No abstract

Collaborative approaches can overcome fragmentation by fostering consensus and connecting stakeholders who prioritize similar activities. This makes them a promising approach for complex, systemic problems such as lack of reliable, safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in low-income countries. Despite the touted ability of collaborative approaches to align priorities, there remains no comprehensive way to measure and map alignment within a network of actors. Methodological limitations have led to inconsistent guidance on if, and how much, alignment is needed around a common vision (e.g., universal, reliable access to WASH) and/or around an agreed set of activities (e.g. passing a bill to promote water scheme maintenance models). In this work, we first define alignment as the extent to which actors work with others who share priorities. We then develop and test a method that uses social network analysis and qualitative interview data to quantify and visualize alignment within a network. By investigating how alignment of two strong, well-functioning WASH collaborative approaches evolved over three years, we showed that while alignment on a common vision may be a defining aspect of collaborative approaches, some alignment around specific activities is also required. Collaborative approaches that had sub-groups of members that all prioritized the same activities and worked together were able to make significant progress on those activities, such as drafting and passing a county-wide water bill or constructing a controversial fecal sludge disposal site. Despite strong sub-group formation, networks still had an overall tendency for actors to work with actors with different prioritized activities. While this reinforces some existing knowledge about collaborative work, it also clarifies inconsistencies in theory on collaborative approaches, calls into question key aspects of network literature, and expands methodological capabilities.

Decentralization in many African countries makes local governments responsible for water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) service provision. Yet, service provision is complex and requires concerted inputs from many actors, thus, local governments are increasingly collaborating with internal and external stakeholders. These ‘collaborative approaches’, which bring together diverse stakeholders to solve complex problems facing service delivery, have been found to strengthen service provision when they obtain support and commitment from local government decision makers. However, the ways to obtain this commitment remain understudied. This cross-case comparative study investigated how collaborative approaches in Ethiopia and Uganda obtained government commitment for their activities. Results draw upon experiences of 13 cases where sufficient commitment either was or was not gained. Deep case knowledge of the research team, aided by Qualitative Comparative Analysis, revealed that the collaborative must (a) be seen as legitimate and credible, (b) align activities within government mandates, and (c) demonstrate the value of the activities to decision-makers. Together this strategy provides a reliable way for collaborative approaches to secure government commitment for their activities. Notably, the results also show that commitment can be obtained even amidst turnover and political dynamics.