UGANDA SANITATION FUND ANNUAL REPORT FOR FINANCIAL YEAR 2012/13.

Transcription

1 UGANDA SANITATION FUND ANNUAL REPORT FOR FINANCIAL YEAR 2012/13. SUBMITTED TO THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE FOR PROJECTS SERVICES (UNOPS) BY EXECUTING AGENCY IN UGANDA CLTS training field practice session in Ngora District

2 Basic Information Executing Agency: Ministry of Health Date: July 2013 Name of Contact Person: Function of Contact Person: Dr. Asuman Lukwago Ag. Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health Telephone/fax: address: Mailing address: Ministry of Health, P.O. Box 7272, Kampala, Country: Uganda Date of signature of Agreement: August 2011 Starting Date: July 2011 Duration of project: Five Years Total Project Cost: USD 6,017,150 Amount received under this Agreement: USD 1,639,935 Type of report: Annual Technical Narrative Report Time period covered by this report: One Year (July 2012 June 2013) Amount spent during the period USD 1,045,325 Name of Person reporting: Julian Kyomuhangi Function of Person reporting: Programme Manager Authorized Official Name, Date, Signature and Stamp: USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 2 of 37

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS...4 ABSTRACT STATUS OF PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION: HIGHLIGHTS OF PROGRESS AGAINST THE ANNUAL WORK PLAN AND BUDGET: EA Management Activities: Staffing (Recruitment of contract staff): Procurement of equipment: Meetings: Quality Assurance of district work plans: Technical support and monitoring: Quality Assurance of reports: Compilation of semi-annual and annual reports: Development of communication materials and Strategy: Internal Audit monitoring: Centrally Procured Activities: Capacity Building: Uganda Sanitation Fund Programme Review Retreat Sanitation and Hygiene Situational Analysis Study: Inter District Learning Meeting (IDM) GRANTS TO DISTRICTS: Demand creation: Improving Supply: Private sector development: Creating an enabling environment: Programme Coordination Mechanism (PCM) Activities: DEVIATIONS FROM ANNUAL BUDGET AND WORK PLAN AND EXPLANATIONS: ACHIEVEMENTS OF RESULTS AGAINST SET YEARLY TARGETS: OVERVIEW OF FINANCIAL SITUATION AT THE END OF THE YEAR, WITH REFERENCE TO THE ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT: KEY LESSONS LEARNT DURING THE YEAR: KEY CHALLENGES FACED AND PROPOSED ACTIONS: ANNEX 1: ANNUAL ACTIVITY PROGRESS REPORT ANNEX 2: ANNUAL RESULTS MONITORING REPORT ANNEX 3(A): ANNUAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT OVERVIEW - EA MANAGEMENT COSTS ANNEX 3(B): FINANCIAL STATEMENT OVERVIEW - GRANTS & PROCUREMENT ANNEX 4: UPDATED LIST OF SUB-GRANTEES ANNEX 5: FUNDS BUDGETED VS RELEASED TO DISTRICTS UNDER UGANDA SANITATION FUND PROGRAMME - FY 2012/ ANNEX 6: LIST OF PCM MEMBERS ANNEX 7: LIST OF PCM MEMBERS USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 3 of 37

4 ACRONYMS ADHO CAO CFO CLTS CPM CPP DHI DHO EA EHD GSA Assistant District Health Officer Chief Administrative Officer Chief Finance Officer Community Led Total Sanitation Country Programme Monitor Country Programme Proposal District Health Inspector District Health Officer Executing Agency Environmental Health Division Grant Support Agreement PCM PM PS SG TA USD USF VHT WSP Programme Coordination Mechanism Programme Manager Permanent Secretary Sub grantee Technical Assistant United States Dollar Uganda Sanitation Fund Village Health Team Water and Sanitation Programme GSF Global Sanitation Fund HA Health Assistant IPF Indicative Planning Figure ISH Improved Sanitation and Hygiene LTIA Long Term Institutional Arrangement M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MDG Millennium Development Goals MIS Management Information System MoFPED Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development MoH Ministry of Health MoU Memorandum of Understanding NGO Non Governmental Organization NSWG National Sanitation Working Group ODF Open Defecation Free USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 4 of 37

