WaterAid Nigeria

WaterAid
Nigeria
Country Strategy
2016-2021

We are WaterAid
Our vision
is a world where everyone, everywhere has safe
water, sanitation and hygiene.
Our mission
is to transform the lives of the poorest and most
marginalised people by improving access to safe
water, sanitation and hygiene.
Our values
define our culture and unite us across the many
countries in which we work. They are at the very
heart of WaterAid - who we are, what we do and
how we do it.
Front cover image: A girl fetches clean water from the still functional borehole in Edumoga-Ibilla community of Oju local
government, Benue State, where WaterAid intervened over 20 years ago.
WaterAid Nigeria/Novo Isioro
Respect
We treat
everyone with dignity
and respect and champion
the rights and contribution
of all to achieve a
fairer world.
Courage
We are
bold and inspiring in our
actions and words,
and uncompromising in
our determination to
pursue our
mission.
Accountable
We are
accountable to those
whose lives we hope to
see transformed, to those
we work with and to
those who support
us.
Innovation
We are
creative and agile,
always learning, and
prepared to take risks to
accelerate
change.
Collaboration
We work with others to
maximise our impact,
respecting diversity and
difference in the pursuit of
common goals.
Integrity
We act with
honesty and conviction
and our actions are
consistent with openness,
quuality and human
rights.
Back cover image: Stella,14, gets clean water not far from home in Zherngi, Bogoro local government, Bauchi State.
WaterAid Nigeria/Novo Isioro
i

School children in Etenyi
village of Ado local
government in Benue State;
where WaterAid is providing
the community with improved
access to safe water.
WaterAid Nigeria/ Andrew Esiebo
Contents
Introduction............................................................1
Opportunities and challenges...............................4-6
Our niche................................................................8
Our pathway to change.......................................9-10
Our global strategic aims..................................11-12
Our strategic objectives and key outcomes........13-14
Linking our strategic objectives to the global aims..15
What success will look like.....................................16
New frontiers.........................................................17
Our programme approach..................................20-21
Our enabling framework.........................................23
Developing our people and organisation.................26
Transitioning to a self-governing entity...................27
Where we will work................................................28
ii

Introduction
The global Millennium Development Goals target for drinking water was
met five years ahead of the 2015 schedule, with over 500million more
people gaining access to water and escaping poverty. Billions of people -
at least 1 in 3 - still live without a decent toilet, however.
Despite documented progress of improved access to water in Nigeria,
MDG targets for both water and sanitation were not met. The result is that
nearly 45,000 children under the age of five in Nigeria die every year from
diarrhoeal diseases caused by the nation’s poor levels of access to water,
sanitation and hygiene (WASH) - though it is important to note that WASH
influences illnesses and death beyond just diarrhoea.
This wholly unacceptable situation causes untold suffering, affecting
human and sustainable development, particularly in the lives of women
- who carry the burden of fetching water and caring for sick children.
It also affects girls - who may be forced to miss school because of the
absence of toilets there, thus limiting their exposure to education and
consequently, opportunities to make choices that could help them
overcome lives of poverty.
The 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) give hope for tackling
the WASH crisis in Nigeria. The country is signed up to achieving the
Goals and WaterAid Nigeria (WANG) is committed to seizing this historic
opportunity to tackle the underlying causes of poverty and inequality, to
accelerate transformational change through a shared vision of universal
access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
Since its inception in Nigeria in 1995, WANG has grown from a small
organisation located in one state to an attractive national brand.
Innovative and internationally tested programme delivery approaches
have contributed to quality programming both on the demand and
supply sides of WASH services at national, state and local government
levels. Millions of Nigerians have benefitted directly from our provision
of WASH infrastructure in communities. Still many more, from access
to WASH facilities provided by WANG indirectly, through collaboration
and assistance to government and other stakeholders. Our awareness
creation and support for various citizens’ actions have raised the profile
of WASH and awakened the consciousness of Nigerians to their right to
water and sanitation. WANG’s influence and impact in policy advocacy
have grown over the years, founded on extensive relations with the
Nigerian Government. Our excellent reputation as a community focused
and pro-poor organisation continues to grow, giving rise to legitimacy,
influence, and increasing acceptance by communities.
Our 2016 – 2021 strategy lays the foundation for the fifteen year
trajectory to achieving everyone everywhere in Nigeria having access to
water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030. Over the next five years, we will
focus on increasing citizens’ access to quality, equitable and sustainable
water, sanitation and hygiene services built on a strong sector and
engaged communities.
1

