Davis, A., Javernick-Will, A., and Cook, S. (2018). “Avoiding Failure: The Use of Qualitative Comparative Analysis to Identify Pathways to Successful Sanitation Interventions.” Engineering Project Organization Conference. Brijuni, Croatia, June 25-27, 2018.
In resource-limited communities, up to 70 percent of sanitation systems fail within two years of construction, leading to diminished public and environmental health and heightened economic costs. Previous research has focused on isolated factors that influence success or failure, neglecting to evaluate the effects of multiple factors in combination. In order to reduce failure in sanitation, we need to understand how social, economic, technical, institutional, and organizational factors combine together to lead to success or failure. Combinations of factors that lead to success can guide implementing organizations towards avoiding failure-prone scenarios and promote success by focusing limited resources on strengthening these pathways. We applied qualitative comparative analysis to evaluate the pathways of combined factors that lead to successful and failed sanitation systems. Two pathways led to successful sanitation systems and three pathways led to failed sanitation systems. All successful systems required Sufficient O&M Funds, Organization Sanitation Experience, a Clear O&M Plan, a Skilled Operator, and Ongoing External Support in addition to either Addressed Sanitation Priorities and Organization Embeddedness or Municipality Involved in Planning and Lack of Organization Embeddedness. All failed systems had Lack of Municipality in Planning, No Ongoing Support, Lack of Skilled Operator, and Unaddressed Sanitation Priorities in addition to other conditions including a Previous Failed System, Lack of Organization Sanitation Experience, Insufficient O&M Funds, Lack of Clear O&M Plan, or No Community Participation in Planning. Pathways demonstrate that multiple conditions influence success, thus to reduce failure we need to implement sanitation systems with a holistic perspective. Further, our findings elucidate what social, economic, technical, and institutional conditions must be present in combination with different organizational factors to yield successful outcomes. This research works towards building a comprehensive theory of success and failure in resource-limited communities by viewing sanitation systems, organizations, and their surrounding environments through a systems-theoretic lens.
Davis, A., Javernick-Will, A., and Cook, S. (2018). “Avoiding Failure: The Use of Qualitative Comparative Analysis to Identify Pathways to Successful Sanitation Interventions.” Engineering Project Organization Conference. Brijuni, Croatia, June 25-27, 2018.