5 ABSTRACT Uganda has for the last two financial years received financial support from the Global Sanitation Fund (GSF) for work to improve sanitation and hygiene in 15 districts, as support to scale up sanitation by facilitating a large number of poor people, approximately 3.5 million in over 6,000 villages, attain sustainable access to basic sanitation and adoption of good hygiene practices. This funding focused on three main result areas of; attainment of open defaecation free villages, increased latrine coverage and adoption of hygienic practices like hand washing with soap through strategies that include demand creation, sanitation supply chain improvement and enabling environment. During the second year, activities have been implemented both at the central and district levels. The major central activity was building capacity of district staff in the use of Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach. The Executing Agency (EA) also carried out technical support supervision, built capacity of district staff in planning and reporting, and capacity building for districts with central level staff in sanitation marketing, procured three (3) vehicles and engaged the services of a Technical Advisor, two (2) Technical Assistants and a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist as a consultant on short term basis. The EA also held a programme performance improvement retreat from which a Programme Performance Improvement plan was developed and being followed. In addition, the inaugural Inter district meeting was held in Kumi with participation from all implementing districts and other central stakeholders like the Programme Coordination Mechanism members, Environmental health staff, Ministry of Local Government officials and the USF Staff. The districts implemented activities aimed at creating demand for sanitation and hygiene, strengthening the supply chain for sanitation services and creation of an enabling environment. Districts continued with vigorous campaigns using different participatory approaches that include community led total sanitation (CLTS) to mobilize communities to put up, use and maintain latrine facilities. By the end of the second year, a total of 81,341 new latrines had been constructed with 55,656 new latrines constructed in year two; On the other hand, an additional population of 692,400 was safely living in ODF areas with second year contribution of 480,000 to that total. Over the two years, an accumulated 108,628 new hand washing facilities were put in place with second year achieving 65,478. Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development disbursed all the funds as budgeted for to the districts, it s from these districts that implementing NGOs accessed and accounted for the resources for the activities implemented by them. The Internal Audit department of the ministry was able to visit all the implementing districts to assess compliancy with the guidelines and provided necessary advice, and the Programme Coordinating Mechanism (PCM) has regularly provided guidance and strategic direction to the Executing Agency. USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 5 of 37

6 1. STATUS OF PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION: The Uganda Sanitation fund programme (USF) has completed its second year of implementation having started in July The USF programme is managed under the Environmental Health Division (EHD) of the Ministry of Health (MoH) as the Executing Agency (EA) and implemented by the 15 1 districts local governments as Sub-Grantees (SGs). The Sub grantees carried out mainly demand creation for improved sanitation and hygiene activities while the EHD implemented crosscutting activities such as capacity building, technical support and learning. While there was slow start to the implementation in the first year due to delays in disbursement of funds and getting the SGs to fully understand the operations of the programme, there has been remarkable improvement in the second year 2012/13 as indicated in this report. 2. HIGHLIGHTS OF PROGRESS AGAINST THE ANNUAL WORK PLAN AND BUDGET: 2.1 EA Management Activities: At the national level, the programme hosted under the Environmental Health division is led by the Programme Manager (PM) who oversees the implementation of activities. The PM works in collaboration and guidance of the Country Programme Monitor (CPM). The Country Programme Monitor, appointed by the GSF monitors the EA s programme implementation, verifies compliance with the contractual terms and oversees the use of funds as well as holding monthly meetings with the Executing Agency (EA). The PM is supported on the day to day basis by a Senior Technical Advisor, two Technical Assistants and an M&E Specialist in the management of USF activities. Environmental Health Division staffs including two (2) Senior Principal Health Inspectors (SPHI), one (1) Senior Environment Health Officer (SEHO), one (1) Senior Health Environmentalist (SHE), and one (1) Environmental Health Officer (EHO) were assigned districts as desk officers and continue to provide technical assistance and support to the districts in collaboration with the USF programme staff. In addition, the EA is supported with an Accounts Assistant who manages the financial operations of the programme and the procurement officers of the ministry who support the programme in the necessary procurements. 1 The districts include: Pallisa, Kibuuku, Bukedea, Kumi, Ngora, Serere, Soroti, Katakwi, Amuria, Kaberamaido, Dokolo, Amolatar, Mbarara, Bushenyi and Sheema. USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 6 of 37

7 The table below provides the distribution of the EHD staff and the Technical Assistants to the different programme districts. District Amolatar Dokolo Kaberamaido Amuria Katakwi Serere Soroti Pallisa Kibuuku Kumi Ngora Bukedea Bushenyi Mbarara Sheema EHD Desk Officer Fred Mulabya Justin J. Otai Peter Kalyebi Roger Batesaki Emmery Mbaha Title SPHI SHE SPHI EHO SEHO Technical Assistant David Ibuyat Priscilla Nakiboneka Staffing (Recruitment of contract staff): The recruitment of contract staff that started in year 1 was concluded. The contract of the one (1) Senior Technical Advisor (STAd) who was recruited by the Global Sanitation Fund was consented to by the Senior Top Managers of the Ministry of Health in April 2013, while two (2) Technical Assistants (TAs) and a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist (M&ES) signed their contracts in January/February In addition, one (1) Administrative Assistant and one (1) driver were recruited on a two year contract and assumed office in November The USF implementation arrangement at the EA is headed by the Programme Manager who is the Assistant Commissioner, Environmental Health Division who is supported by the Technical Advisor. Below them are the USF Technical Assistant who oversee implementations in 7 and 8 districts respectively and a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist. The EHD staffs serving as Desk Officers are each allocated districts as seen in the table above and they support the districts on a day to day basis through the focal persons. In terms of reporting, the focal persons report to the Desk Officers who provide the first line level of support and quality assurance before they forward those reports with their comments to the Technical Assistants and M&E specialist for additional review and quality assurance. This arrangement ensures development of capacity of EHD staffs and bringing the sustainability component at national level. USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 7 of 37

