The benefits of investing in water, sanitation and hygiene are clear. Households benefit through a range of health, educational, nutritional and broader livelihood impacts; local, regional and national economies benefit from greater economic activity, spending and investment; and over the longer term, households and economies benefit through greater resilience to climate change and shocks.

So why are governments and their development partners struggling to meet water and sanitation targets? What factors make it difficult to sustain services at scale? And how can policies and plans for delivering and sustaining services to poor people be strengthened in the face of multiple pressures, including climate change?

This book, the outcome of the five-year RiPPLE research programme in Ethiopia, addresses these questions head-on. It explores current international debates on service delivery in rural areas, and reflects on experiences of trying to fast-track research into policy and practice through an action-research approach, based on learning and practice alliances.

Contents

Introduction

Roger Calow, Zemede Abebe and Alan Nicol

Ethiopia’s water resources, policies and institutions

Eva Ludi, Bethel Terefe, Roger Calow and Gulilat Birhane

WASH sector monitoring

John Butterworth, Katharina Welle, Kristof Bostoen and Florian Schaefer

Innovative approaches for extending access to water services: the potential of multiple-use water services and self-supply

Marieke Adank, John Butterworth, Sally Sutton and Zemede Abebe

Sanitation and hygiene promotion in rural communities: the Health Extension Programme

Peter Newborne and Anu Liisanantti

Sustainability of water services in Ethiopia

Nathaniel Mason, Alan MacDonald, Sobona Mtisi, Israel Deneke Haylamicheal and Habtamu Abebe

Water for livelihood resilience, food security and poverty reduction

Josephine Tucker, Zelalem Lema and Samson Eshetu Lemma

Responding to climate variability and change: implications for planned adaptation

Lindsey Jones, Lorraine Coulter, Million Getnet Gebreyes, Beneberu Shimelis Feleke, Naomi Oates, Leulseged Yirgu Gebreamlak and Josephine Tucker

Policy and practice influence through research: critical reflections on RiPPLE’s approach

Josephine Tucker, Ewen Le Borgne and Marialivia Iotti