Case Study

Tajikistan – design of implementation guidelines for rural water supply and sanitation interventions (2002)

In 2002 Aguaconsult was approached by the Aga Khan Foundation’s global health programme to assist in the development and design of guidelines for their partner organisation operating in the extreme east of Tajikistan – the Mountain Societies Development and Support Programme (MSDSP).

The MSDSP had been active in many communities in this region of the country, often building very strong community organisations, but did not have a comprehensive implementation methodology for water supply and sanitation interventions.

Following extensive interviews with staff, participatory meetings with community groups and field visits, documentation was developed to support the MSDSP in the implementation of future water supply and sanitation interventions. This report is structured in two main parts; the first part looks at the background issues relating to water, sanitation and health in this area of Tajikistan and provides an analysis of the lessons learned to date from MSDSP’s experience in the sector.

It then presents a conceptual framework for the design of a best-practice water, sanitation and hygiene promotion programme, including key issues addressing health impacts, livelihoods and sustainability. This part of the document is aimed at senior staff and programme managers within MSDSP and outlines the reasoning behind taking a comprehensive and integrated approach to such programmes.

The second section of the report was developed as a stand-alone, guidance document, or applied “how to” manual for implementing individual projects. Two example project plans were included at the end of the guideline section, together with draft versions of a number of survey formats for use by project staff as annexes.

These guidelines have been developed on the basis of an integrated approach to projects and as such can be used by both social and technical staff as a reference tool.