Reconceptualizing a Successful WASH Intervention: Toward Holistic Measurement and Evaluation

Keywords: water insecurity, international development, global health, water resources
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 08:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 09:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 8

Abstract

The world spends billions of dollars on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs annually, but the cost of achieving universal basic WASH services has been estimated at US$28.4 billion per year through 2030. We need to do even more with less. Yet, several major integrated WASH trials have underperformed or failed by virtue of narrow metrics, such as childhood diarrhea incidence and linear growth, and this message risks weakening funder relations with the WASH sector. Many WASH programs still use a narrow 20th-century notion of health and disease that focuses on indicator bacteria and water quality. But WASH interventions improve household members’ lives in a wide variety of ways that are rarely tracked together: through physical, environmental, and psychosocial health; socio-economic standing and social capital; political empowerment; increased time for education and livelihood activities; gender equity; and more. New household water insecurity metrics, for example, have improved our understanding of the breadth of water insecurity experiences in low- and middle-income settings; such tools can help us deploy smarter water interventions that demonstrate the broad value of WASH interventions for stakeholders, funders, and development specialists. We offer a re-conceptualization of “successful” WASH projects and a path to more holistic evaluation of water interventions that relaxes our obsession with water quality and recognizes additional attendant social, economic, political, and health benefits. In doing so, we can better respond to local communities’ needs and priorities, demonstrate broader impact of development projects, and strengthen funder commitment to the WASH sector.