Supporting Decentralised Rural Water Supply and Climate Resilience in Pacific Islands

The International WaterCentre at Griffith University

Climate Resilience Research (WRA-CR02)

Research theme: Networks, community water management and climate resilience

Research focus: Investigating how networks can strengthen community water management (CWM) and climate-resilient WASH in Pacific Islands. 

Locations: Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu

Partners: International WaterCentre at Griffith University (IWC), The University of the South Pacific in Fiji and Vanuatu, Solomon Islands National University

As decentralisation of rural water management in Pacific Island countries increases, this project sought to understand how formal, informal and emergent networks – both WASH and non-WASH related – can better support mobilising and strengthening water committees to be WASH and water resource managers who engage with both community and beyond-community factors affecting climate resilience. This included determining:

1. How formal, informal and emergent networks (WASH and non-WASH related) can be used to improve both the prioritisation of community water management (CWM) and water committee (WC) capabilities for climate-resilient water management?
2. How can WCs be assisted by formal/informal/emergent networks to engage in water resources issues both within their community and with others in their catchment?

Knowledge Product Links

• Reports: Dencentralisation and rural water service in Solomon Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu
• Information papers: Community Water Management, Information Paper for Solomon Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu
• Publication: Faith-based Organisations and community water management in Solomon Islands: Results of an action research intervention in Isabel and Western Province.

What we did

Adapting and extending on the various extant WASH “building blocks” frameworks and other key relevant literature we examined six elements critical to progressing decentralisation in the rural water sector in the PIC context: (i) policies, legal and regulatory frameworks, (ii) budgeting, finance, and (material) resources, (iii) information and knowledge sharing, (iv) monitoring, evaluation, and learning, (v) harmonisation and coordination and (vi) Human resources and capacity development.

We assigned each element multiple indicators and rated them based on literature reviews, participatory workshops, and stakeholder interviews conducted at the village, provincial and national levels, and participatory workshops. We examined them within the broader context of the enabling environment (including the political economy) for sustainable rural water service delivery in Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

What we found

By our analysis, Vanuatu corresponds to a mix of “partial,” “phased,” and “inadequately resourced” decentralisation. With development partner support, the government and the Department of Water Resources have been implementing unique initiatives to enhance service delivery, strengthen governance, and improve long-term water security through existing decentralised structures. These efforts mark a shift toward a CWM+ approach and broader sector professionalisation, but financial and human constraints continue to hinder practical implementation.

In Solomon Islands, decentralisation remains in its early stages and faces significant challenges, with the country rated as “very weak” overall, having four “very weak” and two “weak” aspects that reflect severe resource and capacity limitations.

Fiji, in comparison, performs better in absolute terms, with more resources and capacity at both national and subnational levels. Key policies encourage WC monitoring, and decentralisation is rated between “weak” and “moderate,” with policy and financing being the strongest areas while monitoring, evaluation, sector harmonisation, and coordination remain weak.

Findings by country are detailed in Reports: Dencentralisation and rural water service in Solomon Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu.

Read

Pacific knowledge exchange strengthens regional WASH collaboration

Leading researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from across the Pacific gathered in Port Vila for the Pacific Knowledge and Learning Exchange, a five-day event aimed at addressing critical water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) challenges. Hosted by the University of the South Pacific (USP-Vanuatu) and the International WaterCentre (IWC), Griffith University, and the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS/ISF), the event was attended by Pacific Island researchers from the Solomon Islands National University (SINU) and University of Papua New Guinea (UNPG) and USP Fiji and Vanuatu.  The exchange event was funded by the Australian Government’s Water for Women (Mark Love)

Research uptake

The revised water safety and security plan (WSSSP) has been adopted by the Fiji Ministry of Health and Medical Services. Further, stakeholder validation workshops developed agreements and re-shaped the WC training manual. Substantive changes to the Water Safety Management Plans and MEL Frameworks for WC Training demonstrate the value of partnerships made possible by multi-year funding.

In Solomon Islands, the adoption of structured follow-up monitoring and WC support by Western Province EHD/Rural WASH in Solomon Islands, they have continued to include follow-up to 4-5 communities in their Province in Annual workplans. The Water Resource Management Module being used by Department of Water Resources in the standard WC Training now includes content based directly on findings from the I&I C2C research in Solomon Islands. Additionally, UNCIEF Solomon Islands have drawn on the PaCWaM+ findings.

A new Water Resource Management Module being used by DoWR in the standard WC Training now includes findings from the I&I C2C research in Solomon Islands w/ Plan International. The Vanuatu Department of Water Resources progressed UNDP-supported Ecological Purification System trails in Shefa as a direct outcome of the 2023 Pacific Knowledge & Learning Exchange.

Policy impact takes years. To have these examples in a two-year project cycle is a testament to the relatively rare stability that the Fund has enabled; without the previous years of knowledge building, sharing and growing trust and relationship.

Broader WASH sector contributions

Capacity development in the tertiary sector is, in our view, a very significant research -to-impact outcome as it builds capacity long beyond project cycles. Some examples from this project include engagement of our Pasifika co-investors discussing WASH in local international fora like World Water Week and World Water Forum. The growing confidence, interest, and capacity of our partners is evident in their increasing ability to, and interest in, driving outputs and activities. Research assistants and associates working on PacWaM+ are working across the sector, including at CSOs. Sector contributions include team inputs to DWS Rural Master Plan

Where to from here?

In the future, we hope to contribute to more climate-resilient and inclusive WASH systems by strengthening community water management (CWM+) in the Pacific, using evidence-based knowledge that is locally or co-produced and pushes towards greater professionalisation in the rural water sector. Embedding climate adaptation in WASH policies and practices must be coeval with this.

