Sector Results and Learning:
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
This Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Sector Results and Learning page is a repository of evidence generated by all MCC-funded WASH interventions. To promote learning and inform future program design, this page captures monitoring data from key common indicators, showcases recent and relevant evaluations, includes all agency lessons from completed WASH evaluations to-date, and links to learning that has been aggregated across completed evaluations in the sector.
What Do We Invest In?
MCC has funded $1.2 billion in WASH interventions as of March 2023. These interventions fall into the following categories: water infrastructure; sanitation and/or wastewater infrastructure; hygiene and other training; and drainage infrastructure; and are often complemented by investments in policy and institutional reform.
Water Infrastructure
These programs address inadequacies in water supply, quality, or access by investing in water, sanitation, or wastewater infrastructure, and supporting utility strengthening.
Sanitation and/or Wastewater Infrastructure
These programs address inadequate access to sanitation by investing in sanitation and/or wastewater infrastructure and supporting water utility strengthening.
Hygiene & Other Training
These programs complement infrastructure investments and aim to improve hygiene and sanitary practices around water collection, storage, and use and the safe disposal of waste.
Drainage Infrastructure
These programs address excessive economic loss caused by flooding by building water drainage infrastructure.
What Have We Completed So Far?
MCC and its country partners develop and tailor Monitoring and Evaluation Plans for each program and country context. Within these country-specific plans, MCC uses common indicators to standardize measurement and reporting within certain sectors. See below for a subset of common indicators that summarize implementation achievements across all MCC WASH investments as of March 2023.
73,116
individuals trained in social and behavior change
32,831
sanitation facilities constructed
1,661
kilometers of water pipelines constructed or replaced
220
millions of liters per day of water production capacity added
What Have We Achieved?
MCC commissions independent evaluations, conducted by third-party evaluators, for every project it funds. These evaluations hold MCC and country partners accountable for the achievement of intended results and also produce evidence and learning to inform future programming. They investigate the quality of project implementation, the achievement of the project objective and other targeted outcomes, and the cost-effectiveness of the project. The graphs below summarize the composition and status of MCC’s independent evaluations in the WASH sector as of February 2023. Read on to see highlights of published interim and final evaluations. Follow the evaluation links to see the status of all planned, ongoing, and completed evaluations in the sector and to access the reports, summaries, survey materials, and data sets.
Go to our List of Evaluations to see the status of MCC’s WASH sector evaluations
Highlighted Evaluations

February 10, 2023 | Liberia Compact
Improving water supply to the water utility in Liberia
The pipeline underperformed as the utility struggled to deliver water
- Evaluation Type:
- Evaluation Status: Final
MCC’s $238 million Liberia Compact (2016-2021) funded the $18 million Water Pipeline Sub-Activity, which was part of the Energy Project, to construct a raw water transmission pipeline to upgrade and replace the pre-war pipeline infrastructure. The sub-activity was based on the theory that the pipeline’s larger capacity, upstream inlet location, and gravity-fed design would increase the supply of raw water, protect against salt-water intrusion, and reduce electricity costs for the water utility. This would help meet the growing demand for water in Monrovia and improve the quality and consistency of water supplied to the utility’s service areas.
Read Evaluation Details or the Evaluation Brief

March 17, 2022 | Sierra Leone Threshold Program
Reforming the water sector in Sierra Leone
Water utility’s capacity increased, but financial performance is low
- Evaluation Type:
- Evaluation Status: Interim
MCC’s $40.5 million Sierra Leone Threshold Program (2016–2021) focused on establishing a foundation for the effective and financially viable provision of electricity and water services in Freetown. The $13.6 million Water Sector Reform Project (WSRP) aimed to improve sector coordination, strengthen commercial practices and enhance the Guma Valley Water Company’s (Guma) service provision. The $7.6 million Regulatory Strengthening Project (RSP) aimed to build the capacity of the new regulator, improve sector governance and support the long-term financial sustainability of the water sector.
Read Evaluation Details or the Evaluation Brief

July 28, 2020 | Zambia Compact
Improving Peri-Urban Water Access in Lusaka, Zambia
Water access improves in peri-urban area of Lusaka but remains uneven
- Evaluation Type:
- Evaluation Status: Final
MCC’s $355 million Zambia Compact (2013–2018) supported private sector engagement in the water supply sector through the $6 million Innovation Grant Program. As a program grantee, MECB implemented the Smart Safe Water Supply Scheme Scaling-Up project, which aimed to save women’s time and reduce incidence of waterborne diseases for the target population by providing a reliable source of high-quality water.
Read Evaluation Details or the Evaluation Brief

May 16, 2019 | Tanzania Compact
Improving Water Supply in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Infrastructure investments improved reliability and quality of piped water
- Evaluation Type:
- Evaluation Status: Final
MCC’s $695 million Tanzania Compact (2008-2013) funded the $39.9 million Lower Ruvu Plant Expansion Activity in Dar es Salaam, which was part of the $54.6 million Water Sector Project (WSP). The objective of the project was to increase investment in human and physical capital and reduce prevalence of water-related diseases. The activity aimed to increase production and quality of water in Dar es Salaam by rehabilitating the Lower Ruvu (LR) Water Treatment Plant (WTP). The activity increased water production by 50% with the plant producing 270 million liters per day (MLD).
Read Evaluation Details or the Evaluation Brief
Go to our Evaluation Brief page to see all completed WASH sector evaluations
What Have We Learned from Our Results?
To link the evidence from the independent evaluations with MCC practice, project staff produce an MCC Learning document at the close of each interim and final evaluation to capture practical lessons for programming and evaluation. Use the filters below to find lessons relevant to your evidence needs.
How Have We Aggregated Learning Across the Sector?
MCC has developed a Principles into Practice paper using evidence from completed independent evaluations in the WASH sector – Principles into Practice: Lessons from Evaluations of MCC Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Programs. The Principles into Practice series offers a frank look at what it takes to make the principles MCC considers essential for development operational in the projects in which MCC invests. The learning captured in this paper informs MCC’s ongoing efforts to refine and strengthen its own model and development practice in the WASH sector. MCC hopes this paper will also allow others to benefit from, and build upon, MCC’s lessons.