Post-certification: an innovative post-project sustainability approach to maintain WASH rural services

The Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the sub-Saharan African countries that have not reached the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in water and sanitation despite massive efforts undertaken over the last fifteen years. To accelerate access to WASH services, UNICEF and government partners have been implementing the National ‘Healthy Villages and Schools’ Programme since 2008. It underwent a major reshaping in 2013 following a sustainability study that demonstrated that only 2% of villages had maintained their healthy status. A new post-certification support and monitoring component was put in place, including ‘catch up’ activities, which would allow the programme to re-certify villages and schools where the healthy status has been lost. This innovative approach continuously monitors WASH status, assuring the long-term sustainability of outcomes. Lessons learned, both in terms of results and methodology, can be identified from this critical sustainability measure and shared with the WASH community.