Project Proposal to DFID Sierra Leone

Plan International
Sierra Leone

Project title Provision of additional clean water supply in Moyamba and Port
Loko Districts
Project timeframe 2 years (June 2013 – May 2015)
Project beneficiaries 126 ODF communities in four chiefdoms in Moyamba and Port Loko
Districts:
Koya -17,250
TMS - 5,500
Fakunya - 6,500
Kowa - 2250
especially women and children. (See disaggregation of beneficiaries
in narrative and logframe.)
Project partners Plan Sierra Leone, District Health Management Teams in Moyamba
and Port Loko.
Project budget £ 998,290

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Project summary

This project will build on the achievements of the Hygiene, Sanitation and Water Supply in
Port Loko and Moyamba project, which was implemented in the Kowa and Fakunya
chiefdoms in Moyamba and in the Koya and TMS chiefdoms in Port Loko. Through this
project 723 communities have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF). In 161 (22%) of
these communities the project has also built (143) and rehabilitated (18) community wells.
This new project will provide a further 126 ODF communities with water through wells fitted
with hand pumps.

The project employs participatory methodologies that promote inclusion and community
decision making, and is building the capacity of community based organisations including
Water Management Committees (WMC), Community Health Clubs (CHCs) and School
Health Clubs (SHCs). Plan and its local partners are building dialogue between communities
and local government in order to increase government support for and investment in
hygiene, sanitation and water supply interventions.

Relevance

Although significant progress has been made in the past 10 years, 65% of the population in
rural areas of Sierra Leone is still without access to clean water and only 6% has access to
improved sanitation (the national average is 55% with access to water and 13% to
sanitation).1

Unsafe drinking water can be a significant carrier of diseases such as trachoma, cholera,
typhoid, schistosomiasis and other pathogens that cause diarrhoea. In addition to this,
access to safe drinking water is particularly important for time use of women and children
who bear the primary responsibility for obtaining and carrying water—tasks that can take a
great deal of time due to long distances and/or waiting times that are often required.2

In the Moyamba and Port Loko districts, an estimated 35% of the population has access to
improved water sources. Of the population using unimproved sources of water only 3.6% in
Moyamba and 0.7% in Port Loko are currently using an appropriate treatment at household
level.

In terms of hygiene practices, 88.4% of households in Moyamba have designated places for
hand washing, but in 80% of them water and soap was not available. In Port Loko only
35.9% of households has a hand washing place and in 74.8% of cases water and soap was
not available.3

In both districts, women and girls are the main parties responsible for water collection. In
Moyamba they represent 62.2% and 14.6% respectively of those who collect water. In Port
Loko the situation is similar with 60.1% of water collection being carried out by women and
15.6% by girls.

1
Joint Monitoring Programme: http://www.wssinfo.org/data-estimates/table/
2
UNICEF, Sierra Leone Multi Indicator Cluster Survey 2010
3
UNICEF, Sierra Leone Multi Indicator Cluster Survey 2010

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Over the last five years, Plan’s work with communities and local authorities has focussed on
improving sanitation through CLTS. Plan recognises that in many communities which have
now been declared ODF, water facilities are insufficient. The high demand placed on
functioning pumps leads to frequent break-down and a poor supply chain often means
significant delays in repairs. In many cases communities do not have the management
capacity to maintain water facilities and are reluctant to pay for water source maintenance
due to limited disposable income and a historical over-dependance on subsidies. Many wells
stop working during the dry season as they are not sufficiently deep. This in turn leads to
overuse of remaining sources, resulting in further breakages.

This project is in line with the district development plans as well as with the National Water
Supply and Sanitation Policy in its aim to improve health by freeing the citizens from water-
borne and related diseases so that they will be healthy, productive and lead a satisfying life.4

Project Description

Purpose: Contribute to the reduction of WASH-related diseases in Sierra Leone through

access to sustainable WASH facilities equally managed by women and men.

Outcome: Rural communities in Moyamba and Port Loko have sustainable WASH facilities
equally managed by men and women.

Outputs
1. 52% of population within ODF communities using sustainable and safe water sources
equally managed by men and women
2. Communities and responsible government authorities supported to monitor effective
and gender balanced management of water supplies.

Outputs and activities

Output 1: 52% of population within ODF communities using sustainable and safe water
sources equally managed by men and women.

1.1 Needs assessment to determine optimum localities for wells and WMC training
needs: Plan already knows the communities within this district very well as a result of
our previous work. Nevertheless to ensure a fair and transparent allocation of the new
water points we will carry out a needs assessment to identify optimum locations for new
water points. This will be informed by the latest local and national studies by Plan and
other parties.

