Sierra Leone - Water Sector Reform

The Sierra Leone Threshold Program (THP) external evaluation contains two primary components. The first views the THP in its entirety, incorporating information and data from the Water Sector Reform Project (WSRP), the Electrictiy Sector Reform Project (ESRP) and the Regulatory Sector Refrom Project (RSP) into a performance evaluation (Evaluation Questions (EQs) 1-8). The second component provides an in-depth investigation, through the use of interrupted time-series analysis (ITSA) based on system-level data and a comparative longitudinal study based on household survey data, of one component of the WSRP, the DMA/Kiosk Activity (EQs 9-12). All Evaluation questions explore water related issues, activities, outcomes, and impacts. Evaluation Questions include:

  1. Were the Activities/Sub-Activities implemented as designed? What were the challenges and successes in implementing the reform activities in the sectors?

  2. To what extent did the Projects/Activities accomplish the desired outputs and outcomes outlined in the program logics? For the ESRP this should include but is not limited to improved financial relationship between EGTC and EDSA, improved efficiency at targeted substations and generation facilities, etc.; and for the WSRP: operation and maintenance conducted more regularly and effectively, billings and collections increased, and improved responsiveness to customers.

  3. To what extent has coordination and planning within the water and electricity sectors improved as a result of THP activities?

  4. What evidence is there that EGTC, EDSA and GVWC are becoming financially viable as a result of the THP activities? To what extent do these entities operate on principles that allow for cost recovery? Has cost of service improved?

  5. What are the impacts of the THP activities on business operations and strategic planning within EGTC, EDSA and GVWC? How well did EGTC, EDSA and GVWC institutionalize (into the organization's culture and behaviors) the transformations that took place under the THP?

  6. How useful was the THP's "dry run" (tariff development process) for helping to establish the tariffs in the water and electricity sectors? What were the challenges and successes in this process? To what extent does the tariff structure adopted allow for cost recovery of the utilities in the sector?

  7. What lessons can be learned from the implementation of the RSP? What is the impact of the results-based financing process on improving EWRC capacity to effectively monitor alternative water services providers and utilities in the water and electricity sectors? What is the impact of the results-based financing process on the operational and financial efficiency of the utilities? To what extent are the results achieved under this Sub-activity sustained beyond the THP?

  8. How sustainable are the outcomes of the projects and activities and why (including around sector coordination, utility financial, commercial and operational improvements, etc.)? How was sustainability planning done during implementation and what best practices and lessons learned can be drawn from that process? To answer the EQs above, SI will take a mixed methods approach, including both qualitative and quantitative methods through a framework developed on principles of organizational capacity assessment (OCA). The proposed methods include: 1) document review, 2) secondary data usage, 3) key informant interviews (KIIs), 4) focus group discussions (FGDs), 5) direct observation (DO), and 6) process mapping.

  9. Were the activities in the DMA/Kiosk effective at reducing NRW, and if so, which activities were the most effective?

  10. How did the activities pilot impact service reliability, cost of water, water quality, water collection times, consumer citizenship attitudes and behaviors, and satisfaction with water service in the targeted DMA? What evidence is there that the technical assistance provided to the GVWC resulted in increased capacity to affect outcomes related to gender and social equity in the DMA?

  11. What is the impact of the DMA/Kiosk Activity on standpipe management, the levels of water service provided by the developed/rehabilitated standpipes under the THP and post-THP (e.g. hours of water, water quality, etc.)? How does the private sector approach to standpipe management (MCC-sponsored kiosks or networks) compare to other standpipe management approaches (e.g., community managed kiosks or networks) practiced in the Freetown area in terms of service reliability, maintenance, cost to households and revenues for GVWC?

  12. Are there systems and results in the DMA around NRW and the standpipe pilot that can be sustainably replicated to other GVWC service areas? What factors/indicators are critical to ensure successful replication? In addition to some of the methodologies noted above for EQs 1-8, SI will employ additional measurements for EQs 9-12 including household surveys and the use of sensor technology. Data collection will take place at primarily two points in time in 2020, near the end of the THP and 2020, two years forllowing the program.

