Participants of the country collaboration meeting Photo by Tsegaye Yeshiwas
The main objectives of the Agenda for Change Ethiopia collaboration are learning and coordination on WASH systems strengthening through an area-wide approach and influencing through advocacy for the adoption and scaling up of WASH systems approaches.
Published on: 11/10/2024
“I learned about WASH systems strengthening from the WASH Systems Academy basics course provided by IRC. Thanks to IRC, after completing the course, I believed that WASH systems strengthening is the best way to build sustainable WASH services.”
This is a quote by Yeshewaharg Feyisa from Catholic Relief Services (CRS), which I noted during her presentation on CRS’s efforts to strengthen WASH systems in one of their projects. She was one of the presenters at the Agenda for Change Ethiopia country collaboration members meeting, held in Addis Ababa on October 3, 2024, attended by 11 member organisations and the One WASH National Coordination Office.
Since Yeshewahareg took the course, she has been following the path to WASH systems strengthening and is now working on a project that focuses on improving access and strengthening the WASH system in nine woredas of the East Harerge Zone of Oromia Region. The project supported the development of woreda-wide WASH road maps in three woredas using a participatory approach involving various stakeholders. The project achieved a deeper understanding of the context and evidence-based prioritisation, a shift in the mindset of local actors, and enhanced collaboration in the delivery of WASH services, in addition to successes in improving access to WASH services (drilling boreholes, extending existing sources to multiple villages, constructing on-spot schemes). Now, they are focusing on developing a sustainability strategy and scaling the experience to other areas.
This shows how the country collaboration is bearing fruit. Yeshewaharg’s testimony is not the only manifestation of the efforts of the collaboration members to strengthen the WASH system.
The new USAID funded a five-year Market for Sanitation project includes systems strengthening components. According to Tseguereda Abraham from PSI, the project has a plan to adapt the area-wide WASH implementation guidelines for sanitation, develop outcome harvesting and investment tools, and develop guidelines for collective impact.
Most of the member organisations presented the approaches they use to strengthen the WASH systems and all are in harmony of understanding and implementing WASH systems strengthening.
According to Lemessa Mekonta, the Country Director of IRC WASH Ethiopia, the Agenda for Change Country Collaboration was established in 2018 under the name National WASH Systems Strengthening Initiative. Members of the collaboration include WaterAid Ethiopia, IRC WASH, Welthungerhilfe, Catholic Relief Services, CARE, SPLASH, PSI, Max Foundation, Helvetas, CONCERN, World Vision, Oxfam, UNICEF, MWA, USAID, and Amref Health Africa. The main objectives of the collaboration are learning and coordination on WASH systems strengthening through an area-wide approach and influencing through advocacy for the adoption and scaling up of WASH systems approaches.
In its journey so far, the collaboration has achieved an increase in collaborating members, conducted quarterly meetings for learning, sharing, and coordination, developed a ToR for country collaborators, co-created and rolled out woreda-wide approach guidelines, hosted cross-regional (Africa and Asia) and country collaborator learning sessions (in collaboration with the Agenda for Change Global Secretariat), and replicated WASH systems approaches and the use of the WASH Systems Academy.
The areas of improvement for the country collaboration are an increased commitment from collaborators, maintaining quarterly meetings, and transitioning to joint documentation, presentation and advocacy.
Participants reflected the need to have a strategy to engage more players, have skilled people for lobbying, have a collective voice, use the evidence/successes for influencing, and scale up impact.
The One WASH National Programme brings together government ministries, partners, academia, and CSOs, according to Abiy Girma, the National Coordinator of the programme. The programme has five WASH components: rural, urban, institutional, climate, and programme management. Though the WASH access rate is showing progress, the access gap is also increasing. According to Abiy, the main challenges in the sector are lack of policy framework, absence of regulatory frameworks, limited private sector engagement, and a finance gap.
Launched in 2013, the programme is at the end of its second phase, and is planning for the third phase. The third phase will focus on sector planning and implementation, improving sanitation demand and supply, urban sanitation operation and maintenance, capacitating regions and woredas in community mobilisation and technical aspects, water resource management, institutional WASH, and tackling the finance gap. Participants valued the One WASH National Programme as a good means of collaboration and recommended developing a strategy to tackle the identified challenges.
Finally, the members of the collaboration agreed to focus on the big picture instead of specific projects bound by a specific timeframe, using the collaboration and existing evidence for influencing, collecting more success stories to show the impact, and supporting the existing government initiatives. Representatives from Osprey Foundation who attended the meeting showed interest in continuing to work together.
