Strengthening Monitoring and Evaluation of Community WASH Interventions

Understanding the Importance of Monitoring and Evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) are essential components of any successful community-based water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) intervention. By systematically collecting and analyzing data, M&E allows organizations to track progress, identify challenges, and make informed decisions to improve program implementation and outcomes. Effective M&E not only enhances the impact of WASH initiatives, but also enables communities to take ownership, foster sustainability, and advocate for their needs.

However, strengthening M&E systems for community WASH interventions remains a significant challenge. Many programs struggle to capture meaningful data, engage communities throughout the monitoring process, and translate findings into actionable improvements. This is particularly true in resource-constrained settings, where limited capacity and funding can hinder robust M&E efforts.

Embracing a Systems-Strengthening Approach

To address these barriers, development organizations are increasingly adopting a systems-strengthening approach to WASH programming. This approach focuses on building the capacity of local institutions, strengthening coordination among stakeholders, and integrating WASH interventions into broader government-led initiatives. By taking this holistic view, programs can create the enabling environment necessary for sustainable, community-led WASH services and behaviors.

A key aspect of this systems-strengthening approach is strengthening community-level M&E. This involves:

Collaborative Design: Engaging communities in the design of M&E frameworks to ensure indicators and data collection methods are contextually relevant and actionable.
Capacity Building: Providing training and support to strengthen the skills of community members, local government representatives, and other stakeholders in data collection, analysis, and use.
Integrated Monitoring: Aligning community-level M&E with government-led monitoring systems to improve data quality, reduce duplication, and foster ownership and accountability.
Data-Driven Decision-Making: Ensuring that M&E findings are systematically used to inform program adaptations, resource allocation, and advocacy efforts at the community, local, and national levels.

Spotlight on Mozambique: Lessons from the SCIP Evaluation

The Strengthening Communities through Integrated Programming (SCIP) activity, funded by USAID and implemented in Mozambique from 2009 to 2015, provides valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of strengthening community-level M&E. An ex-post evaluation of SCIP’s WASH component, conducted four years after the program ended, revealed both successes and persistent gaps in the sustainability of WASH outcomes.

Key Findings:

Water point functionality and management: While 65% of observed water points remained functional, many communities struggled to cover operation and maintenance costs through user fees. Poorer households were less likely to contribute, highlighting inequities in access.
Sanitation access and use: Only 15% of households had access to basic sanitation (improved, unshared latrines), though this was still an improvement from the project’s end. However, self-reported latrine use was low, and open defecation remained prevalent.
Hygiene behaviors: While households reported high levels of handwashing with soap, only 13% were observed to have soap and water available. Durable, fixed-place handwashing facilities were rare, and handwashing did not appear to be a normative behavior.
Resilience to shocks: Communities struggled to repair damaged water points after extreme weather events, suggesting a need to integrate disaster risk reduction into WASH programming.

These findings underscore the importance of robust, community-engaged M&E systems that can track not just coverage, but also the functionality, use, and sustainability of WASH services and behaviors over the long term. The SCIP evaluation also emphasized the value of ex-post assessments in understanding the lasting impacts of WASH interventions.

Integrating Hygiene into Systems Strengthening

While the SCIP evaluation focused primarily on water and sanitation, the broader challenge of strengthening community-level M&E is equally applicable to hygiene promotion efforts. Hygiene behavior change has historically been an underemphasized component of WASH programming, with many initiatives relying on outdated, knowledge-based approaches.

In response, organizations like WaterAid have embraced a systems-strengthening approach to hygiene promotion. This involves integrating hygiene behavior change into ongoing government-led WASH and health interventions, strengthening institutional capacity for hygiene monitoring, and supporting the use of evidence-based, context-specific behavior change strategies.

Key elements of this approach include:

Formative Research: Conducting in-depth studies to understand the local determinants of hygiene behaviors and design targeted, motivational approaches.
Capacity Building: Training government and civil society partners in the latest hygiene behavior change methodologies and supporting the integration of hygiene into monitoring systems.
Coordinated Delivery: Aligning hygiene promotion with complementary WASH, health, and education initiatives to maximize reach and impact.
Adaptive Management: Continuously monitoring hygiene behaviors, evaluating the effectiveness of interventions, and making iterative improvements based on data and feedback.

By adopting a systems-strengthening lens, hygiene promotion can be transformed from a standalone, knowledge-based campaign into a sustainable, community-driven component of holistic WASH programming.

The Way Forward: Strengthening Community-Led M&E

Effective monitoring and evaluation is essential for ensuring the long-term success and impact of community WASH interventions. However, strengthening community-level M&E requires a comprehensive, systems-strengthening approach that addresses both the technical and the institutional aspects of data collection, analysis, and use.

Key priorities for strengthening community-led M&E include:

Collaborative indicator development: Engage communities in defining meaningful, context-specific indicators that reflect their priorities and experiences.
Capacity building for data collection and use: Provide training and support to empower community members, local authorities, and other stakeholders to collect, analyze, and act on M&E data.
Integrated monitoring systems: Align community-level M&E with government-led monitoring frameworks to improve data quality, reduce duplication, and foster ownership.
Data-driven decision making: Ensure that M&E findings are systematically used to inform program adaptations, resource allocation, and advocacy efforts at multiple levels.
Ex-post evaluations: Conduct long-term assessments to understand the lasting impacts of WASH interventions and identify opportunities for improvement.

By embracing this systems-strengthening approach to community-led M&E, development organizations can enhance the sustainability, equity, and impact of WASH programs, empowering communities to take the lead in monitoring and improving their own water, sanitation, and hygiene services.

Conclusion

Strengthening monitoring and evaluation is crucial for ensuring the long-term success and sustainability of community WASH interventions. By adopting a systems-strengthening approach that engages communities, builds institutional capacity, and aligns with government-led frameworks, organizations can create the enabling conditions for robust, data-driven WASH programming.

The lessons from Mozambique’s SCIP activity and WaterAid’s experience in hygiene behavior change illustrate the importance of moving beyond standalone M&E efforts and towards integrated, community-led monitoring systems. Through collaborative indicator development, capacity building, and data-driven decision making, WASH programs can better track progress, identify challenges, and empower communities to advocate for their water, sanitation, and hygiene needs.

As the development sector continues to evolve, strengthening community-level M&E will be essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and ensuring that no one is left behind in the quest for universal access to safe, sustainable WASH services. By investing in this critical component of WASH programming, organizations can unlock the full potential of community engagement and catalyze lasting, transformative change.