The first step towards establishing national monitoring systems is evaluating the current systems in each country. How do local governments keep track of water, sanitation and hygiene services in their regions? Together with UNICEF, IRC, and the local governments, Akvo mapped each country’s current monitoring systems and assessed where each country was in terms of its data management.

Based on this evaluation, the programme teams made a plan on how these monitoring systems could be improved at national level. Akvo staff bring their expertise to the programme, from offering technical advice on capturing data at scale to visualising that data for decision making. In 2017, pilots were conducted to test the capacity for data collection and analysis in each country and the suitability of Akvo’s tools for national monitoring.

Effective monitoring and evaluation systems are essential in following progress on sustainable development goal (SDG) indicators and planning for scarce resources. While the journey to establishing national monitoring systems is long and complex, significant steps have already been taken. With the field data collection, the availability of data on WASH infrastructure at national level has increased significantly, and some countries are sharing their data openly on the international Water Point Data Exchange (WDPx) platform.

Each country now has a plan outlining what needs to be done to implement a national WASH monitoring system, and how these pilots can be scaled up to national level. These plans pave the way for national WASH infrastructure monitoring in the region..