Case Study: Toward a more integrated national WASH data system

There is a broad consensus amongst WASH sector stakeholders (and beyond) that data is a crucial element in improving public service delivery. The World Bank report ‘Data for Better Lives’, describes in detail how important it is to create a healthy data ecosystem in low income countries, with a ‘social contract’ at its core that determines that data will lead to no harm and that value created by data will be shared equally among stakeholders; government, private sector, and civil society. The UNICEF WCARO and ESARO programs offer an opportunity to take the first step towards a more integrated approach on data in the WASH sector.

This rapid assessment builds upon the theoretical framework for assessing national WASH M&E systems developed by IRC and Akvo in 2017. In order to identify key stakeholders within the current WASH monitoring system and critical bottlenecks and opportunities in establishing a more integrated system together in a participatory and lean way, Akvo felt the need to simplify the assessment framework to make it more user-friendly. Based on the assessment, Akvo will make recommendations for developing a more efficient and integrated program monitoring system.