UNCDF | United Nations Capital Development Fund

2000 Project Evaluation Results
Prepared by the UNCDF Evaluation Unit

Central African Republic

I. Basic Project Data

Project Number:	CAF/91/C03
Type of Evaluation:	Final
Project Title:	Improving the use of water and planning in the water sector in the Central African Republic
UN Cooperating Organization:	UN Development Programme (UNDP)
Government Executing Agency:	General Directorate for Hydrology
Sector:	Natural Resources
Sub-sector:	Health, health and the environment
Date Project Approved:	23 February 1993
Date Project Began:	February 1994
Date Project Ended:	December 2000
Date Project Evaluated:	March 2000
UNCDF Budget:	US$ 4,368,419
UNDP Budget (CAF/91/015/J):	1,819,682
UNDP Budget (CAF/97/011/E):	1,309,682
Gov't. Budget:	705,875
Total Budget:	US $ 8,203,658
Actual UNCDF expenditures at time of evaluation:	$4,900,054

II. Background

At the beginning of the project, the prefectures of Lobaye and Ombella Mpoko comprised rural populations of 152,000 and 163,000 inhabitants respectively, of whom only nine per cent (Lobaye) and 16 per cent (Ombella Mpoko) had access to drinking water. There was also a low level of health education and poor conditions of hygiene, with a very unhealthy environment. Most often, the populations drew their water from water supplies that were extremely unsanitary. However, the Government found it impossible to finance, on its own, an improvement in the water supply and sanitation for these populations. From an organizational point of view it lacked the knowledge and the management tools to plan the actions to be undertaken, balancing the needs on the one hand and the surface and subterranean water resources on the other.

III. The Project

Development Objectives

As expressed in the project description, the development objective was: "To contribute in a significant degree to improving the living and health conditions of the populations in the prefectures of Lobaye and Ombella Mpoko, in particular with a reduction in water-borne diseases, and to develop a planning tool for the sector". In the description of the revised project CAF/97/011-CAF/91/C03, the last part of the development objective is rephrased as: ".…… in water-borne diseases, by basic measures of sanitation and health education, and the advancement and integration of women into the process of development".

Immediate Objectives

The immediate objectives may be summarized as follows:

Reliable and sustainable supply of drinking water, from 350 boreholes equipped with manually-operated pumps, for approximately 105,000 inhabitants of the prefectures of Lobaye and Ombella Mpoko, and related installation of health measures (construction of 150 VIP latrines and support for the construction of about a thousand family latrines per year);
Provision to the Government of a tool for management and exploitation of water resources; and
Strengthening of national capacities and support for decentralization (deconcentration) of the departments of the Directorate-General for Water (Direction Générale de l'Hydraulique).

Expected Results

These immediate objectives take the specific form of expected outputs, including:
For objective 1: Installation of a self-sufficient system for water supply point management and maintenance; health education measures, directed in particular towards women; and elementary rules of hygiene and environmental health adopted by the populations.
For objective 2: Strategy document up to the year 2000; "Guidelines for the Development of Water Resources;" and holding of a sectoral meeting on water.
For objective 3: Creation of three regional directorates on water-related matters.

IV. Purpose of the Evaluation

In addition to the usual items in final evaluations (achievement of the objectives, performance, etc.), the evaluation team was asked to:

Define the exit procedures for UNDP and UNCDF in order to prepare for the conclusion of the project;
Formulate proposals on the use and investment of the surplus generated by way of the water supply point, in order to fund local development operations following conclusion of the project.

V. Conclusions

Assessment of project design

It appears that the immediate objectives make a substantial contribution to achievement of the development objective, although it could not be claimed that it is achieved in its entirety. Thus the "reduction in water-borne diseases" will not be truly perceptible until the high-risk water supply points have been abandoned by the populations, which seems difficult to achieve simply by imparting knowledge and raising awareness, or upgraded, which was not intended to be part of the project. Specific actions should have been envisaged in order to strengthen the partnership with the populations concerned, who should not be considered merely as "beneficiaries". In particular, it would have been desirable to state in the project description the methodological approach to be followed in the "Gender and Development" aspect, by defining ancillary actions which could be undertaken by national or international NGOs.

