Back to the lesson·Lesson 8 of 8·What the monitoring did not see
Eleven numbers and six denominators
The same deck as the downloads, rendered as a page. Start the slideshow to present it full screen — arrow keys or a click advance one slide, Escape leaves.
What this lesson covers
- Count the denominators before writing anything
- The report
- Four rules the layout has to obey
- What each number is for
- What this course did not cover
- What comes next
Speaker notes
Everything this course computed, on one page, with the table that says which figures may be compared with which. Six different denominators across eleven indicators, and no layout will warn a reader about that on its own.Count the denominators before writing anything
Indicator Denominator n At least basic drinking water All households 2,403 At least basic sanitation All households 2,403 Basic hygiene service All households 2,403 Open defecation All households 2,403 Below 15 L/person/day All households 2,403 Round trip over 30 minutes All households 2,403 E. coli risk class Households tested 802 Chlorine at the household Households tested 961 …
Speaker notes
The course has produced eleven indicators. They come from two files, and they run on six different denominators.Count the denominators before writing anything
- Six denominators, and only the first six rows share one — Every horizontal comparison across a boundary in that table…
Speaker notes
Six denominators, and only the first six rows share one. Every horizontal comparison across a boundary in that table needs a sentence, and every one made without a sentence will be made wrongly.Count the denominators before writing anything — In Python
import pandas as pd denominators = pd.DataFrame({ "indicator": ["basic water", "basic sanitation", "basic hygiene", "E. coli safe", "point functionality", "reliable points"], "denominator": ["households", "households", "households", "households tested", "visits made", "water points"], "n": [2403, 2403, 2403, 802, 2629, 242], }) print(denominators)Count the denominators before writing anything — In R
# Build this table first, in code, and print it above the results.Count the denominators before writing anything
- Write it as data, not as prose — A denominator table generated by the same script that computed the numbers cannot…
Speaker notes
Write it as data, not as prose. A denominator table generated by the same script that computed the numbers cannot drift from them; a paragraph describing the denominators can and will.The report — Example (cont.)
WASH situation, three districts, 2024 ACCESS n = 2,403 households At least basic drinking water 56.3% (82.3% on an improved source; 25.0 points sit on limited service for collection time alone) At least basic sanitation 43.2% (62.0% have an improved facility; 18.8 points are shared) Basic hygiene service 34.1% (67.8% have a facility; soap observed at half) Open defecation 13.3% Safely managed not computable: availability was not asked and quality was tested on a subsample.The report — Example (cont.)
QUANTITY AND TIME n = 2,403 households Median 23.7 L/person/day Below Sphere minimum of 15 L 13.4% 323 households Round trip over 30 minutes 39.3% 944 households Queue time not separated from walking time. Distance not recorded. WATER QUALITY n = 802 tested (33.4%) Free from E. coli 53.6% High risk (>100 CFU/100 mL) 7.5% Improved sources 61.1% safe n = 625 Unimproved and surface 27.1% safe n = 177 Tested subsample over-represents untreated water: 533 households reporting home treatment have no chlorine reading.The report — Example (cont.)
WATER POINT FUNCTIONALITY 242 points, 2,904 visits due Visits finding a working point 74.4% 2,629 visits made (90.5%) Points working at every visit 33.9% 82 of 242 Population-weighted 83.3% ~96,700 users Range if every missed visit found a failure: 67.4% - 74.4% Failure shapes: 82 never failed, 80 intermittent, 46 seasonal, 34 down at year end. Seasonality is confined to protected wells and springs. Median days down at the visit: 68 under community committees, 29 under private operators. NOT COMPARABLE Water quality figures are on a tested subsample and do not share the access denominator. Functionality figures count visits, points and people and are three different quantities. Districts are not ranked: Nord-Ouest visitedFour rules the layout has to obey
- Group by denominator, not by theme — The block headings above are denominators wearing topic names
- Put n in the heading, not the footnote — A footnote is read after the comparison has already been made
- State what is not computable — Safely managed drinking water, queue time and distance are all absent, and each is…
- Put the non-comparability in its own block at the end — Not as a caveat under each number, where it becomes noise, and…
Speaker notes
Group by denominator, not by theme. The block headings above are denominators wearing topic names. A reader who takes one number from each block has taken four numbers with four bases, and the blank line between blocks is what tells them so. Put n in the heading, not the footnote. A footnote is read after the comparison has already been made. State what is not computable. Safely managed drinking water, queue time and distance are all absent, and each is something a reader will assume is in a WASH report. An absent indicator that is not named reads as an indicator at zero or as an oversight. Put the non-comparability in its own block at the end. Not as a caveat under each number, where it becomes noise, and not in a methods annex, where it is not read.What each number is for
Finding Decision it informs 25 points on limited water for collection time Where to site new points 18.8 points on shared sanitation Whether the programme is building or subsidising Soap at half the facilities that exist Hygiene promotion against hardware 46 seasonal points Dry-season alternative, not rehabilitation 34 down at year end Spare parts and management, not new construction 68 days median downtime under committees The maintenance model itself Nord-Ouest at 82.7% coverage The monitoring plan before the next report Speaker notes
A report that only classifies is an assessment. A report that also says what to do is a deliverable, and the WASH figures divide cleanly by the decision they inform.What each number is for
- The last row is the one most reports omit and the one most likely to change next year's numbers — A monitoring system…
Speaker notes
The last row is the one most reports omit and the one most likely to change next year's numbers. A monitoring system that cannot reach a district in the rains produces a report that cannot describe it, and fixing that is cheaper than any of the others on the list.What this course did not cover
- Menstrual hygiene management needs questions this survey does not ask — private space, materials, disposal — and…
- School and healthcare facility WASH are separate instruments with their own ladders, and the household ladder does…
- Faecal sludge management is the second half of safely managed sanitation and needs a containment and emptying…
- Cost per beneficiary and tariff analysis need financial records; the
fee_collectedfield says whether a fee was… - A report that names its gaps is more credible than one that appears complete — and a gap named is the first line of the…
Speaker notes
Named plainly, because a WASH analyst will be asked for all of them. A report that names its gaps is more credible than one that appears complete, and a gap named is the first line of the next terms of reference.What comes next
- Module 4 continues in other sectors — food security and the IPC, protection case management, education attendance — and each brings the same three questions in new vocabulary.
Speaker notes
Module 4 continues in other sectors — food security and the IPC, protection case management, education attendance — and each brings the same three questions in new vocabulary. You have now met them three times: what did I count, over what, and what should change because of it.