Governance and Transparency Fund (GTF)

Final Evaluation for Country Programmes

BANGLADESH

Final Evaluation Report

Prepared for: FANSA-GTF South Asia Regional Coordination Unit

Date: June 24, 2013

By: The Right Angle represented by Narayan Bhat, Lead Consultant and

C K Ramachandran, Senior Governance Consultant

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Contents

Foreword 2

Acronyms 3

Executive Summary 4

Introduction 6

Methodology 13

Country Programme Theory of Change 15

Final Evaluation 18

Findings 19

Conclusions 31

Summary of Recommendations 32

Annex 1: List of Documents Consulted 34

Annex 2: Final Country Logframe 35

Annex 3: Detailed statistical data 40

Annex 4: Cases 41

Cover Picture: Civil Society Forum submitting Memorandum to Prime Minister through Deputy Commissioner, Moulvi Bazar.

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Foreword

WaterAid UK and the Freshwater Action Network (FAN) are implementing a water and sanitation focused governance programme. The programme is funded by DFID‟s (UK Aid) Governance and Transparency Fund (GTF) as part of the UK aid programme. It is being implemented by 29 partners across 14 countries in Asia, Africa and Central America. Work began in October 2008 and the current funding period will end in September 2013. Freshwater Action Network South Asia (FANSA) implements the program with five partners in South Asia region – India and Bangladesh. The GTF programme aims to improve governance of the WASH sector by strengthening the capacity of civil society, community organisations, poor and marginalised groups, as well as their networks to engage with government and service providers. A key objective is to improve water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) policies and practices and, ultimately, ensure poor and marginalised communities have access to good quality WASH services.

Final evaluation and Impact assessment

As GTF project is closing by September 2013, all country programmes are conducting an Evaluation and Impact Assessment of their GTF programmes. Both exercises will contribute to the global evaluation of the programme to be finalised by the end of July 2013. These two exercises are expected to provide learning and reflection opportunities for our Advocacy programme. For conducting Final evaluation and Impact assessment we have engaged services of a consultancy firm „The Right Angle‟ lead by Mr.Narayan Bhat. Mr.Narayan Bhat as a lead consultant and Mr.C K Ramachandran as Governance Specialist. In case of Bangladesh, it was decided to conduct final evaluation only. As visit to Bangladesh could not materialise due to volatile political situation, the consultants collected self evaluation and other information from the partner and triangulated the same with FANSA-RCU.

Considering the various dimensions and complexities, the process of Evaluation was challenging and the consultants deserve a big Thank you for extracting the required content for the evaluation.

I thank Mr.Papa. N. Diouf, Head- program effectiveness unit, WaterAid-UK for his consistent support in guiding GTF- South Asia program and organizing this Evaluation and Impact assessment. I thank Global consultants Ms.Catharine and Ms. Maureen for their valuable support, guidance and critical feedback. I gratefully appreciate consultants Mr. Narayan Bhat and Mr.C K Ramachandran for this good quality report.

Our GTF partner NGO Forum for Public Health has been very responsive in submitting self evaluation forms and supplying all required information. I thank Rashid ji, Joseph Halder and Ranjan for their cooperation and support.

Mr.Venkatesh Aralikatty, Regional Coordinator (GTF-South Asia) has facilitated the entire process with positive spirit and balance of roles throughout this process. He has closely supported Consultants by sharing required information, coordinated information from partners and inputs for improvement of draft reports.

I hope this Final Evaluation shall contribute for a very good learning to us and sector.

RAMISETTY MURALI Regional Convener Freshwater Action Network South Asia (FANSA) convenor@fansasia.net

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Acronyms

CAR Capability, Accountability and Responsiveness

CBO Community Based Organization

CSO Civil Society Organizations

DFID Department for International Development

FAN Freshwater Action Network

FANSA Freshwater Action Network South Asia

FGD Focus Group Discussion

GTF Governance and Transparency Fund

GoB Government of Bangladesh

LGI Local Government Institutions

MTR Mid Term Review

NGOF Non Government Organization Forum

RBA Rights Based Approach

RCU Regional Coordination Unit

RTI Right to Information

SACOSAN South Asia Conference on Sanitation

UP Union Parishad

WAB WaterAid Bangladesh

WASH Water Sanitation and Hygiene

WATSAN Water and Sanitation

Executive Summary Program Context

The Governance and Transparency Fund (GTF) program came into being in 2008 on a global platform with WaterAid and Freshwater Action Network agreeing to collaborate and jointly lead the implementation across three continents, South Asia being one of them. In South Asia, Freshwater Action Network South Asia (FANSA) assumed the project coordination responsibilities. Following a rigorous selection procedure, four grassroots level civil society organizations from India and one from Bangladesh were selected as partners to implement the project. The purpose of the GTF program is to improve governance and accountability of WASH sector by strengthening the capacity of southern civil society organizations so as to achieve sustainable and equitable WASH services for the poorest and most marginalized. Actively engaging with the service providers and duty bearers using advocacy tools as a method of influencing is one of the preferred methods adopted by the program.

Four Outputs: The program clearly defined four specific outputs that would be achieved at the end of the a four year program intervention. The following four outputs are considered as the supra structure of the program from which the program draws its real strength.

a) A strong and well-functioning CSOs and CSO networks capable of influencing the design, implementation and evaluation of effective WASH policies at all levels

b) CSOs, including those representing marginalized groups, capable of effectively engaging in decision-making processes affecting the WASH sector.

c) Informed and empowered people that are better able to demand accountability and responsiveness from governments and service providers in the WASH sector.

d) Governments and service providers that are more accountable to (citizens and end users in the WASH sector

A Global Mid Term of Review (MTR) of the program was conducted in 2010 and some mid-course corrections were introduced into the program based on the recommendations of the MTR Mission. Following the global MTR, a Regional Midterm review was conducted (for India and Bangladesh) and programmatic adjustments were done based on the recommendations.

Need for this assessment : The program funding is scheduled to close in September 2013 and therefore, a need was felt to assess the program achievements globally, from two distinct but closely connected program perspectives i.e. Impact Assessment and Program Evaluation. However, since the program start-up phase in Bangladesh was behind close to a year as compared to other countries, it was decided hold back on Impact Assessment exercise and only a full scale evaluation exercise was agreed upon. It was also felt by the global GTF team that while the program may have achieved some well intended changes, there may have been instances of unintended changes, the direction of which may be positive or negative. It was felt that it is important to track such changes and examine the extent to which the program has contributed to the change process. Therefore the purpose of the exercise is to provide an

Well functioing CSOs and their

capacity

1

Engaging in decision

making in WASH sector

2

Accountability of governments and service providers

4

Communities demanding

accounatbility

3

Four Ouputs

Figure 1: Four outputs

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independent assessment of the GTF programme. It was also felt that all stakeholders including the donors have a need to understand such complex dimensions of the program and therefore this study.

Assessment Methodology: The assessment methodology is driven by the philosophy of appreciative and open minded assessment. Data was collected from multiple sources. Because there was no field visits, triangulation was done off-field to ensure quality assurance. As described earlier, constrained by some externalities only Final Evaluation exercise was carried out. This report presents the findings of the Final Evaluation.

Findings: NGO Forum has established a clear lead in the GTF program in an outstanding manner that matches the WASH environment in Bangladesh. The NGO Forum forged a strong working relationship with seven partners (popularly identified as seven jewels) and undoubtedly gave a head start to the program. It provided in-built flexibility and operational band-width to all partners to tune the GTF program to meet all the four Outputs successfully, some of which were good success stories and some others need improvements. Three activity dimensions stand out in NGO Forum. They are i) Constituting Union Parishad level WASH-specific Task Forces ii) Aggressively advocating for Open Budget System and gaining a clear win in that area and iii) Developing Citizen Charters and pushing the agenda of making it a public document in the true spirit of transparency.

Historically Civil Society has been vibrant in Bangladesh, despite many constraints placed on CSOs by externalities. Qualitative changes are visible in the manner in which people raise their voices and those voices are heard by service providers and duty bearers. Nevertheless, the real change in the power structures and the core decision making processes in WASH is still lying in the government horizon, be it local or central. Therefore, more intense advocacy work needs to be done at Union Parishad and Upazilla levels, Only then sustainability can be ensured. There is also clear proof to indicate that the overall productivity of the program has been very high and the cost of activities are superior to similar programs, past or present within the country. The salary outflow of the GTF program stands a little over 28% of the overall program cost. This stands favourably well in comparison with other similar programs in Bangladesh and elsewhere in South Asia. In most other programs of equivalent size and scale, it crosses over 40%.

