Carrying out Sustainability Study of Infrastructure Sub-Projects (Rural Water Supply and Other infrastructures) Implementation in PAF Assisted District

Project Description

Detailed
The sustainability study is designed to evaluate the overall sustainability of infrastructure sub-projects based on four dimensions i.e. Institutional, Social / Environmental, Financial and Technical comprising of a number of predetermined indicators in each category in order to evaluate strengths and weakness of the program after implementation and provide recommendations for future improvements.
The major areas under this study includes: gender and social inclusion, community coverage, participatory approaches used, collection of contribution, mechanism for community O&M etc. Various capacity building trainings are imparted to the COs and other groups for their institutional strengthening. Hence, apart from the functioning of the sub-projects on technical grounds such as construction of different structures as per design and drawings, construction quality the sustainability study will also focus on examining the strengths and weaknesses of the software components of the program and their contribution on the overall sustainability of the sub-projects.
The assessment was based on four major indicators i.e. Institutional, Social, Financial, and Technical comprising of a number of pre-determined sub-indicators in each category. Apart from understanding the sustainability of sub-projects, the assessment is expected to evaluate the strengths and weakness of the PAF’s approach to service delivery by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses and provide concrete recommendations for future improvement.
Assess the overall sustainability of the sub-projects constructed in order to examine the process, approaches, procedures, guidelines and manner in which PAF objectives and principles are achieved in delivering sustainable services and benefits to the rural population through construction of different infrastructure sub-projects.
Provide useful inputs to the PAF in policy issues, procedures and guidelines for further improvements in the implementation of infrastructure to deliver sustainable intended services and benefits to the community. The primary objectives activities are to:
• assess / evaluate the performance of the sub-projects implemented in PAF assisted districts and existing capabilities of the communities to operate and manage their sub-projects
• assess the effectiveness of the capacity building approaches, processes, procedures and guidelines adopted for sub-projects implementation and impact of the sub-projects in improving the living standards and socio-economic status of the community people
• identify key lessons learnt, specific measures to strength the sustainability of the sub-projects, key issues on policies and procedures that need to be addressed to further strengthen the sustainability of the sub-projects being implemented by PAF.

Assignment Description

The Sustainability Study is to be conducted in unbiased sample of 40 sub-projects selected from different type of completed infrastructure sub-projects. To meet the objectives of the study, the scope of the assignment includes inter alia, the following activities: • assess the status of the physical facilities and determine whether they are being operated and maintained as envisaged • ascertain the effectiveness of relationship between POs and communities in meeting the project objectives; are the POs are still maintaining relationship with community? • determine the impact on the quality of life of the community due to such interventions including the impact on the community capacity to manage the sub-projects and able to implement other such projects in future. In assessing / evaluating the sustainability of the PAF efforts, the Consultant has focuses on both the quantitative and qualitative aspects. This were entail visiting each community and household to collect information through: • Structured and / or semi-structured questionnaires / interview; • Focus group discussion / meetings; • Key-information interview; • Participant observation; • Inspection of sub-project's different structures and their functional status; • Beneficiaries' satisfaction While assessing the sustainability of the sub-projects, emphasis were given on the following aspects: Institutional , Social / Environmental, Financial and Technical Aspects Based on the findings on above aspects, all the sub-projects were categorized into three categories e.g. (i) Excellent, (ii) Good and (iii) Poor with respect to the sustainability of the sub-projects. The major problems (if any) have been identified to suggest specific measures to strengthen the sustainability of the visited sub-projects. Moreover, the study team would also identify key lessons learnt; highlighting the major areas to be addressed and provide recommendations to further strengthen the sustainability of the sub-projects in future.