Impact Water Uganda in collaboration with UBS Optimus Foundation and with support from the RockFeller Foundation is implementing a 5-year project whose aim is to improve education through better health via the provision of affordable, reliable safe drinking water at school. Socio-Economic Data Centre Ltd has been contracted to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the project over this period.
PROJECT TITLE
Monitoring and Evaluation of the Safe School Water Project
The main purpose of the evaluation is to determine the impact achieved by Impact Water Uganda, in order to provide a basis for the partners to:
1. Determine the outcome payment due to Impact Water Uganda,
2. Determine the effective interest rate due to the investor (UBS Optimus Foundation).
(i) To design a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system that will collect and analyze data about the impact of the project
(ii) To assess the extent to which the project has contributed to a reduction in absenteeism among school children,
(iii) To assess the extent to which the project has reduced the number of sick days due to water-borne illnesses
(iv) To assess the extent to which the project has contributed to a reduction in water-borne illnesses in the communities around schools
The evaluation is being undertaken using a quasi-experimental approach by which the project schools will be compared to a control group that will not have received the water purification systems and other associated interventions. Monitoring data will be collected on a routine basis using a range of methods including review of school records e.g on attendance, spot checks to verify the presence of outputs reported by Impact Water Uganda, and in-depth interviews with school authorities. The routine monitoring exercises will be complemented by two cross-sectional surveys during the first and fifth years of the project (i.e. baseline and endline evaluations respectively). The surveys will target school children as the primary beneficiaries of the water purification systems.
