Professionalized Maintenance for Rural Water Service Provision: Toward a Common Language and Vision

Over the past four years, SWS has focused on better understanding WASH maintenance approaches and the system conditions required to set them in place. To arrive at some consistency around language in the sector, this brief proposes “professionalized maintenance” as a common umbrella term for improved maintenance of rural water services and outlines 10 characteristics of a professionalized service. It concludes with implications for supporting the emergence and growth of such maintenance approaches, including the critical role of decentralized local government and the importance of strengthening regulatory policies and ensuring their application. In addition to SWS partners, contributors include Aguaconsult UK, The Rural Water Supply Network, Uptime Consortium, WaterAid, and the World Bank.