8 2.1.2 Procurement of equipment: The procurement of two (2) double cabin pickups was concluded, and they were delivered to the Ministry in December These have greatly helped in supporting the staff to carry out the regular technical support supervision and guidance to the sub-grantees. The contract for the third vehicle, station wagon Land cruiser Prado was signed and as a requirement in the contract, 40% payment was made and the remaining payment of 60% is being processed at audit level. The delivery of this vehicle is scheduled for 2nd week of August Procurement of four (4) laptops, one (1) scanner, two (2) cameras (one video and the other normal digital snapshot) and two (2) printers is under way. The delegated contracts committee of the Ministry sat May this year to consider these procurements, the programme is waiting their evaluation and contract signature. Stationery for all the four quarters was procured, received and is being utilized Meetings: Meetings at EHD level The Executing Agency has continued to have regular weekly meetings with the programme staff and monthly meetings with all the staff (programme and Environmental Health Division). During these meetings, issues identified from the districts and at the center impacting on the performance of the programme are discussed and solutions sought. The meetings provide an opportunity to share plans by each staff for the period ahead. It has however been resolved that weekly meeting shall be attend by both Programme Staff and staff of EHD as well as the accounts officer in charge of USF Programme accounts. Meetings with the Country Programme Monitor Monthly meetings were held between the Executing Agency and the Country Programme Monitor (CPM) to discuss progress of the USF programme activities, work plans and deliverables to the GSF. Meetings with Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) Lead Specialist A meeting was also held with Mr. Eduardo Perez Lead Sanitation Specialist of Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) of the World Bank and member of the Advisory Committee for the Global Sanitation Fund, when he was visiting Uganda. The meeting was chaired by the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Health (MoH) and discussed the following; Funding utilization to sub-grantee level Processes and approaches used for sanitation and hygiene promotion Absorption capacity of the sub-grantees and, Other support role of other donors e.g. WSO, NGOs involvement and coordination. Meetings with the Programme Coordination Mechanism The Programme Coordination Mechanism (CPM) held 5 meetings over the year. The first in September 2012 was meant to approve the USF annual report financial year (FY) 2011/12. The USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 8 of 37

9 second meeting held in January discussed USF progress, challenges in implementation, provided guidance to the programme implementation team and also approved the first semi-annual report for FY 2012/13. The third meeting was held in April 2013 to discuss and approve the performance improvement plan and had been development after a two day meeting with various stakeholders. The subsequent two meetings were used to discuss and approve the USF programme expansion. Meetings with District Focal Persons A one day meeting with the USF district focal persons was held on November 21, 2012 to discuss how to improve sub-grantee s performance. Issues discussed resulted from- the internal audit report of last financial year, and issues raised by Environmental Health Division staff after their technical support supervision; other issues included feedback on work plans and reports, planning and reporting formats, setting of targets for each district, issues affecting implementation especially at district level. Candid discussions were held and solutions agreed upon by all parties The USF Programme Retreat The other key meeting held was the USF programme performance improvement retreat held in March The output of this retreat was a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) document which was presented and approved by the PCM before being forwarded to GSF.Arising from the USF programme retreat, a meeting was held in the last week of March between MoH and MoFPED. The purpose of this meeting was to create rapport between the different departments of the two ministries, and clearly understand the roles and responsibilities of the different departments. The meeting was attended by staff from Accountant General s Office, Planning Unit of MoH, USF programme staff, Accounts department of MoH. Inter District Meeting The inaugural annual Inter-District Meeting (IDM) which provides a forum that brings together key players from all the implementing districts, Ministry of Health (Executing Agency), Line Ministries, Programme Coordination Mechanism, Country Programme Monitor and other stakeholders to share experiences and lessons and hence learn from one another was held from May 7-9, 2013 at Kumi Hotel, Kumi. Details of this meeting are provided in sec Quality Assurance of district work plans: The Sub-Grantees annual work plans were reviewed by the EA and issues were generated for each district that needed immediate attention and adjustments of the work plans. These work plans were based on the guidelines (template) provided to all the Sub-Grantees to ensure implementation of similar activities in line with the programme objectives. Similarity in activities formulation will facilitate reporting and assessing comparative performance of districts. The districts submitted draft work plans for review by the EA before their approval after incorporation of necessary adjustments. As a further measure to improving the quality of work plans (and reports), the EA shall facilitate district programme review and planning sessions at cluster level (3-4 districts per cluster) in September USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 9 of 37

