Rethinking Sustainability, Scaling Up, and Enabling Environment: A Framework for Their Implementation in Drinking Water Supply

Abstract

The terms sustainability, scaling up, and enabling environment are inconsistently used in implementing water supply projects. To clarify these terms we develop a framework based on Normalization Process Theory, and apply the framework to a hypothetical water supply project in schools. The resulting framework provides guidance on how these terms could be implemented and analyzed in water supply projects. We conclude that effective use of the terms sustainability, scaling up, and enabling environment would focus on purpose, process, and perspective. This is the first known attempt to analyze the implementation of the three terms together in the context of water supply services.