Linking sustainability with demand, gender and poverty : a study in community-managed water supply projects in fifteen countries

Abstract

Based on the findings identified at the joint meeting of the Water and Sanitation Program, and the Gender Network of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, two key areas seemingly hamper further progress in the field: 1) lack of empirical data regarding the extent to whether gender-sensitive project approaches actually have significant impacts on the sustainability of services created through projects; and, 2) lack of a suitable methodology to help task, and project managers deal with gender in projects. Following the establishment of the global Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) Initiative, this report presents the findings of the PLA studies, and provide researchers, and practitioners with insights into an innovative methodology for participatory research, and community mobilization. Among the linkages between gender, poverty, and demand-responsiveness, studies suggest that better sustained services are more effectively used by community members in a health-promoting manner; and that sustained services are significantly associated with a better gender- and poverty-sensitivity in the demand-responsiveness of projects. Making demand-responsiveness more sensitive to gender, and poverty aspects, imply policy formulation to leverage agency practices in the direction of demand-responsive approaches, and, that the more gender- and poverty-sensitive demand responsiveness can be used in communal interactions, the more the community can influence the service delivery process, and, build ownership, and capacity to manage services effectively.