The local NGOs Soakoja and Tehyna, which are Inter Aide’s partners in Madagascar, monitor, manage and maintain the water access infrastructures (hand pumps and gravity-fed systems). They act as service providers delegates for the rural municipalities (the contracting authority).
To ensure that users are satisfied, “representatives of water users” or “Solonten’n’y Mpaka Rano” (SMR) act as a counterweight to the commune and the service providers. Elected by the population, they regularly assess the quality of the service through the four guarantees with which the operator must comply:
- sufficient quantity of water all year round
- water quality (no turbidity, no unpleasant odours, etc.),
- a repair time of less than 5 days in the event of a breakdown,
- professional service provision (good communication from operators).
The following summary sets out the roles assigned to RMSs and the methodology for selecting and electing these key players in the water service.
Written with the contribution of Mylène Bobo, Technical Support Officers and the Inter Aide and Soakoja teams in Madagascar
Proofreaders: Damien Du Portal, Tristan Salmon
