes are of poor quality and easily
breaks.
✓ Distributions are by PVC and many leakages and water loses. No spare part and machines
to connect the PVC.
✓ There was no participation of community and WWO in the study & design of their water
supplies.
✓ WASHCOs are established after projects are completed thus received the scheme with no
information of the project and its components.
✓ Low capacity of WASHCOs to administer such big schemes due to lack of capacity
building trainings.
✓ Very difficult to get transformers and hence pay much money for fuel to use generator.

Regarding scheme maintenances 3 of the water suppliers have no their own trained technicians
and depend on woreda water office for maintenances. One water supply got 9 technicians
obtained from 3 merged previous WASHCOs and the other water committee employed 3
technicians on contract bases to do maintenances. All the water supplies buy spare parts from
private suppliers in the near buy towns by comparing prices and technically assisted by woreda
water offices.

Concerning modality of the water supply, two schemes were constructed by government and
MDG, RWASH and UNICEF with the regional governments, have constructed one project
each by covering the costs as shown in the table below. Except for RPS for the rest the
beneficiary communities have contributed 5% of the investment cost and labour.

Currently three of the schemes are managed by water supply and sanitation committees
(WASHCOs) while two of the schemes are managed by employed workers and supervised by
water boards recently established. One water board was formed by fulfilling the requirements
of the regional government regulation, while the other by merging three previous WASHCOs
to strengthen their capacity but not yes got full recognition from the regional water bureau.
Except one WASHCO the rest have got training though they complains not sufficient and not
all members got the trainings.

24
 Table 2 Sample schemes mode of financing and management status

Ser. Name of the Received

No water supply Modality of Financing Current
Capacity
management
water supply building
Major financers Community status trainings
1 Siltana WMP MDG+ Gov't 5% + labour WASHCO Yes
2 Korke RWASH WMP 5% +labour WASHCO Yes
3 Haro & Shala
WMP Gov't 5% + labour WASHCO No
Chabetti
4 Kersa Gedo RWASH 85%,
MDG/WMP 5% + labour Water Board Yes
Woreda 10%
5 Laga and RPS ( Gov't +
surroundings UNICEF ) UNICEF + Gov't Labour Water Board Yes
Source: Field survey data

Water is supplied to the beneficiaries by public taps and yard connections. Except small pre
urban towns the rural communities are served by public taps. The number of public taps and
yard connections are presented in the table below.

Table 3 Modes of water supply

Mode of water supply

Ser. Name of the water
Remark
No supply Public Yard
HDW/SW
Tap connections
1 Siltana 17 0 1236 1 PT stand by
2 Korke 3 0 200 1 PT for rural
3 Haro & Shala 14 0 230 4 PT
Chabetti nonfunctional
4 Kersa Gedo 135 0 1608 30 PT
nonfunctional
5 Laga and 65 118 265 53 PT Gov't and
surroundings 12 PT UNICIEF

We can see from the above tables that both in numbers of modes of water supply and population
they are serving, they are larger than most of the small towns in Ethiopia. But they are managed
by WASHCOs because they are rural schemes. Rural scheme management up to recent have
not got attention in both federal and regional proclamations. What is known is they are
community managed projects and hence by organizing WASHCO and building capacity they
try to serve the community. But the current water supply schemes technology options require
high technical skill, management and financial management knowledge that the WASHCOs

25
 could provide. Hence many regional bureaus are trying to address the problems by their own
ways.

To run the above activities some WASHCOs and Water boards employed workers on contract
bases. They have different workers (1 to 20) to operate and maintain the water supply schemes
(See table 7 below).

Financially their revenue from water sales range from Birr 6,000 to 58,000 and while their
expenditure is between Birr 4,000 to 25,300 monthly. Their total deposits in banks ranges
between Birr 93,000 to 855,000. This shows as the water supply schemes are at a good financial
positions and if their capacities are built and better organizational set up is put in place they
can serve better their communities without much subsidy and financial and technical
dependency on the government. The recently merged three WASHCOs that formed one water
board demonstrated as they got strength, improvement in service efficiency and effectiveness,
as the merge brought good, simple and better management and workloads has declined due to
the workers employed to run the day to day water supply and related activities.

Table 4 Capacity of the water schemes

Capacity of the scheme

Ser. Name of the Finance in Birr
No water supply
Manpower Monthly Monthly Expenditure Total Savings
Revenue
1
15 (1 finance, 7 PT,
Siltana 3 tech. 3 guards and 25,000 12,000 750,000
1 management)

4000 (> 3000 power and

Korke 1 guard 6000- 7000 200,000
2 1000 guard salary)

Haro & Shala 5,300 (2,100 PT workers

14 PT workers 6000-7000 93,000
3 Chabetti salary and 3,200 others)
26,524 (Workers
20 (9 tech. 6 fin. salary= 19,424, Board
Kersa Gedo 58,000 855,082.50
5 management) allowances 700 and
4 Adm. cost = 6400)
4 (1 manager, 1 385,082
Laga and
operator, 1 finance 50,000 20,000 (+200,000
surroundings
5 and 1 store keeper) subsidy)

26
 The tariff charged by the committees varies from scheme to scheme due to cost variations to
run and operate the schemes. While public tap users pay fixed rates per meter cub, connection
users are treated differently by different committees. Some charges uniform tariffs with the
public taps while others charge progressive rates per volumes of water used. They have
different tariff blocks and tariff rates for the blocks. /See table 5 below.). Generally water tariff
is very low on some schemes and bit expensive for some connection users. Some committees
also charge for water meter services (3 - 6 Birr/month) while others do not.

Table 5 Water tariffs of the sample water supplies

Water tariff
Name of the
Ser. No
water supply
Yard Water meter
Public taps
connections Service
1 Siltana 6 Birr/m3, 0 - 3 = 4.5, 3 Birr / month
0.25/20lt and 4 – 5 = 5.00,
0.35/25lt 6 - 8 = 5.50,
9 - 11 = 6.00
> 11 = 6.50
2 Korke 10 birr/m3, 0.20/20lt 5 Birr/month
and 0.25/25lt 10 Birr/m3

3 Haro & Shala 10 Birr/m3, 0.25/20 lt No payment

10 Birr/m3
Chabetti
4 Kersa Gedo 4 Birr/M3, 1 - 5 = 5.00, 3 Birr / month
0.10/20lt and 6 - 10 = 6.00,
0.15/25lt > 10 = 20.00
5 Laga and 6 Birr/month
surroundings 0.50/20 lt. 25 Birr /m3

Source: Field survey

In rural areas most of piped water supply are through public fountains and are located in the
public places close to residential houses. The piped water connection to houses or personal
premises is less common in rural areas. Only some well-off households are able to have piped
water connection to their houses mainly by their own efforts. Thus, the majority of the
beneficiary communities collect water from public taps located here there and difficult to
manage. Thus, WASHCOs outsourced the public tap water distribution to individuals on
revenue sharing agreement which varies 20% to 30% of the revenue of monthly water sales for
the service.

27
Regarding hygiene and sanitation all the communities have awareness and the majority of the
residents have toilets in their compounds. There are health extension workers (HEW) and
development agents (DA) in the Kebeles. All Kebeles have no water development workers.
There was no water related outbreak of diseases in the areas.

Figure 2 Discussion with WSHCO served with distribution system

28
The above figure shows office of one of the WASHCOs visited which shows how they keep
documents and display information to their stakeholders. It is good example for other
WASHCOs who do not even have offices. The WASHCO is waiting the permission of the
regional government to transform itself to water board.

4.2 Major problems of the sample rural water supplies with distributions

The WASHCOs and water board members raised the following as major problems they
observed that are critical regarding their water supplies.

➢ Shortage of water supply.

➢ Design problems.
➢ Poor construction and material quality.
➢ High burst of pipes and absence of trained manpower and maintenance tools.
➢ Consultants and contractors are not providing trainings to schemes operators because it is
not included in their ToR.
➢ In RPS schemes ownership feeling is weak because community, kebele and woreda
participation was weak in priority setting (project selection), solving land issues, water
distribution, confirmation for the project’s completion etc.
➢ Absence of laboratory for water quality checks.
➢ Low follow ups and assistances from kebele administrations.
➢ Existence of serious logistics problems at woreda level to deliver the required services.
➢ Lack of awareness of some member of the community about WSS.
➢ Absence of salary scale and low workers salary.

Problems regarding of WASHCO managements are:

➢ Low education level of committee members and low commitment to the committee work.
➢ Weak relations between committee members.
➢ Absence of incentives for WASHCO members.
➢ High financial losses e.g. per diems, etc. in some schemes.
➢ Mismanagement of resources by some WHSHCO members (thefts).
➢ Problems of getting receipts nearby and on time which made revenue collection and
expenditure recording difficult and opened way for financial mismanagements.
➢ Lack of follow up and recollect cashes embezzled.
➢ No auditing on time in all the schemes.
➢ Absence of trainings i.e. where there are no NGOs there are no trainings.
➢ Distances of committee members’ homes from work places created problems especially for
female members.
➢ Lack of supports from local kebele and woreda administrators.

4.3 Institutional survey results

4.3.1 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).

29
NGOs are among the major partners in rural ware supply in Ethiopia. They contributed a lot
for the improvement for water supply, sanitation and hygiene projects. They participate in
projects construction, financing and capacity building. Most of them construct and finance
mainly on spot water supplies like hand dug wells, springs and shallow wells but some NGOs
currently started participating in rural water supplies with distribution systems. Most of the
NGOs follow community managed project approach where community participates fully in
project design, implementation including procurement and follow up which helped the
community to develop strong ownership feelings.

One of the strong parts of the NGO projects is capacity building done before and after the
projects which create strong management and O&M capacity for the WASHCOs. Their
trainings also extends to different level technical staff trainings which helps for follow ups and
assistances for the completed projects. Most NGOs also use these trained staffs for training
WASHCOs. The NGOs use direct, TOT and cascaded training approaches in capacity building
trainings. Most of the NGOs have their own manuals, guideline and training materials they use
in their projects.

The samples visited in Amhara and Oromia regions includes projects of Plan International
Ethiopia, COWASH FiniDA, ORDA and UNICEF. Water supply and sanitation committees
of these NGO schemes were very strong and got continuous trainings they need and their
scheme and financial managements are good.

Community participation and women’s participation in the NGO projects is strong. These are
the results of strong capacity buildings done, follow up and the strong ownership feelings they
created among the beneficiaries, the lesson which others should take up for sustainability of
their schemes. From very small community contribution 5-10 Birr per month and even one
scheme 15 Birr/year they made some savings covering all their O&M costs. Thus, if managed
well, capacity is well built and strong ownership feelings are created WASHCOs can manage
rural on spot schemes with minimal assistances from the local administrators.

4.3.2 Regional water bureaus and Zonal water offices.

Two regional water bureaus and three zonal offices were visited for the survey. Discussions
were held with rural water facilities management heads using the questionnaires prepared. The
followings are the major findings:-

• Rural water supply source differ from place to places based on water potential of the areas.
The major rural sources are hand dug wells, springs on spot and with distribution, shallow
wells and Bore wells and RPS. Major financers are Government; NGOS (UNICEF, IRC,
World Vision, and Catholic Church) and the community. Average number of beneficiaries
is 200-800 HH for systems with distribution and 100HH/PT for RPS.
• Regarding water tariffs community apply for zone and the zone experts study the tariff
participating the community and local authorities and finally approved by the community
before implementation. Tariff differs with operation costs and power costs (Gravity, pump,
generator or transformer i.e. fuel or electricity) and other administrative costs. Generally,
30
 tariff for gravity spring = 3-4 Birr/m3, pumped water = 15Birr/m3 and RPS = 25Birr/ m3 or
0.50/20lt container.
• Rural water supply projects are monitored as per their size and complexity. On spot
schemes like hand dug wells, springs and expansions are studied and supervised by woreda
water offices. Medium scale projects, machine intensive maintenances and small towns
with population <15,000 are studied and followed up by zonal water offices. Regional
water bureau study and supervises multi village schemes and medium and large towns.
• Similarly maintenances are done by bureau, zone and woreda/ WASHCO depending on
complexity of the maintenances. Pumps, generators, service rigs are maintained by the
bureau, machine intensive (pump, generator, switch board, electro mechanical)
maintenance are done at zonal level while small on spot water schemes are maintained by
woreda technical staffs or where caretakers are trained the WASHCOs do the maintenances
by their own.

The regional and zonal experts interviewed raise some very import problems of RWS that helps
in the guideline preparations. The major issues raise were the followings:-

➢ Community participation in large and medium project, study, design, construction and
supervision is weak. Consultants, contractors and financers ignore community and
communicate (even if there is communications) only with woreda or kebele administrators.
These created problems during project handovers.
➢ To save time and money consultants do not do detail field studies. They collect data from
offices, administrators and few individuals and reproduce documents of previous studies.
➢ No trainings for the WASHCOs, which are usually established after the project is completed
to handover the schemes for management without enabling them ready for the task.
Sometimes projects are handed over to administrators and unelected peoples assigned by
administrators. Thus, basic trainings on financial management, operation and maintenance,
procurement etc. are needed for the WASHCOs before project completion by the
consultants and contractors to enable them manage properly the scheme. Otherwise
sustainability of the schemes falls under question.
➢ There are no transparency between the community and project implementers. Thus,
communities suspect what had been done and in some cases refuse to take and run the
schemes. There are cases where uncompleted schemes are handed over to the committees.
➢ There are no meetings and minutes of meetings between contractors and the community on
the projects design and sites of the scheme components. These creates problems during
constructions and handovers.
➢ High attention is given only to construction of new schemes. All previously constructed
schemes lacked appropriate attentions.
➢ WASHCOs Revenue and expenditure receipts are produced and distributed at water bureau
level(Oromia) which created problem of getting on time, additional unnecessary cost and
created problems of controlling the RWS financial managements. It also created financial
auditing difficult due to gap of information on sources of documents (water bureau distribute
receipts and Woreda finance audit the documents/receipts).
➢ Audits should be done annually, but in most cases not done due to capacity limitations. Zone
and woreda finance offices audit every year. Large schemes and towns are audited by zonal
31
 auditors and the remaining are audited by woreda audit offices. Due to existence of
numerous schemes in regions they could not cover and address all on time. Most of the rural
water supply finances are not audited due to capacity limitation of woreda finance office
and hence many financial losses at WASHCO levels.
➢ Due to low commitments of committee members there are lack of follow up and regularly
collecting water sales money from PT and yard connections and saving in banks.
➢ Water bacteriological and chemical testes are needed every quarter. But since there are
Shortages of teste kits and no laboratory there is no regular water quality teste. Chlorine is
added every quarter but no teste is done .Thus, water quality is unknown and risky.
➢ There is water facility and quality process team in the zonal offices but no teste kits, no
laboratory etc. Thus, laboratory or teste kits are necessary to do quality teste, hence staffs
are idle.
➢ No regular trainings for WASHCOs, WASHCOs change every 2-3 years but no trainings
for the new members. Methodology of trainings are power point based. No practical/on job
trainings. Thus, methodology of trainings need to be reconsidered.
➢ Lack of training budget and training centers for the WASHCOs and experts working on the
sector. Thus, capacity and working morals are weak.
➢ Budget allocated for the rural water facilities management is insignificant compared to the
number of schemes and required supervision and assistance activities. The section lacks
appropriate attention concomitant to the responsibilities given to it. Thus, the services
provided by the section are not sufficient.
➢ Machinery supports from the water bureau to zones and Woredas is weak and needs
strengthening.
➢ The New organizational structure has not considered the professional required and
workloads at zonal and Woreda levels. It discourages experienced and highly qualified
professionals and pushing them to leave the sector. Minimum experiences required is 4 years
for all positions. Secondary and tertiary educations are undermined in the assigning
professionals.
➢ The structure of other similar bureaus like health, agriculture and education goes up to
Kebele levels while that of water is at woreda level which increased workloads on the
woreda staffs.
➢ The Woreda water office has logistic problems to provide the required assistances. There
are no sufficient transport facilities to supervise the RWS activities. Very small budget for
per diem (90,000- 100,000 Birr/year). Few professionals compared to RWS activities in the
woreda.
➢ WASHCO management of rural schemes should be revised. It is difficult to manage RPS
with voluntary WASHCOs. It was designed for HDW and springs and shallow wells on
spot.
➢ Some start up finances for employing basic manpower and to cover basic running costs for
some months and basic tools, motor bikes and offices and office facilities are required
especially for medium and large schemes with distributions.

