The ‘Seventh video’ raises many important governance issues

Published on: 13/12/2011

“The video raises many important governance issues, like partnerships and not to leave everything to communities, transparency in funds management, gender and equity for disadvantaged groups. It helps us see these issues more clearly.” “I have used it in several trainings here, to send the message”. These are two of the 11 comments made on the Seventh Video on Community Water Supply Management by eight participants of the WASH Governance Testing Workshop held in Morogoro, Tanzania, 17th and 18th November 2011.

This excellent advocacy and training tool was produced by IRC in 2000 as an appeal to decision makers to support rural communities in their efforts to manage their water supplies: http://www.irc.nl/page/27480.

Participants of this two-day training were mainly from non-governmental organisations and universities. Their comments on the “7^th video” Community Management of Water Supply, IRC, 2000 included the following:

• This is a good video. It shows problems from many different countries, but they are the same problems we have.
• Will these DVDs be made available? We need them. When can we get them?
• It raises very important questions about inclusivity and how special groups are being addressed
• I like the old woman. It is a good example to talk about equity. 
• Councillors respond to audiovisual materials better than written material so these DVDs can help us get our message across.
• This material can be used as an entry point for more conceptual material such as gender and equity.
• The video raises many important governance issues, like partnerships and not to leave everything to communities, transparency in funds management, gender and equity for disadvantaged group. It helps us see these issues more clearly.
• They are very useful. I have used it in several trainings here, to send the message. We can use these videos while we make ours.
• We are documenting stories, but sometimes we only tell the positive story and miss the opportunity to learn valuable lessons from the negative side. 
• The videos show the problems and the lessons.
• To use them, they have to be localized, e.g. for councilors English is a problem here in Tanzania. Making videos is an expensive thing to do.

A general discussion was held about the video material and whether it should be included as part of the additional resources. Participants were particularly keen to receive copies of the videos shown. 

The overall purpose of the WASH governance testing was to establish whether the WASH governance training materials are appropriate and can be adapted to different country contexts. It was also to determine any gaps and recommendations for improvement. See for more the training web page.

Source: WASH governance pilot testing, Morogoro, Tanzania, email