Applying a community scorecard for rural water services in Timor-Leste

Accountability of service providers to their clients/users is an essential condition for sustainability of water services. Social audit, Citizen Report Card and Community Scorecard have been widely utilised tools enabling citizens and communities to hold government to account for the delivery of basic services. WaterAid introduced a Community Scorecard Tool to Timor-Leste in 2012 to allow communities to assess the performance of WaterAid and their implementing partners. This tool was adapted in 2016 to enable communities to assess and improve the performance of the community based water management group and government frontline staff to deliver water services in their rural communities. The methodology includes provision of an immediate feedback loop and action planning component that involves government authorities, formal village leadership, service providers and water users. The tool was tested in eight locations by WaterAid and local NGO facilitators and to date has shown promise in motivating communities to improve their water services.