May 2021 quarterly update

The past three months have seen the programme go from strength to strength, with many exciting developments in the works. Read on to find out more.

Cross Country Research

Political Economy Analyses (PEAs) have been prepared by the Principal Investigators and National Research Coordinators in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. These will inform the development of cross-country research questions. The PEAs assess how historical development trajectories, institutional arrangements, and patterns of resource control influence accountability and advocacy in the water sector.

Professional Research Fellowships

We are delighted to announce the final selection of candidates for our PRF programme, who will be undertaking action research projects in government, civil society and the private sector. We received 36 very impressive research proposals, from which we selected 10. We will soon add four from Ethiopia.

The proposals encompass a variety of geographical areas, stakeholders, and accountability mechanisms with strong potential for action research to generate lasting change.

All candidates who completed the pre-PRF training will receive a certificate of attendance endorsed by PASGR, Shahidi Wa Maji, and Water Witness. The successful PRF candidates and their proposals are presented below.

Evidence Review: Country-level summaries

Part two of the Accountability for Water Evidence Review, ‘Country-Level Evidence Summaries’, launches at 12pm (UTC) on the 2nd June.

This report details country findings for Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. We draw on academic journal articles, NGO reports, book chapters, working papers and other literature, to build on the Theory of Change and ‘accountability cycle’ (see right) discussed in Part 1.

We highlight key findings and areas for further research with reference to community dynamics, governance dynamics, and the enabling environment for accountability in each country.

The launch will be accompanied by a webinar to explain key findings and their application for water policymakers, researchers and practitioners in the East African region. You can sign up to attend on Eventbrite, and explore all the data at our interactive knowledge hub.

World Water Week

We are co-convening a session at Stockholm World Water Week, entitled How accountability is accelerating progress on SDG6. The session will be open to anyone, online, at 10.30am (CEST) on 26th August 2021. Please register to join us and share with your networks.

The event will showcase the cutting edge of accountability research and practice, and will feature contributions from PASGR, Water Witness, IRC WASH, KEWASNET, ANEW, University of Sydney and Sanitation & Water for All.

The event will be an interactive session, with facilitated breakout groups discussing:

• Implementing an advocacy agenda for improved (mutual) accountability in the WASH sector

• Accountability theories of change

• Mutual accountability and multi-stakeholder partnerships in national WASH systems

• Building a research agenda for accountability for WRM, drinking water and sanitation

• Closing civic space and navigating the politics of accountability

Monitoring & Evaluation

We have reached several of our monitoring and evaluation milestones this quarter:

• We received 36 PRF research proposals from across civil society, government, the private sector, and academia.

• We have become an increasingly visible social media presence reaching key changemakers and influencers in the sector.

• Through the preparation of Political Economy Analysis (PEA) for focus countries, we have laid strong foundations for the development of cross-country research.

• We are posting at least one new blog post each month discussing aspects of our work.

 You can view the full quarterly update here.