1.2 Development of additional training materials for WMCs: Most training materials will
leverage existing resources form Plan or other NGOs in the sector. We have identified
needs for strengthening resources related to:

 Financial management of Operations and Maintenance (O&M) budget

4
Water Supply and Sanitation Policy Sierra Leone, United Nations Economic Commission
for Africa
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  WMC engagement with communities and government
 WMC ability to effectively monitor well construction contractors
 WMC contingency planning for cholera outbreaks

These will be further refined during the inception period.

1.3 Training of WMCs: Plan, through the project partners, will form and train one WMC in
each of the communities where the wells will be constructed. Each committee will
comprise 10 people with equal representation of men and women including two youth
members. Plan will encourage the election of women to key management positions
within committees. The training will use materials developed as part of the previous
activity as well as developing new materials outlined in 1.2 above. To increase
sustainability of the WMC the project will put a strong focus on making them accountable
to both the government and their communities. It is envisaged that through increasing
linkages to these other stakeholders with wider health interests there will be greater
internal motivation and external pressure/support.

1.4 Environmental and geophysical survey: Previous experience of well digging in this
region has identified this activity as a cost-effective way of minimising the risks of hitting
impenetrable rock layers during construction. This work will be contracted out to
experienced national contractors.

1.5 Construction of 126 wells: This activity includes:

 Consultation with government, communities, CHCs, SHCs and WMCs.

 Construction & equipping of wells with hand pumps.
 Water quality testing and registration.

1.6 Training of hand pump mechanics: Sixty hand pump attendants will be selected and
trained on basic techniques in maintaining water wells and will receive a set of tools for
hand pump repair and maintenance. Criteria for selection will include their presence and
availability in each community, trust from community members, some basic knowledge
on repairs or previous knowledge as a blacksmith or local artisan. Staff of the DHMT
have agreed to provide this training for the pump mechanics.

1.7 WMC follow up training: After construction of water points, WMCs will receive regular
follow-up visits from Plan and partners to ensure that they are functioning effectively and
provide extra training as appropriate. Follow-up training will put particular focus on
ensuring that the management of the WMCs is open and transparent and that they can
effectively monitor and publish simple management reports for sharing. These reports
are likely to consist primarily of simple key performance indicators associated with both
the technical and financial management of facilities. These will be defined further as part
of the inception period.

Output 2: Communities and responsible government authorities supported to monitor

effective and gender-balanced management of water supplies

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2.1 District-level launch workshops: A one-day launch workshop will be organized in each
of the two districts. The objective of the session is to inform key stakeholders on the key
interventions and to discuss criteria for selecting target communities.

2.2 Awareness raising of stakeholders (councillors, paramount chiefs): At each

chiefdom headquarter town, major stakeholders will be brought together to reflect on
key interventions, criteria for selection, methods for maintaining water points,
mobilization of local materials, etc. These stakeholders will be made aware of the
responsibilities of WMCs to report key performance indicators to users and government.
As CHCs and SHCs have already been established within the communities and are
often closely linked to the WMCs it is suggested that these stakeholders will be the
primary focal points for sharing project information and gathering wider opinions/ideas
from the communities.

2.3 Quarterly project review meetings: Project review meetings will be held and facilitated
by Plan. The objective of these meeting will be to bring together key stakeholders with
the aim of updating all on progress, challenges and together determining ways to
overcome them.

2.4 Development of additional training materials for CHCs, SHCs and key local
government staff: Many materials exist already and will be re-used in this phase of the
project. However, based on learning from previous phases, we have identified additional
training needs related to:

 Understanding of WASH governance in Sierra Leone.

 How to ensure that Water Management Committees are accountable to the wider
community.
 Household water storage and treatment.
 ODF re-verification and sanitation upgrading.
 Cholera contingency planning.

2.5 Capacity Building of CHCs, SHCs & key local government staff: This will include
refreshers on topics covered in previous phases of the project to ensure sustainability of
achievements to date. With the increased focus on water supply during this new phase
the training will focus more heavily on household water storage and treatment practices
in order to ensure that the benefits of clean water sources are transferred to the point of
use. Plan and partners will work to ensure that the DHMT, CHCs and SHCs understand
the roles and responsibilities of the WMCs and what they can expect from them. These
stakeholders will be encouraged to support WMCs through increasing hygiene
awareness within the wider community and ensuring that financial contributions are
made for O&M costs. Although sanitation is not the main focus of this project, CHCs,
SHCs and the DHMT will be regularly consulted about the ODF status of communities to
monitor for evidence of slippage or sanitation upgrading.

2.6 Mass media awareness campaign: This will use a combination of media including
radio, posters and film to support the activities outlined above. The specific focus will be
on needs identified during implementation. However, this is likely to focus on
maintaining ODF communities, household water storage and treatment, sanitation

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 marketing, gender mainstreaming and how different stakeholders can work together to
ensure that water supplies remain sustainable.