Women carrying water on
their way back from the river.
Ugbolojor village, Ado local
government, Benue State,
Nigeria.
WaterAid Nigeria/ Andrew Esiebo
“Our 2016 – 2021 strategy will lay the foundation for the fifteen year trajectory to
achieving ‘everyone everywhere in Nigeria having access to water, sanitation and
hygiene by 2030”
2

Left picture: A girl fetches dirty
water from a pond in Dungye
community, Pangshin local
government in Plateau State.
WaterAid Nigeria/Novo Isioro
Right picture: Refuse heap at an
informal settlement in the nation’s
capital territory, Abuja.
WaterAid Nigeria/Clement Dalut
3

Opportunities and challenges
With a population of over 180 million people, Nigeria is a major
market and investment destination. Nigeria’s current liquidity crisis
notwithstanding, the country has in the last 10 years experienced stable
growth and its gross domestic product (GDP) rose to $509 billion, making
it the largest economy in Africa and the 26th largest economy in the
world 1 . The size of the economy is a clear indication of Nigeria’s capacity
to back the financing required for the WASH sector.
On the political side, despite the almost universal apprehension about
the outcome of the 2015 general elections, Nigeria managed to deliver
a relatively peaceful political transition. The change in the political
leadership in the country suggested that the new regime could usher in
new opportunities for policy change and strategic commitments to WASH
but significant systemic barriers still remain one year after the change
in government. Nigeria has a vibrant civil society and social movement
consisting of community based organisations (CBOs), non-governmental
organisations, faith-based groups, labour and industrial unions, media
and youth organisations. Through their various activities, these groups
have been responding to the development challenges of the country
and building public accountability. Their efforts have been aided by
the explosive growth of information and communication technology.
The increasingly effective use of social media to project issues by this
very active demographic segment has real potential for holding the
state to account while contributing to deepening accountability and
strengthening citizens’ demand for quality services.
The growth of Nigeria’s urban population in both absolute and relative
terms has been accompanied by the expansion of existing built-up areas
and the emergence of new and identifiable ‘urban’ settlements. The
growth has overwhelmed the states’ capacity to provide corresponding
WASH services, resulting in the increase of private sector investment
of different shades and sizes. Consequently, small town and urban
programming now require different models of engagement.
Notwithstanding the enormous opportunities available for WASH sector
development in Nigeria, the sector is still faced with challenges which
will require strong policy and programmatic responses. The WHO/UNICEF
Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) 2015 figures indicate an increase in
water coverage from 40% in 1990 to 69% in 2015. However, the same
publication indicates that only 29% of the population are using improved
sanitation facilities – a regression from the 38% recorded in 1990. The
country’s 2013 National Demographic Health Survey shows that only
3 in 10 households in Nigeria use improved toilet facilities that are
not shared with other households. Hygiene practice is still considered
personal and good practices are sometimes constrained by historical and
cultural norms, behaviours and practices.
4
1
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html

