WSPs catalysed wider behavioural and institutional change, enhancing community awareness and participation
Over four years implementation period (2022–2026), a concerted effort was made to strengthen the WASH system in South Ari. The approach was anchored in three interrelated pillars: institutional strengthening of government-led planning and coordination, professionalisation of service delivery, community ownership and resource mobilisation.
Published on: 27/04/2026
Achieving universal access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) is not just about infrastructure, but it is about systems. Across many low- and middle-income countries, investments have historically prioritised physical assets, without sufficient attention to the institutional, financial, and governance mechanisms required to sustain them. The recent experience in South Ari Woreda, Ethiopia, offers a compelling counter narrative: when WASH is approached as a system, not as a short-term project, durable and scalable outcomes become achievable.
Over four years implementation period (2022–2026), a concerted effort was made to strengthen the WASH system in South Ari. The approach was anchored in three interrelated pillars: institutional strengthening of government-led planning and coordination, professionalisation of service delivery, community ownership and resource mobilisation.
Rather than introducing parallel structures, the intervention embedded tools and processes such as WASH master plan, monitoring systems, learning alliance and expenditure tracking within existing government frameworks. This ensured that improvements were not donor dependent but institutionalised within local governance systems.
A central feature of the transformation was the operationalisation of a costed WASH master plan. Too often, such plans remain static documents. In South Ari, however, the plan evolved into a practical decision-making tool, actively used for annual planning, budget allocation, expenditure tracking, resource mobilisation and stakeholder alignment.
This shift from planning as compliance to planning as a management instrument significantly improved coherence across sectors and actors.
One of the achievements was the mobilisation of over ETB 78 million within two years (2024 – 2026). This was not driven by external funding alone, but through diversified financing mechanisms, including:
This demonstrates that even in resource constrained settings, local financing ecosystems can be activated when there is strong leadership, clear planning, and community buy-in.
A persistent challenge in rural WASH is the reliance on voluntary management structures. South Ari addressed this by transitioning toward professionalised service delivery models, including legalisation and strengthening of over 100 water user associations, recruitment of paid technical staff for operation and maintenance and engagement of private sector actors in maintenance supply chains.
These measures significantly improved system functionality, reduced downtime, and enhanced accountability, which are key determinants of long-term sustainability.
The implementation of water safety plan (WSP) provided a structured, risk-based approach to managing water quality. The results of the initial assessments showed widespread contamination, but the follow up testing after the implementation of WSP confirmed 100% compliance with the national water quality standards.
Beyond technical outcomes, WSPs catalysed broader behavioural and institutional changes, strengthening community awareness, improving sanitation practices, and enhancing coordination between sectors.
A monitoring system, integrated across water and health sectors, enabled data use for planning and performance tracking. With full coverage of water scheme data and improved reporting systems, decision makers could identify functionality gaps, allocate resources more efficiently and track progress toward service targets.
This underscores a critical lesson that data systems are not auxiliary but are foundational to effective service delivery.
Several cross-cutting lessons emerged from the South Ari experience:
While significant progress has been made, challenges remain, particularly in closing financing gaps, strengthening sanitation markets, and enhancing inter-sectoral coordination. However, the foundation is firmly in place.
South Ari’s experience illustrates that transformational change in WASH is achievable when interventions are designed around systems, not projects. For policymakers, practitioners, and development partners, the implication is clear: the path to SDG 6 lies not in scaling isolated solutions, but in strengthening the systems that sustain them.
This blog is based on a project titled “Collective Action to Strengthen WASH Systems in South Ari Woreda implemented by IRC WASH from 2022 to 2026 in two phases.
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