10 2.1.4 Technical support and monitoring: The Environmental Health Division staff together with the Uganda Sanitation Fund programme staff carried out technical support supervision in all the 15 implementing districts on average once every quarter. The EA intends to step up support supervision to at least two visits per quarter. The major focus for the technical support supervision was on the following areas; i. Assess the progress of USF programme activities at district and community levels for the year of implementation (whether activities have been implemented as planned), ii. iii. iv. Review of district programme implementation, discuss district specific challenges and propose possible solutions Refinement of work plans/ budgets and agreeing on targets Discuss programme management issues at district level and agree on solutions. v. Visits to assess sanitation and hygiene situation of some of the primary and secondary schools and give guidance where necessary. vi. vii. viii. Programme funds management and reporting, discuss issues of accountability - both technical and financial, Discuss issues of data collection, storage and usage Verification of reported outputs, During this technical support supervision and monitoring sessions, issues identified are discussed with the relevant persons at the district. Feedback to the districts is promptly given by agreeing on the way forward, but in instances where specific actions need to be taken by the district leadership, then the Programme Manager makes a formal written feedback to those districts. During the visits, some of the issues that were noted included: i. Inconsistencies in the annual plans with the implementation activities; the districts were advised to adhere to the approved work plans, and ensure that all activities are aimed at adding the annual results expected of them ii. iii. iv. Delayed release of funds from Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development; districts were advised to plan in advance so that when funds are released, they are ready to implement. But also this issue was discussed with the Ministry of finance and there were improvements in the second half of the year. The districts were also lagging behind in their key outs especially ODF villages; the districts were advised to take on fewer communities for trigger and see them through to being declared ODF. They were also advised to improve the follow up to triggered communities if they were to attain the ODF villages. In some districts like Bukedea, Mbarara, Katakwi, and Pallisa; the focal persons were requisition for all funds and sometimes delaying activities. The districts were advised to allow the other implementing staff to be responsible for some activities and requisition for the funds. The reporting still remains to be done through the focal persons. USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 10 of 37

11 v. The other issue that was brought out was that of lack of transport for the Health Inspectors and Health Assistants; this issue is yet to be addressed but the districts were advised to provide transport refund to the implementers when they are carrying out the USF activities. vi. Delays in release of funds by districts to the implementers; this was addressed during the Inter District meeting and remarkable improvement has been noted in the last quarter. The technical support also involves field visits to randomly selected targeted villages. After field visits, debriefing meetings were held with the implementing staff, district leadership (technical and political). Solutions to some of the challenges identified were agreed on during these meetings and action plans drawn out. In total, each district was visited three times during the reporting period. The first visits took place October / November 2012 where the EHD staff visited all the 15 districts; and a total of thirty five (35) villages were visited during the support visits. The second and third support supervision visits were carried out with in the second half of the year which mainly dealt with addressing issues raised in the first visit, and guiding the districts in planning, reporting and assessing their progress to date. During these visits, 56 villages were visited in all the 15 districts. The visit included all the EHD staff, the USF staff and top management of the ministry including the Ministers, Director General and the other Directors. During the year, the Programme Coordinating Mechanism members visited the various implementing districts to acquaint themselves with the activities on ground and have discussions with the implementers and the district leadership. Different members visited specific districts. The objectives of this monitoring visit were to: Familiarise themselves with the implementation of Uganda Sanitation Fund in the districts, Meet the district leadership and managers and hold discussions centred on USF implementation. Discuss the challenges of sub-grantees and NGOs where they apply. Discuss challenges of access to funds. Visit the villages declared ODF and discuss how it was achieved and sustainability issues. Give guidance where necessary. Give feed back to district leadership and the EA on the findings of the field visits Quality Assurance of reports: The Executing Agency quality assured the reports submitted by the districts. An arrangement has been made with the districts to submit advance copies of the reports for quality assurance and where need be clarification is sought from the districts and the necessary corrections recommended before the reports are officially submitted after endorsement by the Chief Administrative Officer. To ensure compliancy, the districts are supposed to prepare reports in triplicate and all stamped received at Ministry. Although there has been support provided to districts in as far as proper reporting is concern, there are still delays in reporting coupled with poor quality reports. During the last IDM, this issue was exhaustively discussed and we agreed that all reports should have reached the EA by the second day following the reporting period. In preparation of this report, up until the 15 th of July, most of the districts had not submitted the final annual reports. The Desk officers and the Technical Assistants review the reports and provide feedback to the districts. Arising from this reporting, an activity has USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 11 of 37