Development challenges affecting the WASH sector in Nigeria
• Political tensions
Political rivalry and violence are major distractions that could impact on
WASH service delivery. Nigeria has been experiencing different shades
of violence in the last few years – from the Boko Haram insurgency in
the North-East to the communal violence in central Nigeria and youths’
militancy in the Niger Delta region. These have contributed to national
instability, dislocation and humanitarian crisis among others.
• Climate change and environmental degradation
Most parts of Nigeria are vulnerable to climate change-related extreme
weather conditions such as droughts, floods and other less dramatic,
but inimical conditions like desertification. The situation poses a
threat to access to water, sanitation and hygiene. In the same vein,
desert encroachment in northern Nigeria has been a major cause of
food shortage in the Sahel region of the country, heightening poverty,
exclusion and violence. In the Niger Delta region, years of oil exploration
has degraded and polluted the environment, denying people access to
water and creating a huge sanitation and hygiene crisis. Universal access
to WASH will to a large extent depend on how Nigeria responds to the
climate change and environment challenge.
• Deepening poverty, inequality and exclusion
Although Nigeria has recorded an appreciable growth in GDP in the last
decade; increasing poverty, inequality and exclusion has tainted this
growth. Nigeria currently has over 102 million poor people, an increase
of 22 million since 2004. The bottom three quintiles are living on much
less than a dollar at between 70 and 150 naira per person per day 2 .
About half of poor people in Nigeria can be found in the North-East and
North-West zones. Exclusion has been deeply associated with high levels
of poverty and inequality. Further, there are different levels and structures
of exclusion including gender, ethnicity, disability, locations, region and
even age among others.
• Corruption
Transparency International has previously rated Nigeria as the most
corrupt country in the world. This perception seems to have improved
relative to other countries in recent years as Nigeria is now rated 136
out of 176 countries, with a score of just 26 out of 100 in 2015. Global
Financial Integrity estimates more than USD157 billion has left the
country in the last decade alone, due to illicit transfers. Corruption
permeates virtually all segments of the country but it is more pronounced
in the public sector, particularly among agencies responsible for service
delivery. Consequently, corruption has distorted government expenditure
and reduced the quality of a wide variety of government services,
including WASH, health care, education, tax revenue and environmental
control. The current government’s efforts in tackling this challenge
present hope and opportunity to reverse this culture in Nigeria.
Young girls in Duhuwa
community, Kiyawa local
government, Jigawa
State.
WaterAid Nigeria/Novo Isioro
5
2
Take Action: End Poverty – ActionAid Country Strategy Paper 2014 - 2018

Water, sanitation and hygiene sector blockages
Aside from the general institutional and structural challenges in the
country, there are different sector specific blockages that continue to
impede effective WASH service delivery. These blockages are however
important opportunities for WANG programming and include:
• Institutional frameworks
Nigeria’s federal structure has created an enormous coordination gap in
the sector across all levels and rendered policy-making difficult. Nigeria
is a federation of 36 states and 774 local government areas. Each of
these units constitutionally shares concurrent powers over water and
sanitation with the central government, and have disparate structures
and agencies responsible for water supply and sanitation. This has made
strategic planning, policy harmonisation, coordination, funding and
monitoring and evaluation challenging.
be low. Most studies have found low capacity and the dearth of skills
among government institutions at all levels. It is worst at the local
government level, an important service delivery point. The result of this
skills deficit has been poor programme development, distorted and poor
implementation, poor procurement processes and inefficient service
delivery.
• Underfunding
Funding from the government, donor agencies, the private sector and
even individuals is relatively low. Across the country and across levels of
government, there are appreciable gaps between WASH as an expressed
priority of policy makers and politicians, and actual changes in budget
allocation and disbursement. Translating political or policy statements
into budget commitments has therefore been a huge challenge. It will
take a significant intervention to ensure increased funding for Nigeria to
meet its sector targets.
• Sector governance and coordination
The gaps in coordination at the governmental level have significantly
impacted on the capacity of states to coordinate donors and other
development partners. The disparity in the reporting systems and
approaches creates room for duplication and programme overlaps.
• Sector capacity
The capacity level of the major WASH actors including federal, state
and local institutions, CSO networks, communities, the private sector
and other institutions/organisations involved with the provision of
sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services are observed to
6
• Low rates of donor and private sector investment
There are few donor resource investments in WASH compared to other
development interventions. Similarly, the corporate social responsibility
programmes of most private organisations recognise water and
sanitation as a major development need of the people. However, the
level of investment in WASH compared to sport and entertainment among
others is very low. Although individuals are major contributors to WASH,
philanthropic engagement in WASH service delivery is comparatively low.

Community members at Ugboloko
in Okpokwu local government
of Benue State gather in a focus
group discussion as part of the
citizens’ engagement process
empowering citizens to demand
their right to WASH.
WaterAid Nigeria
7

Our niche
We will take advantage of our key strengths such as our national network, sevice delivery models, sector leadership and knowledge to build a niche
as a catalyst for change that will result in more effective policies, stronger coordination, increased funding, deeper accountability and the expansion
of citizens’ voice and engagement. To fulfil this niche, we will particularly ensure institutional efficiency, entrench a values-driven approach to our
work, strengthen our community presence and enhance our local legitimacy.
Left: Nensitmwa Thomas, 7,
at the water pump in Dungye
Plateau State.
WaterAid Nigeria/Novo Isioro
Middle: Water Easy Toilet (WET)
prototype under construction in
Enugu State.
WaterAid Nigeria/Abdulazeez Musa
Right: A school boy washes his
hands with soap during Global
Handwashing Day in Abuja.
WaterAid Nigeria/Wale Elekolusi
8