2.7 Participation in international WASH events: This will involve annual support to local
organisations for celebration of World Water Day - 22nd March; Global Hand Washing
Day - 15th October and World Toilet Day - 19th November to continue raising
awareness and celebrating successes.

Project beneficiaries

The project is targeting 31,500 people in 126 communities within the chiefdoms of Kowa and
Fakunya in Moyamba and in Koya and TMS in Port Loko. This is equivalent to approximately
21% of the projected total 2015 population. The project avoids double counting of
beneficiaries by using the total number of people gaining access to water as the total
beneficiary number. Other beneficiary groups are part of this overall number. Notably women
and girls are expected to be the largest sub-group of beneficiaries as they are primarily
responsible for the collection of water. The breakdown and calculation methodologies are
provided in the tables below. Further details are provided in the annexed “beneficiaries
estimate” document.

Population Estimates based Est Est Total Estimated and Estimated

on 2004 census and average numb benefi Projec forecast and forecast
growth rate of 2.6%5 er of ciarie t population with % access to
new s per Benefi access to water7 water
wells well6 ciarie
s
District 2004 2013 2015 2015 2013 2015 2013 2015
Chiefdom
Port Koya
Loko 63,614 80,145 84,367 69 250 17,250 25,647 42,897 32% 51%
TMS
20,932 26,372 27,761 22 250 5,500 8,439 13,939 32% 50%
Fakunya
Moyam 22,327 28,129 29,611 26 250 6,500 9,001 15,501 32% 52%
ba Kowa
7,082 8,922 9,392 9 250 2,250 2,855 5,105 32% 54%
Total
113,955 143,569 151,131 126 31,500 45,942 77,442 32% 52%

The targeted communities will be selected based on the following criteria:

 Community certified as ODF and with large population.
 No safe or protected water point; or water well damaged requiring rehabilitation.
 Potential of water well to serve either a health centre or a school in addition to the
community.

5
WB Report 2012 (average 2004-2013)
6
Estimate based upon average users per well in communities targeted.
7
Disaggregated figures by sex and age attached in “beneficiaries estimate”

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Through output 1 (population within ODF communities using sustainable and safe
water sources equally managed by men and women) the project will reach the following
beneficiaries8:

Group F (0-18) F 18+ M (0-18) M 18+ Total F Total M Total

WC Members 126 504 126 504 630 630 1260

Water Collectors 1103 1103 788 158 2205 945 3150

Water Users 6615 9135 6615 9135 15750 15750 31500

Through output 2 (Communities and responsible government authorities supported to

monitor effective and gender balanced management of water supplies) the project will
reach the following beneficiaries9:

Group F (0-18) F 18+ M (0-18) M 18+ Total F Total M Total

Government 0 2 0 18 2 18 20
Employees
CHC Members 315 1260 315 1260 1575 1575 3150
SHC Members 563 0 563 0 563 563 1125
Radio listeners 3600 8400 3600 8400 12000 12000 24000

Project Approach

The project will be implemented through Plan International working within the government
policies and frameworks for WASH in Sierra Leone in collaboration with other WASH
partners. Well construction and rehabilitation will be carried out using the Community
Management of Project (CMP) approach. This has proven to be effective as it promotes
ownership of facilities whereby community members are involved in the selection of service
providers.

At the community level, the WMC will be responsible for supervision of well construction and
ensuring on-going operation and maintenance of water points. Each committee will comprise
10 people with equal representation of men and women including two youth members. The
project seeks to increase the presence of women in key roles in the committees over time
through engagement with the communities on the importance of gender equity. Data
disaggregated by sex and age is included in the project indicators and will be collected as
part of the project M&E and learning process.

The project aims to ensure accountability of WMCs both to the government and to the
community. Government accountability will be to the DHMT and WMCs will be encouraged
to submit simple, regular reports covering key performance indicators (KPIs) related to
technical, management and financial aspects of water supplies. The format of these reports
will be designed in partnership with the DHMT. Accountability to the community will primarily

8
Details of how these estimates are made provided in annex.
9
Details of how these estimates are made provided in annex

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be through engagement with CHCs and SHCs. The same information reported to the DHMT
will be shared with communities through meetings, reports and public notices. It is expected
that through this public and transparent management of water points their long term
sustainability will be ensured. The health remit of CHCs, SHCs and DHMTs is wider than
that of WMCs and therefore by closely linking these stakeholders to the WMC it is expected
that other synergies will be found.

