Supporting simple and effective rural water supply monitoring by local government in Malawi

Regular monitoring of rural water supply infrastructure in developing countries is an essential part of providing efficient and equitable rural water service delivery, and accountable sector governance. In Malawi, WaterAid has been supporting GPS mapping of rural water supply since 2002 – however, to date, technical complexity and high implementation costs have prevented these monitoring processes from becoming institutionalized at the local government level (Welle, pp 45-46). In 2009 WaterAid Malawi and EWB Canada began a project to support local government with a new kind of monitoring – one using simple software tools, a reduced set of indicators, and an increased reliance on existing government systems. The project began with a pilot in 3 districts, and has since expanded support to 11 of Malawi’s 28 district councils. This paper describes in detail how the system works, shares initial implementation experience, and provides lessons for other practitioners.