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Background & Objectives

The Role of Local Leadership

Facilitating the development of strong local leadership, especially in subnational government, is often seen as exogenous to water and sanitation program activities despite its importance for efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. In Cambodia, WaterSHED designed, piloted and scaled up a model to foster leadership amongst elected local government representatives to enable their constituencies to address key issues for community development, including the management of human waste and water. The Civic Champions leadership development project is embedded in a larger system development approach aimed to build a dynamic, sustainable market for improved sanitation products and services in rural Cambodia.

Our Inspiration 

WaterSHED’s focus on leadership development was inspired by Sun Choeun, a village chief in Cambodia’s Kampong Speu province, who led his village to have 100% access to improved sanitation within four months after the local market for sanitation was developed. In the interview below he shares his secret recipe for success.


About WaterSHED
Since 2009, WaterSHED has used a systems-approach to build the rural market for water, sanitation, and hygiene products and services across Southeast Asia. Based in Cambodia, WaterSHED uses in-depth research to identify strategic opportunities and gaps in the wider system, and then works to strengthen the capacity and relationships between key actors to create a more dynamic and resilient market.

By engaging key actors in the system, including small businesses, customers, and local government, WaterSHED facilitates the adoption of toilets, water filters, and handwashing stations – building a market that functions independent of traditional aid. To date, WaterSHED’s Hands-Off marketing approach has successfully enabled small businesses to sell more than 170,000 toilets, generating more than USD $8 million in revenue for rural businesses, and helping accelerate sanitation coverage from a stagnant 25% to more than 50% in six years.

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Project Design

The Civic Champions leadership development program is based on a series conferences and coaching sessions through which elected commune councilors are guided over a period of ten months, following three cycles of Discover, Develop, and Deliver. 

Three day conferences enable participants to “discover” new leadership skills and ideas on how to put them into practice. “Leadership skills” here refers to a generic (non-WASH specific) set of skills that include setting a vision and goals, effective communication, emotional intelligence and problem solving, among others. In the three months between conferences, the participants “develop” their skills as they put into practice their own development plans whilst supported with individual or group coaching sessions. Finally, participants “deliver” by presenting their progress and receiving feedback from their peers. At the end of each Discover, Develop, Deliver cycle, outstanding leaders are voted on by their peers and fêted with awards including medals and certificates presented by respected high ranking officials.


Figure 1: Illustration of the Discover, Develop, Deliver cycle.

The Participants

All elected commune councilors in the target areas are eligible to participate in the leadership program. Participants self-select and must both apply to the program and pay a nominal participation fee of $45. The conferences are co-facilitated by district and provincial government staff who have been involved with conference preparation alongside WaterSHED staff.


The Training Model

To enable the scale up (pilot phase from 2013-15), WaterSHED employed a cascade training model that involved district officials in the preparation of the session, the facilitation of conferences and the coaching of the participants during the "develop" phase.

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Results

The Participants

205 (19% of all eligible) councilors from 105 communes across 16 districts in rural Cambodia participated in the Civic Champions leadership development project. The program attracted participants who are representative of the average commune councilor in the 16 target districts with regard to basic sociodemographic indicators (age, education, and political affiliation). The program was particularly attractive to women, who generally have few opportunities to grow and develop their full potential in Cambodia, as well as to commune councilors in areas with low sanitation coverage. 25% of all eligible women signed up for the programme.


Tangible Development Impact

During the nine months of implementation the participants facilitated 15,320 households to install improved toilets, equivalent to a 6.9 percentage point increase in sanitation coverage in participating areas at a cost to the project of USD 14.60 per toilet. Twelve months after the end of the project, latrine uptake in the intervention areas remains 73% higher than in non-intervention areas.

Skill Development and Procedural Impact

The project succeeded in establishing a reward and peer-learning mechanism that fostered innovation and motivated participants to excel as leaders. The cascade training model employed to reach greater scale meaningfully engaged all levels of subnational government and contributed significantly to the project’s impact and scalability. Participants are known to apply the generic leadership skills acquired during the project to other areas of community development, such as water supply management and planning for fecal sludge management. 


Summary of Evaluation Findings

The project has proven to provide commune councilors with the necessary tools and skills to lead community engagement and find new, locally adapted strategies to promoting improved sanitation and waste management.