There are strong evidences on record to demonstrate that partners have put the sustainability agenda on top of all other activities. CSO and alliance with local allies is on a firm foundation. Having achieved noteworthy progress in ensuring access to drinking water and sanitation services in hard to reach and un served geographies, NGO Forum has shown great initiatives to push the agenda of equity. This is one of the remarkable changes brought about by the GTF program. The demand for capacity building is big in WASH sector in Bangladesh. The institutional memory created by NGO Forum and the seven partners show that Social Audit and Open Budget System can be easily replicated elsewhere.

Poor communities have crossed the 'psychological barriers' and the service providers are slowly breaking the artificial administrative boundaries and are willing to collaborate with each other. The new confidence arose from knowledge about their rights and entitlements and their capacity to seek responsiveness and accountability of the government. It has also led to a new transparency in the behaviour and approach of local government officials.

It must be emphasized that the financial and administrative systems of the NGO Forum are robust and enough internal checks and balances are built in. All partners, CSOs, and government actors made full use of opportunities provided by the programme and strengthened their own institutional capacities. For the community, the most significant knowledge gain was WASH as a right. This was particularly important for the marginalised 'hard to reach' communities.

Introduction Despite significant improvement in water supply and sanitation coverage in Bangladesh, many 'hard‐to‐reach' areas and communities have not received required attention. Responding to this problem the Government of Bangladesh adopted a series of policies and strategies. It has also set the ambitious goal of achieving 100% water and sanitation coverage by 2013. The enactment of National Strategy for Water and Sanitation for the Hard‐to‐Reach Areas of Bangladesh in December 2011 is a journey well begun towards the goal.

NGO Forum for Public Health, the apex networking and service delivery agency in the WATASAN sector, upholds a special commitment to ensure disadvantaged people‟s right to safe water supply, environmental sanitation and hygiene behaviour. To address the uncovered and 'hard‐to-reach' areas and communities, NGO Forum has undertaken a collaborative initiative with WaterAid UK and FANSA supported Governance and Transparency Fund (GTF) Project.

There were some delays in the start-up activities because formal approval by NGO Affairs Bureau took some time. Nevertheless, following the approval, the NGO Forum mobilized its team quickly and accelerated implementation. Consequently, all project activities were quickly put on track. This year the GTF project has entered into its fourth year of implementation and has finalized Log‐frame and Plan of Action for 2013-14. Under the GTF Programme, NGO Forum has been able to address the key areas in relation to the goal, objectives and indicators of the revised Log‐frame. To gain a quick understanding, the Goals, Purpose and Outputs as defined in the Log frame are graphically presented in figure 2 below.

Figure 2: Goal and Purpose

Outputs Description

Output 1 Strong and well-functioning CSOs and CSO networks capable of influencing the design, implementation and evaluation of effective WASH policies at all levels

Output 2 CSOs (including those representing marginalized groups) are effectively engaging in decision making processes affecting the WASH Sector

Output 3 Informed and empowered people are better able to demand accountability and responsiveness from Governments and service providers in the WASH sector

To improve the accountability and responsiveness of governments and service providers in the water and

sanitation sector of Bangladesh

To increase the capacity of the civil society including marginalized groups to engage in

effective dialogue with service providers and decision-makers for pro-poor WatSan

service

Purpose

Goal

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Outputs Description

Output 4 Governments and service providers are more accountable to (i.e. willing and able) citizens and end users in the WASH sector

Target Groups

Department of Public Health Engineering-DPHE, including Upazila and district level government officials, District & Upazila administration, WATSAN Taskforce Committee members, representatives from Union Parishad, NGOs, CSOs Journalists of leading media, local allies, different community groups of the hard-to-reach areas ( tea garden people, haor people and the hilly marginalized communities in the Moulvibazar district)

Table 1: Description of outputs

Project Management Arrangements

The Executive Director of NGO Forum acts as the Project Head. The overall management of the Project is placed under the Head, Advocacy & Information Cell, who is also performing the role of the Project Coordinator for GTF. The Project Coordinator is supported by a team i.e. one Advocacy and Documentation Officer, four full-time project staff (two each at central and district levels) and one part time monitoring staff at Central Office. Seven local partner NGOs at the district level are the hub of project implementation. Finance & Accounts Department of NGO Forum extends support in managing financial aspects of the Project.

The Executive Directors of the respective partner NGOs along with one of their potential staff lead implementation of the Project at field level. The regional management of NGO Forum is also provides technical, monitoring and supervisory roles for ensuring the effective management of the Project at the field level. The arrangement is presented in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3: Project management arrangement

WA-UK

FANSA

NGO Forum

Executive Director

PMU

Head Advocacy and Project Coordinator for GTF

GTF Unit Office

Field Advocay Officer Four full time and one part time staff

7 Partner NGO Offices

Sadar, Juri, Kmalgoni, Kalaura, Rajnagar, Sreemangal, Baralekha

NGO-F Regional

Office

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The program Log frame defined a number of activities related to each of the four Outputs. Some of the key activities that have been undertaken by NGO Forum and the seven partners are listed below:

Capacity building Project

Planning and Coordination

Networking and

collaboration

Situation analysis

Campaign

Capacity building of partners on advocacy, and sensitization

Training on RTI and RBA

Orientation of CSOs on sector policies and advocacy strategies

Sensitization of allies

Yearly and half-yearly planning meetings

NGO and CSO coordination meetings

Collaboration with the media to influence policy makers for the hard-to-reach target groups

Collaboration meeting with networks to increase budget allocation

District consultation on right to WATSAN

Public meeting on service level and quality by the service providers

Assessment of water quality of tea garden area (selected tea garden)

Social audits on service level and quality of service

Campaign on right to WATSAN

Advocacy with the Upazila sanitation task force

Community situation analysis on entitlements on WATSAN, Health and Hygiene

Display of allocations and citizen charters

Table 2: Project activities

The following table summarizes the overall program cost over the past three years (2010-13) and the break-down of sub-component costs. The program spend is highest on Output 3, followed by Output 1, Output 2 and Output 4 in descending sequence. The salary cost taken alone works out to be just over 28% of the total program cost. This indicates a healthy staff productivity ratio, as compared to programs of similar scale and size elsewhere.

Component Expenditure incurred between

2010-2013 (in tks) Percentage to total

program cost

Output 1 15,41,229

Output 2 8,61,774

Output 3 21,06,673

Output 4 6,59,474

Sub-total (A) 5,169,150

Publications 283,455

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Component Expenditure incurred between

2010-2013 (in tks) Percentage to total

program cost

M&E 82,728

Sub-total (B) 366,183

Program cost (A+B)=C 5,535,333 47.6%

Staff salary cost 3,297,482 (28.3% of total program cost)

Operational cost (mobility+ running+ fixed assets)

2,792,366

Staff salary + operational cost Sub-total (D)

6,089,848 52.4%

Total GTF Cost (C+D) 11,625,181 100%

Table 3: Program expenditure details

Fund Flow Mechanism

The NGO Forum receives fund from WaterAid UK, although all programme and financial reports and fund requests are sent directly to GTF Regional Coordination Unit (RCU). Funds from the donor‟s account are received usually on quarterly frequency. Expenditure statement is furnished to the donor quarterly. An indirect oversight role has been assigned to WaterAid Bangladesh in approving plan, budget and financial transfers. However, programme related directions transmitted from the RCU.

Downward transfers of funds are made through bank transfer to meet field level programme costs. NGO Forum approves the expenditure of Region at the Central level by the Executive Director.

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Figure 4: Fund flow mechanism

The local partners of the NGO Forum have taken initiatives to mobilize communities on their entitlements with respect to WATSAN, health and hygiene. Community situation analysis in fourteen selected Union Parishads (UPs) was precursor to this. Consequently, a total of 126 ward-level CBOs with the representation of 1,890 community representatives were formed under the GTF program. The CBOs used this forum to aggressively articulate their demands at respective service providers levels. Selected communities under fourteen UPs were facilitated to identify the 'actual' recipients of WATSAN services from the service providers and the reason for not including the 'real' poor and marginalized. Social audit was the tool used for this purpose. The information thus generated have helped a great deal in conducting evidence-based dialogues with the service providers. Apart from this, service level and quality of WATSAN services have been identified and shared through public meetings at thirty five UPs involving a total of 1,052 people. Assessment of water quality covering different hard-to-reach areas of Moulvibazar district has been carried out covering a total of 717 randomly selected water points. Using this assessment result an analysis a report titled „Drinking Water Quality: Present Situation and Way Forward‟ has been prepared. The results were also disseminated at the national level, using media platforms. UP members including local allies, CSOs and community representative under thirty five UPs have been sensitized regarding the lead role of UP in responding to the hard-to-reach WASH concerns.

