Record Details
The Influence of NGO Strategies on the Sustainability of Biosand Water Filters in Cambodia
ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | The Influence of NGO Strategies on the Sustainability of Biosand Water Filters in Cambodia |
| Names |
Whinnery, Jaynie L.
(creator) Henderson, Sarah L. (advisor) |
| Date Issued | 2014-05-09 (iso8601) |
| Note | Graduation date: 2014 |
| Abstract | This essay evaluates the effectiveness of NGO strategies to promote program sustainability using a case study of two NGOs that install biosand water filters in Cambodia. While the ownership-focused strategy of cost-sharing is the most commonly used and studied, there is evidence to suggest that certain more neglected strategies can have a greater impact. Drawing from nine months of fieldwork, 457 household surveys and five semi-structured interviews with NGO management personnel, the programmatic details of each program are presented along with other factors that relate to the continued use of biosand filters. Through a mixed methods approach this study finds that labor-sharing and monitoring contribute to a significant 15 percentage point difference in biosand filter continued use between the two NGOs. Meanwhile, the influence of cost-sharing remains elusive. This essay argues that the pervasive sentiment that cost-sharing can effectively promote sustainable outcomes allows NGOs using this policy to have a false sense of sustainability. Consequently, other strategies such as labor-sharing and monitoring that have been found to promote more sustainable outcomes are often neglected. Failure to use evidence-based sustainability strategies results in more program failures and prevents the achievement of desired poverty alleviation outcomes. |
| Genre | Research Paper |
| Topic | Cambodia |
| Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/1957/48671 |
