The evidence base for precisely how, and to what extent, basic service delivery, and in particular water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), can contribute to peacebuilding and statebuilding (PBSB) is extremely limited. To address this lack of evidence, DFiD funded Tearfund and ODI to assess the implications of this new thinking for Tearfund’s WASH work in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
This study found that WASH programmes could be designed to achieve local-level ‘double dividends’ of both service provision and peace- and/or state-building outcomes, but only if these outcomes are included as explicit objectives or dynamics to be monitored within service delivery. The research identified five possible ‘intermediate entry points’ which could lead to PBSB in future programmes:
- Strengthening capacity for collective action between and within groups.
- Strengthening systems of accountability.
- Addressing inclusion and marginalisation in relation to services.
- Ensuring citizens have opportunities to participate in the economic, political and social activities of ‘normal life’.
- Balancing the visibility of NGOs with that of state actors.