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel public
bureauCode {184:03}
catalog_@context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
catalog_describedBy https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
identifier DDI-MCC-SLE-WATER-SI-2019-v01
landingPage https://data.mcc.gov/evaluations/index.php/catalog/256
license https://data.mcc.gov/terms-and-conditions.php
modified 2019-10-29
programCode {184:000}
publisher Millennium Challenge Corporation
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash f3df536606c5be8be9ebcbf083a1ff9d3a68b0b1
source_schema_version 1.1
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • ckan
  • geo
  • geoss
  • national
  • north-america
  • private-sector-participation
  • regulation
  • sierra-leone
  • threshold
  • united-states
  • utility-service-provision
  • water
isopen False
license_id other-license-specified
license_title other-license-specified
maintainer Monitoring & Evaluation Division of the Millennium Challenge Corporation
maintainer_email impact-eval@mcc.gov
metadata_created 2025-11-20T04:01:14.973024
metadata_modified 2025-11-20T04:01:14.973029
notes The Sierra Leone Threshold Program (THP) external evaluation contains two primary components. The first views the THP in its entirety, incorporating information and data from the Water Sector Reform Project (WSRP), the Electrictiy Sector Reform Project (ESRP) and the Regulatory Sector Refrom Project (RSP) into a performance evaluation (Evaluation Questions (EQs) 1-8). The second component provides an in-depth investigation, through the use of interrupted time-series analysis (ITSA) based on system-level data and a comparative longitudinal study based on household survey data, of one component of the WSRP, the DMA/Kiosk Activity (EQs 9-12). All Evaluation questions explore water related issues, activities, outcomes, and impacts. Evaluation Questions include: 1. Were the Activities/Sub-Activities implemented as designed? What were the challenges and successes in implementing the reform activities in the sectors? 2. To what extent did the Projects/Activities accomplish the desired outputs and outcomes outlined in the program logics? For the ESRP this should include but is not limited to improved financial relationship between EGTC and EDSA, improved efficiency at targeted substations and generation facilities, etc.; and for the WSRP: operation and maintenance conducted more regularly and effectively, billings and collections increased, and improved responsiveness to customers. 3. To what extent has coordination and planning within the water and electricity sectors improved as a result of THP activities? 4. What evidence is there that EGTC, EDSA and GVWC are becoming financially viable as a result of the THP activities? To what extent do these entities operate on principles that allow for cost recovery? Has cost of service improved? 5. What are the impacts of the THP activities on business operations and strategic planning within EGTC, EDSA and GVWC? How well did EGTC, EDSA and GVWC institutionalize (into the organization's culture and behaviors) the transformations that took place under the THP? 6. How useful was the THP's "dry run" (tariff development process) for helping to establish the tariffs in the water and electricity sectors? What were the challenges and successes in this process? To what extent does the tariff structure adopted allow for cost recovery of the utilities in the sector? 7. What lessons can be learned from the implementation of the RSP? What is the impact of the results-based financing process on improving EWRC capacity to effectively monitor alternative water services providers and utilities in the water and electricity sectors? What is the impact of the results-based financing process on the operational and financial efficiency of the utilities? To what extent are the results achieved under this Sub-activity sustained beyond the THP? 8. How sustainable are the outcomes of the projects and activities and why (including around sector coordination, utility financial, commercial and operational improvements, etc.)? How was sustainability planning done during implementation and what best practices and lessons learned can be drawn from that process? To answer the EQs above, SI will take a mixed methods approach, including both qualitative and quantitative methods through a framework developed on principles of organizational capacity assessment (OCA). The proposed methods include: 1) document review, 2) secondary data usage, 3) key informant interviews (KIIs), 4) focus group discussions (FGDs), 5) direct observation (DO), and 6) process mapping. 9. Were the activities in the DMA/Kiosk effective at reducing NRW, and if so, which activities were the most effective? 10. How did the activities pilot impact service reliability, cost of water, water quality, water collection times, consumer citizenship attitudes and behaviors, and satisfaction with water service in the targeted DMA? What evidence is there that the technical assistance provided to the GVWC resulted in increased capacity to affect outcomes related to gender and social equity in the DMA? 11. What is the impact of the DMA/Kiosk Activity on standpipe management, the levels of water service provided by the developed/rehabilitated standpipes under the THP and post-THP (e.g. hours of water, water quality, etc.)? How does the private sector approach to standpipe management (MCC-sponsored kiosks or networks) compare to other standpipe management approaches (e.g., community managed kiosks or networks) practiced in the Freetown area in terms of service reliability, maintenance, cost to households and revenues for GVWC? 12. Are there systems and results in the DMA around NRW and the standpipe pilot that can be sustainably replicated to other GVWC service areas? What factors/indicators are critical to ensure successful replication? In addition to some of the methodologies noted above for EQs 1-8, SI will employ additional measurements for EQs 9-12 including household surveys and the use of sensor technology. Data collection will take place at primarily two points in time in 2020, near the end of the THP and 2020, two years forllowing the program.
num_resources 4
num_tags 14
title Sierra Leone - Water Sector Reform