Prepared by Joseph Abisa; presented at the Triple-S Annual Review and Planning Meeting (ARAP), Fort Portal Uganda, 6th-11th May 2013

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Experiment: Testing and Scaling up the M4W System in
Uganda
ARaP, 6th to 7th May 2013, Kabarole. Joseph Abisa
Ministry of Water and Environment
Makerere University CIT

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Name of the Experiment
Mobile Phones for Improved Water Access (M4W) is
a 4 year multi-stakeholder collaborative initiative
aimed at improving functionality of rural water
sources among 8 pilot districts in Uganda. Details
available at http://m4water.org/
—IRC/Triple-S, SNV, Makerere University, Water Aid,
Ministry of Water and Environment, Districts
—Participating districts include: Lira, Kabarole, Arua,
Kasese, Kyenjojo, Masindi, Amuria, Katakwi

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Rationale & Objectives
Rationale for the Experiment:
—Between 30-40% of systems in Africa don’t function
—Failure rates higher for HPB technologies, over 20%
—There is lack of accurate data on existing sources
—Complicates monitoring, evaluating and reporting WASH
service delivery especially in rural areas in Uganda
Objectives of Experiment
—Improving efficiency in reporting faults
—Triggering action for response to non-functional sources
—Improving efficiency in updating DWMIS and NWMIS

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Progress to date/Findings
Facilitated the collection of monitoring data
Target inspection & repair of water sources (27/84)
Generating data for updating the MIS
DWOs have started using data for various purposes
Communities now reporting faults using the system
Improved authenticity of water source information
System has helped identify sources not on WATSUP
Provided information for learning (IRC symposium)

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Key Messages on M4W
A real potential for updating DWMIS & NWMIS
—Data collected directly updates the DWMIS
—Data may also be used for updating the NWMIS
—Reduced paper work in data collection, entry, analysis etc
A cost effective tool for monitoring WASH services
—National deployment in 120 districts would cost $314,080
—Subsequent recurrent costs per year would be $46,080
—MWE spent about $1M in 2010 to update the WATSUP
Use of gov’t structures key in rolling out system
—Involvement of districts and S/Cs (DWOs, HA, CDOs etc)

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Next steps in phase 2 of M4W
 Main objective is to scale up/rollout the M4W system
— Reinstallation of water point identifiers on sources is ongoing
— Community sensitization on M4W in pilot districts is ongoing
— Retraining of the district personnel on M4W is already planned
— Procurement of mobile phones to replace lost and spoilt ones done
— Process documentation to enable replication to other districts, set
 Answering main questions of the initiative
— Has M4W reduced on down time in the pilot districts?
— Has M4W improved functionality of rural water sources?
— Can M4W provide data for updating district and national WMIS?
— What are the costs of implementing M4W?
 Providing system maintenance services to districts
— Provided a service contract to MU (CIT) systems maintenance