Expenditure Direct Support (ExpDS)

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.