Story initiative

The Triple-S story initiative is collecting experiences from many different actors in rural water supply at the international level and in Ghana and Uganda – from water users, engineers, policy makers, donors, NGO staff, community committee members and many others.

We’re analysing these stories using the SenseMaker® software to understand what’s working and what isn’t in rural water supply, where there are gaps and where there are emerging solutions. As results become available, we'll share them with you here.

How can you contribute?

Follow the appropriate link below. You will be asked to describe a concrete experience related to rural water supply – it could be about supplying services, building systems, designing policies, implementing programmes, providing financing. Your experience could be positive or negative. We want to hear it all.

You will then be asked to answer a few questions about your story. No (or very little) writing required on this part.

If you work at an international level, contribute here.

If you work in Ghana or Uganda (even if you work for an international organisation), contribute here.

We are also collecting stories from rural water users in Ghana and Uganda through individual interviews.

What will happen to your story?

We’re using the SenseMaker® software developed by Cognitive Edge to analyse patterns in the stories. This process helps identify overall trends in the sector, answer questions, and chart progress. We'll share the results with you here every six months or so.

Story clusters are also being shared with water professionals in learning meetings. Participants analyse the stories in more depth – looking at the patterns to help prioritise problems and develop ideas for action. In Ghana, for example, analysing stories helped water professionals home in on a key problem area: District Authorities were not clear on their role in ensuring sustainable rural water supplies.

Your submission is anonymous, but if your story is sensitive, you can also choose that it not be shared.

Why SenseMaker®?

We chose SenseMaker® because:

• It provides a way to capture and understand complex, non-linear change processes.
• It values personal experiences and allows us to analyse these statistically based on people’s own signification of their stories. Normally, outside expertise takes a narrative and tags it with words and meaning. But biases creep in. The SenseMaker approach makes outside interpretation of each story unnecessary.
• The common question framework enables us to compare stories and patterns across locations, projects, donors and even countries.

What can the stories tell us about rural water?

Some of the questions we’re using SenseMaker® to answer:

• Is there a shift from a focus on infrastructure to investing in post-construction and general sector support?
• What are the opportunities and barriers for a service delivery approach for different development partners?
• Is there a shift from an uncoordinated approach to harmonised planning and implementation?
• Are users satisfied with their water supply according to different service criteria?
• Do users feel responsible for water supply? And do they trust their water providers?