11/05/2016

DFID-SNV SSH4A Results programme launched

DFID-SNV SSH4A Results programme launched

SNV and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) have officially launched the multi-country Sustainable Sanitation & Hygiene for All (SSH4A) Results Programme, which will be conducted across nine countries in Africa and Asia from 2014 to 2017.

DFID awarded SNV with a €28 million service contract to fund the SSH4A Results Programme in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia in April. The programme launch was held in the SNV office in Arusha, Tanzania, on Saturday May 10,  with the presence of DFID’s Water and Sanitation Advisor Mr. Lukas Kwezi, SNV Programme Manager Mr. Daniel Truneh and country representatives.

During the launch Mr. Kwezi said that SNV was the first organisation to implement a results-based funding programme in WASH. Mr. Kwezi said DFID believed that working through results-based funding would improve service delivery and increase efficiency, transparency and accountability.

Under the Sanitation and Water for All programme DFID has committed to reaching 60 million people by 2017. This includes improved access to sanitation and hygiene for 4.6 million people by 2015. The partnership between DFID and SNV will contribute to meeting half of this target. Mr. Kwezi said it was DFID’s belief in the strength of SNV’s approach, including its focus on behaviour change, that had resulted in SNV being selected for the results-based funding programme. “At DFID we believe that only through behaviour change you reach sustainability. The level of uptake of improved sanitation was 10% in Tanzania in five years. For handwashing the uptake is very low and therefore very challenging,” he said.

“What I also appreciate is that SNV looks at the entire chain and includes social marketing.” Mr. Kwezi explained that in the case of Tanzania community-led total sanitation (CLTS) was not the main programme activity, as 90% of people have a latrine. He said that the difficult element of the programme would be motivating people to move up the sanitation ladder from unimproved to improved latrines. In Tanzania institutions are fragmented, with a wide range of ministries and departments responsible for water, sanitation and hygiene, frequently leading to a lack of coordination. Acknowledging this challenge, Mr. Kwezi said he believed SNV would be able to contribute to greater coordination, influence national practices and help Tanzania reach sustainability.

SNV’s multi-country Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Programme Manager Daniel Truneh called the announcement of the SSH4A Results Programme “historic”. He expressed gratitude to DFID for being present at the launch and for presenting their programmes and experience in WASH, as well as their expectations for the multi-country programme. Mr. Truneh indicated that there would be challenges ahead, but that the main goal was to achieve access to sanitation and hygiene for over 4 million people. “I cannot over-emphasise the strategic importance of the programme,” Mr. Truneh said. “We are the pioneers in results-based funding in the sanitation sector and the world stands to learn immensely from our experience.”

Within the nine programme countries SNV will work in close collaboration with local governments, the private sector and other stakeholders to strengthen capacity in four areas key to sustainable improved sanitation ­– steering and implementation of sanitation demand creation, sanitation supply chains and finance, behavioural change communication and WASH governance.