Empowering rural communities to sustain clean water and improve hygiene through self-help groups

Traditional water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) approaches have failed to achieve adequate sustainability of rural water points and hygiene behaviour change. Community-based savings groups have several strengths that suggest their integration into WASH programs may significantly improve sustainability and hygiene and sanitation. This paper documents how The Water Trust integrated the formation of savings groups, referred to as “self-help groups” (SHGs), into its program. This paper shares year-one results of an 18-month pilot implemented across 18 communities, including indicators of sustainability, SHG performance, hygiene and sanitation, and health. Notably, annual water point contributions spent or available for repairs increased from $2 to $164 in SHG communities, more than three-times the levels of contemporaneous pilots and more than needed for annual maintenance and repairs. Handwashing facility coverage also increased from 5% to 36%. Learnings from the pilot are shared along with a discussion of the potential for scale and future research.