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Conclusions & Lessons Learnt

Leadership development at local levels is a powerful, cost-effective and sustainable way to support sub-national governments to fulfill their mandate to lead effective management of human waste and to reach SDG 6 by 2030. Participants found innovative, locally adapted solutions to addressing the sanitation problem in rural Cambodia. 

Key elements of the project design contributing to its success are

  • involvement and active contribution of all levels of government allowed reaching scale; 
  • reward and peer-learning mechanism motivated and incentivized participants to learn from each other, work hard, overcome challenges and innovate; 
  • a focus on universal, transferable leadership skills instead of project or WASH-specific skills fostered leadership relevant for addressing a wide spectrum of issues at the local level; and 
  • a cyclical engagement approach that facilitated a virtuous cycle of learning, feedback, and development.

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Evaluation Methods

The project evaluation, undertaken in 2016, employs a mixed methods approach, including project monitoring data, qualitative interviews with stakeholders, observational data from conferences and coaching sessions as well as latrine coverage data. The evaluation documents the project implementation and lessons learnt for replication as well as assesses the project’s performance along four dimensions: development impact, scalability, sustainability and cost-effectiveness.

Below each of the data sources is described in more detail: 

  • Civic Champions Sanitation Data. Before the start of the project, WaterSHED facilitated district officials in all 16 target districts to lead a sanitation coverage data collection. This data was taken as a baseline for all 16 districts competing in the leadership challenge. Before the conferences the participants reported on the progress in their communities. Their report was verified by the WaterSHED head office team through random call and spot checks. Only installed, improved latrines counted towards the target. The reliability of the data is high.
  • WaterSHED latrine sales monitoring data. WaterSHED collects data on an ongoing basis directly from latrine suppliers. The sales data from approximately 200 latrine suppliers across 54 districts is entered into an online database. 
  • Observations during the conferences. The participants of the Civic Champions project have been engaged in a number of activities to evaluate and monitor each leader’s progress. To customize conference and coaching sessions to need the needs of each participant, it is crucial to clearly understand the progress of the participants at every step of their journey.
  • Qualitative Interviews. The evaluation team conducted six in-depth qualitative interviews with commune teams from Pursat, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Cham and Battambang provinces, chosen to represent a maximum variety in change observed throughout the program and team composition. The interviews were conducted in teams during the fourth and final conference and lasted between 45 and 70 minutes. The topics covered during the interviews were (1) motivation to join the project, (2) strategy to increase sanitation uptake, and (3) change achieved and lessons learnt from the project. 
  • Interviews and reflections with project team. The project team has periodically been engaged in a structured reflection about the design, implementation and monitoring of the project activities. In the course of the project adjustments have been made on an ongoing basis. At the end of the project, a full day reflection workshop was held to inform this evaluation.
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Abstract

Highlights

WaterSHED designed, piloted and scaled up a model to engage local government in the management of human waste through local leadership development. The project demonstrated that leadership development can be a powerful, cost-effective, and sustainable way to support sub-national government to fulfill their mandate to lead effective management of human waste and to reach SDG6.

Introduction and Objectives

Integrity, engagement and strong leadership by local authorities, especially by subnational government, is often seen as exogenous to program activities despite their importance for efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. This presentation describes how WaterSHED designed, piloted and scaled up a model to engage local government in the management of human waste in their communities. The project is embedded in a larger system of activities aimed to build a dynamic, sustainable market for improved sanitation products and services in rural Cambodia by facilitating the supply chain and demand generating activities.

Methodology Approach

The Civic Champions leadership development project for elected commune councilors uses an iterative model of “discovering” new, not WASH-specific leadership skills, “developing” these skills through practice and coaching, and “delivering” tangible results on their skills. This cycle repeats every three months over a 9-month period. Participants apply and pay a participation fee.

The project evaluation undertaken in 2016 employs a mixed methods approach, including project data, qualitative interviews with stakeholders, observational data and latrine coverage data to document the project implementation and lessons learnt for replication as well as to evaluate the project’s performance along four dimensions: development impact, scalability, sustainability and cost-effectiveness.