4.3.4 Woreda Water Office

32
Woreda water offices plays very important roles in the rural water supply study design,
construction and maintenances especially for small scale water supplies. They are involved in
establishing WASHCOs, in capacity buildings of WASHCOs, in providing technical
assistances in maintenance works and in advising and follow up of financial managements of
WASHCOs. They are stepping stone for rural water supplies. Thus, six woreda water offices
were visited by the consultant and data and information on rural water supplies in their area
and their roles and problems of rural water supply were discussed in detail. The summary of
the discussions and individual interviews with woreda offices are summarized as follows:-

✓ Woreda water offices participate in the design, construction, supervision and handover of
HDW, SW, WMP, CMP, and NGO MP but not in large schemes like RPS.
✓ Woreda water offices maintains piped systems and springs. Community report, woreda
experts go and identify the magnitude of the problem, prepare list of materials required for
maintenance, WASHCO purchase the materials (if > 1000 Birr with the support of WWO)
and maintenance is done by caretaker or WWO experts. This takes long time to maintain
the scheme and provide water for the community.
✓ Follow day to day activities of WASHCOs.
✓ Provide technical assistances to WASHCOs in the procurement of goods and services.
✓ Assist WASHCOs technically in the schemes maintenances (HDW, Pipes, and springs.)
✓ Identify the number and types of schemes in the Kebele.
✓ Training WASHCOs on operation manuals.
✓ Do awareness creation works on water and sanitation in the kebeles.
✓ Conducts water potential assessment in kebeles to prioritize projects for investment.
✓ Study and design small scale on spot schemes in the woreda.
✓ Supervise small schemes construction by artisans.
✓ Organize the community to participate where community participations are needed.

Despite all these roles, they complain as proper attentions are not given in manpower
allocation, budget and logistics for field supervision, study, and assistance works. They listed
the following problems related to their works that requires improvement: -

✓ The prevailing organizational structure has not considered the professional required and
workloads at woreda levels. It discourages experienced and highly qualified professionals
and pushing them to leave the/woreda/ sector.
✓ The structure of other similar bureaus like health, agriculture and education goes up to
Kebele levels while that of water is at woreda level which increased workloads on the
woreda staffs. At least one expert is needed per kebele or for 2 kebeles (Health, agriculture,
and police have 3, 3 and 2 workers at kebele level respectively).
✓ Experts at woreda level are not sufficient in professional diversity and in numbers to deliver
the required services. There are positions needed but not available.
✓ No sufficient vehicles to supervise the activities of all the schemes in the woreda.
✓ Shortages of budget for follow up and assist (per diem budget is 90,000 - 100,000Birr/year)
✓ There are no education opportunities for the professional staffs.
✓ The woreda water office has logistic problems to provide the required assistances.
✓ Guidelines and manuals are not available at all levels.
33
✓ The woreda water office has no budget for trainings. They also lack capacity because
expert turnovers are high.

Regarding the rural water supplies the woreda water experts have the following
observations/comments:-
✓ RPS studies do not include detail socioeconomic study and community participation. That
is why there are many complains from community after project completion and handovers.
✓ Woreda participation in site selection and priority setting in kebele is low.
✓ Transformers are not supplied for long time after payments are made. Because ELPA does
not give priority to RWS though in theory says priority is to water supply.
✓ Construction quality of some RPS projects is poor and are not completed on time.
✓ There are weakness in project supervision because supervisors are changed now and then.
✓ In RPS schemes ownership feeling is weak because community, Kebele and woreda
participation was weak in priority setting (project selection), land issues, water distribution,
confirmation for the project’s completion etc. It is better in on spot supplies like HDWs
because community participations are high.
✓ For large schemes consultants and contractors are not providing trainings to schemes
operators because it is not included in their TOR.
✓ The woreda water office has no budget for trainings. They also lack capacity because expert
turnovers are high. NGO projects have capacity building budgets and they provide training
regularly that is why their schemes management is better than that of the government.

4.4 Conclusion form the findings.

As demonstrated above key peoples who benefited and who works on rural water supply has
participated in the survey. Community representatives (WASHCOs), government and NGO
authorities and professionals working on RWS were among the samples. They well know the
area and are part and parcel of the issues and problems listed above. They are also among the
beneficiaries of the guidelines to be produced.

Thus, the ideas and issues raised by these peoples and institutions helps a lot in the new
guideline preparations. They are good testimonials for the past performances and the followed
problems encountered. Their suggestions are also worthwhile and need to be considered as
inputs in the criterion and guidelines preparations.

34
 5.0 Criterion for Rural water supply Institutional Setup

5.1 Investment criteria

Communities’ should get investment fund for water scheme development based on the
followings criterion:-

a) Community should submit application signed by at least 30 households (demand

responsive).
b) Severity of the water shortage, confirmed by field assessment.
c) Prioritized by kebele and woreda administration based on assessments and situational
analysis;
d) Confirmed non availability of alternative water source in the area and low water coverage.
e) When it is the government’s WASH sectors priority area in the kebele, etc.
f) Community contribution as per financers’ rule and regulations (i.e. in % or lump sum in
cash) is confirmed by the beneficiary community.
g) Agreement for labour and material contribution is signed by the beneficiary community,
h) Water committee is established by the beneficiary community.
i) Committee opened bank account and saved community contribution in the bank.
j) Willingness and affordability of the beneficiary community to cover O&M costs is
confirmed.
k) Availability of budget /financer.

Fulfillment of 75% of these criterion will qualify for investment but the number and types of schemes
will be decided based on available investment fund.

5.2 Sustainability criteria

The schemes will be sustainable and serve the beneficiary community for long if the following
criterion are put in place: -
❖ Availability of lists and signatures of more than 30 beneficiary house holds for on pot
supply and 200-800 households for supplies with distributions (i.e. sufficient beneficiaries)
before the project implementation.
❖ Community contribution in kind and cash which develops ownership feelings of the
community.
❖ Establishment of strong community management (WASHCO or Water service, water board
etc.) to carryout community action meaningfully.
❖ An agreement on minimum service level.
❖ Agreement of community to cover 100 % O&M costs;
❖ Agreement to pay 100% of the incremental cost of implementing higher than the agreed up
on standard service levels;
❖ Availability of prepared satisfactory plans for future O&M.

35
❖ Availability of jointly planned activities with the community like rehabilitation, expansion,
additional source development etc.
❖ Involving beneficiary households in planning, design and construction of their water supply
facilities to develop knowhow and ownership feeling.
❖ Fully participating the community in handling the water supply funds and procurement of
goods especially for on spot schemes (including goods procured with cash contributions
from communities).
❖ The project should pay proper attention to mobilize beneficiary households to take
decisions on design and construction of their water supply facilities and to take total
responsibility for managing the completed water supply scheme in an economically viable
manner.
❖ Allocation of seed money/soft loans/ for rural pipes water supply systems, to begin with
the water supply by employing permanent workers and to cover other operation works.
❖ Water committee members should get trainings before the scheme completion and after
refreshers trainings at least every two years.
❖ Including capacity building/training budget in WASHCO annual plans and implement it.
❖ Strong capacity buildings should be done on woreda field staffs technically, financially,
logistically etc. to let them deliver technical, managerial and financial assistances needed.
❖ Assigning local staff trained, by NGOs or government to the field so that they pass on the
results of their training to field staff.
❖ Allocating sufficient field time for local staffs by allocating sufficient budget and logistic.
This reduces the poor construction executed by communities without technical supervision.
❖ Water quality check before project handover and availability of water quality test kits and
quality teste schedules.
❖ Improve records and follow ups on staff disposition at Woreda and headquarters.
❖ To increase local staff accountability to communities, water committees should fill time
sheets for expert’s inputs when they are in field.
❖ Employing water extension worker at kebele level which reduces work loads of woreda
staffs and facilitate water works/O&M and monitoring at kebele levels.
❖ Periodic report by WASHCO/ Water boards to the authorities they are accountable to and
continuous monitoring by the authorities the activities of WASHCO and Water boards at a
joint meetings.
❖ More technical and financial assistances from kebele and woreda administration especially
for weak water supplies.
❖ Organizing experience sharing tours to best performing rural water supplies to exchange
know-hows.
❖ It is relatively easy to increase coverage through construction of new schemes, but it is
difficult to ensure that such systems continue to provide service for long terms unless
proper attention is given for previously completed schemes.’ Thus, proper attention for
scheme follow ups and maintenances after completion and handovers need proper
attention.
❖ Almost all project implementers in Ethiopia focuses on the hardware aspect and no one
worry about the software and sustainability issues. Thus, the software aspect should be
given equal attention for the sustainability of RWS from the Federal minister to Woreda
level. Continuous capacity building and follow ups of WASHCOs is highly needed.

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5.3 Tariff Setting Criterion

5.3.1 Concept
Traditionally, water was regarded as a good free of charge. Thus, it is vital to recognize first
that water has value i.e. costs of production and operation and maintenances. Thus, water is an
economic good and should have a price. Regarding water pricing the Ethiopian water resources
Management policy also declared:-

a) Recognize water is a natural resource with an economic value and ensure that fees are paid
for services rendered.
b) Recognize water as a vulnerable and scarce natural resource and ensure and promote that
all pricing systems and mechanisms should be geared towards conservation, protection and
efficient use of water as well as promote equity of access.
c) Ensure that the price for water should be neither too high (and discourage water use) nor too
low (and encourage abuses and over use of water).
d) Promote that tariff setting shall be site specific, depending on the particulars of the project,
location, the users, the cost and other characteristics of the schemes.
e) Ensure that the basic human needs of water for disadvantaged rural communities who cannot
afford to pay for development of water systems, shall be borne by the government, as
appropriate, and in so far as the communities are able and willing to cover the operation and
maintenance costs on their own. /EWMP,2000/

One major obstacle for the proper management of operation and maintenance, and
modernization of the rural water supply systems is the permanent shortage of funds that mainly
emanated from low tariffs for water supply services and free water usage which lead to an
inefficient usage of the water resources. Frequently, the local administrators and communities
sets low tariffs than what the community affords to pay. As the water meters for an exact
volumetric measurement is also lacking flat tariff rates are used for all on spot supplies.

There are common rural payment approaches like pay-as-you-fetch, pay-when-breaks, monthly
fee, or no payment. Likewise the survey conducted in sample rural water supplies there existed
no fixed water tariff system and the tariffs differed among the schemes and villages. In some
villages households pay their water fee on monthly basis for fixed volume of water collections
per day irrespective of family size, while others pay a monthly fixed money regardless of the
volume collected and family size. Families pay Birr 5 to 20 per month and some even pay Birr
15 per year per household for on spot supplies./See section 4.1.1 above/. The pay-as-you-fetch
model generates more revenue, leads to more expenditure, and has an overall higher net income
than the alternatives, and leads to fewer downtime days per breakdown.

Recently there are efforts by some WASHCOs and regional/woreda water offices to develop
water tariffs for some rural water supplies with distribution systems. Consumers pay Birr 6-
37
 25/m3 for PT and yard connections and 0.10 - 0.50/20 liter container. Few WASHCOs started
charging progressive taxes for yard connections/See table 8 above/. But there is no tariff setting
criterion that guides the water price settings in all regions.
5.3.2 Objectives of water tariffs
When the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Services set their water tariff they have objectives to
meet. The followings are the major objectives the tariff seeks to achieve: -

a) Revenue sufficiency. The main purpose of the tariff is cost recovery. Thus, before design
can begin, there must be a decision as to how much revenue the tariff should recover i.e.
full or partial.
b) Economic efficiency. Users should obtain the largest possible aggregate benefits at
minimum cost.
c) Equity: - Requires that equals be treated equally, and that unequal be treated unequally.
d) Resource conservation: - To Discourage “excessive” or “wasteful” uses of water, thus
promoting the conservation of depleted sources, or the sustainable use of renewable water
sources.
e) The right to water- To realize that getting connected to water is the right of all citizens
and recognize that water is a social good as well, where users are obliged to pay for the
services rendered, which should be affordable to them.

In addition, to meet the above objectives, there are other factors that need to be considered on tariff
design. These are:-

a) Public acceptability. A successful tariff design is one that is not controversial, or which
does not serve as a focus of public criticism of the water supply agency.
b) Political acceptability. A tariff design that is objectionable to political leaders will lead to
loss of political support and may cause increased political interference in the operations of
the agency.
c) Simplicity and transparency. A tariff design should be easy to explain and easy to
understand. It should be possible for most users to know what price they are paying for
water.
d) Net revenue stability. When water use changes as a consequence of weather or economic
conditions, revenue and cost should change by approximately equal amounts. When this
does not happen, cyclical changes will result in net revenue volatility, creating cash flow
and financing difficulties for the agency.
e) Ease of implementation. The promulgation and implementation of the revised tariff
should not encounter significant barriers in terms of legal authority, administration
competence, information requirements, or billing procedures.

