Pathways to professionalised community water services in a protracted crisis: a case from Juba

The paper depicts Oxfam South Sudan experience in professionalising a community-based operating entity responsible for managing a water treatment plant in Juba, through WASH Market-based Programming. It describes how this was achieved by supporting the development of a business implementation plan and provision of tailored institutional support. Findings were based on market research conducted in 2017, with over 300 individuals being interviewed as part of the process, through quantitative (household willingness-to-pay survey) and qualitative methods. The paper concludes that community-based management arrangements remain relevant, especially in the context of protracted crisis. It recognises however that implementing agencies need to provide medium-term institutional support (well beyond the handover of infrastructure and especially throughout the first year of operations), if sustainability and pro-poor accessibility are to be ensured. The paper calls for a change in paradigm allowing the WASH sector to move from traditionally voluntary community management arrangements, towards professionalisation of community-based organisations.