Our pathway to change
Figure 1: Graphical illustration of WaterAid Nigeria’s theory of change
The uniqueness of our theory of change is hinged on strengthened government
institutions providing sector leadership, enabling people-centric responses where
people negotiate and claim their rights, and sector actors working in partnership to
ensure better access to sustainable services.
9

Over the next five years, WANG will work to catalyse a turnaround in the
current situation to ensure increased citizens’ access to high quality,
equitable and sustained, water, sanitation, and hygiene services built on
a strong sector and engaged communities.
• Effective and collaborative partnerships: Change will occur
when sector stakeholders across civil society, private sector and
government work together through diverse types of partnerships for
sustained impact.
Our pathway to change in achieving increased access to sustained
water, sanitation and hygiene services in Nigeria is seen through a
trifocal lens of strengthened and coordinated government institutions
providing sector leadership to deliver services effectively; enabling
people-centric responses where people negotiate and claim their rights;
and sector actors working in partnership to ensure better access to
sustainable WASH services. WANG will contribute to a sustainable and
equitable WASH sector, putting people at the centre of the development
agenda. We will support empowerment of communities individually
and collectively to demand and attain their rights to universal access to
water, hygiene and sanitation services, and to demand for effectiveness,
accountability and transparency of the WASH sector through context
appropriate approaches to service delivery, accountability mechanisms
and the creation of new approaches to equitable and renewable use of
WASH resources.
• Active and empowered communities and citizens: Change
will happen when communities and individuals are empowered, actively
participating in decision-making processes with respect to WASH, and
demanding for sustainable WASH services for themselves and those they
represent.
• Innovations and knowledge management: We believe
that change will happen when innovations, sharing and learning
are influencing programmes and policies which facilitate access to
sustainable WASH services. Education and knowledge will play a crucial
role in the behaviours and attitudes of the people.
Conditions for change to occur
• Government leadership: Change will occur when government
takes control and begins to play its role as the sector leader, ensuring
that all actors including the private sector are effectively coordinated
to develop and implement context specific plans and strategies,
harness resources, and galvanise support for a joint sector performance
monitoring mechanism.
10
WaterAid Nigeria and
other stakeholders walk
for water and sanitation
to mark World Water
Day in Abuja.
WaterAid Nigeria/Adavvize Baiye

Our global strategic aims
11

Our aims are interconnected and complementry, and will be prioritised and resourced
according to the context of the country and locality in which we are working.
Equality
We will tackle and challenge the inequalities
that prevent the poorest and most marginalised
people from realising their right to safe water,
sanitation and hygiene.
Sustainable services
We will support governments and service
providers to strengthen the systems and
capabilities required to deliver sustainable
water, sanitation and hygiene services.
Integration
We will work with others to develop plans
and activities that accelerate change by
integrating water, sanitation and hygiene
into sustainable development.
Hygiene
We will positively influence hygiene behaviour
to maximise the benefits of access to safe
water and sanitation.
12

Our strategic objectives and key outcomes
Objective 1 Objective 2 Objective 3
Strengthen
systems to reduce
WASH sector
blockages
Key Outcomes
• Improved
sector financing
coordination and
effective programme
performance
management
• Hygiene prioritised
as an integrating
component for
sustainable WASH
services
Empower citizens
to demand
their rights and
participate in
WASH decision
making
Key Outcomes
• Empowered citizens
claiming rights and
participating in WASH
decision making
• Hygiene and
sanitation prioritised
as key components of
behaviour change
Strengthen
partnerships to
influence the
WASH sector and
increase access to
sustainable WASH
services
Key Outcomes
• Strengthened
partnerships to
influence the WASH
sector and increase
access to sustainable
WASH services
• Increased
engagement with
regional and
international bodies
13