Analysis and Results

205 (19% of all eligible) councilors from 105 communes across 16 districts in rural Cambodia participated in the Civic Champions leadership development project. During the nine months of implementation the participants facilitated 15,320 households to install improved toilets equivalent to a 6.9 percentage point increase in sanitation coverage in participating areas at a cost to the project of USD 14.60 per toilet. Six months after the end of the project, latrine uptake in the target areas remains 104% higher than in non-target areas.

The project succeeded in establishing a reward and peer-learning mechanism that fostered innovation and motivated participants to excel as leaders. The cascade training model employed to reach greater scale meaningfully engaged all levels of subnational government contributed significantly to the project’s impact and scalability. Participants apply the generic leadership skills acquired during the project to other areas of community development, such as water supply management and planning for fecal sludge management.

The project provides commune councilors with the necessary tools and skills to lead community engagement and find new, locally adapted strategies to promoting improved sanitation and waste management.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Leadership development at local levels is a powerful, cost-effective and sustainable way to support sub-national governments to fulfill their mandate to lead effective management of human waste and to reach SDG 6 by 2030. Participants found innovative, locally adapted solution to addressing the sanitation problem in rural Cambodia. Key elements of the project design contributing to its success are the involvement and active contribution of all levels of government; the project’s reward and peer-learning mechanism; the focus on generic, transferable leadership skills instead of project or WASH-specific skills; and the project’s 9-months cyclical approach which facilitates learning, feedback, and development.

Highlights

WaterSHED designed, piloted and scaled up a model to engage local government in the management of human waste through local leadership development. The project demonstrated that leadership development can be a powerful, cost-effective, and sustainable way to support sub-national government to fulfill their mandate to lead effective management of human waste and to reach SDG6.

Introduction and Objectives

Integrity, engagement and strong leadership by local authorities, especially by subnational government, is often seen as exogenous to program activities despite their importance for efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. This presentation describes how WaterSHED designed, piloted and scaled up a model to engage local government in the management of human waste in their communities. The project is embedded in a larger system of activities aimed to build a dynamic, sustainable market for improved sanitation products and services in rural Cambodia by facilitating the supply chain and demand generating activities.

Methodology Approach

The Civic Champions leadership development project for elected commune councilors uses an iterative model of “discovering” new, not WASH-specific leadership skills, “developing” these skills through practice and coaching, and “delivering” tangible results on their skills. This cycle repeats every three months over a 9-month period. Participants apply and pay a participation fee.

The project evaluation undertaken in 2016 employs a mixed methods approach, including project data, qualitative interviews with stakeholders, observational data and latrine coverage data to document the project implementation and lessons learnt for replication as well as to evaluate the project’s performance along four dimensions: development impact, scalability, sustainability and cost-effectiveness.

Analysis and Results

205 (19% of all eligible) councilors from 105 communes across 16 districts in rural Cambodia participated in the Civic Champions leadership development project. During the nine months of implementation the participants facilitated 15,320 households to install improved toilets equivalent to a 6.9 percentage point increase in sanitation coverage in participating areas at a cost to the project of USD 14.60 per toilet. Six months after the end of the project, latrine uptake in the target areas remains 104% higher than in non-target areas.

The project succeeded in establishing a reward and peer-learning mechanism that fostered innovation and motivated participants to excel as leaders. The cascade training model employed to reach greater scale meaningfully engaged all levels of subnational government contributed significantly to the project’s impact and scalability. Participants apply the generic leadership skills acquired during the project to other areas of community development, such as water supply management and planning for fecal sludge management.

The project provides commune councilors with the necessary tools and skills to lead community engagement and find new, locally adapted strategies to promoting improved sanitation and waste management.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Leadership development at local levels is a powerful, cost-effective and sustainable way to support sub-national governments to fulfill their mandate to lead effective management of human waste and to reach SDG 6 by 2030. Participants found innovative, locally adapted solution to addressing the sanitation problem in rural Cambodia. Key elements of the project design contributing to its success are the involvement and active contribution of all levels of government; the project’s reward and peer-learning mechanism; the focus on generic, transferable leadership skills instead of project or WASH-specific skills; and the project’s 9-months cyclical approach which facilitates learning, feedback, and development.

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