12 been planned for September and October to address the key challenges identified like failure to follow the reporting guidelines, incomplete reports, data quality and use plans, plus providing adequate information during reporting Compilation of semi-annual and annual reports: Based on the district quarterly reports, centrally procured and Executing Agency activities, the Executing Agency compiled semiannual report in December 2012 and this annual report. After compilation of reports, they are submitted to Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development for review and quality assurance which in turn submits to United Nations Office of projects Services (UNOPS). Guidelines for compilation of this information have been provided to the districts, which then feeds into the EA template. When a fully functional management information system is developed, it will be integrated into the ministry HMIS Development of communication materials and Strategy: The development of communication material is in its final stages under the Water and Sanitation Programme - World Bank (WSP) support; this is being piloted in four districts but will eventually be rolled out to the whole country.. The firm contracted was able to pilot the communication campaign in four (4) districts of Mubende, Mityana, Amuria and Katakwi; two of which are under the Uganda Sanitation Fund. A draft Behavioral Change Communication (BCC) strategy was developed by Environmental Health Division based on guidance given by the Advocacy and Communications Manager of Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) during her visit to the country in April 2013, the draft is still under review by the program team and Environmental Health Division after receiving input from WSSCC. This will be shared with the Ministry of Water and Environment (MoWE) communication officer for her input and guidance as recommended by the Programme Coordination Mechanism Internal Audit monitoring: The Internal Audit together with the programme Accountant visited all the districts to perform their audit functions. A report of the findings is was finalized and submitted to the Permanent Secretary (PS) and also shared with the Programme Manager of Uganda Sanitation Fund. Among general findings from last year s internal audit report were the lack of transport, delayed release of funds both from Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development and at district level which impacted on the implementation, delayed accountability and payment of ineligible allowances. The Internal Audit department although having facilitation to visit the districts twice a year, they were only able to visit the districts once this year. The key issues from this year s audit report include; i. Delayed releases were most of the sub grantees received the funds towards the end of the first quarter. ii. iii. iv. Lack of harmonized work plans were by each implementing unit had a unique approved work plan meant to implement similar project activities. None existing of separate books of accounts for USF funds. Non compliance with procurement guidelines v. Weak internal control USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 12 of 37

13 vi. Delayed accountabilities like in Ngora, Amolatar. Recommendations by Internal Audit to the districts were; Management to ensure that USF funds are separately accounted for to ensure transparency and accountability. Management to ensure that all funds are advanced on time for activities to enhance prudent financial management. Management to ensure timely retirement of all advances as provided for within LGF&A regulations Focal persons should adhere to the approved work plans and budgets. There should be regular reviews by the district Internal Audit departments. 2.2 Centrally Procured Activities: Capacity Building: The Executing Agency conducted capacity building of district, sub county and NGO staff in thirteen (13) districts on Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS). A total of one hundred and seventy seven (177) staff acquired skills in CLTS. Despite covering all the districts, not all the districts and NGO staff were trained. The remaining staff will be trained on CLTS in the next financial year 2013/14; this group will also include the newly recruited staff in the districts. A list of the non trained staff has already been generated and preparations for this training are underway. Capacity building participants practice the walk of shame and a village map drawn by community members in Kumi District In addition to the CLTS trainings, an introduction to Sanitation Marketing training was conducted by WSP for the Focal Persons and other national level stakeholder like EHD staff and Technical USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 13 of 37

14 Assistants. The USF Focal persons that attended were from the districts of Sheema, Pallisa, Bukedea, Kumi, Ngora, Serere, Amuria, Katakwi, Kaberamaido, and Amolatar. This was the second of such capacity building intervention in sanitation marketing as the first training was conducted in year one that covered the five districts of Soroti, Dokolo, Kibuuku, Mbarara and Bushenyi. During the technical support supervision visits, we were able to build the district capacities in planning and reporting. The districts were provided with a planning and reporting template Uganda Sanitation Fund Programme Review Retreat The Programme management together with the Global Sanitation Fund agreed to have a two day retreat to take stock of the progress, share the findings of the mapping exercise and discuss ways for improving programme implementation. A retreat was thus held March 6 th to 7th, 2013 at Ridar Hotel, Seeta; with twenty eight (28) participants from the Ministry of Health, Executing Agency, the Programme Coordination Mechanism, Country Programme Monitor, and the Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED). Day one of the retreat was devoted largely to presentations and discussions while day two was devoted to the development of a draft Performance Improvement Plan to address challenges and issues identified. The final copy of this plan was presented to the Programme Coordination Mechanism in April 2013 for approval, and subsequently submitted to Global Sanitation Fund. The implementation of the plan is well under way Sanitation and Hygiene Situational Analysis Study: M/S WE consult was contracted in May 2013 to conduct the sanitation and hygiene situational analysis study. They started work immediately and an inception meeting with the Uganda Sanitation Fund programme team and the consulting team took place on May 31, M/S WE Consult submitted their inception report in the first week of June 2013 and it was reviewed and comments provided to the consultants; these comments were incorporated and the Inception report was accepted with the tools. The consultant embarked on the study and the first draft report is expected on 29th July 2013, the completion date of the assignment is August 21, Due to the delays in procurement, this study has taken place two years into the implementation process but we hope it will provide good insights to benchmark and assess progress in the implementation areas. Given the fact that districts carried out a situational survey before implementation; that information couple with the findings from this baseline study should provide the program with adequate information to set as start figures before implementation Inter District Learning Meeting (IDM) The inaugural annual Inter-District Meeting (IDM) which provides a forum that brings together key players from all the implementing districts, Ministry of Health (Executing Agency), Line Ministries, Programme Coordination Mechanism, Country Programme Monitor and other stakeholders to share experiences and lessons and hence learn from one another was held from May 7-9, 2013 at Kumi Hotel, Kumi. Being the first such meeting since the start of the programme, there was a lot to deliberate upon in the three days provided. Day one of the Inter District Meeting was dedicated largely to presentations from Executing Agency and the sub-grantees and discussions. Day two was devoted USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 14 of 37