Strategic objective 1
• To strengthen systems to reduce WASH sector blockages
We will work to strengthen the sector and reduce blockages that
undermine efficiency and effective delivery of WASH services. Through
evidence from our service delivery processes in local communities,
our advocacy and influencing will focus on increasing government and
development partners’ investment in WASH services by the government
at all levels.
Strategic objective 2
• To empower citizens to demand their rights and participate in
WASH decision-making
We will contribute to a sustainable and equitable WASH sector by putting
people at the centre of the WASH sector development agenda. We will
empower communities individually and collectively to demand and attain
their rights to universal access to water, hygiene and sanitation services.
We will demand for effectiveness, accountability and transparency of
the sector through context-specific approaches to service delivery,
accountability mechanisms and creating new approaches to equitable
and renewable use of WASH resources. We will strengthen our internal
capacity to implement the human rights-based approach and ensure
communities are better organised and engaged to demand for equitable
WASH services.
Strategic objective 3
• To strengthen partnerships to influence the WASH sector and
increase access to sustainable WASH services
We will strengthen our partnerships across the sector, focusing more on
integrated, sector-wide approaches. We will contribute to engaging the
sector to ensure effective coordination among stakeholders as well as
the several agencies and tiers of government. We will work very closely
with CSOs, social movements, youths, research institutions, universities
and the media, expanding our partnership model to reflect much larger
and mutually reinforcing interventions that will ultimately open up the
WASH sector to other development sectors. We will invest in capacity
building of partners, promote mutual accountability, and build strategic
relationships with governments, private sector, development partners as
well as regional and Pan-African institutions like ECOWAS and AMCOW.
14

Linking our strategic objectives
to the global aims
Strategic objectives Outcomes Global aims
Objective 1
To strengthen systems
to reduce WASH sector
blockages
• Improved sector financing,
coordination and effective
programme performance and
management.
• Hygiene is prioritised as an
important, integrating component
for sustainable WASH services.
Strengthening
sustainable
services
Objective 2
To empower citizens
to demand their rights
and participate in WASH
decision-making
• Hygiene is prioritised as an
important, integrating component
for sustainable WASH services.
• Hygiene and sanitation prioritised
as key components for behaviour
change.
Improving
hygiene
behaviour
Reducing
inequality
Objective 3
To strengthen partnerships to
influence the WASH sector and
increase access to sustainable
WASH services.
• Strengthened partnerships to influence
the WASH sector and increase access to
sustainable WASH services.
• Increased engagement with regional
and international bodies.
Integrating into
sustainable
development
15

What success will look like
• Increased budget allocation and spend for water, sanitation and
hygiene
• CSOs successfully engage citizens to demand their rights to WASH
services
• Citizens have to access detailed WASH expenditure information at
national, state and local government levels
• Increased government capacity to respond to citizens WASH rights
and demands
• Government across all levels providing sector leadership in
coordination of WASH sector
• Increased CSOs collaboration in advocating for transparency and
accountability in WASH governance
• Citizens/communities are proactively engaged in government annual
planning and budgeting processes
• WANG project states adopt and use national monitoring and
evaluation framework to monitor sector performance
• Improved sector skills, human resource capacity and systems to
support sector strengthening and provide sustainable services
• Sustainability of projects is achieved through citizens and
communities participation in project planning, implementation,
monitoring and maintenance of WASH facilities
• Improved sector knowledge generation, dissemination and feedback
on WASH products/models through existing interactive platforms,
institutions and frameworks
• Increased private sector and academic/research institutions
engagement in WASH
• Sanitation and hygiene priotised as integrating components of
sustainable WASH services
• WANG more strongly engaged with ECOWAS, AMCOW, WACSOF and
other regional bodies to influence on WASH
• Increased participation of most marginalised and excluded groups in
decision-making processes
16

