Difference between revisions of "Expenditure Direct Support (ExpDS)"
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Revision as of 05:28, 12 January 2013
Direct support is structured support to service providers and users or user groups related to the operation and management of a water, sanitation and hygiene services. Expenditure on direct support is the costs of providing such support. Direct support includes the following types of activities:
- performance monitoring
- technical advice and information
- administrative support (e.g. help with tariff setting)
- organisational support (e.g. to achieve legal status)
- conflict resolution
- identifying capital maintenance needs (including advice on financing)
- training and refresher courses.
The costs of support before and during the construction of a water or sanitation system are not included. They are considered to be capital expenditure software. Most community-based water service providers seek and receive some degree of direct support (Whittington et al., 2009), though often in an ad hoc manner, typically when they encounter a problem.
Direct support is often used synonymously with institutional support, post-construction support and follow-up support.
Difference between direct and indirect support
Direct support is always related to a particular project, programme or geographical area. Expenditure on indirect support is about creating and regulating the enabling environment for water, sanitation and hygiene services and is not particular to a programme or project.
Examples
Institutional arrangements for direct support
There are different institutional arrangements for the provision of direct support. Which model is most appropriate or cost-effective depends on the country context (Smits, 2012). Table 1 shows the main 5 types of arrangements.
Table 1. Institutional arrangements for direct support
| Direct support by local government | Local government is formally mandated to support external service providers and fulfills the support agent function internally, for example through local government technicians. |
| Local government subcontracting a specialised agency or individuals | Local governments contract an urban utility, a private company or an NGO to provide support. They may also contract individual entrepreneurs, such as handpump mechanics who provide a mix of direct support and operation and maintenance activities. |
| Central government of parastatal agencies | National government provides direct support from a national level, or via deconcentrated offices, or subcontracts a specialised agency to provide support. |
| Association of community-based service providers | Community-based service providers establish an association and then provide support to each other or hire a technician to support members of the association. |
| NGOs | In many cases, support provided by NGOs is ad hoc. Still there are a few examples where NOGs still have specific, direct support programmes. |