Annual plan preparation and

fund request

Review by FANSA

WA-UK releases funds directly to

NGOF on a quarterly basis

Review by WA-UK

Quarterly submission of Progress Report

and Disbursal Report

Indirect Oversight

by WA-Bangladesh

Program related direction from FANSA

NGOF transfers funds to Partner

NGOs

Oversight by NGOF Regional Office

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Figure 5: Community situation analysis

Open Budgeting initiatives involving, CSOs, local allies, journalists and others sensitized a total of twenty one UPs that opened their annual budget to the citizens for the first time. The experience of 'Open Budgeting' was shared through organizing workshop at district level involving all the UP Chairmen, Upazila Chairmen of Moulvibazar district. This helped to sensitize the district and Upazila authorities as well as UPs to obtain their commitment to open their annual budget to the citizens. Alongside a total of sixty seven Citizen Charters were developed and displayed at the premises of sixty seven UPs. Upazila advocacy meetings were organized in which the Upazila Sanitation Taskforce members and CSOs actively participated. This helped to sensitize Upazila Sanitation Taskforce to ensure the utilization of the 20% ADP allocation for the poor and marginalized. Advocacy meetings with district sanitation taskforce were organized and conducted to take decision by the district authority to accelerate sanitation coverage of the district involving all segments of service providers. Advocacy meetings with Local Government Institutions (LGIs) at UP level were organized to accelerate pro-poor service delivery in thirty five UPs.

The assessment of water quality covering different hard-to-reach areas of Moulvibazar district has been carried out covering a total of 717 randomly selected water points. Using this assessment result an analysis a report titled „Drinking Water Quality: Present Situation and Way Forward‟ has been prepared. Union Parishad (UP) members including local allies, CSOs and community representative under thirty five UPs have been sensitized regarding the lead role of UP in responding to the hard-to-reach WASH concerns. Open budgeting initiatives involving, CSOs, local allies, and others sensitized a total of twenty one UPs that opened their annual budget to the citizens for the first time in the history of independent Bangladesh. The experience of 'Open Budgeting' was shared through organizing workshop at district level involving all the UP Chairmen, Upazila Chairmen of Moulvibazar district. This helped to sensitize the district and Upazila authorities as well as UPs to obtain their commitment to open their annual budget to the citizens. Alongside a total of sixty seven Citizen Charters were developed and displayed at the premises of sixty seven UPs. Upazila advocacy meetings were organized in which the Upazila Sanitation Taskforce members and CSOs actively participated. This helped to sensitize Upazila Sanitation Taskforce to ensure the utilization of the 20% ADP allocation for the poor and marginalized. Advocacy meetings with district sanitation taskforce were organized and conducted to take decision by the district authority to accelerate sanitation coverage of the district involving all segments of service providers. Advocacy meetings with Local Government Institutions (LGIs) at UP level were organized to accelerate pro-poor service delivery in thirty five UPs.

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The approach has been a combination of bottom up and top down, both working in parallel and alongside. While the grassroots level focus has been on sensitizing hard to reach communities and raising their awareness levels about their rights using sanitation committees as a forum of solidarity, the advocacy part of the work invested in persuading the service providers on importance of reaching water and sanitation services to the hard to reach, to open up their budgeting system, putting citizen charters in the public domain, thereby accelerating the pace of service delivery to the marginalized.

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Methodology

This report is the product of synthesizing information at the secondary level. The difficult political environment in Bangladesh, prevented the consultants from visiting the project area and therefore, no primary data collection could be included. The general approach of the assignment is rooted in qualitative assessment by collecting, compiling, analyzing and synthesizing information from secondary sources such as country-specific and agency-specific LFAs, previous progress reports, annual reports, self-evaluation reports, learning reports, financial reports, mid-term review report (MTR) etc. Only one component of the exercise i.e. Final Evaluation was conducted. The approach and steps used for the study are briefly visualized in Figure 6 below.

Step 1 Desk Study, Data

Collection, Tool Development

Step 2

Discussions with GTF, understanding

expectations via webinar

Step 3 Understanding

unique features of the program,

mailing a

questionnaire

Output Final

Evaluation

Report

Step 4

Secondary data collection,

compilation, and

synthesis

Step 5

Discussions

with-GTF Regional

Coordinator

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Step 1: Desk Study and Questionnaire Development: This was carried out off-site. All the available documents/progress reports/review reports, strategy documents, baseline reports, mission reports, MTR, training documents, case studies and completed self evaluation forms were studied by the consultants. The reports were studied analytically and an objective assessment of the current status of the project was made. This qualitative assessment culminated in a shared understanding of expectations and scope of the study between the two consultants and FANSA-GTF representatives. It also constituted the basis for further evaluations.

Step 2: Discussion with FANSA/GTF, Understanding Global Expectations: Activities in this step enabled the consultants to gather a deeper understanding of the project and finer elements of the output statements. Discussions were held on already completed activities, on-going activities and planned activities in the remaining period of the project. One of the consultants also participated in the global webinar during this step.

Step 3:Understanding Unique Features of the NGO-Forum Program: This was achieved by studying all the relevant documents and holding repeated discussions with GTF staff. The discussions were sharply focused on issues such as what has been the 'value adds' of NGO-F to the program, what was the value for money, what are the challenges for sustainability, what would be the scenario at the end of the project period etc. Self evaluation questionnaire was also e-mailed to NGO Forum and response received.

Step 4: Secondary Data Collection, Data Compilation, Analysis, and Synthesis of Findings: A vast amount of secondary data was collected through FANSA. The data included annual reports, MTR, learning reports, Log frames, User analysis data and other related data sources. The data thus collected provided a reasonably a good understanding of the intricacies of the program. The FANSA regional coordinator seamlessly facilitated this process and provided required clarifications.

Step 5: Verification with FANSA/GTF:

Over the phone and through e-mails, consultants and the GTF Regional Coordinator exchanged ideas and understanding of the key issues. This was critical to assimilate insights and to proceed further.

Limitations: As described in the opening paragraph of this section, this report is constrained by the fact that the consultants could not carry out field visits. Initially, it was planned that one consultant and one representative of FANSA would visit a couple of project sites in Moulvibazar area towards the first week of May 2013 and accordingly a detailed itinerary was to drawn up to conduct official meetings, staff meetings and FGDs at the community level. Tools for FGDs and discussion guidelines were also drafted. However, the on-going civil unrest in Dhaka and other parts of the country prevented the consultants from travelling to Dhaka. Assuming that the situation would improve, the initially planned visit was rescheduled twice. An alternate option of hiring a local consultant to carry out the field studies was also explored. The idea did not receive encouraging response. With no improvements in the situation, the visit was eventually called off and the study was carried out using secondary level data. The report depended heavily on the self evaluation report, learning report, Log frames and MTR. Therefore, consultants believe that in spite of their attempt at being neutral, some biases may have unconsciously crept in. The consultants own up for such unintended oversights.

Country Programme Theory of Change and Baseline While the programme was being put together, FANSA – a network of mostly grassroots Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan - was also formally launched in Nepal in January 2008. FANSA‟s objectives were to hold governments accountable and responsive for the WASH needs of the local communities and at the same time to work with the governments to enhance the delivery of services in the WASH sector.

It is widely acknowledged that in Bangladesh Water supply and Sanitation is characterized by a number of achievements as wells as numerous challenges. As early as 2004, the share of the population with access to improved water resources was estimated at 98%. This is a remarkable achievement for a developing country. This achievement has been the outcome of construction of hand pumps with external funding. On the other hand, issues such as water contamination of surface water and ground emerged as unmet challenges.

In 1990, only 20% of the population have had access to adequate sanitation and the rate was slowly changing. Despite the positive direction of the change by 2004 the coverage reached a figure of only 39%. According to the baseline survey carried out in 2003, about 53% of the rural households had some kind of household toilets. The cited reasons for not having household toilets were i) lack of funds ii) lack of space iii) poor awareness iv) preference for open defecation and v) lack of construction material. While the funds were and continue to be provided under various schemes of the government it is the gaps in knowledge, awareness and accessibility to funds and prioritization of sanitation in government schemes through advocacy are being addressed by the GTF project.

Bangladesh had pioneered the introduction of community-led sanitation in the rural areas with support from WaterAid Bangladesh (WAB) as early as in 2005, which met with good success and many countries including India modeled their interventions based on this model.