Regarding water tariff, the “Ethiopian Government Water Management policy’ of 2000 says
among others: -
• “Ensure that Tariff structures are site-specific and determined according to local
circumstances,

38
• Insure that rural tariff settings are based on the objective of recovering operation and
maintenance costs while urban tariff structures are based on the basis of full cost recovery.
• Ensure that tariff structures in water supply systems are based on equitable and practical
guidelines and criteria.
• Establish a "Social Tariff" that enables poor communities to cover operation and
maintenance costs.
• Establish progressive tariff rates, in urban water supplies, tied to consumption rates.
• Develop flat rate tariffs for communal services like hand pumps and public stand posts. “

5.3.3 Rural Water supply tariff setting criteria

Based on the objectives of water tariff setting and government policy the following criterion
are proposed to be used in rural water supply:-

✓ Tariff should be site specific i.e. different tariffs for different schemes based on
socioeconomic situations.
✓ Full operation and maintenance costs for rural users’ i.e. covering 1) Regular operation
costs like; Manpower, power consumption (either electricity or fuel), chemicals and
support services (transport, stationary, tools, etc.) and 2) Regular preventive maintenance
and monitoring costs like: cleaning of components (wells, intakes, treatment units, storage
reservoirs, treatment systems), servicing of pumps and equipment , replacement of parts
and items such as filter media (pumps in distribution systems including water meters, and
in treatment units) and water quality testing and some contingencies).
✓ Tariffs for other connection above public taps should cover full O & M plus 25- 50 %
investment costs/depreciation/ distributed over tariff blocks based on socioeconomic
conditions of the area because their service levels are above rural service levels.
✓ Consider value of money/devaluations/ in tariff settings.
✓ Tariff should be revise every three years.
✓ The number of tariff blocks should be 3 - 5.
✓ Minimum consumption is 3m3/month per household. Thus, the first block should not be
less than 3m3.
✓ Uniform intervals between blocks (see blocks proposed below).
✓ The tariff for 1st block should be equal to full O&M because this categories are considered
low income group and uses water for basic uses.
✓ Tariff should be fixed by the feasibility study for schemes with distributions.
✓ All yard connections and institutional or commercial etc. connections should pay
progressive rate based on volume of consumption.
✓ All private connections should sign contract agreement with the water service.
✓ All private connections must pay water meter service charges monthly with the water bill
i.e. water bills are paid monthly as per the schedule of the service.

Table 6: Water tariff blocks and ranges for Rural Pipe Systems

Block Range
1st 0-3
39
 2nd 4- 7
rd
3 8 - 10
th
4 > 10
Depending on the areas specific situation (weather, social conditions etc.) it is possible to
modify if proved it is beneficial for the kebele water supply service.
The cost of production and distribution of water has been significantly escalating from time to
time. Thus, it is better to seriously investigate the income of the households to set the
affordability of the rural population before setting water tariffs. The study done by the World
Bank has showed as "Tariffs of about $0.40 per m3 are considered sufficient to cover operating
costs in most developing-country contexts, while $1.00 would cover both operation,
maintenance and infrastructure costs. The World Bank also calculated, even in the low-income
Sub-Saharan countries, up to 40% of the households should be able to pay the full-cost tariff
of $1 per m3". / World Bank, WSS in Sub- Sahara Africa site note #8/. According to the World
Bank study “a tariff is affordable as long as the bill does not exceed 5% of the household’s
budget".

Thus, using the current exchange rate (March 2020) (32 Birr per 1USD) O&M cost of Birr 12.8
and full cost recovery tariff of about 32 Birr per m3 are affordable in low income sub-Sahara
African Countries where our country is located. The sustainability of water facilities in rural
districts is ensured only when there is enough revenue to cover expenses.

5.4 Organizational Set Up Criteria

Sustainable operation and management of any water supply system can only be achieved if
appropriate organizational structures and management systems are properly put in place. But
the structures of most of the rural water supply are not well studied and revised considering
periodic developments and needs of the communities. Thus, appropriate organizational
structure which fits to the size of the water supply schemes need to be developed and
implemented.

However, in developing organizational structures, various factors need to be considered.

Among the factors that influence organizational structure, government policies & strategies,
mission and vision/goals of the organization, and technology in use are the most important.

Thus, in designing the organizational structure of rural water supply, the water resources
management policy and strategic issues like providing reliable and sustainable service delivery
ought to be considered. This means the new structure should help to enable the rural water
supply to provide reliable and sustainable service and recover all its costs from its revenues.
As much as possible the structure should be simple to implement and understandable by the
local community. This helps the water supply to be able to perform all its functions
autonomously with very limited supervision and support from the government.

Two major categories of water supplies modalities are available in rural Ethiopia as indicated
above. The first groups, the overwhelming majority, are on spot water supply, which includes
hand dug wells, springs, and shallow wells and deep wells with hand pumps. The second group
40
are rural water supplies with distribution systems which are currently expanding in the rural
areas. They cover many villages and pre urban small towns and have many public taps and
private connections.
Thus, the management level required for these two groups needs to be differentiated to properly
manage the schemes and provide appropriate services to the community on sustainable bases.
Hence, the following criterion are developed to distinguish the two categories and their
management levels.

5.4.1Organization criteria for on spot water supplies.

As specified above on spot supply includes hand dug well, spring and shallow & deep well
with hand pumps. Number of beneficiary ranges from 30 households to 150 households.
➢ The appropriate management for this type of supply is water supply and sanitation
committee (WASHCO).
➢ WASHCO with 5 members (considering age, sex, education and categories of
beneficiaries) and one care taker/guard/ water distributor are sufficient to manage the
schemes.
➢ As much as possible females should get 50%+ share in the committee and leader positions
too.
➢ One WASHCO can supervise and manage more than one on spot schemes if they are in
one village or close villages. But the composition of the WASHCO members should be
adjusted to include all the areas and beneficiary types as much as possible.
➢ The community should pay monthly contributions that cover operation and maintenance
costs and also considering future investments savings. No specific water tariffs are
required.
➢ The WASHCO should decide on distribution/working hours of the schemes.
➢ The committee should meet at least monthly to collect fees and check the schemes
performances.
➢ The committee should have its own bylaw and governed by it.
➢ The volume of water collected per house hold should be decided by WASHCO based on
the discharge of the water schemes. The volume of the water to be collected and the
monthly payments should be uniform and decided by the general assembly of the
beneficiaries.
➢ The water source should be protected, fenced and kept clean.
➢ Water quality test should be done regularly as per the health office recommendations.
➢ There should be a general assembly meeting at least once per year where the committee
present their performances, next year plans and problems encountered. The annual
performances report should be approved and problems resolved by the general assembly.
➢ The term of committee service should be as per WASHCO’s by law but as much as possible
to change committee members as per the bylaw. Committee members who failed to carry
out their responsibility should be replaced any time by calling general assembly. Quorum
of the general assembly will be 50%+.
➢ The committee should have bank account and save the finance collected in the bank.
Expense should be approved by the chairman and released from the bank by signature of
three committee members (Chairman, cashier and finance officer or controller).
41
➢ The committee should use official receipts for revenue collection and expenditures.
➢ Financial management should be audited annually by woreda finance office auditor or
Woreda Water Consumers Union (WWCU) auditor.
➢ WASHCO members should be accountable individually and collectively for their
performances.

5.4.2 Organizational criterion for rural water supply with distribution

systems.
As illustrated above water supply with distribution includes spring with distribution, Gravity
spring with distribution and deep wells with distribution and deep well with solar system.
Number of beneficiary roughly ranges from 1200 households to 12,000 households. It is
challenging to manage these schemes by voluntary WASHCOs. Thus different organization is
proposed.
One kebele water supply service and one kebele water boards are proposed per kebele. The
water supply service can integrate the on spot water schemes in the kebele if the beneficiary
communities agree on its requirements.
Kebele Water Board (KWB) will have 5 - 7 members depending on number of beneficiary
communities and their locations.
Permanent employed workers will run the schemes. The number of permanent workers
depend on the type and number of schemes that need independent manpower (like guards).
Manager, cashier, procurement staff, scheme operators and maintenance and guards are
basic workers to start with. Others will be filled as per requirement gradually. The water
board select and employ the KWSS manager and the manager will employ the other staffs.
Organizational structure and number of staffs required should be studied in the feasibility
study.
Public taps should be outsourced to private sector up on agreement attached to volume of
water sales and revenue thereof (i.e. 20-30% of the revenue to the service provider is
proposed). Priority should be given to jobless females around the public tap for control and
better service delivery. Written agreements and guarantee are required.

Here the water supply differs from scheme to scheme by area coverage and population it serves.
Some schemes are big enough to cover two or more woredas while some don’t cover even a
Kebele. Thus, we presented the organization of water distribution in the following three
options.

Option 1. When the scheme serves only one Kebele.

❖ If the source distributes water using more than 5 public taps. The number of beneficiaries
is greater than 1,000 households. The scheme serves at least one pre urban/small town and
rural villages. Monthly revenue is greater than 20,000 Birr or covers fully O&M costs. Has
well studied fair water tariff and has more than 20 yard connections then it will be organized
in to Kebele Water Supply Service (KWSS) and will be supervised by Kebele Water Board
(KWB).

42
❖ Those who fails to fulfill the requirements will be organized under water supply and
sanitation committee (WASHCO) and supervised by WWO.
❖ The KWB will have 5- 7 members (male and females equally represented). The water
board’s composition should be 60% from beneficiary community and the remaining from
CSOs and government institutions working in the Kebele.
❖ Previous WASHCOs in the kebele who are served by schemes with distribution system,
can merge to strengthen their capacity and can form kebele water supply service and rural
water supply board when they fulfill the requirements.
❖ Until the kebele water service build its capacity to operate and maintain the water source
the zone or woreda water offices should manage the O&M of the source by collecting O&M
costs from the water sales revenue of KWSS.

Option 2. When the water supply serves more than one kebele, within the
woreda, and kebele 1 has KWS Service then:-
✓ If kebele 2 has only few public taps, then it can delegate kebele 1 KWSS to manage the
public taps or can establish its own WASHCO to manage the schemes by reaching on an
agreement with kebele 1 water supply service, where the water sources comes from, to
share the O&M of the water source (guard, fuels, chemicals, energy etc.) and common
water infrastructures (reservoirs, water meter, pumps etc.) based on volume of water used
from the water sales revenue. For example if the water used is 80% to 20% they share the
O&M cost in the same proportion.
✓ If kebele 2 also qualify for KWS Service it can establish its own kebele water supply service
and kebele water board. Here too the service should reach on an agreement to share O&M
costs of the water source and common infrastructures. If conflicts arise between the two
water services the kebele/woreda administration will resolve the problem by discussing the
services and with the water boards. They must agree on the level of service and water share
too based on the feasibility study. If they agree one water board could supervise both rural
water supply services by adjusting composition of the water board to include both kebele
representatives.
✓ Water tariff in both services should be similar.
✓ Both water supply services use water as per the feasibility study and design water
distribution model. If revisions are required that requires the consent of the other kebele
water service.

Option 3. When the scheme serves more than one Woreda.

Some schemes are very big and covers more than one woreda. In this case the two woredas
must agree on the volume of water to be supplied and standard of services as per the study and
design and how to manage the water supply and cover O&M costs of water sources and
common infrastructures. Then woreda 2 would also follow the same procedure of organization
to manage the water supply and its supervision, but gradually transfer to a stronger KWSS. If
required they can establish supervisory body from the two woreda/zone administrations.

43
 6.0 Guidelines for rural water supply
The purpose of this guideline is to help rural water supply stakeholders i.e. government,
financers, consultants, contractors and the community know their roles and responsibilities at
different stages of the project development and management phases right from project
inception to completion and then after during sustainability phases. These stakeholders will
have individual and collective roles and responsibilities for smooth implementation and
management of the schemes.

The guideline is not exhaustive and hence will be improved through discussions and
experiences gained during implementations.

The guideline has two parts. Part one guideline for on spot water supply and part two guideline
for rural water supplies with distributions.

6.1:- Guideline for On Spot Rural Water Supplies

Table 7. Guidelines for on spot rural water supply

Phase Activities and responsible bodies Participants

1. Preparationa) Woreda WASH Team/Administration:- Kebele

✓ Receive applications from water scarcity kebeles /areas, administrators,
Phase ✓ Establish team of experts for assessment of the community
Institutionalizing the magnitude of water shortage, potential water sources, representatives
water supply project water coverage and willingness and affordability of the
with clear roles and beneficiary community.
responsibilities. ✓ Screen the applications using project selection criteria
Define who are the and available resources,
project stakeholders ✓ Officially announcing to the selected kebeles the results
their roles and to make preparations.
responsibilities in all ✓ Orientation to beneficiary communities on the objectives
the phases and sign of the project and the roles and responsibilities of all the
an agreement. stakeholders of the project.
✓ Allocate budget for the project study and design.
✓ Establish and deploy team of experts (engineers,
sociologists etc.) to do the detail study.

44
2. Project a) Woreda administration supervise the study work. Community
representatives
Study Phase b) Kebele administration facilitate the study work.
and Kebele
c) A team composed of different professional will do the study and
design. Administration
Woreda Water
The study team should :- Office, Kebele
Administration,
• Begin with the community and with their concerns and needs. Kebele Water
• The team works with the community to obtain the essential development
trust and support for the sustainability of the project. Follows worker, HEW,
participatory method to lay foundation for generating full WASHCO.
involvement and a sense of ownership in the community.
• Discuss with the community on community contribution and as
the beneficiary community contributions helps to develop a
sense of community ownership of the project, enhance local
responsibility for long-term operation, maintenance and
sustainability of the project, and as it reduce overall project
costs hence encourage and organize the community for
contribution.
• Assist the community to identify its own water and
sanitation needs and corresponding project solutions through
a process of internal discussion and external negotiation.
• Assess technically to explore all potential water sources in the
area in order to identify an optimal solution subject to
agreement of the community.
• Give priority to sources that provide a reliable water supply at
all times and for the life of the project.
• Conduct socioeconomic survey and identify the willingness to
pay and affordability of the community.
• Study the project cost and community contributions.
• Calculate water tariff at full O&M costs.
• Prepare draft report and design and present to the community
for comments and approvals.
• Establish a Water Supply and Sanitation& Hygiene Committee
(WASHCO) to oversee and be responsible for project
implementation as well as system operation and long-term
sustainability at community level. Considering age, sex,
education and experiences in the WASHCO formation. It
should be established in parallel with the study.
• The members of the committee should be representative of all
the main interest groups, including women, age groups, ethnic
minorities etc. Where possible, women should constitute at
least half of the members of the committee and should be
encouraged to take on leadership roles in the WASHCO. Thus,
detail socioeconomic survey should be done to identify these
groups and their willingness and affordability to pay for the
improved water supply.