Project duration and timeline

The duration of the project is of 24 months and it is expected to start in June 2013. This start
date has been chosen to ensure good timing of well construction work outside of the rainy
season. It is anticipated that these construction activities will be carried out in two phases
over the dry seasons (December-May). Prior to this, an initial inception period of two months
will allow Plan and its partner to design the details of the intervention. This phase will be
informed by the findings and recommendations of the final evaluation of the DFID funded
“Hygiene, Sanitation and Water Supply in Port Loko and Moyamba project”. This evaluation
will take place in April/May 2013 and will be carried out by two international consultants with
significant experience in the rural WASH sector and participatory community development
processes. Plan UK and Plan Sierra Leone are investing additional funds to ensure a high-
quality evaluation and to build on the learning from this in this proposed project. The project
will also be informed by the UNICEF evaluation of rural WASH and the WASH Facility
funded review of CLTS approaches. The inception report will be presented to DFID in Q3
2013 and at this time procurement, training and geophyical surveys will be launched. During
the dry seasons, priority will be given to ensuring that practical works are carried out in a
timely manner and in rainy seasons the project will focus more on training and capacity
building.

A detailed project timeline is attached to this proposal.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

Plan International has clearly established procedures for follow-up of programmes and
projects as detailed in its internal Programme Accountability and Learning System (PALS)
core guidelines. The project will also use Plan’s established corporate systems including the
Project Program Module (PPM) and the Grants Tracking System (GTS).

Project achievements and results will be assessed and reported against on a quarterly and
annual basis in line with the proposed objectives, indicators and detailed activities.

Support will be provided by Plan’s Monitoring and Evaluation team which will provide
backstopping support to the core project teams at their respective geographical locations.
Plan UK will provide additional technical backstopping throughout the project cycle.

Project staff at community level will be responsible for the day to day implementation and
monitoring of the project. Plan’s Programme Coordinator will oversee the field level
implementation while the national programme manager will ensure strategic direction and
compliance with policy and donor requirements with technical support from the WASH

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Advisor. Communities and responsible government authorities will be supported to monitor
effective and gender-balanced management of water supplies. Plan and the DHMTs will also
engage in technical follow-up on a periodic basis.

The baseline data will be taken from project management documentation, the external
evaluation of the current DFID-funded project in the two districts and other relevant reports
from external organisations. Monitoring of the project will include the collection of primary as
well as secondary data during project implementation. The collection of primary data will be
achieved through gathering and storage of routine project monitoring information including
KAP surveys and the quarterly joint planning and monitoring activities.

A comprehensive final evaluation will be conducted at the end of the project. This will
determine the extent to which the project has met its specified objectives, and will be
conducted by an external consultant with Plan’s participation. Documented results and
lessons will be shared extensively with Plan partners and other interested stakeholders. The
results of the evaluation will be incorporated into key project documents that will be widely
disseminated both nationally and the district level and shared with the donor.

Partnerships and Networks

Through the national WASH network learning and sharing meetings, stakeholders have the
opportunity to share project updates including successes, challenges and new strategies.
This project will look to share experiences and adopt approaches that are proving effective in
other organisations and locations. The inception period will allow Plan to refine the activities
based upon a number of on-going studies that are still to be published at the time of this
proposal submission (mentioned above). In addition to the studies, there are a number of on-
going projects taking place both within the project area and nationally with which Plan will
seek synergies and learning.

Water Point Mapping: Plan has contributed information from previous projects to the
national water point database and continues to support the government in its development.

Hand Pump Supply Chains: Plan has been working closely with UNICEF over the last few
months to try and standardise hand pump equipment. This work is essential to ensuring the
long term sustainability due to its impact on simplifying the supply chain of spare parts. Plan
is working with other organisations to lobby the government to adopt a national standard and
procurement for this project will be guided by this initiative.

UNICEF Well Rehabilitation: Plan is already coordinating with UNICEF on the rehabilitation
of wells in ODF communities in the four chiefdoms targeted by this project under separate
funding. Currently the scope and scale of this future rehabilitation work is still being designed
and Plan will seek to harmonize activities within this project during the project inception
phase. As many of the WMC activities are associated with rehabilitation of water points we
may be able to achieve some cost savings which will allow us to increase the reach of this
project.

VS&L Financing for WASH: The Plan pilot project “WASH-Village Savings and Loan
Linking Project in Moyamba and Port Loko Districts in Sierra Leone” is working in 34
communities and is due for completion in February 2014. This project seeks to promote the

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use of income generated through VS&L schemes to maintain and repair household
sanitation facilities and contribute to WMC O&M budgets. This is expected to create an
increased demand for sanitation and hand pump supplies. If this pilot project proves to be
successful there is scope for potentially integrating learning from this pilot into the second
year of this project.

Through Plan’s regional office and Plan UK, Plan will also leverage lessons from
international experience. Plan is involved in international WASH forum activities and actively
participates in the CLTS Learning and Action Group facilitated by IDS in the UK.
Experienced WASH staff in Plan UK will provide technical backstopping and oversight of
activities and learning.

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