Triple-S – Water Services that Last
A multi-country learning initiative to improve sustainability of rural water services
December 2012 Update
IRC and Aguaconsult organised a five day international learning and sharing event under the Sustainable Services at Scale (Triple-S) initiative entitled “An introduction to Service Delivery – the role of the Service Authority” between 12th and 16th November in the Netherlands. The training brought together a group of 20 senior WASH specialists from Ghana, Uganda, Burkina Faso, India, Timor-Leste and the Netherlands and focused on the latest thinking on what is needed to provide sustainable water services in rural areas, through presentations, exercises and group work to identify the key building blocks to achieving sustainability within their own working environment. Details of the training can be found here
Following the completion of the Triple-S Mid-term Assessment the Sustainable Services at Scale (Triple-S) initiative organised a learning retreat on December 5th with a small core group of individuals representing NGOs and the private sector working in the rural water sector to act upon a number of key findings from the MTA
The Triple-S initiative 2009 to 2014
Triple-S (Sustainable Services at Scale) is a six year multi-country learning initiative that will contribute to addressing the challenge of sustainability of rural water supply. Aguaconsult is working with the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre on this Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded work.
The vision of Triple-S is: sustainable rural water services at scale. To achieve this is not so much a matter of financial or technical resources, as it is the approach to how we deploy resources and solutions.
- We need to shift our aim from building infrastructure to building services – with attention to long-term sustainability, which means better post-construction support, training, availability of spare parts and professionalised management.
- We need to shift our focus from projects at village level to strengthening institutions and policies at both national and local government levels to support service delivery.
- We need to improve coordination and harmonisation within government-led processes, so that everyone is following the same rules and working towards the same goals.
What is Triple-S doing?
Triple-S is promoting these shifts in approach by working with partners on the ground in Ghana, Uganda and in Burkina Faso from late 2011. Lessons learned from work in these countries feed up to the international level where Triple-S is promoting a re-appraisal of how development assistance to rural water supply is designed and implemented.
Aguaconsult provides a part-time Content Director and one full-time Researcher for Triple-S, both of whom work closely with IRC colleagues and partner staff in the focus countries.
For further information please visit the new Triple-S website: www.waterservicesthatlast.org
If you have any enquiries regarding Triple-S please contact Julia Boulenouar
Latest on Triple-S – Water Services that Last
New resources available:
‘Supporting Rural water Supply: Moving towards a Service Delivery Approach’ – A new book co-written by Aguaconsult’s Harold Lockwood, published by Practical Action
‘Monitoring and service delivery indicators’ briefing note published
Triple-S principles framework available online
