ASSESSMENT OF THE SUSTAINABILITY OF UNICEF PROGRAMME ON WATER PROVISION, SANITATION AND HYGIENE (WASH) IN THREE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS OF NASARAWA STATE, 2008-2013

Adamu, Sa’adu

ABSTRACT

The study explores the impact of UNICEF’s programme on Water Provision, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Awe, Nasarawa Eggon and Nasarawa Local Government Areas of Nasarawa State. It examines sustainability of UNICEF’s intervention in rural water supply, sanitation and hygiene systems in terms of quality, functionality and access to improved facilities that define the level of service delivery to communities and schools in the study area. Both primary and secondary sources of data were used to generate relevant data with a mixture of quantitative and qualitative studies. Functionalist theory of international politics was applied as the framework of analysis. A structured questionnaire was employed as the instrument to obtain the sets of data from a survey of 300 systematically selected respondents in the six selected communities of the three LGAs covered in the state. Qualitative data were also generated from in-depth interview with 6 key informants and FGD with 12 participants in the projects communities. The data were subjected to descriptive statistical and logical analysis. The results revealed that UNICEF’s intervention in WASH projects has reasonably satisfied the needs of beneficiary communities in the study areas. Some of the obvious benefits include improved livelihoods and education attendance and retention. A considerable number of boreholes and all the latrines constructed by UNICEF have continued to deliver services to users between 2008 and 2013 and beyond. Despite the progress UNICEF has made in this regard, a number of significant challenges notably, poor funding, lack of regular follow-up support and low level of women participation that severely undermined sustainability performance of the projects were identified. The work recommends among others, that women and children being the main beneficiaries should be more actively involved in the programme to drive the greatest possible benefits while regular sensitization should be carried out to enhance knowledge of communities on the benefits and proper use of improved WASH facilities as prerequisite for sustainability of the projects.

Keywords: Improved Hygiene, Safe Water, Sanitation, Sustainability, UNICEF