Civic Champions Hybrid (2018-19) Cost-Efficiency Analysis

WaterSHED conducted a cost-efficiency analysis of the 2018-2019 Hybrid iteration of the Civic Champions program. The Hybrid program facilitated the installation of new household pour-flush latrines, which contribute to the establishment of open defecation free communities. [1]

Comparing program efficiency across the seven target provinces of Civic Champions, the study suggests that the systems-strengthening approach promoted by WaterSHED and embodied in the Civic Champions ‘Hybrid’ program iteration is extremely cost-efficient within the rural Cambodian context.

This study found that, by effectively integrating and empowering key Cambodian stakeholders responsible for sanitation (i.e., sub-national and local government and households themselves) in the implementation of sanitation improvements, the program was able to reduce external development program implementation costs and achieve a considerable government contribution and household leverage ratio. The results also show that the efficiency of the program can be attributed in part to prior WaterSHED investments in developing the local sanitation market, supported by the wide array of development actors who also work or worked in the same provinces.

It is recommended that, if the program remains similar in implementation, it should be considered for scaling to other provinces and districts.

The report also states that more work should be done to understand the program’s relationship with and dependency on previous iterations or other programs as well as the degree to which latrines installed in the program’s target areas can be legitimately attributed to the program itself.

Cambodia, civic champions, sanitation, sanitation market