15 to additional presentations about Financial Management, group work and field visit; Day three was devoted to discussion from the groups, presentations of field reports, and addressing issues identified. Some of the key issues from group discussion included; a) Need to cluster districts at least once a quarter to share planning and monitoring experiences b) Technical Assistants and/or Desk officers were encouraged to spend more time in the districts to build capacity of the districts. c) There is need to put in place a mentoring framework to take care of implementers at different levels to improve performance. d) Visits by the centre to the districts should be well arranged between the centre and the district Focal Persons to optimize the outcomes of the visits. e) Involvement of the NGOs and Civil society is critical, but most of the districts reported lack of recognized NGO in the districts; they were advised to make use of those in neighbouring districts. f) Focal Persons were tasked to identify the capacity gaps in the different districts & find ways to address them e.g. Clustering or one-on-one mentoring by TAs, Desk Officers and PCM. g) Streamline the dissemination of the implementation guidelines both in hard and soft copies to all stakeholders. h) It was emphasised that internal communication is critical in all processes, there is need to follow the communications strategy i) Districts should strive to achieve their targets especially ODF, Latrine coverage and Hand Washing facilities coverage. Those lagging behind should put in place strategies to cover the backlog. j) Districts should ensure that all the USF resources are properly utilized with measuring outputs at the end; otherwise non utilized resources will be returned to the donor which will be counter-productive to the sanitation cause. 2.3 GRANTS TO DISTRICTS: Demand creation: Various participatory approaches for community mobilization and sensitization were used. They included Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), home and environmental improvement campaigns, sanitation marketing, and model village establishment. A total of 1,605 villages were triggered giving an overall achievement of 115% against set annual target. To ensure that communities implemented activities aimed at construction of sanitation facilities, vigorous follow up of these target communities was done by the Health Assistants (HA) and the Village Health Teams (VHTs) to continuously motivate households to construct and use latrines and hence stop open defecation. Of those triggered, 800 (40.5%) were declared by the districts as ODF. These are yet to be certified by a central certification team that was put in place by the sanitation working group. The demand creation activities resulted in the achievements outlined in section 4 (Achievements of results against set yearly targets). Annex 7 provides information of these achievements by district. USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 15 of 37

16 Schools located within the target communities were also sensitized and school health clubs/committees formed. NGOs were involved in the sensitization of both communities and schools. Given that there are at least 200,000 households without sanitation facilities and are deemed to be practicing open defecation, the annual target therefore was to have at least 53,580 new latrines constructed and used and this target was surpassed as 55,656 new latrines 2 were constructed. A reflection of the number of latrines constructed in each district as a result of demand creation and follow up is given in the following figure. Figure 1: Showing Additional Population using Latrines per district 2 New Latrine are those that latrines freshly dug and constructed and meet the standard latrine criteria as stipulated in Uganda standards (Public Health Act, Statutory Instrument 281-6); i.e. Have a pit of at least 15 ft, walls of the building of more than 6ft, weatherproof root, with a squat hole with a well fitting cover to prevent the ingress of flies, cleanable floor, with privacy. USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 16 of 37

17 The leading districts in the number of new latrines constructed included Soroti, and Sheema. The overall latrine coverage achievement in the programme area was 79% against a target of 78.0% and up from an average coverage of 65.8% as indicated in the last Programme Annual Report. Figure 2: Showing ODF villages in Year 1 and Year 2 The districts that performed best in the key indicator of attaining the highest number of ODF villages given their targets were Kibuku, and Soroti with 100% performance. This is also measured through the conversion of triggered villages to being declared ODF as seen in Figure 3. On average a village well triggered and followed up has taken six (6) months to be declared ODF, the VHTs and Has thus play a key role of ensuring that those triggered villages are consistently followed up. Districts have been advised to follow up all those villages already triggered and not yet declared ODF before engaging in triggering of new villages. Figure 3: Chart showing triggered vs ODF declared villages in second year USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 17 of 37

