Monitoring & Evaluation

Millions of dollars are wasted every year on tens of thousands of water systems around the world that break, become abandoned and prove to be unsustainable. And every day, women and children in developing countries are cruelly reminded of the short-lived hope of clean water when they pass by broken hand pumps or capped wells in their villages, forcing them to again rely on unsafe water sources.

Monitoring and evaluation is essential to fully understanding the progress of work, and implementing proactive changes that reduce development time and improve success. Not only is it the right thing to do for the people we serve, but it is the only way we can prove our progress toward reaching Everyone. To determine that our programs are working and the right components are in place for the regions have access to safe water without needing  help from another organization, we guarantee post-project monitoring for at least 10 years

That is why we developed FLOW, Field Level Operations Watch. Over time, FLOW will help us better determine whether our water and sanitation projects are working or failing, and inject a new level of transparency, efficiency, and accountability to our work.

Using Android cell phones, combined with GPS and Google Earth software, FLOW gives community members, partners, volunteers, and others the ability to record data from tens of thousands of water points around the world: location, service status, images, and other information. This data is then displayed online to signal whether a project is up and running, broken, or on the verge of disrepair and requiring maintenance

FLOW is revolutionary in offering proof of Water For People’s progress, our successes, and yes, our setbacks, so we can better serve communities and municipalities where we work. We cannot afford to replicate failure. We must not accept it when people walk past broken water points. When we say the water is flowing at a specific site, we prove it.

We guarantee that we'll monitor projects for at least 10 years.

Water For People crafted a new Strategic Plan in 2010 calling for post-project monitoring for at least 10 years. We believe the words transparency and sustainability hold no water without substantive proof. We will hold ourselves accountable for—and encourage our supporters and donors to hold us accountable for—making smart investments and data-driven decisions so that we can make a long-lasting impact

To achieve this, community members, entrepreneurs, industry professionals, partners, staff, and World Water Corps volunteers monitor Water For People projects and input the data into FLOW.