Project Evaluation Summaries
Prepared by the Policy, Planning and Evaluation Unit (PPEU)

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Gambia

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I. Basic Project Data

Project Number:	GAM/86/C02
Project Title:	Wells Construction in Rural Areas
UN Cooperating Agency:	UNDP
Govt. Executing Agency:	Ministry of Water Resources and Environment Health
Sector:	Health (10)
Sub-Sector:	Drinking Water (1030)
UNCDF Budget:	US$     2,233,308
Counterpart Budget:	166,600
UNDP Budget:	127,000
Total Budget:	2,526,908
Actual Total Expenditures at Evaluation:	1,829,794
Date Project Approved:	30 Mar 1988
Date Project Began:	N/A
Date Project Evaluated:	Dec 1992
Type of Evaluation:	Terminal

II.  Background

Prior to 1976, the majority of The Gambia's population of 733,000 met its need for water from hand-dug wells, which, in addition to running dry 3.5 months a year, wore open and unsanitary and therefore a frequent source of contaminated water. This contributed significantly to The Gambia's high infant mortality rate (160 per 1000 births) and low life expectancy (44 years), and at the same time K spread nonfatal water-born disease and caused environmental damage, including a lowering of the water table.

To address this problem, the government of The Gambia implemented the National Well Construction Program in 1976. With assistance from external donors and NG0s, including UNCU, The Gambia's Department of Water Resources was able to make significant progress toward improving the cleanliness and reliability of the rural water supply. However, in 1985, the need for economic austerity programs curtailed government resources for well construction. To build on the achievements of its first Rural Water Supply Program and to assist The Gambian government in rationalizing its overextended public sector, UNDP implemented a second project in 1988.

III.  The Project

The project, Wells Construction in Rural Areas, was designed with three broad objectives: 1) to improve the supply of dean and adequate water to rural areas in The Gambia; 2) to strengthen the government's maintenance and rehabilitation system, and 3) to foster capacity for well construction and maintenance within the local private sector. To achieve these objectives, the project set out the following goals for the period 1988-92:

1. to construct 220 new village wells;
   
   
2. to repair and maintain an existing 90 wells and foster village participation in well maintenance;
   
   
3. to train personnel from the Department of Water Resources in improved equipment maintenance, which would include training in data management, development of date systems for contract management, and improvement of overall financial management;
   
   
4. to provide technical and management training to the private sector as well as credit facilities in the form of a revolving fund to a minimum of 20 private teams.

Midway through the project, a number of changes were made to the original project design on the basis of recommendations made by a UNDP review mission in 1990: the number of wells to be constructed was reduced from 220 to 150; well surface structures were expanded to include cattle troughs and areas for washing; the revolving fund credit was reduced from US$376,000 to US$50,000; and construction was focused to more geographically specific areas.

IV.  Purpose of the Evaluation

Upon completion of the project in 1992, an evaluation mission was fielded by UNCDF to provide an in-depth analysis of the design, implementation, impact and sustainability of the project. The mission was also asked to make recommendations on how to improve the design and implementation for the formulation of a possible second phase of the project.

V. Findings of the Evaluation Mission

A. Assessment of Results Achieved

1. The construction of the 150 wells was in general completed successfully, directly benefiting 45,000 people by increasing the water supply and providing a much higher quality of water than that provided by traditional wells. However, some of the new wells are better located for watering cattle (traditionally men's work) than for hauling water (women's work) and are therefore under utilized and inordinately benefit men more than women. Moreover, only 4 of the 20 wells tested met WHO standards for bacteriological quality.
   
   
2. A total of 225 new pumps were installed, one each in half of the new wells constructed and two each in the other half. While these pumps were somewhat expensive, their high quality helps ensure their durability.
   
   
3. The rehabilitation of 90 wells was not successfully achieved. However, the goal of fostering village participation in well maintenance has initially proven successful. The Mission commanded the Government's decision to introduce a nationwide community-based maintenance system developed by The German Handdug Well Construction Programme, which comprises a) water committees and caretakers at village level.' b) area mechanics and district committees at district level, and c) DWR back-up at national level.
   
   
4. The established maintenance system seemed to work satisfactorily, although it was heavily supported by the project and not sufficiently community based.
   