45
 • The team should assist the community to understand the
available technological options and help them to select the
technology best suited for their needs. Otherwise the
community will not develop a sense of ownership towards the
resulting water and sanitation system and could not manage the
scheme properly.
• Many rural communities do not have the skills required to
manage a water and sanitation system. Hence the study team
must assist the community to develop the skills necessary to
manage and maintain the project. Therefore capacity building
trainings, manual development etc. should be part and parcel of
the study. Thus, the team is expected to develop working
manuals for the WASHCOs on management, financial
management, procurement, store management and operation
and maintenance. Training and advising the community,
perhaps through WASHCO, should also be taken as a top
priority of project development and sustainability.
• The team must also assist the community to establish effective
links with local government technical offices and the private
sector involved in the construction, provision of maintenance
and repair services and the supply of spare parts.
• The team should discuss with community on the preliminary
findings and future schedules.
• The scheme take career should be recruited and get basic
trainings on the scheme O&M by woreda water office experts.

a. Water Supply and Sanitation Committee (WASHCO):-

➢ Should have a legal status and be authorized to administer

financial accounts on behave of the community.
➢ Should collect community contribution (upfront fee,
community share in investment and O&M savings) as per the
agreements.
➢ Should open bank account in very nearby town and save the
community contribution in the bank.

b. Woreda Water Office:

✓ Should encourage sharing of experiences between communities

i.e. successful activities and approaches in one community
should be shared with other communities, especially among
neighboring villages. The woreda water office and kebele
administration should consider ways in which communities can
exchange ideas and experiences.

46
 3. Appraisal ✓ Woreda administration/Woreda WASH Team (WWT) will Community
establish Project appraisal team (composed of different representatives,
and professionals) from different sector offices and appraise the WASHCO
agreement study document before the appraisal meeting. members,
Phase ✓ The appraisal includes desk and field appraisal. The team will Woreda
decide on standardized appraisal checklists. Administrators,
✓ The project appraisal team will submit the appraisal result to the Woreda Council
woreda administration/WWT in written signed by all committee representatives
members. and related
✓ Meetings will be organize to present the appraisal finding and Woreda and
discussion will be held at the presence of kebele administration Kebele Offices.
and WASHCO members.
✓ Final project approval should include agreement by the
WASHCO, local government and, financers where appropriate
i.e. ensure that all major stakeholders agreed with the project
plan before it is submitted for approval and funding.
✓ Contractors or artisans and suppliers will be selected and
agreements will be signed.
✓ Work schedules and roles and responsibilities of all the
stakeholders will be prepared and agreed up on.
✓ Project modality and financial and procurement modalities
should be decided based on the financers policy.
Implementation ➢ The community will remain engaged in decision-making and in Beneficiary
the various implementation activities. community,
phase ➢ WASHCO should mobilize labour for unskilled labour and Kebele
The implementation
local materials as per agreement and contribute cash and Administration
phase represents
procure materials for construction.
activities involving the
➢ The contractor or artisan will construct the scheme.
creation of the project
➢ Assigned woreda engineer should supervise the work daily to
in the field.
check quality of the work and to approve payments with
WASHCO.
➢ Encourage local government organs to be involved in program
implementation, especially during project construction where
required.
➢ Local government technical offices should be involved in
monitor project implementation because this helps to develop a
working relationship with the community and which helps for
long-term sustainability of the system.
➢ Water quality should be checked before the handover of the
water supply scheme to the community.

Sustainability Phase
A. Monitoring
o Projects supervisor and woreda water office should work with
the WASHCO to monitor the implementation of the project
right from the project approval.
o Woreda water office should assist the WASHCO to develop a
plan for the future monitoring of the scheme.
o A plan outlining routine maintenance and repairs should be
prepared and accepted by the community before the departure
of the contractor/artisan and the project supervisor. The water

47
 supply and sanitation committee will be responsible for carrying
out the maintenance plan.
o Projects supervisor and woreda water office should work with
the community in developing a long-term monitoring plan
because Long-term sustainability of the water supply is
dependent upon a continuous flow of accurate information
regarding operations, water quality, maintenance and financial
status.
o It is important that records of all essential information (e.g.
surveys, water quality tests, system designs, expenditures and
fee collections) be made available to the WASHCO, as well as
government technical offices and relevant financers/donors.
o Although the community is expected to undertake routine
maintenance and repairs works on its water supply system, it
probably will need technical and financial assistance for
major technical problems and repairs. Thus, the
contractor/artisan and supervisor should assist the community
to establish an agreement with local government technical
office for major technical repairs that may be required in the
future.
o The community and its water supply and sanitation committee
will probably need technical and advisory assistance for some
time following completion of the project. The government or
financers should be prepared to provide some technical,
financial and material assistances for perhaps a year or more, as
may be needed, depending on the type of the scheme, the level
of awareness of the committee, accessibility to major towns, etc.
o .Reporting on system status and operations is an essential part
of long-term sustainability. Thus, the water supply and
sanitation committee should report to the community and
possibly to the local government technical offices quarterly and
annually.
B. Evaluation ▪ Woreda wash team/ zone water office should carry out an
evaluation of the project at the completion of the overall project
works to lay bases for future evaluations.

6.2. Guideline for Rural Water Supply with distribution systems

Table 8: Guideline for RWS with distributions

Phase and major Guideline Participants

activities
✓ 1. Preparation ✓ Regional WB/zone water office should:- Regional, Zonal
and Woreda
Phase Institutionalizing Administrators,
the water supply project Decide on type and number of scheme to be implemented.

48
with clear roles and Secure budget for the project study, supervision, construction Finances,
responsibilities. Define etc. NGOs, CBOs
who are the project Establish team of experts (technical, financial, social etc.) for
stakeholders their roles the project’s study and follow ups.
and responsibilities in all Prepare relevant documents (procurement, management, follow
the phases and sign an up etc.) for the project managements.
agreement. Prepare manuals and guidelines for project management.
Prepare work schedules and let all stakeholders know.
Conduct trainings where required.
Select service providers and sign an agreement.
2. Project Community
✓ Woreda water office should play the followings: - representatives
Identification and Kebele
Phase ❖ Facilitate community participations. Administration
At this phase the project ❖ Establish Water Project Implementation Committee (WPIC)
idea is translated into a that oversee and be responsible for project implementation in
preliminary description of parallel with the project identification. The committee members
the project. Terms of should possess as much as possible the following characteristics (i)
reference for the project well represented (ii) totally committed (iii) socially accepted and
reconnaissance team are (iv)financially sound and transparent. Better if educated and
established, analyses of experienced peoples and elected. The committee serves up to the
existing situations are project completion phase and transfer its role to Kebele Water
performed, a broad Board (KWB).
evaluation of the future ❖ The members of the committee as much as possible should be
“with” and “without” the representative of all the interest groups, including women, age
project is made, and the groups, ethnic minorities etc.
extent and limits of the ❖ Mobilize and assist the water project implementation committee
project are proposed. to negotiate with the local authorities and obtain assistance.
Different approaches to ❖ Empower the water project implementation committee to
the project are identified, mobilize community for unskilled labour.
and a judgment made ❖ Assist in collecting funds for the unforeseen expenditure related
regarding which option to the project activities.
should be taken forward ❖ Discuss with the community on the necessity of cost sharing to
to project preparation. develop projects ownership, minimising the continued
government subsidies and gradual transformation of
responsibilities to the public to take up the ongoing operation
and maintenance.
❖ Motivate the project implementation committee to collect cash
from the beneficiary community for the project construction and
O&M.
❖ Train the water committee to maintain necessary accounts with
transparency,
❖ Serve as a pressure group in dealing with the local
administrators regarding the water supply services.
❖ Help in reduction of waste and avoid theft, etc. by making water
project implementation committee aware of their roles and
responsibilities.
❖ Establish project’s study document appraisal team and apprise
the report before proceeding to the next phase.

49
 ❖ Provide the appraisal teams comments to the consultant and
check the improvements as per the comments.
✓ The consultant should:
Contact and establish work relations and strengthen woreda
and kebele stakeholders where project is to be implemented.
Begin the project identification with the community and with
their concerns and needs. Thus, involve the community right
from the beginning on socioeconomic assessments and source
selections.
Follow participatory method to lay foundation for generating
full involvement and a sense of ownership in the community.
Discuss with the community as beneficiary communities’
contributions help to develop a sense of community ownership
of the project and enhance local responsibility for long-term
operation, maintenance and sustainability of the project and as
it reduces overall project costs and encourage and organize the
community for contribution.
In deciding community cash contribution:- (1)social
dimensions of project beneficiaries, (2) affordability and
willingness to pay for improved water facilities, (3)extent of the
need and living conditions of the communities, (4) access and
availability of alternative water resources and (5), social equity
need to be considered. Thus, consultant and the water
committee must collect the following information during
community mobilization before deciding the community cash
contributions:-
✓ List of households who are willing to contribute unskilled
labour.
✓ List of households who are willing to pay cash if
required.
✓ List of households who are willing to contribute both
unskilled labour and cash
✓ List of households who disagree with community
contribution in existing areas.
✓ List of households who disagree with community
contribution.
✓ List of households who are destitute and disadvantaged.
Prepare prefeasibility study report and submit to all project’s
stakeholders.
Take the comments of appraisal team and improve the study
report accordingly.
3. Project • Consultant should: - Woreda Water
Preparation (study • Review the prefeasibility study report. Office, Kebele
• Involve the community to identify its own water and Administration,
and design ) phase sanitation needs and corresponding project solutions through Kebele Water
At this phase the project a process of internal discussion and external negotiation. development
will be designed. • Assess technically to explore all potential water sources in the worker, HEW,
Objectives, pre-requisites, area in order to identify an optimal solution subject to Water
inputs, outputs, agreement of the community. Committee
50
organization, participants,
clearances are all defined,
costs and earnings will be
calculated, a financial
plan is prepared, expected
results will be analyzed,
the socio-economic and
environmental impacts
will be estimated, and the
provisional and final
project documents will be
prepared.
• Whenever surface water sources, especially rivers and springs,
are considered for development, the communities immediately
upstream and downstream should be consulted and involved in
the decision-making process prior to implementation, because
all communities have interests in maintaining good quality and
adequate quantities of water, it is important that proposed
surface water developments be discussed with and approved by
both the upstream and downstream communities based on the
countries water policy.
• Give priority to sources that provide a reliable supply for the
target households at all times and for the life of the project.
• Do detail socioeconomic study and produce report. Capacity
gap assessment and proposals should be included in the study.
• Financing plan, financial analysis, economic analysis and
sensitivity tests should be done in detail.
• Study organizational structure for the project’s management.
• Study water tariff proposal with full cost recovery and operation
and maintenance cost recovery and discuss with the beneficiary
community.
• Do the projects social and environmental impacts Assessment.
• Assist the woreda water office and kebele administration to
strengthening the water project implementation committee.
• The consultant should assist the community to understand the
available technological options and help them to select the
technology best suited for their needs. Otherwise the
community will not develop a sense of ownership towards the
resulting water and sanitation system.
• Capacity building (trainings, manual development etc.) should
be part and parcel of the feasibility study and design. The
consultant is expected to develop working manuals for the
future scheme management (management, financial
management, procurement, store management and operation
and maintenance and water board working manual).
Project implementation committee should:-
❖ Possess a legal status and be authorized to administer financial
accounts on behave of the community.
❖ Open bank accounts in the nearby town to save the community
contributions.
❖ Be closely involved in the planning and implementation of
water and sanitation activities.
Woreda water office should:-
o Establish capacity building team (CBT) composed of different
professionals (engineer, economist, sociologist, finance,
management etc.) in every woreda offices and the consultant
must provide TOT trainings to the capacity building team.
These teams will serve as trainers on the rural water supply and
sanitation services management and O&M on all rural schemes
in the woreda.
51

