What good is it if it doesn't last?

In the weeks leading up to World Water Day, there has been a huge focus on sustainability of WASH projects and programs. Rightly so - if so much capital cost is invested in such programs, but the program is left to the community with no monitoring or evaluation, that money is wasted when the pump breaks, the treatment stops, or the equipment goes into disrepair. No one wants to waste money, especially in this economic climate, yet it so often happens anyway.

Why is that? Why, when everyone involved in the WASH sector wants it to succeed? While each situation is different, true change will come from a change in both implementing organizations and funding organizations. The two need to make clear to the other that sustainability is a priority and make the associated changes to contracts, budgets, grants, and reporting processes. Each WASH program must incorporate some sort of process to ensure sustainability of the program. An emerging paradigm is called MERL - monitoring, evaluation, resolution, and learning (championed by WASH Advocates and others). To sustain programs, you must monitor and evaluate the program periodically. But in order for this M&E to mean anything, you must also resolve the issues and learn from them, so as to avoid them in the future.

Sustainability takes time and it takes money, but it's worth it in the end. Let's not forget that there are people at the other end of what we do, and their lives depend on the implementation of good and lasting WASH services.

Here's what you can do:

• Check out the presentations and notes from the 2013 Sustainability Forum here.
• Endorse the Sustainability Charter and implement its guiding principles in your work.
• Take the self- and third-party assessments of your organization's adherence to the principles of the Sustainability Charter.