18 2.3.2 Improving Supply: Private sector development: The only activity planned for and conducted by the districts was training of masons in the different latrine technology options and production of latrine slabs and sanitation platforms. This activity was seen to best fit after creation of demand. Over the second year of implementation, a total of 199 masons are trained and various sanitation marketing techniques. In addition, WSP organized and trained 10 district focal persons from Sheema, Pallisa, Bukedea, Kumi, Ngora, Serere, Amuria, Katakwi, Kaberamaido, Amolatar and 1 EHD staff (Rogers Batesaki) about sanitation marketing. The purpose of these trainings is to create a resource pool of persons who can be in position to construct improved latrines and who can also guide the households as they construct their latrines Creating an enabling environment: Advocacy and community mobilization All the districts conducted advocacy at district and at Sub County levels with some having conducted the meetings at both levels. Districts conducted sub county advocacy meetings in the new sub counties that had to be brought on board in the second year. The objective of the advocacy meetings was to inform the various leadership categories and levels and other stakeholders about the programme, implementation strategies, expected outputs and solicit for their full participation. This has greatly helped to improve the performance and acceptability of the programme in implementing districts. A total of seventy nine (79) advocacy meetings were held making it 84% of the targeted meetings. Eleven (11) districts of Serere, Kumi, Ngora, Kibuuku, Sheema, Bushenyi, Katakwi, Pallisa, Bukedea, Dokolo, and Amolatar planned and carried out district sanitation and hygiene forums through which they provided feedback to the stakeholders about the programme progress and future interventions. In addition, a total of one thousand, six hundred and forty seven (1647) communities were sensitized on sanitation and hygiene improvement practices. These advocacy and community mobilization meetings act as a catalyst to having smooth implementation USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 18 of 37

19 of the sanitation programme and through them, a lot of support from district and local leaders to the sanitation cause has been won. Exemplary leadership: There has been improvement in exemplary leadership in most of the districts. Current statistics indicate that 84% of leaders at all levels that were visited during the year were found with appropriate sanitation facilities; these included leader at community, parish, sub county and district level. This has also been improved given the advocacy and the support that the district and sub county leadership has given to the programme. Districts and communities openly name and shame leaders who are not compliant with the sanitation standards of the community. Toilet at women leaders home (left) while children demonstrate the use of tippy tap on the right in Pallisa District Establishment of Management Information System (MIS): With the engagement of an M&E Specialist, the process of establishing of a functional MIS integrated in the HMIS has begun. Consultations with the implementers and the ministry HMIS personnel are ongoing. Currently district continue using the VHTs to collect data from the community levels which data is then compiled by the Health Assistants at the sub county levels and remitted to the District Focal person. As a starting point technical support as been provided to the Health Assistants concerning verification and ensuring data quality. It s hoped that a fully operational USF MIS integrated into the ministry HMIS will be operation in year three of the programme implementation. As part of improving performance, templates for planning and reporting were provided to districts and they now form part of the implementation guidelines. 2.4 Programme Coordination Mechanism (PCM) Activities: The Programme Coordination Mechanism with 15 members (see Annex 6) held five (5) meetings to review and approve the semi-annual / annual reports, provide guidance and strategic direction to the programme; and one extra ordinary meeting to review and approve the proposed programme expansion proposal was added to the quarterly meetings. The PCM has also carried out field monitoring of activities in the third quarter of the year and the final report from their visits is being USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 19 of 37

20 awaited, although a brief report on the findings from the field was shared during their fourth quarter seating. The composition of the PCM is as shown in ANNEX 6 with 15 current members although there is a proposal to have two more members included one representing Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and the other representing Ministry of Local government which is the supervising ministry to local governments (districts and lower structures). USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 20 of 37

21 2. DEVIATIONS FROM ANNUAL BUDGET AND WORK PLAN AND EXPLANATIONS: 2.1 Executing Agency (EA) The EA was able to recruit all the staff as required during the second year of operation. The Administrative Assistant and a driver were recruited in November 2012 and therefore all the planned salary for these two staff was utilised. Two Technical Assistants were also recruited one signing the contract in January 2013, while the second signed in February 2013; this implies a six months delay from the time they were expected to report. In addition a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist was hired on a 120 day consultancy starting February and lapsing June These three staff although hired and reporting in January and February, their payments were not made during the reporting period and it s hoped that those payments for the 6 and 5 months respectively amounting to USD 43,10 will be made in the first quarter of 2013/14 financial year with an annual saving of USD 32,500. This means that although funds for this activity in the budget were committed, the actual expenditure will be made in the third year. The other budget line that was not utilised was that of the Technical Advisor, One (1) technical advisor was recruited during the month of April 2013, but the payment for this Advisor was taken over by GSF thus a saving of USD 19, 200. The total budget for staff salaries amounted to USD 114,360 and actual expenditure as of June 30, 2013 was USD 3,652 (3.2%); this is mainly because of the delayed recruitment of staff, delayed payment and the fact that the Technical Advisor s payment was taken up by GSF. Concerning the budget for equipment, out of the USD 124,950 budgeted for only USD 69,678 (55.8%) was utilised to pay for two (2) double cabins pick-ups and part payment (40%) for the station wagon Prado vehicle; the payment of the balance (60%) on the station wagon vehicle will be made in July/August There were delays in procurement of equipment just like it was for contract staff. The procurement of equipment (camera, printers, scanner, and laptops) shall be concluded in the third year. Other operating costs which include internal audit travels, fuel and vehicle maintenance, stationery and office running, internal trips and communication had an annual budget of USD 74,670 of which USD 56,107 (75.1%) was utilised making a saving of USD 18,563. The PCM utilised USD 4,640 (46.4%) out of their annual budget of USD 10,000. The Staff team building retreat has been delayed largely because the identified facilitator was not available until August This activity shall be concluded in the month September when the Programme Manager is back from her annual leave. 2.2 Grants and Procurements Demand Creation activities: Demand creation activities included implementation of CLTS, sanitation marketing, Scaling up KDS+, home improvement campaigns, and promotion of hand washing among others. A budget of USD 750,000 was available and it was all utilised by the 15 districts with their partner NGOs to USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 21 of 37