4. Appraisal and
agreement Phase
At this phase appraisal
documents will be
prepared from the project
documents and a
succession of appraisal
meetings, clearances, and
financing negotiations
will take place. This
brings the project to the
point of meeting the
required start-up
agreement conditions,
sometimes after revision
and adaptation of project
schedule, cost, objectives,
and financing.
5. Implementation
phase
In this phase the project
management and lines of
command will be
established, and various
implementation
procedures will be
established. In the course
of implementation project
progress will be
monitored, revisions and
adaptations will be made
o Encourage sharing of experiences between communities i.e.
successful activities and approaches in one community
should be shared with other communities, especially among
neighboring villages.
o Secure capacity building budget and seed money for running the
water scheme in the project budget/cost.
Regional water bureau/Zonal water office/Woreda water office:- Community
✓ Should establish project appraisal team (composed of different representatives,
professionals i.e. technical and social sciences,) and appraise Water
the study document and design before the appraisal meeting. committee
The appraisal includes desk and field appraisal. The team members,
should prepare and agree on standardized appraisal desk and Woreda
field issues and points. / See sample project appraisal forms Administrators,
Annex 8 & 9/ Woreda Council
✓ The project appraisal team will submit the appraisal result to the representatives
project authorities in written, signed by all committee members, and related
and the authorities will let know the consultant the appraisal Woreda and
results. Kebele Offices.
✓ Meetings will be organized to present the appraisal finding to
stakeholders and discussion will be held at the presence of the
consultant.
✓ Final project approval should include agreement by the Project
Implementation Committee (PIC), local government and,
Financers where appropriate i.e. ensure that all major
stakeholders agreed with the project’s costs and plan before it is
submitted for approval and funding.
✓ Check also if sufficient capacity building and seed money
considered in the project’s cost.
✓ Handover all final study documents to the client as per the
agreement.
✓ Procurement of goods and services agreement should be signed
with service providers.
✓ PIC should be involved in the procurement and award of goods
and services.
Contractor and supervisor should:- Water
o Meet with the beneficiary community and discuss on design, committee,
work schedule, responsibilities of all stakeholders and sign an community,
agreement.
o Encourage the community to remain engaged in decision-
making and in the various implementation activities.
o Recognize the right of a community to request project
modifications when communities change their minds about the
design, location and operation of the proposed system and
resolve through discussions.
o Many rural communities do not have the skills required to
supervise a water project hence assist the water committee to
52
for unexpected events, develop the skills necessary to supervise the project
and finally the project will implementation on behave of the beneficiary community.
be brought to completion. o The implementation committee should be assisted to
understand the critical aspects of project implementation and
the need for regular and accurate monitoring of project
implementation.
o Assist also the community to establish effective links with local
government technical offices and the private sector involved in
the provision of maintenance and repair services and the supply
of spare parts.
o Encourage local government organs to be involved in project
implementation, especially during project construction.
o Prepare progress reports and submit to clients as per schedule.
o Complete all the activities as per design and quality agreed upon
with the client.
o Provide on job training operators/ care takers on components of
the scheme.
o Completion report should be and submitted to the client as per
schedule.
✓ Woreda water office should :-
➢ Woreda water office and the Project’s supervisor should work
with the project implementation committee to monitor the
implementation of the project up to the project completion.
➢ Organize kebele water supply service (KWSS) at kebele level.
➢ Establish Kebele Water Board (KWB). Representation, Ages,
Sex, knowledge and experiences should be considered in the
water board members’ selections. Where possible, women
should constitute at least half of the members of the board and
should be encouraged to take on leadership roles on the
committee. Kebele government institutions in the kebele could
be considered but the majority of the member should come the
beneficiary community.
➢ Train the kebele water supply boards on the working manuals
by the capacity building team coached by the project supervisor.
➢ The kebele water supply board should employ basic workers
(manager, operator, cashier, guards etc.) for the water supply
service and CBT should provide basic trainings on their roles
and responsibilities.
➢ The water board must prepare its own bylaw before starting its
supervision/operations.
➢ Woreda and kebele administration must allocate seed money for
the kebele water supply service (KWSS) to run the schemes.
➢ Local financial institutions must help the water service by
providing loans for expanding their activities.
➢ To strengthen the capacity of KWSS’s in management,
maintenance, material supply and technical assistances
“Woreda Rural Water Consumers Union (WRWCU) should be
53
 established at woreda level. The Union will supply all water
related materials and provide all managerial and technical
assistance that are beyond the kebele water supply services.
➢ Provide the roles and importance of woreda rural water
consumers union for sustainability of rural water supplies.
6. Project ➢ Water bureau/zone office and woreda water office should check
the project components and quality and discuss with the
Closure phase community on the status of the project and take necessary
Project Closure involves
measure where required.
releasing the final
➢ The kebele water supply service and kebele water board will
deliverables to the
take over all the responsibility of running the scheme from the
customer, handing over
project implementation committee.
project documentation to
✓ The contractor and supervisor should:
the business, terminating
✓ Prepare handover schedule and distribute to all stakeholders
supplier contracts,
including beneficiary communities.
releasing project
✓ Handover all completed scheme components to the community.
resources and
✓ Handover all remnants of the project to the kebele/WWO to be
communicating project
used for maintenances.
closure to all
✓ Provide all project documents (including drawings) to the client.
stakeholders. The last
✓ The beneficiary water board and WWO should check all
remaining step is to
components quantity and quality before receiving.
undertake a Post
✓ Management and maintenance of the system should be the
Implementation Review
primary continuing responsibility of the water supply service.
to identify the level of
The water supply service also should be responsible for carrying
project success and note
out the expansion and maintenance plan. Hence a plan outlining
any lessons learned for
routine maintenance and repairs should be prepared by the water
future projects.
supply service and water board and accepted by the community
before the departure of contractor.
✓ Although the kebele water supply service is expected to
undertake routine maintenance and repairs on its water supply
system, it probably will need technical and financial
assistance for major technical problems and repairs. Thus, the
contractor and supervisor should assist the service to establish an
agreement with local government technical bureaus for major
technical repairs that may be required in the future.
7. Sustainability ✓ Monitoring is an ongoing observation or inspection to assess whether
the water supply system is operating properly or not using
Phase observation or inspection checklists. It helps to check whether
7.1Monitoring control measures are able to remove and/or reduce potential risks and
Monitoring is the to timely detect problems so that corrective actions can be taken.
systematic process of Woreda Office and project supervisor should:-
collecting, analyzing and o Assist the kebele water supply board and kebele WSS to
using information to track develop a plan for the future monitoring of the system. Effective
a project’s progress monitoring plan relies on establishing: What will be monitored;
toward reaching its How it will be monitored; timing and frequency of monitoring;
objectives and to guide Where it will be monitored? Who will do the monitoring? Who
management decisions. will do the analysis; and who will receive the results for action?
Monitoring usually o Work with the water board in developing a long-term
focuses on processes, monitoring plan because Long-term sustainability of the water
such as when and where
54
activities occur, who supply system is dependent upon a continuous flow of accurate
delivers them and how information regarding operations, water quality, maintenance
many people or entities and financial status.
they reach. o Encourage local government technical offices to be involved in
Monitoring is conducted monitor project implementation because this helps to develop a
after a project has begun working relationship with the community and which helps for
and continues throughout long-term sustainability of the system.
the project o Prepare/update operational manual that is used for operation
implementation period. and maintenance of kebele water supply schemes, water
sampling, quality testing and surveillance, disinfection, and
household water treatment and safe storage practices,
WASHCO/ water supply service and water board management
guidelines.
o The community and its water board will probably need
technical and advisory assistance for some time following
completion of the project. The government or financers should
be prepared to provide some technical, financial and material
assistances for perhaps a year or more, as may be needed,
depending on the type of the scheme, the level of awareness of
the water board/committee, accessibility to major towns, etc.
Water supply service Should :-
✓ Prepare/update procedure for record keeping and reporting (list
of reportable key parameters, failure reporting forms, users’
claim form, etc.)
✓ Develop system of communication with customers and
between stakeholders particularly on sharing of compliance and
monitoring results.
✓ Reporting on system status and operations is an essential part of
long-term sustainability. Thus, the water Service should report
to the water board and the community and possibly to the local
government technical offices annually and preferably more
often.
✓ It is important that records of all essential information (e.g.
surveys, well logs, water quality tests, system designs,
expenditures and fee collections) be made available to the water
Board/committee, as well as government technical agencies and
relevant donors.
7.2. Evaluation. The client (Water bureau, Zone Office, WWO, Financers) Beneficiary
Evaluation is the should carry out an external evaluation of project at the community
systematic assessment of completion of the overall project activities. representatives.
an activity, project, An internal evaluation could also be done at a mid-term to take
strategy, policy, corrective measures for the remaining projects life time.
performance. Community should participate in all the evaluations and hear
the findings and make decisions needed.

55
7 Organizational Setup for Rural Water Supply
7.1 General
Sustainable operation and management of any water supply system can only be achieved if
appropriate organizational structures and management systems are properly put in place.
However, in developing organizational structures, various factors need to be considered.
Among the factors that influence organizational structure, government policies & strategies,
mission and vision/goals of the organization, and technology in use are the most important.
Thus, in designing the organizational structure the water resources management policy and
Strategic issues like providing reliable and sustainable service and O&M cost recovery ought
to be considered for the rural settings.

Regarding the water sector management institutional setup “The Ethiopian Water Resource
Management Policy” of 2000, says,

• Ensure that the management of water supply systems to be at the lowest and most efficient
level of institutional set up, which provides for the full participation of users and to promote
effective decision making at the lowest practical level.
• Develop coherent and streamlined institutional frameworks for the management of water
supply at the Federal, Regional, Zonal, Woreda and Kebele levels and clearly define the
relationships and interactions among them.

These show the necessity of decentralization of the water supply management, developing
water management at different levels and clearly defining the relationships and interaction
among stakeholders etc.

Based on this police, many community managed rural water schemes were established in rural
Ethiopia. The schemes are managed by elected voluntary committees which runs the water
distribution to their community, collect contributions and perform maintenances when needed
assisted by Woreda Water offices. They also mobilize the community to contribute cash and
labour for construction of new schemes. They manage mainly on spot schemes like hand dug
wells, springs on spot, shallow wells and deep wells with hand pumps which serves few
households.

But recently on spot rural water supply is becoming obsolete and uneconomical to proceed
with by many stakeholders. Hence there is a shift to long range water supplies like springs,
shallow wells and deep wells with distribution systems that supplies water to many villages
and peoples. The management of these rural water schemes, however, require high skills and
knowledge that the rural community lacks. It is difficult to manage these big schemes with
voluntary WASHCOs as usual. Hence, for technical, financial and managerial sustainability of
the schemes better organizational arrangements are mandatory now. Thus, the following
organizational set up are proposed.

56
7.2 Organization Structure of Kebele Water Supply Service
As we learned from the sample WASHCOs surveyed and also demonstrated in the
organizational criterion the appropriate structure for rural water supply with distribution and
serve large number of community is water supply service that employ permanent staffs and
run and run the day to day activities. It is proposed to organize one water supply service per
kebele. The number of customers they serve and the revenues from water sales is sufficient to
employ permanent workers and for O&M.

As shown below in the organizational chart 3 below, kebele water supply service is accountable
to Kebele Water Board (KWB) whose role is mainly to direct and supervise the activities of
the kebele water supply service.

In order to enable the Kebele Water Supply Service (KWSS) sustainable and operate and
administer the water supply system efficiently, the kebele water supply services should be well
organized and strengthened to improve their functions. Thus, strong capacity buildings are
required technically, financially and managerially to begin running the system.

The major functions of kebele water supply services are the followings:-

• Provides adequate and standard quality potable water supply to rural, pre urban towns and
villages in and round the kebele administration.
• Administers itself on the basis of O&M cost recovery principles and the decision and
guidelines of a kebele water supply board that lead and regulate the kebele water supply
service.
• Expand water distribution lines to provide the water supply service, and amend, maintain,
and repair related water works found under it.
• Delegates parts of its powers and duties to service providers (public and private service
providers) which enable it to carry out efficiently its duties.
• Create employment opportunities for the unemployed kebele youths.
• Ensures that any water sources are not polluted or contaminated, but are protected and
conserved, to this end, it shall take the necessary actions including the closure of
contaminated sources in cooperation and consultation with the concerned government
organs as required
• Establish a system that assists to boost the efforts being made to provide water supply in
its work areas.
• Enter into contract, buy, sell, own, and lease movable and immovable property, and sue
and to be sued in its name.
• Carry out other similar activities that assist for the attainment of its objectives.
• Create awareness and mobilize the community on sanitation and hygiene issues.

Taking into account what have been described above, the current major functions and
organizational structures of sample kebele water supplies, a generic organizational structure of
the KWSS which include a kebele water board, one manager, and three major sections under
the manager are presented as below. The manpower requirements are also proposed which the
57
KWSS fill gradually starting from the current basic requirements based on work demand and
financial capacity of the water supply system. For some times as much as possible cost
minimization and efficient utilization of resources policy need to be effected.

The Manager of the water service is directly accountable to the kebele water board. The
Manager is the higher executive officer responsible for the day to day administration and
operation of the KWSS. The proposed structure includes three major sections namely, Human
Resources & General Service, Finance, property administration & procurement, and operation
& maintenance, etc.) to begin with. The organizational structures for the KWSS is presented
below.

FIGURE 3
ORGANIZATIONAL SET UP for Kebele Water Supply Services

Kebele/Woreda
Council

Kebele Water Supply

Board

Kebele Water Supply

Service Manager

Human Finance, Operation

Resources and Property
General Service and
Management
Maintenance
and
Procurement

58
 The structure is simple and the skill and manpower required is low and available locally and
financial burden will not be much. It could also curb the unemployment problem of the local
youth and authorities in particular and that of the country in general.

The following table shows the manpower requirement of the kebele water supply service when
it works at its full capacity. The water supply service should start with basic staffs and gradually
fill its structure. It is possible to adjust some posts depending on the requirements.

7.3 Kebele Water Supply Service Manpower Requirement

Table 9 : Kebele WSS Manpower Requirements
Ser. Office Position Experience
Number Qualification Special skill
No. in years
1 Manager office WSSS Manager Degree/ diploma in Engineering
1 Management
/ Management area
Computer skill
Certificate in Secretarial (Microsoft ware
Secretary 1
Science or office management Word, Excel,
Access)
Office Girl 1 High school complete
2 Human Head Diploma in Management/
1 Administration
Resources administration & related
Development
Human Resources Diploma in Management/ Personnel
and 1
officer administration administration
Documentation
Store management Certificate in material supply
1
officer management
Record &
Certificate in Management/ Documents
documentation 1
administration management
officers
Guards 2 (As
Reading & writing Guarding
required)
Cleaners 1 Read & write
3 Finance & Financial
Finance head 1 Diploma in Accounting/finance
procurement and management
property
Diploma/certificate in Cash
administration Cashier 1
Accounting/finance management
Water meter reader Certificate in Billing and
1
and Bill sellers Accounting/finance computer
Purchaser 1 Certificate in procurement Procurement
4 Operation & Diploma/certificate in water
Coordination
Maintenance Head 1 supply, hydrogeology, civil
and supervision
engineering etc.

59
Ser. Office Position Experience
Number Qualification Special skill
No. in years
Diploma/certificate in General
RWSS
Operation Expert 1 mechanics/Construction
operation
technology/plumbing
Diploma/certificate in General
RWSS scheme
Maintenance Expert 1 mechanics/Construction
maintenance
technology/plumbing
Pipe workers 1 Plumbing 10+2 or above Plumbing

Diploma/certificate electricity/
Pump operator 1 Pumping
electrical technology

Diploma/certificate in Water meter

Water meter
1 Electricity / general mechanic or installation and
technician
related field maintenance
Total 20

7.4 Kebele Water Board

Kebele water board will be established to oversee the kebele water supply service. The major
objectives of establishing kebele water boards are: -

• To ensure sustainability of kebele water supply service having financial and management
autonomy with a view to achieve cost recovery.
• To promote stakeholders participation and involvement in the provision of reliable,
adequate and safe drinking water.
• To provide full decentralized management, and
• To develop appropriate management systems and procedures so as to improve operational
efficiency in service provisions,

a) Roles and Functions of Kebele Water Board in the KWSS

The major envisaged role and functions of kebele water boards are: -

❖ To organize the water service and direct its activities;

❖ To examine and approve short, medium, and long term work plans and the budget of the
service, follow-up and control its practical implementation, evaluate periodically its
performances;
❖ To submit and have it approved the investment budget, follow-up and control its
implementation;
❖ To assign head of the WSS and discharge him for loss of confidence;
❖ To examine and decide over requests of various allowances and benefits;
❖ To examine and review water tariff; forward same for decision to the organ of its
accountability. Upon approval follow-up its practical implementation;
60
 ❖ To put in place a system of finance and property control, follow-up its implementation
and pass appropriate decisions on audit report submitted to it by the service, and
❖ To submit performance report periodically to the organ of its accountability.

b) Compositions and Accountability of the KWB

I. Composition of town water boards

The number of board members varies from 5 to 7 persons excluding the KWSS manager who
is nonvoting participant. One of the board members is a chair person and water supply service
manager is the secretary of the board. All the board members are elected by the general
assembly of the kebele population as much as possible considering representations of villages,
sex, education, experience and willingness to serve the community. At least 60% of the board
members should be from the beneficiary community and the remaining from government
institutions and CSOs working in the Kebele.