To enable our transition to the change we seek and to strengthen our
niche, we will open new frontiers that will contribute to strengthening our
position and relevance in the country context. These new frontiers will
contribute to the delivery of our strategic objectives in the following ways:
• Sector financing
We will work to increase investment in the sector through our
engagement with the private sector, government, local philanthropies
and development partners; promoting individual support for WASH
services. We will work with our civil society partners to monitor budget
appropriations, allocations, and disbursements to ensure public
accountability and institute a sustainable sector funding mechanism.
• Humanitarian response
The increasing violence in most parts of the country has created a huge
humanitarian situation. We will apply programmatic approaches that
respond to, and address the conflict context to protect right and access
to sustainable and quality services. We will work to ensure effective state
coordination, management of resources and humanitarian issues by;
1. Supporting survival mechanisms of communities living in emergency
prone areas
2. Facilitating access and right to these services
3. Supporting management of WASH services within the wider
development context
• Market-based approaches
We will build on our small town programme experience to develop
programmes that will generate more knowledge and models on pro-poor
market-based approaches that will work in our context.
New frontiers
17
• Extractive industries and WASH
The petroleum sector has been the major contributor to the nation’s
foreign exchange and budgetary revenue. The sector also contributes
to the degradation of the environment, polluting public water and
compounding the sanitation and hygiene crisis, especially in the Niger
Delta region and in solid mineral mining hubs across the country. We
will encourage corporate social responsibility and work with different
agencies to hold the industry to account.
• Build research and documentation capacity
We will work to become a knowledge production and learning hub for
the sector and development actors in Nigeria, West Africa, Pan-Africa
and within the global WaterAid family. We will increase our knowledge
management capacity and cultivate relationships with relevant
universities and research institutions to provide ground-breaking
research, documentation, and experience sharing.
• Engagement with regional and Pan-African processes
Conscious of Nigeria’s power and influence in the West African sub
region, the regional institutional infrastructure and the Africa Union,
WANG will seek much stronger engagements with the regional
institutions domiciled in the country. We will work with the ECOWAS
Secretariat and Parliament, the African Ministers’ Council on Water
(AMCOW) as well as the West African Civil Society Forum (WACSOF) to
influence regional policy direction on WASH. We will further engage and
support influencing at the Pan-Africa level in decisions that have an
impact on WASH and the wider poverty agenda .

WaterAid is pushing market based
approaches to sustainable total
sanitation; stimulating demand
and encouraging local businesses.
Water Easy Toilet (WET) prototype
testing in Ekiti State.
WaterAid Nigeria/ Abdulazeez Musa
18

Azrupa Gimba, collecting water
at the handpump in Mugurou,
Plateau State. WaterAid prioritises
the needs of those marginalised
for factors such as disability in
delivering WASH services.
WaterAid/ Suzanne Porter
19

Our programme approach
Our programmatic approach will be guided by WaterAid global policies,
frameworks and guidelines. We will particularly focus on equity
and inclusion, human rights-based approaches, and district wide
approaches, transparency, disaster risk reduction, partnerships and
sustainability.
The new fundamental components that will drive our WASH agenda for
the next five years comprise of:
• Influencing through integrated sector strengthening
We will develop and institute sector-wide system strengthening through
support for capacity building, development and implementation of
frameworks and policies to support the sector. To achieve this, we will
strengthen our partnerships through targeted capacity building on WASH
sector issues, increase our collaboration and networking with other
development organisations, ensure approaches on equity and inclusion,
human rights-based programming, and sustainability are mainstreamed
in our programme development and implementation.
In addition, we will work to facilitate increased investment in the sector
through our engagement with the private sector, government, local
philanthropies and development partners. We will work with our civil
society partners to monitor budgets, ensure public accountability and
sustainability of sector funding mechanisms.
In implementing this, we will adopt the Capability, Accountability and
Responsiveness (CAR) framework. This will be based on the capacity
of partners to implement WASH, citizens demanding for government
20
accountability and government ability to respond to WASH demand
issues. WaterAid will play the role of a facilitator and supporter in all
these partnerships.
• Service delivery
Our service delivery approach will make a shift from community based
service provision. We will develop and pilot more strategic, higher level
interventions focusing on the whole local government (local government
wide approach). The LGA wide interventions will cover urban, small
towns and rural areas within the LGA. Deepening this approach will
contribute to learning from the six geo-political zones in Nigeria.
• Human rights-based approach
In the last strategic period, WANG had attempted to evolve from
needs-based programming to rights-based programming. We will now
specifically strengthen internal capacity for rights-based programming
and support our partners to deliver on their mandate. Our work will
facilitate the necessary interface between right holders and duty bearers.
This will mean working to strengthen relationships and accountability of
duty bearers and right holders.
• Equity and inclusion
The mainstreaming of equity and inclusion (E&I) will continue to be
the bedrock of all our programmes. We will seek to improve staff and
partner capacity and knowledge of our E&I framework and its application
to ensure that groups and individuals that are socially excluded and
marginalised for factors such as disability, gender, and age are prioritised
in WASH service delivery.