“The rural water sector needs to be professionalised, ensuring those managing water systems—whether community members, service delivery partners, or local government staff—have the resources and capacity to ensure that people have equitable access to reliable and safe water.”

– Mark Love

We want to see rural and remote communities equipped with the skills, resources, and institutional support required to manage their own water systems effectively or have access to support to assist in managing their system, rather than simply relying on one off project implementation and training. Expanding CWM+ will be key, helping communities and other subnational actors and agencies build long-term resilience through better local governance, technical training, and stronger partnerships with government and service providers.

This must occur against a background of ongoing challenges including diminishing focus on WASH especially in complex, low-resource rural settings, and over-emphasis on service delivery over systems strengthening.

Where we started

"To strengthen climate resilience in the Pacific we need to find practical, effective and resource appropriate ways to better support community water management practices and outcomes. Through this research, we are seeking to better understand the strengths and challenges of decentralisation / devolution underway in the sector and explore how leveraging social networks may be key to climate-resilient WASH outcomes through supporting and developing the capacity of both community and beyond-community catchment management in the Pacific.”

Mark Love, Research Fellow and Project Manager, International WaterCentre 

Research Description

In rural Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, active and sustainable WCs play a crucial role in community-based water management (CWM) and climate-resilient rural water security. These countries are currently decentralising WASH services and support systems to varying degrees. However, WCs often lack sustainability and proactive functioning, and their engagement in broader water resource management (WRM) is limited. To address these challenges, WCs require ongoing capacity development, mentoring and motivation.

Led by the International WaterCentre (IWC), this research project is tackling challenges for WASH provision and sustainability posed by government decentralisation/devolution. Utilising formal, informal and emerging networks — including non-WASH networks such as familial, faith-based, market associations, agricultural, chiefly councils and educational institutions — is essential to provide the necessary support. Previous research has highlighted the importance of these networks, which are often overlooked in the WASH enabling environment.

In collaboration with research partners The University of the South Pacific in Fiji and Vanuatu and Solomon Islands National University, this research aims to address challenges faced by Pacific communities in the context of intensifying climate change hazards, both sudden and slow onset, which impact human wellbeing, livelihoods, and water infrastructure. These hazards include storms, surges, king tides, heavy rains, droughts, sea-level rise, coastal erosion, and destructive cyclones.

The research specifically focuses on three of the highest at-risk countries in Oceania — identified by The World Risk Index 2021 as highest at-risk region in the world — with Vanuatu ranked 1^st, Solomon Islands 2^nd and Fiji 14^th most at-risk of 181 countries.

This project aims to combine formative and action research with regional knowledge sharing to explore how government and civil society organisations (CSOs) can strategically leverage various networks to strengthen WCs and promote effective, sustainable, and inclusive climate-resilient WASH. The action research specifically aims to strengthen water safety planning processes in Fiji to enhance climate change resilience and improve the protection and management of water resources and cycles. Briefs, reports, videos, and guidance notes are being produced to support WASH implementers in achieving these objectives.

Building on existing and strengthened relationships with government actors and agencies, recommendations, tools, guides and supporting outputs are also being produced that governments can include in their existing approaches to strengthen CWM investment outcomes. Examples include:

• Piloted, evidenced-based recommendations on alternative and supplementary implementation approaches for the Fijian Government Ministry of Health and Medical Services’ Drinking Water Security and Safety Planning (DWSSP), including for more climate-resilient informed water safety planning.
• Videos for WC training and other contexts for the Water Authority of Fiji and Ministry of Health and Medical Services, and the Vanuatu Department of Water Resource.

The longer-term objectives of this research project are to improve rural CWM practices and rural WASH situations in each country by:

• increasing the inclusiveness and effectiveness of water committees
• improving water security planning processes and outcomes
• contributing evidence to support more climate-resilient WASH policies and services
• positively informing the policies and practices around decentralisation of WASH service delivery in the Pacific.

Pathways to impact

1. Formative research on decentralisation and CWM in each country.
2. Pilot implementation and monitoring of the Drinking Water Safety and Security Planning (DWSSP) intervention in Fiji.
3. Formative research on climate change impacts in Fiji and guidance for the government’s ongoing DWSSP activities.
4. Literature review and formative research on community-level water monitoring by WCs and village-based groups in the Pacific.
5. Formative research on incorporating church and customary governance networks to support CWM in Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.           
6. Formative research on connecting CWM with agricultural and other non-WASH networks, such as market associations, eco-tourism associations and schools, in Fiji and Vanuatu.
7. Formative research on barriers and opportunities for WCs to engage in beyond-community WRM in Fiji and Vanuatu.
8. Action research to co-develop, pilot and refine the role of faith-based organisations and church networks in CWM in Solomon Islands.
9. Video production for WC training and small-scale social marketing campaigns in Fiji and Vanuatu.
10. Regional knowledge and learning peer-to-peer events.

Utilising these tools, WASH implementers will be able to strengthen inclusion and climate resilience aspects of their programs. Regular engagement with key local stakeholders from government and CSOs, who have been active in providing input and assistance to guide the research, will ensure maximum relevance and reach.

“In rural Fijian communities, community-based water management is the dominant model for water service delivery with rural communities managing, operating, and maintaining their water supply and sanitation services. With increasing threats from intensive land use and climatic drivers affecting water security for rural communities, we believe that utilising social networks can assist in strengthening the WASH enabling environment in Fiji.  The team at USP are pleased to partner with the International WaterCentre on this research.”

Sarah Pene, Lecturer in Environmental Science, School of Agriculture, Geography, Environment, Ocean and Natural Sciences; The University of the South Pacific, Fiji

Photos: 

Water storage in Sumante, Solomon Islands (IWC / Solomon Islands National University)
A demonstration of the community-based water security improvement planning step four in practice with a community (IWC / Solomon Islands National University)