The Government of Bangladesh adopted a number of policies to remedy the challenges in the sector. National Policies for Safe Water Supply and Sanitation,1998, National Water Policy, 1999, National Water Management Plan 2004, National Policy for Arsenic Mitigation, 2004, and National Sanitation Strategy of 2005 are worth recalling. These policies emphasize decentralization, user participation, the role of women, and "appropriate pricing rules". Until then, most traditional sanitation programs relied on the provision of subsidies for the construction of toilets and hygiene education. Under this framework, the subsidized facilities often did not reach all members of a community. In addition, the subsidies took away the personal and community ownership for toilets and it was ridden by a detached feeling.

The practice of supporting rural water supply schemes has also undergone a major transition in Bangladesh. It was clearly articulated by the government that i) the sponsors from the community would create a water user association (local samitees) ii) pay for 10% of the investment costs at the time of completion of the construction iii) operate and maintain the system for 10 years, and iv) pay back the remaining 90% of the investment costs over this period.

The available data indicates that over 73 small schemes had been completed by 2008. Sponsors are NGOs, cooperatives or individuals. The number of applicants each year outnumber the schemes to be constructed. However, tariffs have been set at relatively low levels, so that the operators barely break even and have not paid back the loans for 90% of the investment costs.

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Responsibilities for water and sanitation services in Bangladesh thinly spread across many ministries and departments (also refer responsibility matrix in Table 3). The Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives has the overall responsibility for monitoring and governing the sector, including policy formulation through its Local Government Division. Within the Division, the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) assists municipalities and communities in building water supply infrastructure in all parts of the country. Other ministries with responsibilities of one or the other kind in the areas of water and sanitation include education, health and family welfare, water resources, environment and forests, finance and the Planning Commission. The National Water Management Plan (NWMP) lists not less than 13 ministries involved in the sector. This characterizes most countries in the South Asia region.

The most recent development in Bangladesh has been the formulation of a separate National Strategy for Water and Sanitation for Hard to Reach Areas of Bangladesh in 2011;a high point for GTF program because of the recognition of the government for special attention required to these areas, for which GTF has been advocating relentlessly. With a view to reaching all the hard-to-reach people‟s access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene, the GoB is committed to commemorate the Strategy with the combined efforts of different agencies that include NGOs, civil society, international organizations, donors, UN-bodies, community allies and different stakeholders. This also worked as public token of recognition of the need for collaboration across a large spectrum of stakeholders. Water and sanitation target for the Sixth Five Year Plan (SFYP) for rural population is to increase the access to safe drinking water to 96.5 percent and to sanitary latrines to 90 percent by 2015.

Close to 72% of the population in Bangladesh is rural. As per the estimates in 2010, access to clean water is 80% and access to sanitation is 55%. However, 80% access to clean water camouflages the fact that only 1% of the households have piped connection at home and the problem of arsenic is widespread. In 200, WHO estimated that 77 million people in Bangladesh are exposed to the risk of drinking arsenic contaminated water.

The Sector Development Plan (2011-2025) for Water and Sanitation in Bangladesh strongly recognizes the vulnerability and need of access to safe water supply and sanitation in hard-to-reach areas. One of its major objectives is to address emerging and future challenges of water supply and sanitation sector. Hence, the document recommends immediate actions to increase access of safe water supply and sanitation in vulnerable hard-to-reach areas and initiate new intervention especially the innovation and promotion of context-specific and climate-resilient water supply and sanitation technologies to address future challenges.

National Hygiene Promotion Strategy for Water Supply & Sanitation, 2011 depicts the government‟s increased attention towards hygiene issue. The Strategy states that hygiene promotion means to cover a range of facilitative and enabling approaches to prevent water and sanitation related diseases and optimize the effects of water and sanitation interventions. Hygiene promotion is a part of a broader health promotion framework which attempts to address the structural determinants of health including ensuring access to water and sanitation facilities while supporting people‟s capacity and confidence to combat the factors that determine one‟s own health and the health of others.

In addition to World Bank, WSP, ADB and other multilateral donors, UNICEF and UKAID have working jointly to improve the water and sanitation situation in Bangladesh. GTF has collaborated well with WSP, UNICEF and WB initiatives.

Some other important programs taken up by the Government of Bangladesh are worth recalling that fit into context of GTF program. The Government of Bangladesh has taken up an extensive program of “ National Sanitation Campaign” in order to ensure Government‟s Commitment of achieving 100% sanitation by the year 2010. It also hosted SACOSAN (South Asian Conference on Sanitation), in October 2003 in order to (i) assess the state of Sanitation & Hygiene, sharing experience and lessons learnt in the region (ii) raise the

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profile of Sanitation & Hygiene in South Asia following WSSD (iii) generate political commitment through a joint declaration and (iv) strengthen advocacy for improved sanitation & hygiene in South Asia.

It is important to highlight some other important initiatives introduced by the GoB. The Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives have allocated 20% of the Upazila development grants for improvement of sanitation. In this regard a guidelines has been formulated for proper utilization of the grant. This is again a good step and provided leverage to advocacy efforts of the GTF program. WATSAN Task Forces with clear terms of reference have been formed in the National, City Corporations, District, Municipality, UP, Upazila and ward levels to materialize the national sanitation program.

Viewed in the above context, the formulation of the GTF South Asia Programme by WaterAid-FANSA to address the governance and accountability issues at the local level assumed increased relevance and provides a perfect contextual setting to test the Theory of Change.

The programme envisages a process of change that has begun with building the capacity of the civil society and its networks. It starts with the conviction that in order to influence the quality of state policies and services, civil society has to be strengthened and capacitated for advocacy functions to ensure sustainable improvements in governance in the WASH sector. A strong and capable civil society network will, in turn, mobilise citizens and make them aware of their rights and entitlements so that communities can effectively engage in decision-making. The approach has to be inclusive, so that traditionally marginalised groups, hard to reach and excluded groups, women, elderly, tribal population are also encouraged to participate in the decision-making process. Strengthened communities are expected to influence the policy and processes of service delivery in the WASH sector. As the communities gain knowledge and confidence, they are expected to demand government responsiveness and accountability. They can do so effectively, only if they are equipped to use the legal rights and means of access to services, information and entitlements. The programme partners are expected to build the capacity of the communities to access these rights, use the information to demand their entitlements and hold the governmental agencies to account for deficiencies in service delivery.

Other important actors who could influence the changes both positively and negatively are government functionaries, both generalist and WATSAN contractors. Some of these have been put under microscope for greater scrutiny, and in some cases contractors have been rendered superfluous as communities themselves undertake the job. This has threatened powerful political lobbies as the power equations changed and informal institutions felt the need for greater inclusiveness and equity.

Final Evaluation

Findings

The Evaluation exercise covered multiple dimensions of the program. They are graphically presented below and the findings under each dimension are detailed out in the sections that follow.

Figure 7 : Evaluation themes

Criteria 1: Relevance

Based on an assessment of the existing data and documented reports, it is evident that the goal, purpose and four outputs set in the GTF Programme hold relevance. The public health situation especially the safe WASH facilities is far below the satisfactory levels. Convergence of efforts from all stakeholders is needed to secure rights-based WATSAN service delivery. Establishing strong linkages between disadvantaged, hard-to-reach communities and the government service providers is a prerequisite to improve the water supply and sanitation situation. There are two barriers in the journey towards 100% sanitation. The first one is the „administrative barrier‟ at the local levels and the second one is the 'socio-psychological barrier' at community levels. To overcome both the barriers, a program like GTF which uses advocacy as a major tool is programmatically and contextually relevant.

There are enough evidences to indicate that GTF program in Bangladesh has produced many successful examples of ensuring governance and transparency. The Programme has engaged with District, Upazila and Union Parishad in ensuring pro-poor WASH allocation. NGO Forum and its seven local partners networked with local administration, LGIs, CSOs, and local allies at regular frequencies. As a result, CSOs and community groups amplified their voices and started demanding for better services. Situation analysis generated a data base to hold evidence-based dialogues with the service providers. The spread effect was visible at the Union Parishad level. 'Open Budgeting' is a pioneering initiative spear headed by the NGO Forum and partners under the GTF program and it is a step forward to ensure transparency

Relevance

Effectiveness

Partnership

Advocacy Equity

Value for Money

Efficiency

Sustainability Innovation and

replicability

Impact and change

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in an otherwise opaque system. As a result a total of twenty one UPs opened their annual budgets to the citizens. A total of sixty seven Citizen Charters have been developed and the public display of these at the premises respective UPs have had tremendous cascading impact.

