Study Session 9  Stakeholders of the OWNP

Introduction

You have already come across many stakeholders in the OWNP in previous study sessions, from the national government at the top through to consumer groups and individual users. A stakeholder was defined earlier as any individual, group or organisation that has an interest in something. In this instance we are talking about the stakeholders with an interest in the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene in Ethiopia in general, and in the OWNP in particular.

WASH activities associated with the OWNP are mainly the responsibility of different governmental and non-governmental organisations. In this study session you will identify the different types of organisation involved, such as civil society organisations, private sector companies and community groups. These are the main stakeholders or partners who will implement the OWNP. You will also learn about the roles and responsibilities of these different stakeholders in achieving the OWNP’s goals for the country.

Learning Outcomes for Study Session 9

When you have studied this session, you should be able to:

9.1  Define and use correctly all of the key words printed in bold. (SAQ 9.1)

9.2  Explain the contribution of government organisations, other than the WASH sector Ministries, to the OWNP. (SAQ 9.2)

9.3  Describe the involvement of development partners in the OWNP. (SAQ 9.3)

9.4  Describe the role of the private sector in implementing the OWNP. (SAQ 9.4)

9.5  Discuss the roles of community organisations in the OWNP. (SAQ 9.5)

9.1 Types of stakeholders

OWNP stakeholders can be divided into those that are part of or associated with government and those that are not. The governmental group is described in Section 9.2 below. Non-governmental stakeholders consist of various types of organisation and groups of people that contribute to the OWNP in different ways.

There are three main types of non-governmental stakeholder who contribute to the OWNP:

1. Major stakeholders: These are organisations that directly contribute funds to the Consolidated WASH Account (CWA) at federal level. (You will learn more about the CWA in Study Session 12.) They are the main contributing partners at national level and are eligible to receive quarterly progress, financial and audit reports from the National WASH Coordination Office (NWCO) (You learned about this in detail in Study Session 7). They are each represented by a non-voting member on the National WASH Steering Committee.
2. Associated stakeholders: These are organisations that provide funding for the construction of water supply, sanitation and hygiene facilities, technical assistance, supplies and other support to OWNP. They may be implementers themselves or they may provide funds for the government implementers outside the Consolidated WASH Account. Associated stakeholders at national level will prepare annual work plans and budgets in collaboration with the NWCO and will report to them through quarterly progress and financial reports. They will receive quarterly OWNP progress reports and can participate in the Joint Technical Review (JTR) and Multi-Stakeholder Forum (MSF). (You will learn more about these two groups in Study Session 11.)
3. Collaborating stakeholders: These are organisations that provide assistance to OWNP other than construction of WASH facilities. For example, they may provide training manuals or communication and promotional products. Collaborating stakeholders may be national or international organisations that provide defined services relating to specific outputs of the Programme. They will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the coordinating offices at various levels, prepare annual work plans and budgets, and will report to the coordinating offices through quarterly progress and financial reports. They can also participate in the JTR and MSF.

As well as these various groups that make contributions of funds or activity to the OWNP, another very important set of stakeholders are all the people who use the WASH services. These could also be classed as ‘collaborating stakeholders’, although they are unlikely to have any type of formal agreement. Nevertheless, the consumers of water supply and users of sanitation facilities are all vitally important. Their involvement in implementation and participation in decision making is an essential part of the process and reflects the guiding principles of the OWNP, especially integration, harmonisation and partnership.

9.2 Government organisations

As you know from previous study sessions, the OWNP is a joint initiative led by the four WASH sector ministries: Water, Irrigation and Energy, Health, Education, and Finance and Development. In addition to these four main stakeholders, several other government ministries are involved.