Kebele Water Boards will have the following division of works:-

a. Chairman…………. 1
b. Secretary………….. 1
c. Finance officer……. 1
d. Technical officer….. 1
e. Member(s) ………… 1
f. The manager of the service, a nonvoting participant.

The board member will have their own roles and responsibilities that will be defined in their
bylaw.

II. Accountability of the kebele water board

The kebele water board will be accountable to the beneficiary community and to Woreda/
Kebele council.

7.5 Woreda Rural Water Consumers’ Union/WRWCU)

7. 5. 1 General
The major critical problems for sustainability of rural water supply are unavailability of water
schemes maintenance materials and service providers and means of finance at local levels.
Private sector enterprises that distribute spare parts and make repair systems in rural Ethiopia
face significant challenges like disbursed communities, high transportation cost; and limited
availability of finance. Thus, it is hard to rely on them.

Hence, to overcome these problems rural water consumers must pool their energy and
resources (finance, manpower etc.) and establish strong institution that fights for solving these
61
problems. Rural water consumers union is one among the others. The union will be formed by
pooling finances from kebele water boards/ water supply services. One method of raising
resource will be by selling shares to the water boards/services. This will build strong ownership
feeling among the rural water suppliers because they are share owners and it will be managed
by the board elected amongst them. The other sources of fund is assistances from government
and NGOs working in the woreda especially for initial capital. The third source of finance is
loans from banks. WASHCOs and small towns in the woreda could also join the union to
further strengthen the union.

All the shareholder, water services/rural water boards, will elect and send representatives to
the union which serves as the general assembly of the union. In addition representatives of
water, finance and health, trade, banks, CSOs etc. in the woreda could also be the member of
the general assembly. They could serve as advisors in their respective areas. The general
assembly will elect democratically management board of the union. The elected board
members will share responsibilities among the members elected. The Union will be run by
professional experienced manager to be recruited and employed by the union board.

7.5.2 Objectives of the WRWC Union

The objective of the union is to solve the problems of the woreda rural water supplies that are
beyond the capacities of individual Kebele water supply services, WASHCOs and that of the
woreda water offices like supply of water related materials, scheme construction and
maintenances, small projects study and supervision all at standard quality and fair prices,
distribution of different working guidelines and manuals, building capacity of members,
representing the services in all water related endeavors etc. Though the main objective is not
for profit they make some marginal profit to cover their expense and distribute annually the
remaining to the shareholders as per their share. Thus, the shareholders will benefit from low
payments for goods and services provided, compared to the prevailing market prices and will
finally get dividends.

7.5.3 Functions of the WRWC Union

The followings are the major functions of the union: -

Supplying water construction and maintenance materials in good quality and fair prices,
Create links with water supply material producers and importers and supply to members at
faire prices, standard quality and measurements.
Serve the government as a channel to distribute to the rural community water related goods,
services and technologies.
Provide advisory services in scheme management, financial management and procurement,
Provide water quality testing services.
Provide internal audit services.
Providing construction and maintenance services in good quality at fair prices.
Provides study and design services for small scale water schemes (spring capping, hand
dug wells, shallow wells, self-supply, rain harvesting),
62
 Participate in the supervision and evaluations of large schemes study and design
representing the member KWSSs.
Assist member services in expansion and connection works.
Provide/facilitate capacity building trainings for member water supply services board
members and KWSS staffs and WASHCOs.
Prepare guidelines and manuals for member kebele water supply services,
Provide trainings for member services staffs on the guidelines and manuals.
Facilitate higher education learning opportunities for member service staffs.
Create employment opportunities for the woreda unemployed youth.
Produce and distribute water receipts and control their utilizations.
Facilitate loans from banks for member water boards by providing grantee.
Prepare its business plan and when approved by the general assembly implement it.
Assist/ prepare business plan for the kebele water supply services.
Assist members in short and long term plans preparations and monitoring their activities.
Provide legal advice service when needed.
Provide conflict resolution services arise among members and beyond.
Provide water tariff study/revision services.
Provide hygiene and sanitation awareness creation works.
Facilitate experience sharing tours/visits between member water services.

7.5.4 Woreda Rural Water Consumers’ Union Management Board.

The union will have general assembly and a board of management and manager and section
heads and necessary staffs to accomplish its tasks./See Figure 4 below/ Some of its tasks could
be outsourced to organizations or individuals where necessary based on the managers proposal
and the board’s approval.

I. Objectives.
The major objectives of establishing Woreda Water Consumers Union Management Board are:

• To ensure sustainability of member WSSs having financial and management autonomy

with a view to achieve full O&M cost recovery.
• To promote stakeholders participation and involvement in the provision of reliable,
adequate and safe drinking water supply services in the rural areas.
• To make available water construction and maintenance material locally at fair prices.
• To provide technical and managerial services locally.
• To build capacity of kebele water supply service’s staffs and water boards.
• To create employment opportunities.
• To provide fully decentralized management of rural water supply,
• To reorganize independently the office and management of RWSS in such a way that they
assist the full implementation of water policies and strategies of the country.
• To develop appropriate management systems and procedures so as to improve operational
efficiency in service provisions, and

63
 • To enhance business practices etc.
• To enhance the role of stakeholders in the rural water sector.
• To protect the RWS from an illegal goods and service markets.
• To strengthen links between government and the rural water suppliers and other
stakeholders.

II. Roles and Functions

The major envisaged role and functions of WRWC Union Boards are: -

❖ To organize the union and direct its activities;

❖ To examine and approve short, medium, and long term work plans and the budget of the
Union, follow-up and control its practical implementation, evaluate periodically its
performances;
❖ To submit and have it approved the investment budget, follow-up and control its
implementation;
❖ To assign manager of the union and discharge him/her for loss of confidence;
❖ To examine and decide over requests of various allowances and benefits;
❖ To examine and review union’s services tariffs; forward same for decision to the organ of
its accountability. Upon approval follow-up its practical implementation;
❖ To put in place a system of finance and property control, follow-up its implementation and
pass appropriate decisions on audit report submitted to it by the Utility;
❖ To submit performance report periodically to the organ of its accountability.

III. Compositions and Accountability

a. Composition of WRWCU Board

As mentioned above it is the general assemble who elects the union board members among the
members of the general assembly. Education, experiences, sex and commitments will be
considered in the board members election. The union board will have 9 -11 members. All the
members alongside common responsibilities will also have individual roles and
responsibilities. Not less than 2/3 of the board members should be from kebele water boards
and the remaining from appropriate member institutions. The union board will have the
following positions:-
Chairman…………………………………. 1
Deputy chairman …………………………. 1
Secretary…………………………………… 1
Finance officer ……………………………. 1
Cashier …………………………………… 1
Controller ………………………………… 1
Marketing officer ………………………… . 1
Technical officer…………………………… 1
Member ……………………………………..1

64
 The union manager will be nonvoting participant.

However, as the members of the union board come from various water services’ and key
stakeholders, they are not expected to specialize in the water supply business management.
But, they have the responsibility to ensure that the WRWCU runs the water supply system to
the cost recovery and to provide a reliable water supply services on sustainable bases in the
woreda. Thus, strong capacity building works and assistances are necessary right from the
beginning and on continuous basis to upgrade their management and supervision capacity and
to enable them give good leadership to the union. It is important to prepare bylaws, guidelines
and manuals for them and let them know. Clearly defined rules and regulations need to be
prepared by the federal and regional governments. Legalization certificates and permissions on
the areas of operations are also needed from respective institutions.

b. Accountability

The WRWCU Board will be accountable to the general assembly and to the authority that
established it or to the woreda council.

IV. WRWC Union Meetings Procedures

a) The WRWCU board members shall meet once every month regularly; and depending on
the need, extra meetings may be called by the chairperson.
b) Meetings shall be convened by the members of the Board only if the members have been
invited by the chairperson in writing/telephone and if more than 50% of the members are
present.
c) Legally binding decisions shall be made by majority vote of the members present. In case
of a tie, the motion supported by the chairperson shall be the decision of the board.
d) If the chairperson is away from his/her duty station and could not attend the board meeting,
the vice chairman will undertake the responsibility of the chairmanship.
e) Minutes of meeting shall be taken by the secretary during every meeting of the board. All
members present shall sign each minutes of the board; and the minutes, after approval by
the Board, shall thereafter constitute the official records of the meetings and to this effect
at least one original record of the minutes shall be kept with the secretary. A minute that
recorded decisions made by the board and which requires a closely follow-up for its
implementation, coy of such minutes shall be distributed to all members of the Board. The
secretary will let know the union manager the decision of the board in writings.
f) The board members in time of satisfactory operation of the WRWCU, they should not
necessary meet monthly. They could receive the monthly briefing of the WRWCU manager
and put their signature to confirm they read the report.
g) The board members can discuss and decide some benefits (meeting, telephone, transport
etc. allowances) and implement after getting the approval of the general assemble.

65
 FIGURE 4

WOREDA RURAL WATER CONSUMERS UNION (WRWCU)

ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

WRWCU General
Assembly

WRWCU
MANAGEMENT
BOARD

WRWCU
MANAGER

Audit and Legal Planning and

Service Customers’ Relations

Finance and Administration and Operation and

procurement General Services Maintenances

Store Shop

Kebele Water Small Towns WASHCOs

Supply Services WSS

66
8.0 Checklists and Formats
8.1 Checklists
The sample water supply follow up and review checklists are developed to provide local
officials with a method for reviewing and commenting on projects performances prior to
permitting it to the proceeding phase of the project. By organizing information and efforts
among the multiple entities that played a role in the water supply project authorities should
check weather:

a) Project activities are progressed as scheduled,

b) Sufficient resources are allocated and properly utilized,
c) All activities needed in that particular phase are completed on time and quality expected.
d) All responsible bodies including beneficiary community representatives have participated.
e) Future management of the project is put in place for sustainable service delivery of the project.
f) Enabling environments are created for smoothly running the schemes.
g) Sufficient capacities are built for the future management of the water supply etc.

The checking should be done immediately after the appropriate phase of project development
(planning, study and design, construction) as well as on an annual basis for the sustainability
phase as part of an annual status review. Each guideline statement should be checked off when
the condition described by the statement is either achieved or is being implemented. Guideline
statements that are not checked off should be noted by authorities and an explanation given
why it was not achieved.

This water supply project checklist can be initiated and circulated by any responsible body for
reviewing or approving projects. The Sample checklist could be modified to accommodate
additional indicators where necessary. Modifications could also be made to reflect the
community’s types of water supply sources and resources available to check the indicators.
The checklists are attached as Annex 1-6 to this report.

8.2 Formats
The formats are very helpful for the water supply services for running their activities in a
planned way and for water boards to monitor and evaluate periodically the WSSs and take
appropriate measure when and where required. /See Annexes 9-12/,

8.2.1 Performances evaluation Form

The water board should evaluate the KWSS based on the performance plan to be signed
between the KWSS and the Kebele water board. The water service manager should prepare the
services annual plan, based on its five year strategic plan, and get approved by the water board.
Based on the approved annual plan and action plan performance agreement will be signed
between the kebele water board and the kebele water supply manager.

67
The Manager shall prepare a performance report and submit to the kebele water board quarterly
and annually. The report from the KWSS should indicate how far the KWSS fulfils the plan
and explain justifiably any deviation from the agreed plan. The report shall comprise the
following sections and information: -
a) Improvement in Service Coverage
b) Water Consumption (amount sold by type of customers)
c) Unaccounted for Water (Difference b/n water produced and sold)
d) Metering (water meter, installation, inspection, readings done during reporting period)
e) Costs of Operations ( reducing cost of the water supply service system by type)
f) Quality of Service (continuity of the water supply service per day in hours)
g) Pricing and Revenue Collection (water tariffs, connection charges and revenue collected during
the period)
h) Investments (Capital works planned and carried out and investments involved)
i) Financial Performance (summary of income/profit/ loss statements and balance sheet)
j) Problems and issues that need the kebele water boards attention
k) Conclusion and recommendations (What to do? How to do? When to do? By whom? etc.)

The kebele water board shall evaluate the performance of the KWSS either monthly, quarterly,
and annually based on the level of performance of the KWSS. If the performance of the KWSS
is very bad or implementing projects, the water board should make their evaluation monthly so
that they could correct mistakes before it causes serious damage to the function of the water
supply system. On the other extreme if the KWSS has a satisfactory performance over the last
years and the reports for the reporting year indicates satisfactory performance, the water board
could evaluate the KWSS quarterly every year. But the kebele water board meets monthly to
follow the utility activity. It should be also noted, however, that the water board should not
make a day to day follow up on the KWSS or interfere in the work of the KWSS in any manner
which influence the independent function of the KWSS./

To follow up and evaluate the performances of the KWSS the water board need to have agreed
up on monthly break down physical and financial plan. Based on work load/weight and finance
and time etc. the board and the KWSS manager need to agree on the weight of each activity
from 100. This helps to periodically follow the performance of the service against its annual
plan. It also helps to rank the annual performance of the service. /See Annex 7 for the evaluation
format/

The KWB should annually rank the performance of the service and take appropriate measures
based on the performances planned and achieved. As per the agreements made between the
KWSS manager and KWB penalties or rewards should be made after the evaluation of the
annual performance report of the service. Sample performance evaluation format and ranking
proposal are attached as Annex 7 - 8. In addition the following formats are produced and
attached in the Annex:-

8.2.2 Projects study document desk and field appraisal form.

8.2.3 WSS Financial planning form.
8.2.4 Planning and performance reporting forms.
8.2.5 Scheme maintenance follow up form.

68
 9.0 Conclusions and Recommendations
Following the water resources management proclamation, policy and strategy many
improvements have been achieved in the water sector management. Urban and rural water
supplies management are decentralized and town water supply and sanitation services
(UWSSS) and water supply and sanitation and hygiene committees (WASHCOs) are
established to manage the urban and rural water supplies respectively. Urban water supplies
and sanitation services are supervised by town water boards while that of the rural WASHCOs
by woreda water offices or kebele administrations.

Due to fast population growth and expansion of urban sectors the organizational structure and
accountability of the urban water supplies has been changing from time to time to match with
the growth. The management structure of rural water supplies, despite so many changes,
however, has not been changed though some regions are recently trying to make some
regulations.

