RWSN Country Information

In 2016, a results-based funding model was developed to improve the reliability of rural drinking water supply services in Kenya. The Water Services Maintenance Trust Fund (WSMTF) has tested a professional service delivery model in two counties and attracted new sources of results-based funds to guarantee water services in rural communities.

The WSMTF provides an example of how the funding gap can be met by non-donor funds in results-based contracts. In 2017, donor funds paid for 81% of WSMTF contracts, by 2021, the donor proportion had fallen to 14%. In the same period, the annual WSMTF resources increased from just under USD 50,000 to over USD 150,000.

The WSMTF has informed the work of the Uptime Catalyst Facility which has issued results-based contracts guaranteeing reliable drinking water for over 4 million rural people in 12 countries in 2023.

This report, developed by USAID/REAL-Water, summarizes baseline data collected before the launch of a two-year impact evaluation of the Water Quality Assurance Fund implementation model. This evaluation consists of a randomized stepped-wedge trial, which allows for rigorous impact measurements alongside a gradual intervention rollout. The evaluation involves 28 water systems in rural Ghana —21 that were randomly assigned to one of three groups successively entering the Assurance Fund program at six-month intervals; and seven that were non-randomly assigned to the first group. At baseline, we measured the same indicators that will be measured subsequently over the course of the stepped-wedge trial:

Chlorine residual and E. coli in piped water (the primary outcome indicators for the trial);
Water treatment practices;
Water quality knowledge of water system operators and local government officials;
Consumer awareness of and perceptions of water safety; and
Consumer willingness-to-pay for increased water treatment and testing.

Much of the global population is exposed to contaminated drinking water. In piped systems, contamination can be mitigated at the water supplier or household levels, but it is often easier to mitigate at the water supplier level where it can be centrally managed. A water safety plan (WSP) is a holistic tool for proactively ensuring the safety of drinking water supplies from source to tap. WSPs are at the early stages of implementation in Ghana, and an evaluation of their implementation approaches and impact would help guide nationwide adoption and provide evidence useful to water service providers.

This study from USAID’s Rural Evidence and Learning for Water (REAL-Water) includes 92 piped water supply systems operated by a non-profit, private water supplier in Ghana. The water systems are located across nine regions in southern Ghana, primarily in rural towns ranging in size from approximately 1,000 to over 10,000 people.

REAL-Water designed a randomized controlled trial to test the implementation effectiveness and outcomes of WSPs. This report presents the results of baseline data collection to understand the existing conditions of the water systems and communities prior to implementing WSPs. It discusses preliminary implications for water safety planning in rural, low-income settings.

This manual was prepared to document and disseminate the Water Quality Assurance Fund approach initially piloted in Ghana. Initial evidence supports scaling up the program to contribute to safe management of small, rural water systems.

The Water Quality Assurance Fund is a mechanism wherein dispersed, rural water systems can receive regular, reliable, and professional water quality testing services and interpret data to ensure water safety. It provides a locally accessible standby account to help rural water systems become a more attractive market to urban water quality laboratories in their area. A central laboratory may be more willing to offer monitoring services to water systems with irregular income if they are guaranteed regular payment.

When rural water systems are unable to pay testing fees to the laboratory on time, the Assurance Fund ensures the remittance of fees for monthly testing. Local government authorities can enforce a surcharge when water systems repay the Assurance Fund, to reduce drawdown over time. Most of the time, transactions take place between the testing recipients and laboratory providers.

To set up the Assurance Fund and enroll rural water supplies, a facilitating organization needs to tackle several tasks and engage stakeholders in the process. Providing ongoing implementation support ensures actor coordination and linkages to additional water safety management expertise as needed. This document, developed by USAID’s REAL-Water initiative, outlines the steps needed.

This report, developed by USAID’s REAL-Water initiative, synthesizes a desk review of emerging trends in rural water services delivery, with a focus on 12 countries (Ghana, India, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Peru, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, the Philippines, Uganda, and Zambia), drawn from the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) 2021 list of high-priority, priority, and strategically aligned countries. It also maps water service delivery across an array of categories (including institutional and legal arrangements, regulation, monitoring, technical capacities, and financial capacities) and reports on an e-survey conducted among 400 respondents in the rural water supply sector.