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Direct support is structured support to service providers and users or user groups related to the operation and management of water, sanitation and hygiene services.
Direct support is always related to a particular project, programme or geographical area. [[Expenditure Indirect Support (ExpIDS)|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''' <br>
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 five main types of arrangements.
The smallest cost component is field activities or work with an average around US$ 0.01 per capita per year (Nyarko, 2012). This cost is mainly expenditure on fuel, lubricants, field gadgets and allowance for officers. Districts from the Volta region (VR) have high field activities cost compared to the rest mainly due to high allowance and frequency of visits. Moreover, cost of field activities which covers monitoring and evaluation of WASH facilities, management systems and user groups is the smallest direct cost component from the study.
===Key documents===
* Kayser, G. et al., 2010. Assessing the Impact of Post-Construction Support—The Circuit Rider Model—on System Performance and Sustainability in Community-Managed Water Supply: Evidence from El Salvador. In: Smits, S. et al. (eds.), 2010. Proceedings of an international symposium. Kampala, 13-15 April 2010. The Hague: Thematic Group on Scaling Up Rural Water Services.
:Information sheet provides an overview of the minimum benchmarks for costing sustainable basic services in developing countries. The benchmarks have been derived from the WASHCost project dataset and the best available cost data from other organisations all over the world. The benchmarks are useful for planning, assessing sustainability from a cost perspective and for monitoring value for money.
:* WASHCost, (2012). [http://www.washcostircwash.infoorg/pageresources/2386 providing-basic-level-water-and-sanitation-services-last-cost-benchmarks Providing a basic level of water and sanitation services that last: cost benchmarks], information sheet 1. IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. [accessed on 3 December 2012]
* Lockwood, H., 2002. Institutional Support Mechanisms for Community-managed Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Systems in Latin America. (Strategic Report 6) WA DC: EHP-Environmental Health Project of the USAID.
* Nyarko, K.B. et al., 2011. [http://www.washcostircwash.infoorg/pageresources/2700 life-cycle-costs-approach-wash-services-last-life-cycle-costs-ghana-ideal-direct-support Ideal direct support costs for WASH Services]. (Life-cycle costs in Ghana Briefing Note 12). Accra: WASHCost Ghana.
* Nyarko, K.B. et al., 2011. [http://www.washcostircwash.infoorg/pageresources/1441 life-cycle-costs-approach-wash-services-last-life-cycle-costs-ghana-post-construction Post-construction costs of water point-systems]. (Life-cycle costs in Ghana Briefing Note 2). Accra: WASHCost Ghana.
:This working paper analyses existing literature on primary cost data from seven countries of providing direct and indirect support to rural water service provision. It provides an overview of the features such support entails, how those features can be organised, what they cost and how they can be financed. It also provides recommendations to countries for strengthening support.
* Smits S., Verhoeven J., Moriarty P., Fonseca F. and Lockwood H., 2011. [http://www.washcostircwash.infoorg/pageresources/1567 Arrangements arrangements-and -cost of -providing -support to -rural -water -service -providers]. WASHCost/Triple-S Working Paper 5. IRC, International Water and Sanitation Centre, November 2011. [Accessed 21 December 2012] * Smits S., Verhoeven J., Moriarty P., Fonseca F. and Lockwood H., 2011. [http://www.washcost.info/page/1567 Arrangements and cost of providing support to rural water service providers]. WASHCost/Triple-S Working Paper 5. IRC, International Water and Sanitation Centre, November 2011. [Accessed 21 December 2012]
* Smits, S., 2012. Direct support Post-Construction to Rural Water Service Providers. Triple-S Briefing note 6. IRC, International Water and Sanitation Centre. Available: [http://www.waterservicesthatlast.org/Resources/Building-blocks/Direct-support-to-service-providers Direct support to service providers] [Accessed 21 December 2012]
* Whittington, D. et al., 2009. How well is the demand-driven, community management model for rural water supply systems doing? Evidence from Bolivia, Peru and Ghana. Water Policy 11(6), pp. 696–718.
* Júlia Zita, Arjen Naafs, 2011. Cost of PEC-Zonal Activities in Mozambique, [http://www.washcostircwash.infoorg/pageresources/1804 cost-pec-zonal-activities-mozambique Analysis of contract costs from 2008 up to 2011], Briefing Note Moz. D 01. [Accessed 21 December 2012]
===Links===
<div id="WASHCost">'''WASHCost'''</div>
* WASHCost was a five-year action research programme, running from 2008 to 2012. The WASHCost team gathered information related to the costs of providing water, sanitation, and hygiene services for an entire life-cycle of a service - from implementation all the way to post-construction. The WASHCost programme was led by IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre with several partners to collect data in the rural and peri-urban areas of Burkina Faso, Ghana, India, and Mozambique. For more information see: [http://www.ircwash.org/washcost.info WASHCost]
* The Costing Sustainable Services online course was developed to assist governments, NGOs, donors and individuals to plan and budget for sustainable and equitable WASH services, using a life-cycle cost approach. The Life-cycle cost approach is a methodology for costing sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene service delivery and comparing the costs to the level of service received by users. For more information see: [http://www.washcostircwash.infoorg/pagenode/2448 22800 WASHCost Online Training]
* WASHCost data sets provide access to the validated life-cycle cost and service level information collected in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Andhra Pradesh (India), and Mozambique between 2009 2010. The data has been collated from a number of sources including infrastructure surveys, detailed household surveys and range of specific research undertaken with stakeholders in each country. The data sets are available at [http://www.washcostircwash.infoorg/pagenews/2716 washcost.info/page/2716datasets-now-available-wash-expenditure-and-service-levels-four-countries-2009-2010 here]
* Triple-S (Sustainable Services at Scale) is a six-year, multi-country learning initiative to improve water supply to the rural poor. It is led by IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. The initiative is currently operating in Ghana and Uganda. Lessons learned from work in countries feeds up to the international level where Triple-S is promoting a re-appraisal of how development assistance to the rural water supply sector is designed and implemented. For more information see: [http://www.waterservicesthatlast.org/ Water Services That Last]