Performance Report for FY 2009/10 - UWASNET

Performance Report for FY 2009/10
Exogenous factors including seasonal and long-term changes in local water availability
may also create a sustainability problem. A scoping study for the inception of the
Triple-S Initiative conducted by NETWAS indicated that in many rural areas functionality
of systems is contingent upon the season. Many water sources are functional during
the rainy season but not in the dry season. The breakdown of water sources is more
frequent during the dry season because of overuse.
Limited institutional capacity is manifested by the staffing gaps at district level,
and this is made worse by the limited capacity of the private sector to cope with
increased water supply activities. The ever soaring number of districts increases the
capacity challenge. Coupled with inadequate funding for the rural water sub-sector,
these challenges have incapacitated rural water efforts and made sustainability of
water services ever more elusive. The 2009 sector Performance Report shows that
the national budgetary allocation for funding for the Water and Sanitation sub-sector
has declined over the last five years from 4.9% in 2004/05 to 2.4% in 2008/09.
Another challenge arises from the inadequate harmonisation and coordination. There
are many players in the sector, both government and non government. Once these
are not properly coordinated, sustainability will be affected. Thankfully, Uganda
has developed a relatively strong service delivery framework for the provision of
new services and strong coordination and synchronisation structures. The process
of decentralisation and transfer of responsibility for service provision to district
authorities is well structured and relatively advanced, despite suffering from a number
of challenges.
It is worth noting that what lies at the heart of these challenges are attitudes and
behaviours. Reliable and functional rural water supply services can be provided at
scale in Uganda, if a change in capacities and attitudes, at different levels in the
sector can be engineered. This calls for new thinking on where and how to invest
resources. This can be done through a process of learning and research. Learning
is about sharing information and knowledge and is a fundamental pre-requisite of
performance improvement. Learning also contributes to better use of resources and
this is vital in the current context of static or shrinking sector investments.
It is this rigorous learning process that the Triple-S Initiative sets out to pursue.
Triple-S is a research and learning initiative of the International Water and Sanitation
Centre (IRC). It aims to pilot and test new ways of working for the delivery of rural
water services in Uganda. The initiative is structured around a consortium comprising
DWD/Rural Water Department, NETWAS Uganda, UWASNET and SNV.
NGOs in the Ugandan Water and Sanitation Sector | 76