Tracking direct support and capital maintenance cost in rural water service delivery in Ghana : a paper presented at the Monitoring Sustainable WASH...

Sustaining rural water service levels requires institutionalised efforts to support local level service providers, users or user groups (direct support) and recurrent expenditure on operational and capital maintenance expenditure on water systems when needed. The rural water sector in Ghana is challenged with inadequate expenditure on direct support (ExpDS) and capital maintenance (CapManEx) with resultant high rates of non-functional and non-reliable water facilities resulting in low water services received by users. This paper tracks the direct support and capital maintenance cost of rural water services and compares the levels of the actual with the realistic or ideal cost for sustainable service delivery. The study is based on analysis of data on actual expenditure of water systems generated by the WASHCost study in Ghana and the use of planning and budgeting exercises to generate the realistic ExpDS conducted as part of decentralised level life-cycle cost approach (LCCA) training. The study shows that both the direct support cost and capital maintenance expenditure in Ghana are far lower than the international benchmarks for sustainable water service delivery. The actual direct support cost measured and ideal direct support cost obtained from the WASHCost study are less than international benchmarks, about 20% - 40% of international WASHCost benchmarks. The CapManEx for water point systems are also less than the benchmarks by 13% - 33%. Monitoring rural WASH service delivery in the areas of the life-cycle costs and service levels are important for strengthening planning, budgeting, and delivery of sustainable services for all. The study argues for the inclusion of life-cycle costs and service levels in WASH sector monitoring framework. [authors abstract]

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