The following examples substantiate the argument. Community situation analysis in fourteen selected Union Parishads (UPs) was precursor to community mobilization. A total of 126 ward-level CBOs with the representation of 1,890 community representatives were formed under the GTF program. The CBOs used this forum to aggressively articulate their demands at respective service providers levels. Selected communities under fourteen UPs identified 'actual' recipients of WATSAN services and the reason for not including the 'real' poor and marginalized were debated. Social audit was the tool used for this purpose. The information thus generated helped a great deal in conducting evidence-based dialogues with the service providers.

Apart from this, service level and quality of WATSAN services have been identified and shared through public meetings at thirty five UPs involving a total of 1,052 people. Assessment of water quality covering different hard-to-reach areas of Moulvibazar district has been carried out covering a total of 717 randomly selected water points. . Open budgeting initiatives involving, CSOs, local allies, journalists and others sensitized a total of twenty one UPs that opened their annual budget to the citizens for the first time. The experience of 'Open Budgeting' was shared through organizing workshop at district level involving all the UP Chairmen, Upazila Chairmen of Moulvibazar district. Consequently, the Upazila authorities as well as UPs gave their commitment to open their annual budget to the citizens. Alongside a total of sixty seven Citizen Charters were developed and displayed at the premises of sixty seven UPs. This helped to sensitize Upazila Sanitation Taskforce and enabled to utilize 20% ADP allocation for the poor and marginalized. Advocacy meetings with Local Government Institutions (LGIs) at UP level were organized to accelerate pro-poor service delivery in thirty five UPs.

Upazila Parishad is an independent elected local government body empowered to act on local governance issues, empowered by an ordinance in 2008. On an average, Upazila Parishad has a population of around 250,000 Each Upazila has an elected Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Members; the membership must include a Woman Vice Chairman and reserved seats for women. Under this provision of the ordinance, civil society could pressure the Upzila Parishads to adopt open budget system.

The following responsibility matrix (table 3) will hold a guide as to how the service delivery mechanism is structured in Bangladesh, with specific reference to public health, water & sanitation and waste management. The responsibilities are dispersed across layers of governance, including Upazila Parishads. This responsibility matrix supports the role played by Upazila Parishads in realizing water and sanitation services.

Service component

Central Government

Zila Parishad UpaZila Parishad

Union Parishad

Primary Health Care

Water & Sanitation

Refuse collection and disposal

No

Water Supply Utilities

Table 4: Responsibility matrix

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Two highly popular advocacy campaigns viz. „Be Beside the Hard-to-Reach‟ and „Rights to WATSAN-Get it for All‟ led by NGO Forum network sensitized a large section of stakeholders on WASH governance. These two campaigns were conceived and lead by NGO Forum using its own network both at national and local levels. They are part funded by GTF. The history of these campaigns pre-dates GTF. NGO Forum started „Be Beside the Hard-to-Reach‟ campaign from 2007 and „Right to WatSan-Get It for All‟ from 2010 leveraging the collaboration with FANSA, WSCCB, WaterAid, WSP and other donors. In 2010 NGO Forum extended the campaign to GTF Programme areas and the past experience provided a big head start.

Enactment of National Strategy for Water and Sanitation for the Hard-to-Reach Areas of Bangladesh in December 2011 was a definite impact of this long drawn effort.

The Local Government Institutions played an active role in these advocacy campaigns and the impact of the campaigns reached zila and state levels. Because of the leadership demonstrated by the local government institutions, people connected to the campaigns instantly. The campaign drew its strength from the fact that the emotional connectivity of the people was greater than the thematic connectivity. This compelled higher level of government layers to take note of the demands that people were putting forth.

Figure 8: Advocacy campaigns

Rating for Relevance Dimension

Rating: (2) Fairly Relevant

Scale: 1 (extremely relevant); 2 (fairly relevant); 3 (somewhat relevant); 4 (not very relevant); 5 (not at all relevant)

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Criteria 2: Effectiveness

On the effectiveness dimension the program stands out fairly well, despite many constraints that the program faced during the past four years of implementation. Some key indicators that support this stand are:

Indicators How it relates to improved effectiveness

a Capacity of twenty six personnel of partner NGOs and CSO Forum has been increased to work on sustainability

Sustainability has been the main focus of all advocacy work under GTF. The capacity building of partner NGOs and CSO Forums have played a big role in ensuring that they take on future responsibilities. This has contributed to the program effectiveness to a large extent

b Thirty six staff members of NGO Forum and partner organizations benefitted from RBA training

Right based Approach is very much needed to influence the local governments to act upon local issues. The RBA training has raised the internal capacities to bring the issue forefront

c One District CSO Forum for Public Health Development, Moulvibazar and seven Upazila CSO Forums for Public Health Development were formed. The Forum has been recognized by the local authority as a forum for government to civil society dialogue

Mandating the forum as an interfacing body with the local governments has lifted the quality of dialogues and enabled to bring the decision making turnaround time substantially. Although quantification is difficult to arrive at, there has been a general perception that decision making process at the local level has improved

d Upazila CSO Forum for Public Health has been formed involving a total of 151 personnel

An indicator of how critical mass is being formed. The number is expanding. This is contributing to the effectiveness of program implementation at the local levels

e Public meeting and focus group discussions were the popular forums on which service level benchmarks and quality of WATSAN services have been tested. A total of 1,052 persons from thirty five UPs participated in these meetings

The contribution of this to improved effectiveness lies in the fact that UPs and Upzilas have been persuaded to work together

f Large groups of people (6,615 people in 14 UPs) involved in social auditing process. Social audit has become popular and it has pushed the otherwise slow moving government machinery on a fast track mode

This has fast tracked the decision making process. Social audits have succeeded in making the governments to take note of local concerns and spend money more cautiously

g

Water Quality assessment covered a total of 717 randomly selected water points in Moulvibazar. This exercise has been very effective in raising the awareness levels on water quality, especially arsenic, both at the

Arsenic contamination being a major water quality issue, the WQ assessments raised the awareness levels and the cost of not acting upon by the government

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Indicators How it relates to improved effectiveness

community level and at government levels

h A total of 21 UPs opened their Annual Budget to the citizens for the first time. This is a landmark achievement. This scores high on the effectiveness dimension to lend transparency to budgeting process

Open budget system has enabled to lend transparency to the budgeting process as well as compelled the local governments to tune their programs to meet the local needs. Because of this, two things have happened i) overall cost of projects have come down and ii) speed of implementation have improved. It has been noticed that there are evidences in reduced project cycle days and some decrease in the project cost. For quantification, a separate attempt may be needed

Table 5: Indicators of efficiency

The internal system of planning, monitoring and evaluation is not fully effective. It is recognized that there has been a limited coverage of partners or some partners have not been covered at all due to time constraints. This needs to be strengthened and more extensive coverage is needed. Some efforts have been made by NGO Forum to cover all partners by developing a comprehensive plan and involving all partners in developing the country programme.

Rating for Effectiveness Dimension

Rating: (3) Fairly Effective

Scale: 1 (optimally effective); 2 (mostly effective); 3 (fairly effective); 4 (fairly ineffective); 5 (very ineffective)

Criteria 3: Efficiency

Efficiency of the programme has been assessed from three internal perspectives viz. Partnership relations, Management arrangement and Project-specific financial transaction systems.

Partnership Relationship: GTF being dependent on intense networking with seven partners, and other actors, a strong partnership arrangement has been put in place. The fact that the NGO Forum had been working with these partners at different points in time earlier on health themes or on other domains helped a great deal to strengthen the relationship. This arrangement is more tilted towards political management of relationships rather than procedural arrangements. The Forum involved seven local partners in seven Upazilas of Moulvibazar district who had historical experience of working in multiple sectors including WASH (like Health, education, livelihoods etc) in the selected geographies . As a networking and partnership-based organization NGO Forum blended partners interests and programme

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implementation tasks near to perfection. In this aspect NGO Forum has done exceedingly well and can be rated high and partners have high professional regard towards NGO Forum.

One District CSO Forum for Public Health Development, Moulvibazar and seven Upazila CSO Forums for Public Health Development have been recognized as a forum for government to civil society dialogue. Through this forum several informal advocacy dialogues have been launched. People perceive that because of these dialogues, the decision making process at the local level has improved substantially. The reason for the success of this forum lies in the fact that the dialogue process has been constructive avoiding the path of confrontation, by design.

