Water Sanitation and Hygiene Learning Uganda

Good (and bad) experiences will be shared and analysed for success (or failure) factors for learning and possibly scaling-up and use towards reformulation of strategies and policies, both at national and local level. This proposed WASH National Learning will contribute to improvement of sector performance and more cost-efficiency and –effectiveness, and eventually sustainable water service delivery. The proposed National Learning Forum is part of a larger spectrum of learning events and groups at both national and local level.

Uganda is one of the front-runners in Africa on WASH policies and strategies. Despite this achievement, coverage and functionality appear not to beincreasing significantly (JSR, 2008). Indeed, the coverage and functionality information process may need improvement. Furthermore, it is important to confirm that next to the MoWE, MoH and MoES, the Ministry of Local Government plays a key role in effectively improving WASH at household, school and other institutional locations.
Where policies and strategies are the domain of the national level, the local government defines the implementation strategies and methodologies. As a matter of fact, many innovations and technologies are developed or adopted in districts and sub-counties. However, these innovations remain very local knowledge and practice. They are not used as learning points in other districts or sub-counties due to limited possibility of upward/vertical and/or horizontal learning. Flow of information and knowledge on innovative approaches is a critical element in WASH sector-related learning. Learning is a fundamental pre-requisite for performance improvement. If structurally integrated, a learning process can contribute to better use of resources (cost-efficiency); especially in the current context of shrinking sector investments. This calls for continuous multi-stakeholder analysis of what has been achieved, to also identify areas for improvement and highlight what leads to success or poor performance. This will lead to unlearning old in-effective ways/approaches and re-learning new ones that meet local-realities. Several initiatives that aim to manage WASH sector knowledge exist in Uganda, so the sector can start this national learning building on some experience.

In order to improve learning at national level, the current learning initiatives need to be harmonised and linked to learning at local, East African regional and international levels. There are multiple drivers for learning. It is expected that feedback on good (or also bad) local WASH practices stimulatescreativity and innovationat local practice level. Further sharing & learning of good WASH practices may take place within other districts. Even adjustmentof local and national policies and strategies may be started using the reported experiences. And at national level there will be more pragmatic WASH knowledge based on local realities. Based on this gained new knowledge, strategies and approaches with potentially higher efficiencies and effectiveness maybe formulated leading to scaling up of successes and avoidance of failures. Moreover, innovations from other countries presented and deliberated at international conferences and seminars may be presented for their potential inclusion in strategies and approaches. So international networking,sharing and learning is a key action for change.
In conclusion, structured learning at national level is necessary for improving the WASH sector at all levels. The opportunity is that information sharing can be achieved across the broad spectrum of WASH actors in Uganda but it requires commitment and good facilitation to be effective

The sector stakeholders need to define national level follow-up to adjust strategies and approaches, including guidelines where appropriate. For introducing and applying learning at local level by local government and NGOs, the national stakeholders can assist them through the Technical support Units(TSUs), District water and sanitation coordination committees (DWSCCs) and Regional NGO Platforms. District-based learning platforms and specific demand-based capacity building will assist them to adjust their practices. Scaling-up reported good practices needs to include adaptation to local context.
The overal objective of WASH National learning is to provide a sustainable national learning platform for sharing and analysing goodWASH experience and practices among the sector actors (mainly national) in Uganda, and stimulate follow-up activities/products. And capacity building for scaling up