WASHCOs were designed mainly for the on spot water supplies but are also serving now the
multi village scheme with distributions. But, the technology in use and management level
required are beyond the capacity of the voluntary, mostly illiterate, WASHCOs. The capacity
buildings made and assistance provided were also not sufficient and uniform even to manage
the on spot schemes in large majority of the rural areas.

Cognizant of this problems Water Development Commission of the Ministry of Water,

Irrigation and Energy (MoWIE) is taking some reform measures among which preparing rural
water supply institutional set up assessment criteria and guideline is one of the components.

To prepare the criteria and guideline the consultant has collected both quantitative and
qualitative data and information from representative samples and has analyzed for the
assignment. Two regions, four zones, eight woreda water offices and many kebeles and
WASHCOs were covered where individual interviews and group discussions were held to
collect data and information. In addition, NGOs, consultants and contractors working on rural
supplies were interviewed.

The study assessed issues like community participation, water committee empowerment,
management and governance of water supply schemes, women participation, and functional
status of water supply scheme, sanitation and hygiene, external supports, capacity buildings
and monitoring system of water supply schemes etc.

The findings of the study indicated: -

The beneficiary community members have participated well in initiating the project idea,
operation, maintenance and management of their water supply schemes, even though their
participation in project study, design, choice of technology required for large schemes was

69
limited. They participated by providing local materials, labor, cash and ideas during
consultative discussions.
Water committees are established to manage the water schemes in collaboration with
concerned government offices and NGOs to enhance the sustainability of the water supply
systems.
The construction cost sharing and operation and maintenance cost coverage of their water
supply scheme is well practiced promoting the sustainability of the water supply schemes.
Providing training for capacity building and refresher training are important in order to
scale up the capacity of the water committees to manage the schemes properly. However,
in most rural schemes capacity building and refresher training are very limited due to the
budget constraint at the district level. Therefore, financial and technical support is required
not only at community level but at even at district levels.
The study revealed that the supplied safe water by these schemes is insufficient. Therefore
new schemes as well as expansion of the existing systems should be planned and
implemented.
Sustainable water supply will not be possible without moving away from a singular focus
on expanding coverage without building strong institutions that can deliver sustainable
water services. Thus paying equal attention to building institutional set up and capacity
building rather than on the infrastructure alone, will have potential to improve cost-
recovery and reduce downtime when water points are broken.
Functionality and sustainability of rural water supply facilities are influenced by several
factors such as ownership of local people/users, management capacity of the user
committee, skilled maintenance workers, operation and maintenance fund, availability of
construction materials, tools and spare materials. Most rural water supplies committees,
especially the new once, do not have these capacities hence badly need external assistance.
Thus, technical and financial assistances are needed for few years especially for large
schemes with distributions.
Functioning status of the facilities by and large depend on the management capacity of the
user committees and service providers as the water users and sanitation committees are
responsible for managing water supply systems in rural and semi urban areas. However,
some of the schemes constructed are beyond the capacity of WASHCOs and need better
management structure.
The management committees collect tariff and recruit human resources to operate and
maintain the water supply systems. But the water tariffs set are very low to cover all their
operation and maintenance costs hence need revision. The small savings they are making
is not actual savings but are the contribution of the free services of their committee
members.
Water supply systems constructed over the period in the country are not well functioning
and are not capable to supply water to all taps throughout the year. Poorly functioning
systems result in unreliable, insufficient and unsafe water supply. Thus we propose to
strengthen the technical, financial and manpower capacities of the zonal and woreda water
offices.
The current rural water supply system i.e. large schemes with distribution systems are
difficult to manage with voluntary WASHCOs. Thus, we propose water services to be

70
established at kebele level which are supervised by kebele water boards elected by the
beneficiary community. The service will be managed by employed manager and permanent
workers.
Water related material supply and maintenance services at fair prices are the major
problems for the rural community. The private sectors working on water sector are few in
number and their service and material costs are high because rural schemes are far away
and widely spread. Communities also cannot pay high prices because water tariffs are low.
Thus, we propose communities through their WASHCOs and water boards to pool their
resources (finance and manpower) and establish at woreda level water consumers union
from where they get materials and services at faire prices. Further higher organizations
should follow based on detail studies at zonal and regional levels.

71
10.0 ANNEXES

ANNEX 1
1. INTRODUCTION

The sample water supply follow up and review checklist is developed to provide local officials
with a method for reviewing and commenting on projects performances prior to permitting it
to the proceeding phase of the project. By organizing information and efforts among the
multiple entities that played a role in the water supply project, Authorities should check
weather:
✓ Project activities are progressed as scheduled,
✓ Sufficient resources are allocated and properly utilized,
✓ All activities needed in that particular phase are completed on time and quality expected.
✓ All responsible bodies including beneficiary community representatives have
participated.
✓ Future management of the project is put in place for sustainable service delivery of the
project.
✓ Enabling environments are created for smoothly running the schemes.
✓ Sufficient capacities are built for the future management of the water supply etc.

The checking should be done immediately after the appropriate phase of project development
(planning, study and design, construction) completed as well as on an annual basis for the
sustainability phase as part of an annual status review. Each guideline statement should be
checked off when the condition described by the statement is either achieved or is being
implemented. Guideline statements that are not checked off should be noted by authorities and
an explanation given why it was not achieved.

This water supply project checklist can be initiated and circulated by any responsible body for
reviewing or approving projects. The sample checklist could be modified to accommodate
additional indicators where necessary. Modifications could also be made to reflect the
community’s types of water supply sources and resources available to check the indicators.

72
 ANNEX – 1
Check list No. 1:- Preparation Phase
Ser. Additional
Yes No Remark
No needed
A Preparation Phase
Type and number of scheme to be
1
implemented are selected.
Budget for the project (study, supervision,
2
construction etc.) is secure
Team of experts (technical, financial, social
3 etc.) projects for the study and follow ups
are establish.
Relevant documents (procurement,
4
management, follow up etc.) are prepare
Manuals and guidelines for the project
5
management and supervision are prepare.
Work schedules prepare and all stakeholders
6
let to know.
Required trainings are conduct (where
7
required)
Service providers selected and signed
8
contract agreement.

Information about the project

Project name……………………………………………
Project owner/developer ………………………….
Project address………………………………………….
Project implementation phase…………………………..

Reviewed by:-
1. …………………………………………………….
2. …………………………………………………….
3. …………………………………………………………

General comment of reviewers on the project…………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………….

73
Decisions of the reviewers ……………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………….

Signature of the reviewers:- 1………………… 2………………… 3……………………

Date ……………………………………………

Authority Approved
Comment
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………..

Name ………………………………………………
Title …………………………………………………..
Signature …………………………………………….
Date ……………………………………………….

74
ANNEX – 2
Check list No. 1 Inception Phase
Inception Phase Additional
B Yes No Remark
needed
Orientations are made on the
1
project objectives and scopes.
Community essential trust and
2
supports achieved.
The community concerns and needs
3
are considered in the assessments.
4 Followed participatory approaches.
5 Community representative elected.
The beneficiary community agreed
6
for contributions (cash &labour).
Effective links with local
7 government technical offices and
the private sectors established.

Information about the project

Project name……………………………………………
Project owner/developer ………………………….
Project address………………………………………….
Project implementation phase…………………………..

Reviewed by:-
1. …………………………………………………….
2. …………………………………………………….
3. …………………………………………………………

General comment of reviewers on the project…………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………….

75
Decisions of the reviewers …………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………….

Signature of the reviewers:- 1………………… 2……………… 3………………………

Date ……………………………………………

Authority approved

Comment
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………..

Name ………………………………………………
Title …………………………………………………..
Signature …………………………………………….
Date ……………………………………………….

76
 ANNEX – 3
Check list 3: Feasibility study and design phase
C Feasibility study and design phase Additional
Yes No Remark
needed
Have the beneficiary communities participated
in their water and sanitation needs
1
identifications and in the project proposed for
the solutions?
If surface water source, especially rivers and
springs, is considered for development, are the
communities immediately upstream and
2
downstream consulted and involved in the
decision-making process prior to
implementation?
3 Can the source provide a reliable supply at all
times and for the life of the project?
4 Is water supply and sanitation& hygiene
committee (WASHCO) established?
5 The beneficiary community has participated in
the technology choices.
6 Rural water supply and sanitation manuals on
management, finance, procurement, operation
and maintenance etc. are produced and
provided to the committee.
7 Sufficient capacity building trainings are
provided for WASHCO members on the
manuals.
8 Does the woreda water office established
capacity building team?
9 Are the woreda water office staffs have got
sufficient TOT trainings to support the
WASHCOs to run the schemes in the future?
10 Water tariff study done and beneficiaries
discussed and agreed?
11 The community contributed upfront and O&M
contributions made.
12 Community has opened bank account and
saved contributions in the bank.
13 WASHCO got legalization certificate.
14 Project appraisal team formed and appraisal
documents prepared
15 Organizational structure for RWS service
prepared
16 Financial and economic analysis done well
77
17 Capacity buildings and seed money for KWSS
included in the project costs.

Information about the project

Project name……………………………………………
Project owner/developer ………………………….
Project address………………………………………….
Project implementation phase…………………………..

Reviewed by:-
1. …………………………………………………….
2. …………………………………………………….
3. …………………………………………………………
General comment of reviewers on the project…………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Decisions of the reviewers

………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………

Signature of the reviewers:- 1………………… 2…………………… 3………………

Date ……………………………………………

Authority approved

Comment
………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………..

Name ………………………………………………
Title …………………………………………………..
Signature …………………………………………….
Date ……………………………………………….

78
ANNEX – 4
Check List 4: Project feasibility and design appraisal phase
D Project feasibility and design appraisal Additional
Yes No Remark
phase needed
1 Project appraisal team established composed
of appropriate professionals.
2 Desk and field appraisal checklist prepared
3 Desk appraisal of the feasibility and design
documents done.
4 Field appraisal involving key stakeholders
and the beneficiary done.
5 Discussions on the appraisal results made
and agreements signed.
6 Appropriate authority has approved the
appraisal result.
7 Corrections are made by the consultant as
per the appraisal results.
8 Budget for construction and goods purchase
secured
9 Contracts on procurement of goods and
services signed.

Information about the project

Project name……………………………………………
Project owner/developer ……………………………….
Project address………………………………………….
Project implementation phase…………………………..

Reviewed by:-

1. …………………………………………………….
2. …………………………………………………….
3. ………………………………………………………

General comment of reviewers on the project…………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………….

79
Decisions of the reviewers ……………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………….

Signature of the reviewers:- 1……………….. 2…………………. 3……………………

Date ……………………………………………

Authority approved

Comment
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………..

Name ………………………………………………
Title …………………………………………………..
Signature …………………………………………….
Date ……………………………………………….

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 ANNEX – 5
Checklist No.5:- Construction Phase
E Construction Phase Additional
Yes No Remark
needed
1 Are the community aware of the service
procurement (construction, material etc.)
and took part in the agreement?
2 Are discussions made with the
beneficiary community on the activities
and schedules of the construction work?
3 Is/are appropriate professional supervisor
assigned by the client and is/are properly
supervising the work?
4 Are the local government organs
involved in program supervision
/implementation?
5 Are the construction works completed as
per the design and schedule?
6 Did water supply supervisory boards
established and got appropriate
guidelines and trainings?
7 Are the project implementation
committee has fully participated in the
project implementation?
8 Are the committee members aware about
the critical aspects of the project and the
needs for monitoring?
9 Are kebele water supply board/
committee established and got training
10 Are /Is kebele water supply services
established and basic manpower
employed?
11 Have the water service workers got
trainings on working manuals
(administration, finance, procurement and
O&M)?
12 Project’s handover plan prepared and
distributed to all stakeholders

Information about the project

Project name……………………………………………
Project owner/developer ………………………….
Project address………………………………………….
81
Project implementation phase…………………………..
Reviewed by:-

1. …………………………………………………….
2. …………………………………………………….
3. …………………………………………………………

General comment of reviewers on the project…………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Decisions of the reviewers ……………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………….

Signature of the reviewers:- 1………………… 2………………… 3……………………

Date ……………………………………………

Authority approved

Comment
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………..

Name ………………………………………………
Title …………………………………………………..
Signature …………………………………………….
Date ……………………………………………….

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 ANNEX – 6
Check List No 6:- Sustainability Phase
Additional
F Sustainability phase Yes No
needed
1 Seed money given to the KWSS to start the water supply
work by employing appropriate workers.
2 All essential documents and information regarding the project
are handed over to the water committee/water board and local
technical staffs
3 Routine repairs and maintenance plans prepared approved
before the departure of the contractor.
4 Agreements are reached/signed with local technical offices
on major maintenances and repairs
5 Long term project’s monitoring plan prepared
6 Are local technical staffs also participated in the monitoring
plan preparation
7 Initial project evaluation done
8 Next evaluation plans prepared and agreed
9 Water supply service prepared management and expansion
plan
10 Reporting channel and formats prepared
11 Did KWSS prepare its annual plans and sign an agreement
with KWB?
12 Does KWSS reports its performance monthly to the water
board and every six months to the community?.
13 Is KWSS finance audited every year by external auditors?

Information about the project

Project name……………………………………………
Project owner/developer ………………………….
Project address………………………………………….
Project implementation phase…………………………..

Reviewed by:-
1. …………………………………………………….
2. …………………………………………………….
3. …………………………………………………………

General comment of reviewers on the project…………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………….

83
Decisions of the reviewers ……………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………….

Signature of the reviewers:- 1………………… 2…………………… 3…………………

Date ……………………………………………
Authority approved

Comment
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………..

Name ………………………………………………
Title …………………………………………………..
Signature …………………………………………….
Date ……………………………………………….

84
ANNEX 7: KWSS Performances Evaluation Form
The water board should evaluate the KWSS based on the performance plan to be signed between
the KWSS and the kebele water board. The water service manager should prepare the services
annual plan, based on its five year strategic plan, and get approved by the water board. Based on
the approved annual plan and action plan performance agreement will be signed between the
kebele water board and the kebele water supply manager.

The Manager shall prepare a performance report and submit to the kebele water board quarterly
and annually. The report from the KWSS should indicate how far the KWSS fulfilled the plan
and explain justifiably any deviation from the agreed plan. The report shall comprise the following
sections and information: -
l) Improvement in service coverage
m) Water consumption (amount sold by type of customers)

n) Unaccounted for water (difference b/n water produced and sold)

o) Metering (water meter, installation, inspection, readings done during reporting period)

p) Costs of operations ( reducing cost of the water supply service system by type)

q) Quality of service (continuity of the water supply service per day in hours)

r) Pricing and revenue collection (water tariffs, connection charges and revenue collected

during the period)

s) Investments (capital works planned and carried out and investments involved)

t) Financial performance (summary of income/profit/ loss statements and balance sheet)

u) Problems and issues that need the kebele water board’s attention.

v) Conclusion and recommendations (What to do? How to do? When to do? By whom? etc.)