Management Arrangement: Under GTF project management, major governance and policy-related issues including financial management are placed under the direct control of the Executive Director of the NGO Forum. Under the guidance of the Executive Director, the overall management of the Project is guided by the Project Management Unit (PMU), headed by the Head, Advocacy & Information Cell. He also doubles up as the Project Coordinator for GTF. The Project Coordinator supported by one Advocacy and Documentation Officer, four full-time project staff (2 at central and 2 at district level) and one part time monitoring staff at Central Office. Seven local partner NGOs at the district level play the key role in project implementation activities.

This management arrangement is project-specific and in our understanding, post-GTF this will be disbanded. However, advocacy activities will continue to be led by the Head Advocacy and Information Cell, because it is a cell embedded within and it is an activity of choice for NGO Forum. The insights gained through the implementation of GTF project, therefore will remain with NGO Forum as institutional memory. However, in our remote judgment, the withdrawal of GTF funding poses a risk of the rigor of advocacy efforts being weakened.

Financial Transaction Systems: The Finance Section of the NGO Forum is directly in control of managing financial aspects of the project. The internal financial systems provide adequate checks and balances. (Refer financial transaction process under the fund flow section).

The partnership, programme and financial management have been found to be fairly efficient in disbursal of funds, efficiency of management and monitoring of financial disbursements. The internal turnaround time from fund receipt to actual disbursals are reported to be less than a week. There were sporadic instances of delayed receipt of funds from WaterAid combined with delay in the approval of NGO Affairs Bureau, resulting in delay of programme planning. However, these were rather exceptions and not commonly occurring phenomena.

Maintaining speedy process chains between the five key players (<>FANSA>>WAUK>>FANSA>> NGO Forum>>Partner NGO><) has been a difficult task. This inevitable organizational dynamics have sometimes put quick decision making process at risk. However, the meticulous compliance to long process chains ensured transparency in the decision making process that would neutralize potential challenges from externalities and invariably provide legal cover. Nevertheless, there is a good scope in improving quick decision-making processes thereby allowing some margins for efficiency improvements. Since 2012-13 financial year, GTF was included as part of WaterAid country budgets. This necessitated involvement of Water Aid Bangladesh in GTF programme. All three parties – FANSA, NGOF and WA-BD managed the new arrangement with no difficulties. Continuing its work as GTF focal point in the region, FANSA proactively involved WA-BD‟s participation in activities such as monitoring visit (both program and financial) and also events such as learning-sharing. In all such cases where WA-BD required compliance with regard to plans, budgets and reports, FANSA facilitated the same with NGOF.

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While NGO Forum has triggered all out efforts to put in a good, fool proof and whole some system in place, covering external (partner relations) and internal (management arrangements, financial transaction systems) perspectives, there seems to be bias towards ensuring purity in internal systems at the cost of efficiency. The costs of overplaying purity of internal processes are i) delayed internal decision making and ii) not being sensitive enough to external perspectives. In the interest of efficiency improvements, NGO Forum needs to take the above factors into consideration.

Rating for Efficiency Dimension and Rationale

Rating: (3) Fairly Efficient

Scale: 1 (optimally efficient); 2 (mostly efficient); 3 (fairly efficient); 4 (fairly inefficient); 5 (very inefficient)

Criteria 4: Sustainability

Various reports indicate that it has been possible to produce many good examples in the area of governance and transparency, a key ingredient to sustainability. The increased capacity of different groups produced collaboration between the GTF partners, District, Upazila and Union Parishads and improved pro-poor WASH allocation. More frequent engagement and networking with local administration, LGIs, CSOs, local allies and other stakeholders need to be established for ensuring governance and transparency in the long run.

NGO Forum involved seven local partners, who have firm organizational roots in their geographies because of their historical association with other programs and their credibility has already been established. They can seamlessly continue collaborating with CSOs, LGIs and other stakeholders and lift the quality of community mobilization. The CSO Forum for Public Health Development is likely to provide good support in achieving sustainability. Continued involvement of the local CSOs, Upazila and district level government officials, LGIs and WATSAN Taskforce Committees will be the definite value adds. Forming WATSAN Taskforce Committees is a major milestone in the sustainability path. The project continues to focus on the community empowerment process which will contribute to ensuring sustainability. Incorporation of Moulvibazar district with HLP programme is a strong step towards sustainability.

Other aspects on which NGO Forum is focusing to ensure sustainability include:

Helping the community to raise voice on their rights and entitlements on WASH

Continuing the role of CSO Forum

CSO Forum coordination meeting at regular frequencies

Collaboration with UPs, CSOs and local allies for organizing Open Budget session with emphasis on pro-poor WASH allocation (see below)

Open Budget System is a unique model that has become extremely popular amongst communities. The increased allocation of budgets because of the introduction of Open Budget System is detailed in the table below (all amounts are in Bangladesh tks).

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Figure 9: Open budgeting session

Overall Budget for 21 UPs (including

WASH) in FY 2012-13 (tks)

Overall Budget for 21 UPs (including WASH)

in FY 2011-12 (tks) Increase (tks) Explanation

121,027,369 61,931,564 59,095,805 (49%)

Annual budget in 19 out of 21 UPs have seen an increased allocation

Table 6: Increase in total allocation

WASH Budget for 21 UPs in 2012-13 (tks)

WASH Budget for 21 UPs in FY 2011-12 (tks)

Increase (tks) Explanation

4,095,726 1,699,000 2,396,726 (59%)

WASH budget in 14 out of 21 UPs has seen an increased allocation

Table 7: Increase in WASH allocation

Year on year the overall increased budget for 21 UPs is recorded as tks 59,095,805 (including WASH component), an increase of about 49%. In contrast, when WASH budget taken in isolation, the increased amount works out to be tks 2,396,726, an increase of about 59%. This demonstrates the power packed outcome of the Open Budget System, a clear path for ensuring government ownership and sustainability.

The key to sustainability, also seems to be forging a robust network relationship with other stakeholders including local NGOs, CSOs, local allies and other like-minded organizations, and linking them with service providers. The right-based community empowering approach which has been followed in implementation has proven to be very useful. This is an intangible but an essential process. The NGO Forum has to invest substantial efforts in this area.

Rating for Sustainability Dimension

Rating: (3) Fairly Sustainable

Scale: 1 (optimally sustainable); 2 (mostly sustainable); 3 (fairly sustainable); 4 (mostly unsustainable); 5 (not at all sustainable)

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Criteria 4: Value for Money

The first impression of the program reveals that a fair degree of economy has been achieved in the implementation of the programme, as the sum of the outputs has been superior in contrast to the total inputs invested (financial, human resources and programmatic). Given the current development market phenomenon, procuring the same inputs with less money or procuring more skilled people with the same amount of money would be a distant possibility. Although it is difficult to monetize the efforts in quantifiable terms, the NGO Forum and local partners have made a high level of physical, emotional and resource investments into the program to achieve the desired outputs. That itself is a great value for money.

With the limited inputs provided by the program, it has been possible to optimize the benefits through maintaining a perfect blend between programme delivery and its economy, efficiency and effectiveness. The population coverage numbers presented in the table below is a reflection of the large reach of the program.

Population coverage Total

Men Women

Total 321690 312666 634356 (100%)

Break-down by target groups (50% are children and marginalized)

Children 126871 20%

Marginalized 193875 30%

Sub-total 320746 50%

Table 8: Population coverage

Component Expenditure incurred between 2010-2013 (in tks)

Percentage to total program cost

Output 1 15,41,229 29.8%

Output 2 8,61,774 16.6%

Output 3 21,06,673 40.8%

Output 4 6,59,474 12.8%

Sub-total (A) 5,169,150 100%

Table 9: Output-wise breakdown of expenses

Note: Other program related expenditure are not reflected in this table. For such details, refer Table 3 under section project management arrangements

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Rating for Value for Money Dimension

Rating: (3) Fairly Good Value for Money

Scale: 1 (excellent VfM); 2 (good VfM); 3 (fairly good VfM); 4 (poor VfM); 5 (very poor VfM)

Criteria 5: Equity

Gender is a cross-cutting theme that is the at the centre of the GTF Programme. One of the draw backs of NGO Forum is that the program design did not include a systematic baseline data collection on gender. However, a mid-course correction was made and disaggregated data on gender was later collected.

Different needs and issues which are affecting the poor and marginalized community and groups including ethnic communities were mapped using a variety of tools and process (e.g. CSA, FGD, Public meeting, and budget analysis in some selected areas).

Due to collaborative role played by CSOs, local allies and community groups it has been possible to identify the actual 'hardcore poor' households and hard-to-reach communities, leaving out arbitrariness in selection. Participation of affected communities like tea garden workers in the selection process has been the real driver to promote equity. The process removed arbitrary selection by the powerful as well as self selection by the affected, while ensuring community ownership for the decision.