9.2.1 Directorates of Women, Children and Youth Affairs

You may recall from Study Session 2 that one of the national policies underpinning the OWNP is the national Water Resources Management Policy. This policy sets out the need for women’s participation at all stages of water resource development activities, from planning to implementation and maintenance. The national Water Sector Strategy, also mentioned in Study Session 2, reinforces the point and specifies that gender mainstreaming should be secured in all aspects of water resources planning, new master plan studies and other water development projects. The Women, Children and Youth Directorate in each WASH sector ministry has a responsibility to assure the mainstreaming of gender issues when implementing the OWNP.

9.2.2 Ministry of Federal Affairs

The Ministry of Federal Affairs is a stakeholder in issues relating to pastoralist communities (Figure 9.1). The government has mandated the Ministry of Federal Affairs (MoFA) to coordinate and facilitate OWNP activities in pastoralist areas with due commitment to enhancing their socio-economic situation, based on its policies of equitable and just distribution of resources.

As stated in the WASH Implementation Framework, the MoFA is included in the National WASH Steering Committee and National WASH Technical Team on an invitation basis. They are invited to participate in any discussions relating to WASH issues in pastoralist parts of the country. At regional and woreda levels, pertinent government offices responsible for the pastoralist communities are included as members of WASH committees and teams.

Figure 9.1  Pastoralist communities move around with their animals and have particular issues with access to water and sanitation.

The implementation of WASH under the OWNP in pastoral areas is aligned with the Pastoral Community Development Programme (PCDP). The PCDP is a 15-year programme that started in 2003. It was developed to establish effective models of public service delivery, investment and disaster management in the arid and semi-arid Ethiopian lowlands in order to address pastoral communities’ needs, improve their livelihoods, alleviate poverty and reduce their vulnerability.

9.2.3 Water Resources Development Fund

The Ethiopian government established the Water Resources Development Fund (WRDF) in 2002 as a semi-autonomous body within the then Ministry of Water Resources (which was renamed the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, and has since been renamed again as the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity). It was created to facilitate the funding arrangements for urban water supply and sanitation services throughout the country. The WRDF receives funds from the government and different development partners and provides loans to assist water supply and sanitation projects in large towns. The agreement between the WRDF and the town utility to recover the project cost within a fixed period of time mandates that towns will reimburse the loan within that timeframe.

The operational activity of the Fund started in 2004. Since that time, the WRDF has participated in a number of financing programmes by receiving funds from the government and donors which are then transferred by loan agreement to medium- and large-sized towns to support WASH activities. Through this experience, the Fund has had the opportunity to work with several organisations including the Federal Government, the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the Arab Development Bank, the European Investment Bank and the European Union.

9.2.4 Ministry of Urban Development, Housing and Construction

The Ministry of Urban Development, Housing and Construction (MoUDHC) is responsible for the safe collection and disposal of household solid waste through urban development bureaus, offices, municipalities and enterprises. As you read in Study Session 6, Urban WASH is one of the components of the OWNP and will address solid and liquid waste management in towns. (Solid waste is refuse and garbage; liquid waste means all types of wastewater, including human bodily wastes.) The MoUDHC is mostly concerned with solid waste, but it also works on liquid waste management in large town municipalities.

9.3 Development partners

Development partner is a term that is widely used in the field of international development aid to describe any organisation working in partnership with national and local government bodies. It does not have a precise definition – there are different types of partnership – but it is applied to organisations that provide development assistance in some form.

9.3.1 Donors

Donors are development partners that give funds directly to the government for any developmental activities. Sometimes the term donor partner is used. In the list of OWNP stakeholder types identified in Section 9.1, donors are categorised as major stakeholders. The main OWNP donors include the World Bank, the UK Department for International Development (DfID), the African Development Bank (AfDB) and UNICEF. These partners have pooled their funds into the Consolidated WASH Account.

9.3.2 Non-governmental organisations/civil society organisations

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs) play an important role as stakeholders in the OWNP. Box 9.1 explains these two terms in more detail. In the stakeholder categories in Section 9.1, these are represented in the associated and collaborating stakeholder groups.

