Tearfund Disaster Management Key Learning
Sustainability
Last Updated: 15 November 2009
Specific actionable recommendations and relevant background information
General
1
Identify ways for partners to retain key staff at the end of an
emergency response
Source of Learning:
Sahel / West Africa
Background Information:
Given the prevalence of partner staff on short-term contracts, measures are needed to help
partners reduce the loss of staff and retain critical capacity in disaster planning and response.
2
Work through existing community leadership or committee structures
whenever possible and appropriate
Source of Learning:
Sierra Leone, Liberia
Background Information:
Many projects involve working through a local community committee, which may have a range of
responsibilities e.g. agreeing selection criteria, selecting beneficiaries, overseeing a construction
project, managing a water source etc. Some projects have established a new committee,
created for the purpose of the project. The general lesson learnt has been that these are often
not sustainable for the long term once the project has ended, unless there is very strong
motivation and ownership. Working through traditional committee structures has proven more
sustainable and locally owned, and work particularly well when there is a strong tradition of
community committee leadership, and/or these are part of an established national system
encouraged and supported by the government. The cautions however are to ensure that such
committees are truly representative or the communities (gender balance may well be a concern),
and to ensure that are truly empowered to act for the community if they are associated with a
government structure. If the decision is to create a new committee, consider carefully how to
relate to the traditional leadership in order that they are not alienated or seek to disrupt the work
of the committee.
3
Be clear on the long term plan for community committees
Source of Learning:
Kashmir/Pakistan
Background Information:
Are they to be established simply for the purpose of delivering the project while it is underway or
is the aim for it to be a long term sustainable structure? In the evaluation of the Pakistan,
Kashmir programme, the purpose of the committees was unclear after the project had closed. It
is important to agree at the onset what structures are appropriate and be clear on what the
community itself would like to see for the long term.
Livelihoods
1
When aiming to achieve the goal of sustainable livelihoods, plan for
longer-term engagement with communities
Source of Learning:
Sahel / West Africa
Background Information:
In the Sahel response, it was recognised that a longer-term engagement, e.g. 10 years, with
target communities should be considered, recognising the time it takes to build social, intellectual
and physical capital and to effectively resist hazards. 3 year project cycles, or less, were found to
be inadequate to achieve significant and lasting impact.
2
Carefully consider the role of local churches and pastors in loan
schemes
Source of Learning:
Sahel / West Africa
Background Information:
In the Sahel experience, the learning from evaluations was that pastors should not be directly
involved in activities such as loan-repayment as this creates conflict for them in working with
community members. Instead, it was recommended that they take an advisory role, supporting
others and helping to ensure accountability.
Food Security
1
Be realistic when considering repayment schemes for agricultural input
distribution
Source of Learning:
Various
Background Information:
Projects need to consider the management requirements which will be involved, what procedures
are expected if recipients fail to repay the required quantities. We have learnt the importance to
always seek to build on traditional loan systems wherever possible, rather than impose a new
system for the sake of the project.
Water and Sanitation
1
Empower beneficiaries to create appropriate community-based
management structures for Watsan facilities
Source of Learning:
Various
Background Information:
In relief and post relief phases, it may not be possible to train caretakers/technicians to a level of
sustainable competence, or to create a sustainable community maintenance system with
sufficient spares and tools to maintain their new facilities, although this should be held as an
ultimate goal. Nevertheless, a beneficiary-facing management structure will significantly aid tasks
such as water distribution, queue management at water points, latrine maintenance, protection of
facilities, etc. and ensure that it is appropriate to the context. Focus on capacity-building of
community structures, including government departments.
2
Adopt appropriate mechanisms for cost-recovery of Watsan projects
appropriate to the context
Source of Learning:
Sierra lone, Liberia, Other
Background Information:
In a relief, or immediate post relief situation (whether the beneficiary population is based in IDP or
refugee camps, host communities, or their own settlements), cash-based cost-recovery may not
be possible or desirable, since populations affected by disaster may have lost all financial means
of support. In-kind contributions from direct beneficiaries should be explored, of which labour is
key. Typically, beneficiaries could be asked to dig their own latrine pits and superstructures, or
provide locally available raw materials (e.g. large stones for foundations, sand for making cement,
or gravel from river beds). This needs to be weighed up against other demands which are placed
on their time, for example in the WATSAN programmes in Sierra Leone and Liberia the projects
needed to be mindful of the workloads and priority of re-establishing shelter back in the villages
where beneficiaries were resettling, clearing agricultural land and beginning food production
again, alongside the contributions they needed to make in digging latrines and hand dug wells.
An appropriate balance needed to be found between being overly demanding and unreasonable
in terms of community contribution on one extreme and adopting a “relief mindset” of free
provision of project inputs on the other extreme.
o Ensure that beneficiary households with no able-bodied persons are able to offer assistance
through other means, such as contributing local produce, or that community management
structures acknowledge the need to assist certain families and vulnerable groups without the
need for repayment.
o In more stable settings, it is important to pursue cost recovery options but in coordination with
government and other NGOs so that everyone is working to agreed standards and
approaches.
3
Ensure effective supply chains are in place for spare parts for pumps,
generators, treatment equipment & consumables, and water testing
equipment
Source of Learning:
Various
Background Information:
Ensure caretakers, management committees, or assigned government staff, have the capacity to
competently replace spare parts, and maintain all structures.
o Ensure an effective procedure is in place to undertake major repairs, which cannot be (are not
designed to be) carried out by beneficiary caretakers. In order to achieve this, prioritise
capacity-building for personnel responsible (e.g. local government water engineers, who may
not be competent in all aspects of hand-pump maintenance), and provide (or advocate for
local government provision) of essential equipment to carry out these major repairs, e.g.
tripods, block & tackle.
o Projects may require the identification of a back-stopping agency which can come in to
undertake major repairs in a community after the implementing NGO has exited. This was a
concern in both Sierra Leone and Liberia and was highlighted in project external evaluations
as an important aspect of ensuring long term sustainability of the water points.
4
Adopt social marketing processes when introducing a new technology,
particularly in the area of sanitation
Source of Learning:
Afghanistan, Other
Background Information:
This approach may be restricted in initial emergency stages due to the urgency of providing
facilities, and is more applicable to the rehabilitation phase of an intervention. The overall
concept of importance is to aim for interventions which are demand-driven, as opposed to supplydriven. Sanitation marketing in particular has advantages over other sanitation promotion
methods because it does not focus on educating people or promoting a particular type of toilet.
Rather, it tries to understand what users want and works with toilet-builders to satisfy these
demands. Another key area for social marketing in respect of Watsan projects is the successful
adoption of Biosand filters for household-based water treatment. Consumer-focused approaches
stimulate livelihood opportunities within communities (such as local production of latrine slabs or
concrete Biosand filters), but this will require capacity-building.
5
When considering latrine design, carefully consider issues of
sustainability and hygiene standards against replicability and cost
Source of Learning:
Various
Background Information:
Projects have seen a wide range of approaches taken on this issue – in some countries such as
Afghanistan, projects have constructed latrines to a high standard of construction, using concrete
slabs and solid super structure. While these are effective in maintaining good hygiene levels in a
community, they are very difficult to replicate by other community members, due to the high costs
of inputs involved. In the other extreme, projects such as DRC have focused on replicability of
the latrines, aiming to model latrine design which any community member could build in their own
compound – hence the use of wooden slabs and simple super structure. The drawback of such
an approach could be the difficulties of maintaining cleanliness or the sense of pride and
ownership in the latrine. Each context is likely to be different, but this is a critical issue of project
design to think through from the start.