Ladders for assessing and costing water service delivery

Patrick MoriartyCopyright © 2011 IRC International Water and Sanitation CentreThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons license.WASHCost is a five-year initiative focused on exploring and sharing an improved understanding of the true costs of sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services. Since 2008, WASHCost has developed new methodologies to better understand and use the life-cycle costs of providing water, sanitation and hygiene services to rural and peri-urban communities in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mozambique and India (Andhra Pradesh). The objectives of col-lecting and disaggregating cost data over the full life-cycle of WASH services are to be able to analyse costs per infrastructure and by service level, and to better understand the cost drivers and through this understanding to enable more cost effective and equitable service delivery (see www.washcost.info).