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.

he United Republic of Tanzania is located east of Africa’s Great Lakes. Tanzania’s sustained growth from a low-income to lower-middle income country mirrors its positive progress towards access to safe water and sanitation for all. Access to basic water sources has increased from 28 percent in 2000 to 61 percent in 2020. 38 percent of Tanzanians rely on piped water, while 34 percent use non-piped improved sources. In terms of drinking water service levels, a total of 13 percent of the population relies on surface water, 15 percent on unimproved sources, 11 percent on limited sources, and 61 percent on basic sources.

In urban areas, piped sources are most common (60 percent), with three in ten households (31 percent) having piped water into their dwelling or yard, a further two in ten (21 percent) getting their drinking water from a neighbor’s piped supply, and one in ten (9 percent) from a public tap. In rural areas, 7 percent of households have piped water into their dwelling or yard, with a further 4 percent who get their drinking water from a neighbor’s piped supply and 17 percent from a public tap (totaling 28 percent). Meanwhile, progress has also been made in safely managed sanitation services, increasing coverage from 5 percent in 2015 to 26 percent in 2020 (WHO/UNICEF 2020).

Despite Tanzania’s abundant water resources, its varied climate and geological formations contribute to seasonal, interannual, and geographical variations in water quality and availability. According to the Falkenmark Water Stress Index (Falkenmark 1989), the country has a moderate stress level since its yearly renewable water is about 1,680 m3 per person, and key economic sectors abstract only 13 percent of the total water resources (USAID 2021).

This document is produced by USAID’s REAL-Water activity.

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.

The Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BZ) Netherlands commissioned IRC to determine the potential of the SMART approach in reaching SDG6, and other related SDGs. Thus, an assessment was realised in eight African countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, Niger, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia).

The SMART approach comprises three pillars: 1) The use of innovative technologies, the SMARTechs; 2) Training of the private sector and 3) Promoting Self-supply. The use of SMARTechs (including manually drilled boreholes, various lifting devices including rope pumps and solar pumps, rain water harvesting systems and household water treatment) is considered as a way of reducing costs and scaling up the options for community and household investments at family level

The report is based upon review of documents, primary data collection (in late 2021) in Tanzania and Zambia including water point surveys and focus group discussions, key informant interviews and water quality testing.

The 'Stop the Rot' initiative documents the scale and extent of rapid handpump corrosion and the use of poor-quality handpump components in sub-Saharan Africa and tries to bring about actions to address these problems. These two interlinked issues contribute to poor handpump performance, rapid handpump failure and poor water quality, all of which can ultimately lead to abandonment of the handpump sources, thus forcing users to return to contaminated or distant water supplies.

The first report estimates the reliance on handpumps in sub-Saharan Africa, reviews the literature on handpump functionality and performance, and synthesises information on handpump technical quality from various studies and assessments.

The second report examines handpump corrosion in detail, with an overview of what is known and what has been done to address the issue in specific SSA countries and by select organisations.

The third report reflects on the existing guidance on handpump quality assurance, collates examples of poor-quality components, and examines handpump supply chains through a case study of Zambia.