Sustainable Living Groups: What and Why

Last summer I spent ten weeks in Ethiopia conducting a project with WiLi, which is very much the back story to my current position and the work we are doing now.  Last summer came about through a requirement for my own graduate studies, and through a God-given connection with the Hardings and WiLi.  Throughout my graduate studies I focused on Water Resource Management and always hoped to conduct my summer practicum with a “Christian NGO working in East Africa with water issues”…sounds like WiLi to me!  For the ten weeks that I was in Ethiopia last summer I conducted an evaluation of the Sustainable Living Groups (SLGs) that WiLi works with to determine their effect on individual women’s sanitation behaviors.

Monitoring and evaluation is a really important part of any development project because it produces learning and ensures that we as development practitioners are avoiding harm and doing the most good that we can for the people that we are serving.  In the case of WiLi, David and I discussed extensively before last summer the need to evaluate the SLGs because this is a new area of focus for WiLi and much was still unknown about the way the SLGs function and what effect they are having.  SLGs are groups of about 15 to 20 individuals, mostly women, who meet together weekly and function as fellowship groups, savings organizations, and conduct different activities in their communities.  WiLi partners with Kale Heywot Church, who facilitates the formation of these groups, to provide water and sanitation services to the SLGs and their communities.  Going in to last summer my objectives were to understand the way the SLGs are organized and function, to determine the effect of SLGs on individual women’s personal sanitation behaviors, and to conduct a successful evaluation that could be continued in the future by WiLi.

Members of an SLG outside of Awassa

Through the evaluation last summer I learned a lot about the SLGs and the way they work and the how they affect women’s lives.  Now, without boring you too much because I can really get on a roll here, I want to share with you the key findings from my project last summer.  Some of the key discoveries and summary statistics from the evaluation project last summer are:

• Membership in an SLG provides financial, social, and human capital benefits

• Less than one third of survey participants treat their drinking water, and approximately 50% had use of an improved latrine

• SLG members are more likely than non members to wash their hands with soap

• SLG members have higher levels of access, social norms, and beliefs and attitudes in regards to sanitation behaviors

• Cost is still a significant barrier to individuals having a handwashing station and improved latrine in the household

Administering a survey in Awassa

If you have some time and you’d be interested in reading more in depth about the work I did last summer, the methodologies I used, and a lengthy discussion of these results feel free to check out the full report here!

This evaluation project was important for us because it gives us a base of understanding about the SLGs that we can build on with our current projects!  We have seen firsthand the effectiveness of the SLGs; for the first time women are able to afford their children’s school fees, some women have started small businesses selling cooking supplies or smallstock, and women are able to flourish through the love and support of their SLG.  We believe that by partnering with the local church and working directly with SLGs this will be an effective avenue to introduce water and sanitation services that will benefit not just individuals, but also entire families and communities.  We believe in this model and we are excited to begin expanding the work that we are currently doing with SLGs.