NGOs work in WASH activities throughout the country. They play an important role in delivering water and sanitation services, hygiene promotion, piloting new approaches, reaching remote areas and groups and supporting learning and knowledge sharing. The valuable contribution of NGOs is recognised in the WASH Implementation Framework, where NGO-managed projects are included as one of the four implementation approaches.

Figure 9.2   A water point in the Amhara region with emblems of UNICEF and the European Union indicating they provided funds for the installation.

NGOs working with WASH activities have formed the Water and Sanitation Forum (WSF), which meets regularly. The WSF has an executive body and a secretariat. WASH NGOs are also represented on a number of Task Forces in the MoWIE, the MoH and the MoE, as well as in the membership of the Water Sector Working Group (see next section). In the regions, WASH NGOs collaborate with sector bureaus by participating in Technical Working Groups and forming WASH Forums to coordinate planning and implementation.

NGOs play a number of important roles in OWNP implementation. NGOs participate in sector reviews and evaluations such as the semi-annual Joint Technical Review (JTR), an annual Multi-Stakeholder Forum (MSF), and regular meetings of the Forum for Learning on Water and Sanitation (described in more detail in Study Session 11). WASH NGOs also implement WASH projects and undertake studies, evaluations and other activities for international multilateral and bilateral organisations such as the European Union, UNICEF, DFID and others at all levels, from federal level to communities.

9.3.3 Development Assistance Group /Water Sector Working Group

The Development Assistance Group (DAG) for Ethiopia was established in 2001 to ‘foster information sharing, policy dialogue and harmonise donor support to Ethiopia in order to enable the country to meet the targets set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)’ (DAG, n.d.). The DAG is a collaborative body consisting of development partners who provide development assistance in Ethiopia, according to the principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (see Study Session 4). Membership includes all the main bilateral and multilateral donor partners.

The DAG structure has a number of Technical Working Groups (TWGs) for specific sectors. Some of these have been renamed as Sector Working Groups (SWGs), including the former DAG Water Technical Working group, which is now part of the Water Sector Working Group.

The Water Sector Working Group was established in 2014 to support the integrated development and management of water in all relevant sectors. It is a joint government-donor group intended to ‘provide a forum for the government and donors to jointly, promote, support and coordinate sustainable and integrated development and management of water resources.’ (MoWIE, 2014b).

9.4 Private sector

The private sector contributes to the implementation of the OWNP by constructing water supply and sanitation facilities. The private sector is the part of a country’s economy that is not run by the government. Private sector businesses are usually run with the aim of making a profit. In the WASH sector the tasks undertaken by private sector companies may include such things as the design and engineering of new facilities, drilling boreholes, laying pipes and constructing buildings, as well as supplying materials and equipment (Figure 9.3). Implementation also involves studies and research by different professional associations. These activities are usually undertaken by private contractors, consultants, suppliers and artisans.

Figure 9.3 Private sector companies contribute in many ways including (a) drilling a deep well and (b) sale of bathroom fittings.

There is a growing demand for groundwater development and borehole drilling in Ethiopia, however only a limited number of private drilling companies are available to carry out the work. To try to alleviate this problem, the government has suppled drilling machines to Regional State Water Enterprises (RSWEs) which bid for contracts for drilling and construction of water supplies in the same way as private enterprises, e.g.Oromia Water Works and Construction Enterprise, Amhara Water Works and Construction Enterprise. These are profit making but are established by the government and work on construction of water supply schemes for rural and urban areas, consultancy work, etc.

Also classified as a private sector stakeholder is the Ethiopian Association of Hydrogeologists, which was established in 2006 with the objective of using groundwater for development and to assist the expansion of education and research about groundwater in Ethiopia. This association contributes to the OWNP by identifying the hydrogeological problems of the country and proposing solutions for the government based on its scientific research.