Assessment of results achieved

Under objective 1, the following results were achieved:

Boreholes: 350 boreholes equipped with manual pumps are used for drinking water, while the traditional water supply points (wells, springs) continue to be used for laundry and for cooking. The Water Supply Point Committees (Comités de points d'eau [CPE]), which have small amounts of funds provided from the sale of the water, are operational and manage the income which is primarily intended for the maintenance of their pumps; the financial surplus is generally invested in the credit union. In some cases, the members of the CPE are envisaging the possibility of providing the village with community services (health stations, means for transporting the water, schools) or economic activities (village pharmacies, shops, hardware stores). In the short term, the maintenance of the pumps does not raise any real problems, since there are stocks of spare parts. Over the long term, however, the renewal of the stocks of spare parts is not guaranteed, owing to the tiny market size that this represents. Solutions are currently under study.

Latrines: 78 latrines of the VIP type (with ventilated trench), out of the 150 planned, have been constructed in the centres of community activities (schools, health stations) of 45 villages. These latrines are in most cases well maintained, but there is the problem of the cost involved in maintaining them. In addition, 1,129 improved traditional latrines have been constructed by the households themselves, with the support of the project which supplies the slabs. They are very popular with the populations and the project cannot meet all the demand.

Under objective 2, a document on "National Policy and Strategies Relating to Water and Sanitation", drawn up in March 1995 by the National Water and Sanitation Committee (Comité National de l'Eau and de l'Assainissement) with assistance from the project, has been submitted to the Council of Ministers but still has not been adopted. The computer-based tool for management and exploitation of the water resources - the Water Information System (Système d'Information sur l'Eau [SISE]) - does exist, but the national counterpart do not yet fully grasp its usefulness (shortcomings in the processing and monitoring of the information at input to the system, problem of contamination of the database by viruses, etc. have contributed to this). The "Guidelines for the Development of Water Resources" are still at the stage of data collection. A document setting out the state of knowledge on water resources was recently published, in February 2000. The results of the socio-economic investigations still have to be processed. Finally, the sectoral meeting on water, put off until May 2001, falls outside the execution period of the project.

Under objective 3, the project financed two short-term grants, five study trips and one long-term grant for studies outside the country. The latter beneficiary is the only one not still assigned to the project. The on-the-job training in the area of microcomputing benefited eight officials, five of whom are still assigned to the project. As for the personnel trained in drilling techniques, these individuals are now available to the private sector or for the drilling facilities of the Directorate-General for Water. Finally, the seminars intended for the trainers, repair personnel and the Water Supply Point Committees seem to have been appreciated by their direct beneficiaries and had a favourable impact on the indirect beneficiaries, the village communities.

Immediate Objectives

Objective 1 has been achieved and even exceeded in the area of the construction of boreholes equipped with pumps, and is well on the way to being achieved in the area of a "self-sufficient system for water supply point management and maintenance": the design stage has been concluded, but the implementation has yet to be started. The Water Supply Point Committees are operational. Their funds are generally topped up, and a large portion of the money coming from the sale of the water has been invested in the credit union. In the "latrines" area, the quantitative objective is only partially achieved.

Objective 2 is partially achieved. While the document on "National Policy and Strategies Relating to Water and Sanitation" has been written, it has still not been approved at the highest levels. The Water Information System (SISE) is only partly suitable and its applications are limited. There is a need for capacity building in order for the system to become fully functional. The "Guidelines for the Development of Water Resources" are not yet finalized, and the sectoral meeting on water will not be held until after the conclusion of the project.

Objective 3 is also only partially achieved. Some strengthening of national capacities has been undertaken throughout the duration of the project, but there is still a need for work in the area of microcomputing. The subsidiary objective of decentralization of the Water departments (three regional directorates) has been found not to be worth pursuing.

