Ensuring Equitable Access to Clean Water with Water Mission and EquityTool
Water Mission uses the EquityTool in routine project evaluations to understand participant wealth
Challenge
Water Mission focuses on providing customized solutions for clean water and sanitation, understanding that affordability is crucial for equitable access. Historically, challenges arose in measuring household wealth within their service areas, hindering their ability to assess equity. However, the EquityTool allowed Water Mission to address these obstacles by providing user-friendly data collection methods benchmarked to the USAID Demographic Health Surveys (DHS).
Solution: Implementing the EquityTool
Water Mission integrated EquityTool questions into evaluations of two projects: a household water treatment program in Peru and a solar-powered prepaid water system project in Tanzania. In Peru, the data revealed that the program primarily served households from the first or second wealth quintile, indicating a focus on the poorest citizens. Despite their low wealth, over 90% of participants found the program’s monthly tariff reasonable, suggesting its affordability.
In Tanzania, the EquityTool demonstrated that users of solar-powered prepaid water systems came from diverse wealth backgrounds, unlike other water sources in the area. Additionally, there were no disparities in water usage or perception of price fairness across wealth quintiles, highlighting the program’s accessibility.
Results
Water Mission expanded the use of the EquityTool to evaluate projects in Honduras and made plans to integrate it into all routine evaluations. This tool has enabled Water Mission to conduct the first-ever analyses of water service affordability across wealth quintiles, providing critical insights for project management and grant proposals. With confidence, Water Mission affirms its commitment to serving the poorest citizens and ensuring universally affordable solutions.
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Contact us to learn how Metrics for Management can help you use targeted, accurate and measurable data to expand and improve your services.