Banks and microfinance institutions also play an important role. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) operate in rural communites, giving small loans to individuals and small-scale enterprises. MFIs and banks provide financial services to communities, particularly for community-managed projects (CMP), self-supply and sanitation marketing activities. These services include financing through WASH Committees (WASHCOs) for procurement, construction, maintenance, rehabilitaton, replacement, insurance and for providing credit to small-scale micro-enterprises for WASH services and supplies.

The private sector also provides consultancy services for studies and analyses, design, construction supervision and other activities. Private suppliers, artisans and other service providers will have an increasingly important role to play in the OWNP in establishing and servicing supply chains for WASH products, spare parts and repair services, as well as in supporting self-supply activities. Supply chain means the sequence of steps or processes or added components involved in making a product from start to finish.

9.5 Community organisations

In rural areas, the two main stakeholder organisations at community level in OWNP implementation are the WASH Committee (WASHCO) and Health Development Army (HDA). (You read about these in Study Sessions 7 and 6 respectively.)

Each are involved in different but related aspects of the OWNP. In some locations, associations of WASHCOs are expected to plan, manage, operate and maintain water points. Health Development Armies are responsible for planning, managing, operating and maintaining household and public latrine sanitation facilities in their kebele. Members of the HDA working with HEWs are important in promoting sanitation and hygiene practices among households in communities.

Community ownership and management of the improved WASH facilities is important for enhancing impact and sustainability; a principle that is clearly illustrated in Case Study 9.1.

Case Study 9.1 Dalocha Women Water Development Association

Water supply in the Dalocha woreda, in the Silti Zone of the SNNPR has been greatly improved since the development of the Dalocha Women Water Development Association (DWWDA). The DWWDA has been responsible for water supply in the woreda since 1998. The water system has a network of three springs, seven boreholes, eight reservoirs, 75 km of pipeline and 48 water kiosks serving over 127,000 people (Figure 9.4). The unusual aspect of this project is that it is managed and led entirely by women. The project was initiated by the INGO ActionAid with the approach that, as women had responsibility for fetching water, they would be more concerned about the proper functioning and sustainability of the water system. They established an organisational structure for the DWWDA that consists of a General Assembly with 178 women and an Executive Board of 16 women drawn from the General Assembly representing the 16 Water Committees responsible for managing day-to-day matters. ActionAid provided regular training for the women in basic literacy and in more specialised subjects of management and administration, financial regulations, water regulations, water and health, gender and protection of the water network.

Figure 9.4  Women fetching water from a DWWDA water kiosk.

This improved water supply project has brought many advantages, including better health for all. Women no longer have to spend hours fetching water, and girls’ school enrolment has increased. Encouraging these women to take leadership roles has also brought other significant benefits. The DWWDA is recognised as a significant stakeholder in the woreda. Despite initial scepticism from some communities and officials, the women have demonstrated their capabilities as managers and leaders over several years. This has empowered them to take on other roles and has changed attitudes to women’s capabilities in communities and in homes. The DWWDA has been so successful that it has been used as a model for other projects, and ActionAid has started ten similar women-led water development associations elsewhere in Ethiopia (Berhane, 2014).

(Adapted from Pratt and Earle, 2004 and ActionAid, 2012)

Summary of Study Session 9

In Study Session 9, you have learned that:

1. The OWNP is a government programme with ambitious goals which cannot be achieved by the government alone. Many other stakeholders groups need to be involved.
2. The main government stakeholders are the four WASH ministries. Some other ministries are also involved.
3. There are three main types of non-governmental stakeholder: major, associated and collaborating stakeholders.
4. Major stakeholders include direct fund contributors to the Consolidated WASH Account such as The World Bank, the Department for International Development, the African Development Bank and UNICEF.
5. Other important stakeholders are the direct WASH project implementers (NGOs or CSOs) like WaterAid, Plan International and UNICEF.
6. Collaborating stakeholders include indirect contributors such as private sector businesses, community organisations, training centres and user groups.

Self-Assessment Questions (SAQs) for Study Session 9

Now that you have completed this study session, you can assess how well you have achieved its Learning Outcomes by answering these questions.