Lessons learned from Village Level Operation and Maintenance (VLOM)

The concept of village level operation and maintenance management in relation to communal hand pumps has gained wide acceptance in the rural water sector since it was first proposed in the early 1980s. Project designs based on this concept are commonplace.However, implementation of hand pump programmes in accordance with VLOM criteria has been only partially successful and maintenance has been very difficult to realise in the field, especially in Africa. As a result, enthusiasm for the concept is now more guarded and the concept is increasingly considered as only one amongst many components needed for the sustainable provision of village water supplies. Difficulties with the introduction of village operation and maintenance have raised a number of questions in relation to the user community, the supporting environment and technology choice. This literature study tries to answer these questions.
It reviews the present state-of-the-art in the domain, and tries to answer the following issues : 1) how useful has the concept proved to be ?; 2) what is the evidence of success ?; and 3) has the concept been sufficiently successful to be incorporated into later concepts such as “community management” of rural water supply ?
Although VLOM has undoubtedly brought the answer to sustainability a little closer, the goal of easy maintenance remains elusive. Perhaps the greatest lesson learned is that there are no ‘off-the-shelf’ solutions which can bypass the need for effective government institutions for community support.