22 orient district leaders, mobilised and followed up communities resulting in attaining 800 villages declared ODF with an additional population of 480,000 living in ODF area. A total of 55,656 new latrines were constructed and had over 278,280 new people access latrines. The sanitation and hygiene situational analysis study (Baseline) commenced in May 2013 and its hoped that it will be concluded by September An inception report was submitted and accepted by the EA, and the consultant is currently in the field collecting the data. The budget of USD 50,000 for this activity will only be spend in the third year of implementation because of the delays in having his contract signed. Improving the Supply Chain: PATH carried out a District sanitation Industry assessment during the reporting period as a report was shared with EA, and a further assessment is to be carried out in Amuria and Katakwi to inform the development of a business model to cater for the demand created. This activity was carried out at no cost to the USF. Capacity building in districts included; training of district and NGO about CLTS approach, sanitation marketing which was carried out by WSP and planning & reporting. The EA organized a special programme retreat to identify implementation challenges and came up with a programme performance improvement plan which is now being used as an implementation guide. The budget allocation for this activity was USD 250,000 of that USD 55,380 (22.2%) was utilised. The development of the private sector for effective and sustainable delivery of hygiene and sanitation services was carried out by the districts through training of masons. A total of 199 masons were trained and equipped with the necessary skills. The budget allocation of USD 60,000 was utilised by 93.3%. Creating of an enabling Environment: Districts continued to carry out advocacy meetings at district, sub county and also held community sensitization sessions. A total of 899 such sessions were held over the reporting period. As part of advocacy, WSP has planned to carry out an assessment of enabling environment in Amuria and Katakwi in August 2013; the lessons from which will be used to scale up in other districts. The budget utilisation concerning this activity was at 71.3% as USD 22,809 was used as compared to USD 32,000 budgeted. The inaugural national Inter District Meeting was held in May 2013 in Kumi district with participants from the different sub-grantees, PCM, CPM, MOLG, MOH and MOFPED. A total of 89 participants attended the 3 day meeting the whole budget of USD 27,000 planned for this activity was utilised. Other activities under this category whose budgets were not utilised include carrying out exchange visits; this was delayed because of other pressing activities at the centre. The establishment of the MIS although preliminary work had been started, no funds were utilised as all the activities in this area were scheduled for the first and second quarter of third year. USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 22 of 37

23 Uganda Sanitation Fund ACHIEVEMENTS OF RESULTS AGAINST SET YEARLY TARGETS: The table below shows the second year achievements against set targets as compared to first year performance: Note FY 2011/12 FY 2012/13 Cum. total Indicator Target Achieved Target Achieved Achieved 5 year target Achieved (%) Villages triggered Villages declared ODF People living in ODF areas New latrines constructed Additional Population using latrines New hand washing facilities Households hand washing with soap 1, ,397 1,605 3,002 5, , , ,154 5, , ,400 1,186, , ,400 3,496, ,000 25,685 53,580 55,656 81, , , , , , ,390 1,227, ,000 43, ,012 65, , , ,000 57, ,012 73, , , Latrine coverage (%)* *latrine coverage baseline % 79.0 The second year target was to reach out to 40% of all the villages in each district which gave a total of 1,397 villages. The districts managed to reach to a total of 1,605 villages translating to 115% of all the villages because in some districts, villages that were not covered in year one had to be catered for. The baseline latrine coverage according to the CPP was 65.8% and the year two target was to increase latrine coverage to 78.0%. The latrine coverage in the programme area rose to 79.0% giving an overall achievement of more than 100% against the second year target of 78%. The coverage figures were obtained from the sub-grantee quarterly and annual reports which were submitted to the Executing Agency for compilation. This information is obtained with the help of the VHTs and Health Assistants at community level, which then cascades upwards to the USF Focal person at district level. The USF will hopefully improve the quality and timeliness of this data as the districts will be in position to periodically update their coverage while updating the data in the MIS. Some of these achievements have been verified mainly through the visits made by the EHD and USF USF Annual Programme Report FY 2012/13 Page 23 of 37