Using evidence-based dialogue, sensitization, collaboration and linkage development, an enabling environment for pro-poor service delivery was created, thereby strengthening equitable service delivery focus. Leveraging the supportive role played by CSOs, local allies and community groups, it has been possible to identify the 'real' poor households and 'hard-to-reach' communities. It has been noted that these excluded groups getting priority attention in WATSAN related service delivery.

Due to a rigorous follow up process, many local authorities including UP, Upazila and district administration have crossed the 'administrative barriers' and have started focusing on the implementation of pro-poor strategy. Now all the UPs confidently and prominently display Citizen‟s Charters which indicate the service provisions and timelines. Despite these success stories, local governments are faced with resource constraints and are unable to meet the increasing demands. Inadequate skill sets of service providers is another area that needs continued capacity building support to ensure more attention to equity aspects.

Rating for Equity Dimension

Rating: (3) Fairly good focus on Equity

Scale: 1 (Excellent focus on equity); 2 (good focus on equity); 3 (fairly good focus on equity); 4 (not much focus on equity); 5 (no focus on equity)

Criteria 6: Innovation and Replicability

The process of right-based community empowerment, CSO engagement, promoting community Forums, Open Budgeting is the most important aspects that have great potential

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for replication. The GTF program has given an opportunity to the staff of NGO Forum and seven partners to acquaint themselves with the required tools. Open Budget System, the success of which has been reported earlier is highly innovative. This has the most potential for transplanting to other areas of Bangladesh as well as other developing countries where local governments have the latitude to decide their own priorities and programs. This can be tried out on a large scale.

Figure 10: Citizen charter on display

Various Ministries and Cooperatives, Department of Public Health Engineering, government service providers, local administration, local allies, CSOs, NGOs, WASH networks (e.g. WSCCB, FANSA, BWIN), external sector players (WaterAid Bangladesh, UNICEF, WSP, USAid) hold the key to replicate the above mentioned innovative approach. WaterAid Bangladesh can play a dominant role in this. Alongside, countrywide network of the NGO Forum can disseminate the project learning horizontally that will contribute immensely to sustainability. However, the implication for NGO Forum is to motivate partners to maintain continued interest in what has been internalized. It means a lot of hard work.

For influencing sector stakeholders the NGO Forum worked on advocacy campaign on WASH governance. „Be beside the hard-to-reach‟ and „Right to WATSAN-Get it for All‟ are the two watershed campaigns that are widely recognized by the sector actors. These high pitched campaigns compelled the government to announce a separate National Strategy for Water and Sanitation for Hard to Reach Areas of Bangladesh, in December 2011. It is foreseen that government players will not show any particular interest in these campaigns, because of the inherently challenging nature of the campaign. However, some donors and the civil society by choice will pick these tools and replicate them elsewhere.

Rating for Innovation and Replicability Dimension

Rating: (1) Extremely Replicable

Scale: 1 (Extremely replicable); 2 (likely to be replicable); 3 (partly replicable); 4 (mostly unlikely to be replicable); 5 (not at all replicable)

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Overall Summary and Analysis of Findings

Conclusions

The overall purpose of the GTF program is to influence changes in WASH governance as well as behaviour dimensions of duty bearers, service providers and community members. Bangladesh GTF program has demonstrated some outstanding success stories.

At the policy level changes have been remarkable with many policies and strategies having been put in place. Although there were delays in the start of the program in Bangladesh, it quickly caught up with its peers and stayed on course with the pre-designed program objectives of advocacy. The program promoted advocacy as an instrument of change by strengthening the capacity of most important entities at the grassroots level. By tradition, communities having been overly dependent to be a recipient of services, incentives and tangible program benefits, this paradigm shift in program approach was alien to communities as well as duty bearers. Countering this conceptual barrier was not an easy task. However as the program evolved and the nuances gradually became clearer, communities started viewing the program from a different prism. They were subsequently awakened to the new reality that their 'voice' has the power to make governments to stand up and take note of their concerns and aspirations. This is a remarkable achievement of the program. Therefore, we can confidently reiterate that the program has left an indelible "advocacy footprint" at the grassroots levels in WASH governance in the program areas.

Working hand in hand with various arms of the governments to ensure transparent implementation of the on-going schemes and programs is the hallmark of the GTF program in Bangladesh. The NGO Forum and seven partners, have been able to contribute to shaping some major programs at the UP and Upazila levels. The program leveraged the RTI as instruments to hold duty bearers to account and promoted the formation of Task Force Committees. There are many indications to show that community pressures have resulted in quick responses by the government officers at the UP and Upazila levels.

Communities, especially in the hard to reach areas benefited from improved awareness about WASH governance. People voluntarily participated in carrying out Social Audits that ensured transparency in program implementation. The WATSAN Task Forces were of great help. The fruits of sustained efforts of program partners in ensuring greater accessibility to water and sanitation services, lending transparency to budgeting processes through Open Budget Systems, enhanced quality of water and sanitation services are obvious. The increased allocation of WASH budgets vs. overall budget allocation is a clear indicator of the success.

Communities have now gained exposure to the process of demanding entitlements from local duty bearers and institutions such as UPs and Upazilas. They are increasingly being provided with a legitimate space they deserve in local administrative decision making processes in a democratic manner. Evidences demonstrate that WATSAN Task Forces are active but they might need some more hand holding to transform them to manage higher level responsibilities.

Changes in power relations are most intangible to measure. The traditional power structures and social hierarchies in the society are deeply embedded and they are more informal in nature. It will take more time to main stream the hard to reach areas and excluded communities. Challenging deep rooted beliefs and replacing them with fresh sets of beliefs and practices is a long-term game and cannot be achieved within the four year lifetime of the project.

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Summary of Recommendations The recommendations arising out of the Final Evaluation are grouped under two major categories i.e. Program Design and Program Implementation. One caveat is in order here. The recommendations are based on the remote assessment of the program, information entirely drawn from secondary sources.

Programme Design

The GTF South Asia programme was designed by obtaining proposals from potential partners and attempting to fit these into the global framework. This has led to the accepted program being vastly different from the initial proposals. This has led to some ambiguity in understanding the programme framework and slow implementation in the initial years. A detailed strategy development accompanied by deeper orientation to program partners in the beginning of the programme could have ensured better understanding of the context. Similarly, NGO Forum could have invested more efforts in orienting and educating the partners in the philosophy and approach of the program.

CAR framework being the key determinant of the programme design, NGO Forum paid attention paid to the capability of the UPs, Upazilas and other local governments and service providers. This makes it stand out from other peers in the region. There are evidences to show that a chain of 'critical mass' (e.g. WATAN Task Force) has been formed at the grass roots levels. This critical mass needs more capacity building efforts, post-GTF program. Only then the critical mass will gather more mass around it and likely to act as future champions of change. Changes in policies and processes are gradual and time-consuming; but some good beginning has been made by the NGO Forum and seven partners. Nevertheless, more intense efforts on a longer time horizon are required. This is a major weakness of the program, despite many programmatic merits to show case.

By design, the NGO Forum balanced their program inputs almost equitably across four Outputs., thereby paying reasonably good attention to the role of local governments and creating a congenial environment to achieve the objective of changes in the local governance. However, there are instances to show that there is scope for improvement in defining the quality of program activities.

The GTF program draws it merit from the fact that the design has been flexible enough to make mid-course corrections. The initial assumptions have also been found to be valid. However, the goals appear to have been rather ambitious for achievement within a one-off programme. Governance reforms require continuous engagement with the stakeholders for prolonged periods and a one-time investment could at best be a scoping attempt. To that extent, the GTF program has achieved its goal. But, as chances of relapse in governance reform are rather high (this has been amply proven with other WASH programs in Bangladesh), it is necessary to follow up this initiative with a broader governance programme which traverses sectoral boundaries and more closely tying up with local governments in strengthening the voice of the poor and the marginalised. It is therefore, recommended that post-closure, NGO Forum and partners revisit the program and sharpen their focus on small and achievable goals.

Program Implementation

Despite the delayed start of the program in Bangladesh, implementation gathered speed and most activities came on track. The internal systems (financial, programmatic and administrative) of NGO Forum are robust and enough checks and balances do exist. However, monitoring could have been stronger during the earlier phase, particularly in respect of capacity building. Although CNA was carried out, link between CNA and the actual training programs conducted have been weak. More structured baseline data on gender

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could have helped in sharpening the gender focus. It was noticed that there was no formal evaluation of the training programme conducted by the programme partners either for their own staff or for the community.