Development Objectives

The provision to the village populations of modern water supply points has had a considerable impact on their living conditions, in that they now have healthy water to meet their domestic needs. However, the fact that the populations continue to use the traditional water supply points, even if apparently not for drinking purposes, could potentially lessen the impact of the project on the improvement of the health of the populations. The effectiveness of the Water Supply Point Committees - which have succeeded in getting the populations to accept the economic dimension of water - attests to the high degree of "buy-in" of the result by the populations. If the profits produced by the sale of water make it possible to develop community services and economic activities, they will have a positive impact in the longer term.

The advancement and integration of women in the process of development, as referred to in the development objective but not appearing explicitly either in the immediate objectives or in the expected outputs, were not subsidiary objectives specifically pursued by the project. Even if it is likely that women have benefited from the positive impacts of the project - which in any event cannot be assessed given the absence of impact indicators - it would appear that much remains to be done. It is also difficult to assess the impact of the VIP latrines on the health of schoolchildren and of the users of the health stations, but the high degree of acceptance of the individual latrines of the "improved traditional" type is encouraging.

As for the impact of the project on the planning and management capacities of those involved in the water sector, the lack of approval at the highest level of the strategy document or of the "Guidelines" makes it still impossible to assess this properly. While some personnel have benefited from training and from study grants, the water management tool, the Water Information System (SISE), is still poorly understood and is not yet operational.

The final subsidiary objective, support for decentralization by deconcentration of the departments of the Directorate-General for Water, has never been pursued. The establishment of three regional directorates was apparently not found to be effective, and was not undertaken.

VI. Recommendations

Given the insufficient understanding of the management tool and given the amount of work still to be done in several areas, it appears unrealistic to attempt to produce the "Guidelines" in their final version before the end of the year 2000, and even more unrealistic to try to hold the sectoral meeting. It is, however, reasonable to envisage that the first draft of the "Guidelines" can be prepared within this time-frame. That would then be finalized by the national actors in the water sector after 31 December 2000. This would imply in particular a strengthening of the national capacities, as embodied by the people who would be involved in drawing up the "Guidelines", and then careful monitoring of their implementation.
It is recommended that the considerable stock of equipment for the construction of boreholes should be sold to the highest bidder and the income from the sale recycled into activities aimed at ensuring sustainability of the water supply points and improving the sanitation of the villages in the prefectures of Ombella Mpoko and Lobaye.
The "Gender and Development" dimension must be integrated into the formulation of the actions described above.
The users of the water have to be involved in decision-making to a greater extent; for this to come about, in particular the Village Development Associations (Associations Villageoises de Développement [AVD]) could be represented on the Interministerial Steering Committee (Comité Interministériel du Pilotage).
Capitalizing on the experience of the project, in particular the best option for implementing boreholes in the Central African Republic should be studied, with a view to maximum coverage of the needs for water (village and urban water works).
The procedures for the use and investment of the surplus generated by way of the water supply points should be defined, with the aim of financing local development operations.

VII. Policy Implications and Lessons Learned

In its design, the project observed some of the principles stated at the International Conference on Water and the Environment held in Dublin in January 1992, including that:
- Decisions related to the water supply and sanitation should be taken at the lowest appropriate level,
- Women play an essential role in the provision, management, and safeguarding of water;
- Water should be recognized as an economic and social good, and people have a basic right to clean water and sanitation at an affordable price.
With regard to planning and management of water, the project also incorporated another of the principles stated in Dublin, namely that of a holistic approach, linking social and economic development with protection of natural ecosystems and linking land and water uses across the whole of a catchment area or groundwater aquifer. The use of a Geographical Information System (Système d'Information Géographique [SIG]) and the participatory dimension within the CIP which will oversee the preparation of the draft of the "Guidelines" should make it possible to ensure this overall approach. Additionally, the Water Information System (SISE) constitutes an aid to decision-making which will allow the integrated management of water resources to be understood in a progressive manner.

VIII. Evaluation Team

The evaluation was carried out by:

Jean Dubus, International consultant, Team Leader, Planner.
Jocelyne Talbot, International consultant on Community Participation and Gender and Development.
Denis Richard, International consultant on Village Water Works.
Désiré Yassigao, National consultant on Village Water Works, Minister responsible for the Economy, the Plan and International Cooperation.