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LESSON

Lesson Learned: Water and sanitation for all: for a strong and heard civil society in West Africa

Minor adjustments to project design can reinforce effectiveness – including for example the use of social networks to share information, as well as work with community radios. The project’s effectiveness varied notably between countries, as a result of both external and internal factors, such as governments’ degree of openness to dialogue with NGOs on WASH issues and the management skills of platform leaders.
Project Partner
Secrétariat Permanent des Organisations Non Gouvernementales
Project Description
The general objective of the project was to reinforce the voice and influence of civil society in West and Central Africa to improve access to water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH). While the project addressed clearly defined needs for reinforcing capacity of WASH platforms and the platforms’ presence in consultation processes, its design did not sufficiently emphasize the needs for organizational capacity building, gender concerns in the consultation processes, and exchanges of information among participating platforms on issues of lobbying strategy. Achievements were adequate, especially in view of the vast geographical area covered by the project and the fact that the budgets devolved to each country were relatively limited. In terms of direct impact the project contributed to making attitudes within civil society organizations evolve towards a greater understanding of WASH access as a human right.
Evaluation Date
April 2016
Country