• Research and knowledge management
Part of our knowledge management approach will be to build on existing
research and knowledge from WaterAid’s long history in Nigeria. We
will keep abreast of changes related to WASH. We will harness and
share learning by conducting new research to continuously analyse and
understand blockages and opportunities. We will use these research
findings to improve understanding of our context, which will further
provide evidence for programming and for influencing the sector.
• Monitoring and evaluation in a tech-enabled world
The success of any programme is hinged on the establishment of a good
quality, well-functioning M&E system. Over the strategic period, we
will develop and adopt a results-based M&E system. This will involve
developing and adopting a multi-layered system of indicators for all
project inputs, outputs and outcomes to monitor programme efficiency.
At the next level, we will track the impact and sustainability indicators to
ascertain effectiveness of our WASH interventions. We will use technology
to collect, collate and analyse data and information, and engage all
stakeholders from the community to the national level to link these data
with national standardised indicators for sector decision-making.
• Partnerships we will engage in
We will continue to work with and through partners. Our partnership
framework will however change from the predetermined traditional or
restricted partner groups. It will be broadened to include a wider range
of agencies and stakeholders in the sector. The ideal partners will
be determined by political economy analysis and a rigorous partner
selection process. Through our revised partnership engagement
approach, we will solidify our position as a partner and change agent
with the ultimate aim of creating stronger stakeholders within the sector.
In addition, we aim to create strategic alliances and partnerships with
both WASH and non-WASH players, particularly to shape the policy and
practice discourse to prioritise sanitation and hygiene alongside water,
on the national and state agenda. Our partnerships will be wide-based to
include, but not limited to the following:
• Community based organisations
• Ward development committees
• Local government associations and organisations
• Statutory government ministries, departments and agencies
• Academic and research institutions
• Private sectors and individuals
• Religious bodies
• Media
• Youth groups
• Disability rights groups
• Other non-state actors
• Local, state and national governments
• International organisations/NGOs/institutions
21

The people of Edumoga-
Ibilla community in Oju
local government area
of Benue State still enjoy
clean water from the
borehole built by WaterAid
over 20 years ago in 1996.
WaterAid Nigeria/Novo Isioro
22

Our enabling framework
Our enabling framework sets out the key ‘enablers’
and helps us to prioritise and integrate work that
supports organisational effectiveness
WaterAid Nigeria will maintain its brand leadership
as a key player in the WASH sector and optimise
opportunities for realising our mission in Nigeria.
We will further develop our people within highly
engaged, effective, motivated and diverse teams with
the skills and leadership to deliver our vision. We will
develop systems, processes and approaches that
enable an integrated, agile and accountable Country
Programme. We will develop new and strengthened
ways of working to enable us to maximise our
impact.
*
* Information and communication technologies for development (or ICT4D)
23

Excited about their new water
point, school children support
Goal 6 in Agbungu, Logo local
government, Benue Sate.
WaterAid Nigeria/Andrew Esiebo
24

We are committed to
upholding our values
and ensuring our working
practices are people-centred.
We will build the capacity of
staff and partners to deliver
on our vision.
WaterAid Nigeria
25

Developing our people
and organisation
The key shifts in programme approach will heighten our relevance and impact. Achieving these key shifts will require the acquisition and/or
development of internal capacity to design and implement novel programming with stronger bias towards influencing and advocacy. This will be
implemented alongside all other strategic approaches to WASH, as well as establishing innovative partnerships - beyond our current scope and depth
- required to implement qualitative and sustainable programmes.
As a demonstration that the value of collaboration through partnerships is central to the achievement of WaterAid’s vision, WANG will continue to
invest in strengthening the capacity of partners with an overarching focus on achieving broader sector strengthening outcomes.
26

Transitioning to a self-governing entity
WaterAid Nigeria will in the course of this strategy transit to a self-governing entity and seek to qualify for membership of WaterAid International by
the end of the strategic period. WANG’s aspirations for member country status is premised on our conviction that our identity as an indigenous entity
with strong international affiliations will more strongly support and give legitimacy to our country level influencing as well as the sector strengthening
objectives of our new Country Programme Strategy.
This dilapitated bridge in Ado
local government of Benue State
lies between Osukputu community
and the nearest town. WaterAid
Nigeria and local partners work to
bring WASH services to the poorest
and most marginalised in this and
other hard to reach communities
in Nigeria.
WaterAid/Mustafah Abdulaziz
27

Where we will work
Where we
currently
work
Potential
states
to work
in
28

http://www.wateraid.org/nigeria https://twitter.com/WaterAidNigeria http://www.youtube.com/user/WaterAidNigeria
wanigeria@wateraid.org
https://www.facebook.com/WaterAidNigeria