EVALUATION OF THE LEVEL OF SERVICE RENDERED BY FUNCTIONING RURAL WATER SUPPLY SCHEMES: CASE OF FARTA WOREDA, AMHARA REGION, ETHIOPIA

All reports confirm that the rural water supply coverage of Ethiopia have been in strong
upward trajectory since 1990. RWSEP/COWASH project has been implementing rural water
supply schemes using CMP approach in Amhara region of Ethiopia since 2003. The project
has achieved significant result on rural water supply schemes; functionality, implementation
rate and community empowerment. CMP related researches confirm that the approach has
achieved more than 98% of rural water supply scheme functionality. However, the level of
service delivered by those functional water supply schemes had not been studied so far.
Therefore, focusing on functioning rural water supply schemes in Farta woreda, the present
study evaluated the service level using water quantity, quality, accessibility and reliability
indicators, identify determinant factors affecting rural water supply schemes functionality
and service level. Comparisons were made on the level of service delivered by those schemes
implemented by NGO managed project approach against CMP. The study is both qualitative
and quantitative in its design. Questionnaire, focused group discussion, key informant
interview, observation, and document analysis are the main data gathering tools used in this
study. The quantitative data collected were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for
Social Science) and presented through tables, graphs and charts where as the qualitative
information were precisely narrated