The Kebele water board shall evaluate the performance of the KWSS either monthly, quarterly,
and annually based on the level of performance of the KWSS. If the performance of the KWSS is
very bad or implementing projects, the water board should make their evaluation monthly so that
they could correct mistakes before it causes serious damage to the function of the water supply
system. On the other extreme if the KWSS has a satisfactory performance over the last years and
the reports for the reporting year indicates satisfactory performance, the water board could evaluate
the KWSS quarterly every year. But the kebele water board meets monthly to follow the utility
activity. It should be also noted, however, that the water board should not make a day to day follow

85
up on the KWSS or interfere in the work of the KWSS in any manner which influence the
independent function of the KWSS.
To follow up and evaluate the performances of the KWSS the water board need to have agreed up
on monthly break down physical and financial plan. Based on work load/weight and finance and
time etc. the board and the KWSS manager need to agree on the weight of each activity from 100.
This helps to periodically follow the performance of the service against its annual plan. It also
helps to rank the annual performance of the service.

The KWB should annually rank the performance of the service and take appropriate measures
based on the performances planned and achieved. As per the agreements made between the KWSS
manager and KWB penalties or rewards should be made after the evaluation of the annual
performance report of the service. Sample performance evaluation format and ranking proposal
are shown in the table below.

Table 1 Kebele Water Boards performance evaluation format

Name of KWSS ................................................ Month/year .................

S./ Type of indicator KWSS manager report Water board

N Plan Achievement % Weight % of
weight
1 Service coverage 15
1.1 The percentage of connection or a stand
pipe within 500 meters radius.
1.2 The number of new water supply
connections made during the period.
1.3 The number of disconnections and
reconnections done
1.4 The total number of water supply
connections
1.5 Responses to customer requests’
2 Water Consumption 15
2.1 The total amount of water extracted,
treated, supplied and sold; (in m3 )
2.2 The average amount of water sold per
connection per month(in m3 )
2.3 Per capita consumption (Litre)
3 Unaccounted for Water 7
3.1 The difference between water supplied
and water sold expressed as a
percentage of net water supplied;(UFW)

86
S./ Type of indicator KWSS manager report Water board
N Plan Achievement % Weight % of
weight
3.2 As the volume of water lost per
kilometre of water distribution network.
(water loss)

4 Metering and meter reading 5

4.1 The proportion of connections that have
water meter and number of meters red
(computed as the total number of
connections with a meter/total number
of connections red as a percentage).
5 Cost of operations 15
5.1 Unit operational cost (average operation
cost Birr per m3)
5.2 Total costs divided by total volume of
water produced (in m3) for the period.
5.3
Staff per 1000 connections computed as:
Total number of staffs multiplied by
1000divided by number of connections

6 Quality of Service 10
6.1 The average hours of water supply per
day for the period.(Hour/7/30)

7 Investments 10
7.1 The capital works carried out and the
investment involved for the period.
8 Financial Performance 15
8.1 Revenue collection efficiency (%)
8.2 Cost recovery (Revenue cost ratio)
8.3 A summary income statement
8.4 A summary balance sheet
Human resources development 8
9 performance
The approved structure are occupied by
9.1 relevant professional staff
Staffs capacity building (staffs got
9.2 trainings)
Total 100

87
ANNEX – 8. Ranking the WSSS based on performance results.

Total Performance
S/N evaluation point RANKING Remark
High To be revise as per
1 > 100% All workers deserve incentive, in the form of performance plan
salary increment and/or bonuses agreement
Moderate To be revise as per
2 90 -99% Well performing workers deserve performance plan
incentives/bonuses but not all workers agreement
Fair To be revise as per
No incentives/ salary increment. The board performance plan
3 75 - 89
should remind the utility in writing for further agreement
improvement.
Poor/low To be revise as per
Poorly performing staff and management performance plan
4 < 75 members should be warned and some should be agreement
demoted, and some management members to be
replaced.

Participant KWBs in the decision making meeting

Name Title Signature

1. _________________________ ________________ ___________________

2. _________________________ ________________ ___________________

3. _________________________ ________________ ___________________

4. ________________________ ________________ ___________________

5. ________________________ ________________ ____________________

6. ________________________ _________________ _____________________

7. ________________________ _________________ ______________________

8. ________________________ __________________ ______________________

88
 ANNEX 9: Project Appraisal Format

Feasibility Study Appraisal

Notes:
1. The purpose of the appraisal document is to evaluate the feasibility report that was
endorsed and submitted by the regional water bureaus.
2. The regional water bureaus would establish Appraisal Team (ApT) for the appraisal
process.
3. The ApT shall have three-five members with different relevant professions:
a. Engineer ((civil/water).
b. Management/ finance expert;
c. Economist/Sociologist;
d.
4. The ApT shall perform desk appraisal for all FS documents.
5. The ApT should be able to field-check for all projects.
6. The ApT should produce appraisal report based on desk and field assessments so that
action would be taken to inform the concerned consultant to improve the FS document if
there are rectifiable shortfalls within a prescribed time.
7. The ApT needs to be fairly conversant with the WSS program and has had orientation of
the appraisal document.

Evaluation sheet is attached at the end. However, the regional ApT has the discretion to make
adjustments where needed with acceptable justifications.

I). Desk Work

S/N Contents of the FSD Points Point Remark
allocated given
A Executive summary given 2
B Back ground, study objectives and methodologies 9
are well illustrated.
C Background information 11
C - 1 Physical infrastructure data given 2
C - 2 Households socioeconomic survey data presented 4
C - 3 Infrastructure and social services data provided 2
C - 4 Problem analysis well done and are delivered 3
D Existing water supply situation 9
D - 1 Existing WS components designated 4
D - 2 Existing billing system analyzed (tariff, revenue etc.) 2
D - 3 Major problems of existing schemes identified. 3
E Water demand and market study 11
89
 E-1 Number of customers by type of connections shown 1
E-2 Current water demand, production, sales etc. shown 2
E-3 Water demand projection done 2
E-4 Projected mode of services (HC, YC, PT ..) indicated 2
E-5 Non-domestic demand, losses, leakages projected 2
E-6 Market potential for the water utility is assessed & 2
projected
F Improvement plan 13
F-1 The water supply development is well treated 5
F-2 Operational improvement plan is incorporated. 5
F-3 Capacity development plan is prepared. 3
G Financial analysis 18
G-1 Is the basis for investment costs estimates sound? 1
G-2 Are the required assumptions indicated 2
G-3 Source documents for investment cost, description of 2
major investments, major cost components including
sanitation costs are indicated
G-4 Is the financing plan worked out and those 1
stakeholders and other partners/NGOs etc. are
aware/agreed?
G-5 Is there congruency between improvement plan and 2
financial Plan?
G-6 ➢ Account is given how tariff is set considering 2
cost recovery principle (indicating the different
tariff scenarios) including tariff plan during the
plan period
➢ Willingness & affordability to pay considered 1
➢ Stakeholders have approved the tariff set 1
G-7 Consultations with customers is clearly evident when 1
determining affordability and willingness to pay
G-8 Is connection policy suggested? 1
G-9 Details of financial projections done 2
G–10 Is the project financially viable? 2
H Economic analysis 9
H - 1 Is the project economically feasible with acceptable 3
justifications?
H - 2 Sensitivity analysis is carried out 3
H - 3 “Environmental & social impacts were considered? 3
I Is Marketing strategy done? 3
J Are monitoring indicators and plan prepared? 3
K Are conclusions and recommendations given fair 2
and justified?
Total 90
90
 Documents needed for the appraisal process: -
1. Feasibility review detail content,…………..(at least 2)
2. Appraisal check list,……………………..(1/ApT member)
3. Comments on the draft feasibility study (soft copy/ApT member)
4. Feasibility appraisal Format for ApT and(1/ ApT member)
5. Feasibility study final document… (Soft copy/ ApT member)

Major Questions to ask during the document appraisal

1. Is the Feasibility study prepared as the client wanted it to be prepared? (Check with the
detail review checklist and content),
2. Are the comments provided on draft report incorporated in the final report?
3. Is the final report technically, financially, socially, environmentally sound?
4. Is the feasibility plan endorsed by the clients?
5. How is the quality of the report (i.e. content, flow, language etc.)? Is it to the standard?

II) Field Appraisal Work

S/ Items for Filed Checking : Yes No Remarks

N
1 Are the beneficiary community and local authorities aware of the
objectives and methodology of the study?
2 Has the beneficiary community participated the process of
preparation of the project study?
3 Are the problems of the water supply fully captured in the
improvement plan?
4 Does the water supply development plan incorporated in the
“Improvement Plan’ truly reflects the problems facing the study
area?
5 Are the beneficiaries and local authorities fully convinced about
the contents of operational improvement plan and capacity
building plan?
6 Are key stakeholders consulted during process of demand
projection - projected mode of services (HC, YC, and PT.)?
7 Is the financing plan worked out with stakeholders and other
partners/NGOs etc.? Is there an agreement for financing?
8 Are the beneficiary community/customers aware of tariff rates
established?
9 Are stakeholders consultations considered in determining
Affordability and willingness to pay?
10 Were key stakeholders consulted in setting connection policy?

91
III. Overall comments (Individual ApT member)
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Name ……………….. Profession…………………..
Signature ………. …. Date…………………………

IV. Over all evaluation

The following are proposals for the ApT to be used during overall evaluation, which includes the
desk and field appraisals. Individual ApT member will fill the table based on his/her own overall
evaluation. The evaluation is done in two categories:
1. Desk appraisal graded out of 90%
2. Field checking graded out of 10%

Desk appraisal Field Appraisal ApT Average

Grades
S/N Grade Points S/N Grade Points Remarks
(I + II)
(I) (II)
A 2 1 1
B 9 2 1
C 11 3 1
D 9 4 1
E 11 5 1
F 13 6 1
G 18 7 1
H 9 8 1
I 3 9 1
J 3 10 1
K 2 -
Total 90 10
Note: Acceptable overall performance may not be less than 75%.
ApT members Signature
1) ________________________________ _______________
2) ________________________________ ________________
3) _________________________________ ________________
4) ________________________________ _________________
5) ________________________________ _________________
92
93
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 Institutional Assessment and Setup Criterion & Guidelines - Final Report

ANNEX 10 FINANCIAL PLANNING FORM

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE PLANNING FORM
PLAN YEARS (EC)
ITEMS DESCRIPTION 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
A REVENUE
Revenue from connection water sales
Public fountain water sales
Water meter rent
Sales of materials
Others incomes
Grants/Subsidy
Revenue from service provided
Estimation & permission
Technical service charge (new
connections)
Excavation & refilling
Customers deposit
TOTAL ANNUAL REVENUE
B EXPENDITURE
Chemicals cost
Energy
Diesel

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 Institutional Assessment and Setup Criterion & Guidelines - Final Report

General administrative overhead cost

Salaries for permanent staff
Wages of daily labor
Per diem and travel allowances
Uniform and protective
Capacity building trainings
Facilities and infrastructure
development
Electricity charge
Payments for telephone
Payments for different services
Payments for meetings (WB)
Bank service charges
Payment for loading and unloading
Maintenance costs
Payment for license renewal
Pension contribution
Payments for generator and pump
Payments for sanitary materials
Payments for fuels & lubricants
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
C. PROFIT/LOSS

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 Institutional Assessment and Setup Criterion & Guidelines - Final Report

ANNEX No. 11
REPORT FOR THE CALENDER YEAR ……………… Date …………………..
QUARTER /MONTH ………………………. Report #. ………………….
Region ………………………………………….
Zone: …………………………………………...
Woreda: ……………………………………….
Kebele: …………………………………………
Water Supply Service ……………..

Planned up Achievements
Ser. Quarterly Quarterly Percentage Percentage
Activities Unit to the up to the Remark
No plan achievements (%) achieved (%) achieved
quarter quarter
1

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 Institutional Assessment and Setup Criterion & Guidelines - Final Report

ANNEX 12
ANNUAL PLAN FOR THE CALENDER YEAR ………………

Region ………………………………………..
Zone: ………………………………………….
Woreda: ……………………………………..

Kebele: ………………………………………..

Water Supply Service ……………..

Ser. Annual Quarter plan
Activities planned Unit Remark
No plan Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4
1

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References
1. MOWE, community based O&M management manual for rural point water schemes
2. Ethiopia Water Resource Management Proclamation, Proc. No. 197/2000
3. Ethiopia Water Resource Management Policy, MOWR. July 2000,
4. Ethiopia Water Sector Strategy, MOWR, November 2001
5. MWR Issues Papers on Water Supply project design, Tropics Consulting Engineers,2003,
6. WASH Implementation Framework (WIF), April 2011,
7. One WASH National Program, (OWNP), July, 2013,
8. Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP-1) (2011 to 2015) or (2003-2007 EFY).
9. Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP-2) (2015/16 to 2019/20) (2008-2012 EFY).
10. Definition of Power, Duties and Organization of the Water Development Commission,
Council of Ministers Regulation No. 442/2018, Addis Ababa, 25th December, 2018.
11. Rural water supply in Ethiopia: - A political economy analysis, Florence Pichon, July
2019.
12. Rural water supply in Ethiopia: - A political economy analysis, Florence Pichon, July
2019/
13. Rural Water Supply Management and Sustainability: The Case of Adama Area, Ethiopia.
Abebe Tadesse*, Techane Bosona, Girma Gebresenbet Journal of Water Resource and
Protection, 2013/
14. OWERDB, Water supply and sanitation sub sector taskforce quick fix problem
identification and proposed solutions with responsible bodies, 07/16/2019.
15. WHO, Community management of rural water supply and sanitation systems, points for
practitioners), Regional Office for Africa, 1996.
16. Impact of current institutional setup on water service delivery, Asynoposis of two water
Authorities in Botswana, Thesis paper by Tshoganetso Tiroyamatodimo, June 2007.
17. Catholic Relief Service, Guideline for the development of small scale rural water supply
and sanitation projects in East Africa, east African Regional Office, Nairobi, Kenya 2009.
18. India: Bringing clear drinking water to Indian villages, May 24, 2016.
19. Rural Water supply and sanitation Initiative, framework for Implementation “A regional
response to Africa’s rural drinking water and sanitation crises”, Africa Development
Bank, 2002.
20. Water Aid, strengthening the sustainability of multi-village water schemes through
professionalizing community management, /A case study of rural water boards supported
by water aid Ethiopia./

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