Case Study: Site Selection

mWater users are well acquainted with the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) functionality afforded by the mWater app-platform combination, but are often less familiar with mWater applications that extend beyond the realm of M&E. One early adopter of mWater, the Ugandan Water Project (UWP), has found success using mWater to fill a diverse array of organizational needs. mWater permeates UWP’s entire workflow, with applications spanning from community needs assessments to M&E to donor communications. Beyond M&E, mWater’s software is utilized to conduct UWP’s fundraising operations, reporting, and indirect community training. One critical UWP process facilitated by mWater is site selection. This process, which occurs prior to every UWP installation, involves data collection using the mWater App and data processing using the mWater Portal.

Pre-Site Assessment Survey

Before selecting a site for project installation, UWP first conducts a Pre-Site Assessment. This assessment, which is completed on-site using an mWater survey, allows UWP to capture essential site information, including identifying details, site measurements, and photos. In addition to these functions, UWP uses its Pre-Site Assessment to evaluate a community’s level of need. Enumerators collect data on several indicators, including current water source type, wait time, source reliability, distance from the source,  community population, and current surrounding facilities. UWP has created an automatically calculated scoring system to select the sites to prioritize for our installations.