Rapport d'evaluation de l'approche en animation du projet d'hydraulique villageoise Boucle du Mouhoun (Dedougou)

As a preliminary to the standardization and improvement of the rural water supply projects in Burkina Faso, ten projects were evaluated; all of them are deep wells equiped with hand pumps serving public stand posts (PEMs). The objective was to evaluate the actual operating system in comparison with the specific approach of the project concerned. The themes of the evaluation were communnity participation, functioning, lifespan and ease of use of the equipment, operation and maintenance systems, women's participation and the impact of the project as concerns the community. Villages were chosen where the PEMs had been operating for 3 - 4 years; where the villagers were used to the systems. Detailed surveys were performed. Participants included men, women, village water committee members, and village leaders. It was found that the communities were not free to choose their own systems or the sites. None of the villages contributed financially to the system, but they did provide labour and materials. Two-thirds of the pumps evaluated were still functioning acceptably. It was difficult to engage the women in the survey, even if no men were present, usually only one woman from the group answered questions. However, the increase in health levels were easily seen, and there was also a marked increase in hygiene even during the dry season. Several new initiatives such as a brick factory, intensive animal husbandry and beer making were seen as direct results from the water system.