   
5. The project did have a positive impact on the capacity of private-sector contractors to build wells. Contractors registered and trained by the present project were able to get work on other projects, though this was considered as only the first step towards full-fledged privatization.

B. Assessment of Project Design

The overall project design was found relevant and realistic, providing an innovative approach to improving the rural water supply in The Gambia. However, there were several significant shortcomings. For instance, the time schedule was overly ambitious. It underestimated the time needed to start the project, especially the time needed to privatize well construction. The project design was improved during implementation by input from several UNDP and UNCDF missions.

The project design included the establishment of a revolving fund to support the contractors' purchase of capital intensive equipment. However, the fund was never established, partly because its need and feasibility were questioned. As an alternative, the project rented equipment to the contractors at subsidized rates. The quality of the equipment was not always good and the supply was inadequate.

+Due to the number of actors involved, the execution modalities of the project were complex and unclear. For instance, there was no consensus on whether the TA-staff funded by the UNDP project was managerial or advisory, and the training of counterpart staff was modest. The mission observed a certain tendency among the TA-staff to downgrade on-the-job training of counterpart staff, particularly when problems arose.

VI.  Recommendations

The Evaluation Mission recommended that the current project continue until March 1993, in order to complete the installation of hand pumps. Regarding a possible second phase, the Evaluation Mission suggested the following:

• Define more clearly the responsibilities of the various participants in the project: UNCDF could play a more active role in project supervision, attending the Tripartite Review Meetings and carrying out annual project reviews, the UNCDF well-digging Programme and the UNDESO technical assistance project could be merged into one project; and the Gambian government's input of counterpart staff should be spelled out in more detail. UNDP/World Bank Regional Water Supply and Sanitation Group, West Africa in Ivory Coast could be contracted to assist in the integration of water supply, hygiene and sanitation aspects of the project.
  
  
• Allow more time for detailed planning at the start of the project and for preparation of project activities.
  
  
• Assign a more vital role to on-the-job training of counterparts in order to build capacity within the Department of Water Resources. This can be accomplished by clarifying the role of the TA-staff. The CTA should be an engineer with some experience in matters of community participation as well as in health and hygiene.
  
  
• Place greater emphasis on health and sanitation education in conjunction with the provision of safe water.
  
  
• Pay greater attention to the principles of the Government of Gambia's Poverty Alleviation Program. In particular, the aspects of community involvement and basic need should be strengthened.
  
  
• Give the same priority to the rehabilitation of existing wells as to the construction of new wells.
  
  
• Further develop the fledgling privatization of well digging into full-scale privatization. Gradually introduce competitive bidding, remove subsidies, and support fewer, more consolidated contractors. In addition, intensify the training of the contractors at the Gambian Technical Training Institute (GTTI).
  
  
• Place greater emphasis on site selection in order to ensure that preference is given to under-served or unserved villages. This could be accomplished by involving communities directly in site selection.
  
  
• Better establish a genuine community-based maintenance system by a) employing voluntary labor of future users in the construction of wells and the surface structures; and b) gradually reducing support provided by the project team. More strict follow-up on various technical missions and Tri.1Guadri-partite Review Meetings should also be ensured.

VII.  Policy Implications and Lessons Learned

Based on The Gambian rural water supply project, the following policy issues should be considered:

1. In order to have a meaningful impact on the overall quality of the rural water supply, projects must balance structural and technical concerns with sanitation and hygiene concerns. The construction of modern, covered wells with hand-pumps cannot ensure the quality of water supply without hygienic transportation and storage of water as well as improved personal and environmental hygiene (including use of hygienic latrines).
   
   
2. In order for UNCDF assistance to improve local capacity for continued improvement of the rural water supply, greater concern needs to be paid to training of local staff and not merely to accomplishing the job as expediently as possible.
   
   
3. To better serve the principles of the Government's Poverty Alleviation Program and the Program for Sustainable Development, two steps could be taken: 1) increase the involvement of women in site-selection, and 2) introduce user contributions during construction and increase community involvement in pump maintenance and in health and hygiene promotion.
   
   

VIII.  Evaluation Team

The mission consisted of Mr. Steffen Hvam, hydraulic/rural water supply engineer and team leader, Mr. John Robinson, financial analyst and Mr. Peter B. Jensen, socio-economist.