WaterAid Bangladesh had been supportive to the GTF by taking part in programme and finance monitoring and participating in events like learning sharing at country and regional level. WA-BD supported NGOF in some of the activities like Right to Information training. On another font, WaterAid Regional Advocacy wing of WaterAid and FANSA have been working together for various SACOSAN events. It is recommended that WaterAid could actively sharing the GTF learning‟s to the sector in the country and pursue similar approaches in its work with excluded communities.

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Annex 1: Documents Reviewed

1. Annual Report (April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013)

2. Logframe (April 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013)

3. Self Evaluation Report, May 2013 (completed specifically for the purpose of final

evaluation)

4. Narrative Plan of FANSA- GTF Program-South Asia (2012-13)

5. Mid-Term Review of the GTF project/program in India and South Asia (India and

Bangladesh) by Josantony Joseph

6. Mid Term Review of WaterAid / FAN – Governance and Transparency Fund Programme

7. Governance and Transparency Fund (GTF) Mid Term Review (MTR)

8. Freshwater Action Network South Asia-Strategy Document-2012-16

9. Governance Transparency Fund: Developing Southern Civil Society Advocacy in Water and Sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Central America- GTF Learning Review-South Asia

10. NGO F Overall Sustainability Plan, (within April - September 2013 and beyond the project period)

11. Country Strategy-WaterAid Bangladesh

12. DFID Approach to Value for Money-Department for International Development (July 2011)

13. Webinar files on Final Evaluation and Impact Assessment of Governance and Transparency Fund Program (April 23, 2013)

14. No More Whispering – WASH Advocacy Series I , December 2011, MARI

15. Water and Sanitation for Tribal Well-being, WASH Advocacy Series, 2 , 2013, MARI

16. Recent Reforms Enacted in WaSH Sector in Bangladesh-A note by NGO Forum

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Annex 2: Final Country Log Frame

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Annex 3: Statistical Data

PROJECT INFORMATION : GTF 2012-13 PLAN

Name of the Partner CATEGORIES

Total Population to be

covered

Men Women

NGO FORUM

Total 321690 312666 634356

Children in the above population 126871

Marginalized in the above population 193875

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Annex 4: Cases

Transparency Grows its Roots

NGO Forum in collaboration with its local partners in Moulvibazar has set up Citizen‟s Charters in 67 UPs covering all UPs in the entire district. The Governance and Transparency Fund (GTF) has been given full credit to this by the district and upazila administration.

Historically, Citizen Charters did not find a place in the plans of UPs, one reason being lack of funds. The rigorous advocacy efforts with the 67 UPs to promote good governance in relation to WatSan, cut this glass ceiling. The UP Chairmen came forward to depict the actual fees for different services under their respective UPs through the Charters. The Chairmen also shared the initiative with the members in a meeting. They are now expecting that the initiative will help to overcome the wrong perceptions existing between community and the UPs. The UPs will be held accountable to the people if they deviated from the prescribed fee structure.

The Chairman of Ekatuna Union Parishad was among one of the enthusiastic champion of Citizen Charters. In a statement made while the inauguration of the Citizen‟s Charter he mentioned “the Ekatuna union residents will be very much benefited by the displaying of the Citizen‟s Charter. On one hand, on behalf of the UPs it has helped removing the existing doubts in their minds about us, and on the other hand, it will help them avail the services properly. Now the people will easily know that we UP promotes transparency and accountability. Earlier no chairmen had put the list on the public domain; they had a free hand in charging fees and taxes. We are the first UP to take the initiative“.

UP Citizen’s Charter hanged in the UP premises

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Open Budget: A Window for Public to Peep Through

NGO Forum along with its seven local partner NGOs, CSOs and local allies under GTF Programme started working in ensuring pro-poor WatSan service delivery in Moulvibazar district. This was in line with rights and entitlements of hard-to-reach communities. Referring to the Local Government (UP) Act 2009, NGO Forum started sensitizing and encouraging Union Parishad in ensuring pro-poor services through opening their budget. In year 2012, total of 21 Union Parishads (UP) under seven Upazilas of Moulvibazar district opened their annual budget (fiscal year 2012-„13) to its citizens for the first time, using a set of tools .

- Local Government (UP) Act 2009

- Guiding letter including steps, process & reference of Law (Local Government-UP Act 2009) for UP‟s Open Budgeting

- Direction of District Commissioner (DC), Moulvibazar to the UPs for opening their budget

- Ward & Union level sharing meeting involving CSOs, local allies and community people

- Invitation from UP through invitation letter & Miking

- Draft budget circulation & sharing

- Mass gathering & budget finalization meeting

NGO Forum along with its seven local partner NGOs used open budgeting as a tool in GTF Programme to ensure participation of poor and marginalized in the local level decision-making process which ultimately ensures the accountability and responsiveness of the UPs, the local level service providers in line with governance & transparency. It helps Sensitizing Local Government Institutions (UP) to start promoting pro-poor WatSan service delivery through increased budget allocation for the WaSH services.

Analyzing the budget of 21 Union Parishad it was found that:

- 21 UPs of Moulvibazar district opened their annual budget to the citizens for the first time

- Last year there were no any WaSH allocation in three UPs

- Out of 21 UP avarage WatSan allocation incresed in 14 UP, decreased in 1 UP and same allocation in 6 UP.

- Highest WaSH Allocation-8.87 % (Mostafapur of Moulvibazar Sadar Upazila, in terms of %) and seven lakhs (Joifarnagar UP of Juri Upazila, in terms of money).

- Lowest WaSH Allocation-0.18% (Rajghat UP of Sreemangal Upazila, in terms of %) and six thousand (Rajghat UP of Sreemangal Upazila, in terms of money).

- Most of UPs increased WaSH budget but they did not consider number of hardcore poor families and their demand.

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Civil Society Forum for Public Health Development

About CSO Forum

The CSO Forum, Civil Society Forum for Public Health Development, Moulvibazar district was formed on 29 June 2012. It is a non-profit, non-political, non-governmental but social welfare-based development Forum. NGO Forum & its 7 local Partner NGOs facilitate formation of this Forum.

With the leadership of District CSO Forum 07 upazila level CSO Forum formed during July-September 2012 which are working as a supporting hand of District Forum at upazila (sub-district) level

The Forum covers 67 unions under 7 upazilas of Moulvibazar district

NGO & civil society representatives including Journalist, Teacher, Religious Leader, Freedom Fighter, Anser Commander, Different Professionals, Business Community Leader, Tea-worker Leader, Representative of Indigenous Community, CBO Representative, Women Leader, Other Social Network Members, Lawyer, either working or living in the district are the members of the Forum.

Vision

Establishing effective relations with policy-makers from a strong civil society platform on the issues of Public Health & environment, more specifically on the issues of safe water & sanitation and to ensuring governance & transparency of the service providers in the sector

Goals & Objectives

Improving socio-economic condition, especially Public Health situation and environment for the people of hard-to-reach area - hardcore poor, haor, tea garden and indigenous people

Process of CSO Forum Formation (Key Approach)

Identification & organizing the civil society members by the 7 local partners

Sensitization and mobilization of the civil society members with GTF objectives and philosophy

Involving the civil society members with different GTF interventions i.e. project launching workshop, project briefing, sensitization meeting, different skill development training, advocacy meeting, consultation, workshop, dialogue, etc

Facilitate NGO-CSO coordination meeting to sensitize the civil society members to come under a banner for united voice raising

Facilitate and support CSO Forum formation initiatives and formation of A 11-member Convening Committee to materialize the „dream‟

Formation of the CSO Forum for Public Health Development

Consultation and CSO gathering for Way forward

Major Activities so far done by the Forum Members

Dialogue with district, upazila & UP for pro-poor service provision for WaSH

Participation in open budgeting dialogue

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Submission of Memorandum to Prime Minister demanding separate projects & to increase budget allocation

Achievements So Far

The Forum got recognition from all quarters of people

The excluded groups got a platform to place their demand

The Forum is actively engaged in advocating & pursuing the agenda in favour of poor people‟s right & entitlements

The CSO Forum contributed in selecting appropriate hardcore poor families for WatSan services

Future Planning

Bringing all CSO representatives scattered at different corners of the district under one umbrella

Strengthening capacity of CSO representatives

Forming CSO Forum at union level

Issue-based dialogue with electronic & print media

Holding dialogue with other rights-based Forums

Sharing reports comprising success, drawbacks & recommendations of own activities with policy-makers, service providers on a regular basis

Key Challenges

Facilitation support needed

Power politics challenges the existence