Evaluation of water supply system Case study in Naka ... - ENGEES

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Evaluation of water supply system – Case study in Naka, Nigeria2 Literature reviewThe literature review addresses the understanding of evaluation issues and providesbackground about water supply projects’ feedback and experiences, especially forcommunity managed systems and water quality monitoring.2.1 Evaluation of water projectEvaluation is a necessary stage in the cycle of any project as it tries to answer thequestion “Did the project work?” (Carter, 2006) and then allows defining theproblems to solve (see figure 2).Did theproject work?EvaluationWhat’s theproblem?Inception/IdentificationHow tosolve itFormulation/Detailed designImplementationand monitoringAct, observe,measureProposal,approval,financingAppraisalFind thefundsReviewthe designFigure 2: Project cycleSource (Carter, 2006)There are several different ways of evaluating a project, but the core strategy is tocompare selected features of the projects to fixed values, targets or objectives in orderto determine to what extent the project met expectations and achieved positiveimpacts (Narayan, 1993).Focusing on water projects, the different approaches depend on the choice of thesetarget values. Carter (2006a) highlighted three different categories of objectives thatan evaluation can assess:Cranfield University at Silsoe 5 Florianne Bourrigault (2006)
Evaluation of water supply system – Case study in Naka, Nigeria- the objectives fixed on the early stage of the project design- the universal objectives common to overall water and sanitation projects- the wide objective of one of the agencies involved, like the donor agency.The problem encountered with the first method is that objectives are often not clearlydefined in the terms of references of the project; moreover, it gives limited flexibilityto adapt the real situation, as objectives always refer back to those fixed before theproject realisation (Carter, 2006a). The Department for International Development(DFID) adopts the third method, focusing on the way the project meets their wide goalof development such as reducing poverty (DFID, 1998). Carter (2006a) points to therisk of “an abuse of power by the donor” by orientating the project and all the otherpartners towards the donor vision and objectives. That is also problematic because itcan increase the distance between the people who are fixing objectives and the peoplewho are directly benefiting from them. Adopting the second approach, the WorldHealth Organisation (1983) developed a set of indicators concerning functioning andutilisation of water and sanitation systems. These indicators are general ones whichcan be used to define any type of water project. They therefore form a great universalbaseline check-list, focused on water issues objectives, applicable to any water systemevaluation.Projects in developing countries have often been done without involving thecommunity concerned, leading to a mismatch between the introduction of new watersystem and the people benefiting from it (Schouten & Moriarty, 2003). In fact,“participatory development - involving users and communities in all stages of thedevelopment process - is critical for achieving sustained benefits” (Narayan, 1993).As part of the project cycle, evaluation should be a learning process involving allstakeholders and allowing the community members, especially the women, to fix theirown criteria of project’s success (Narayan, 1993). Nevertheless, participation can notbe considered as a perfect solution as it has its own limits and inequity problems, suchas the gender issue and the risk of local empowerment of some part of the community(Cornwall, 2003). Especially for research, it is also sensible to plan a realistic level ofparticipation of the community, which does not interrupt the other necessary activitiesof the members, like farming or child caring (Pratt & Loizos, 1992).Cranfield University at Silsoe 6 Florianne Bourrigault (2006)
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