Final report on action research to strengthen monitoring, infrastructure management and planning in rural water, Ethiopia

Betelhem Gebeyehu believes that the greatest barrier to sustainable and resilient public services is not technology but the gap between what institutions are expected to deliver and the systems they rely on to achieve it.

Betelhem has spent her career understanding why some public services continue improving long after projects end while others struggle to sustain progress. Her conclusion is clear: lasting change depends on whether governments have the evidence, leadership, and institutional capacity to keep learning, adapting, and making better decisions over time.

That belief has shaped her work across Ethiopia, helping local governments and development partners strengthen the systems that sustain services rather than focusing only on infrastructure. She works across the full programme cycle, from design and implementation to monitoring, evaluation, and organisational learning, giving her insight into how technical decisions, institutional incentives, and public policy interact and influence one another. Whether advising decision makers, supporting independent evaluations, or designing approaches to improve service sustainability, she looks beyond immediate outputs to ask what enables institutions to adapt and endure.

She holds an MSc in Environmental Sciences (Water Systems and Global Change) from Wageningen University and Research and a BSc in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Addis Ababa University.

Highlights

• More than nine years' experience in systems research, monitoring, evaluation and governance across Ethiopia.
• Experience in strengthening public institutions through evidence-based planning, performance assessment and organisational learning.
• Published author on rural water service sustainability, governance, systems thinking and market-based sanitation.
• Completed Netherlands Water Partnership, Young Expert Program (YEP), YEP Water, working with IRC WASH as learning/ research advisor. 
• Working languages: Fluent in English and Amharic.

Lemessa Mekonta began his career in groundwater development for human uses, which involves mapping groundwater occurrence and dynamics – learning to read what lies beneath the surface, and how it behaves. That instinct for going deeper than what is immediately visible has stayed with him. For two and half decades, it has shaped how he reads institutions and systems and discovers what’s holding them back. 

He works with governments and institutions across Ethiopia to build the planning, financing and operational systems that make essential services reliable over time – from developing district-wide master plans with local governments to strengthening town water utilities to withstand the pressures of a changing climate. His expertise spans urban and rural, formal utility and household self-supply, highland and pastoral lowland. He brings the same discipline to each: understand the whole system before designing any part of it.  

What makes Lemessa rare is a trajectory that most advisers lack. He started his career inside Ethiopia's government – as a geologist/hydrogeologist for Oromia's Water, Mineral and Energy Bureau, from junior to senior positions including as a department head for Water Resources management; while with government, Lemessa was also a board chair for a town water utility for five years. He then built and ran his own consultancy for seven years before joining Riva. He has worked inside every part of the system he now helps to reform, and understands what each sector needs, how each thinks, and where they fail to connect. He leads the national Agenda for Change coalition in Ethiopia – convening a collaboration of more than a dozen organizations, involving government, INGOs, multilateral and bilateral organizations around a shared approach to systems strengthening. He holds an MSc in Hydrogeology from Addis Ababa University, and a postgraduate certificate in Engineering geology and hydrogeology from the University of Tübingen, Germany; and he is based in Addis Ababa.  

A few highlights  

• 25 years of systems leadership across Ethiopia's water sector – spanning government, private consultancy and the NGO sector  
• Water resource development including mapping and construction with focus on groundwater for different uses 
• Research on Rural water supply operation and maintenance, including governance, supply chains and finance 
• Lead, Agenda for Change Ethiopia collaboration – convening 13 plus organisations including government and development partners around a shared systems strengthening approach 
• Co-chair national WASH finance working group 
• District-wide master planning with local governments, translating long-term visions for water and sanitation into life cycle costed, implementable roadmaps  
• Urban water utility strengthening– building the governance, financing and operational capacity that makes town utilities viable  
• Research on household self-supply and multiple use water services (MUS) as complements to formal systems – including published work on multiple-use water services in Ethiopia  
• MSc in Hydrogeology from Addis Ababa University, and postgraduate certificate in Engineering geology and hydrogeology from the University of Tübingen 
• Working languages: Afan Oromo, Amharic and English 

Gezahegn Lemecha is a water and sanitation and Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) systems specialist with more than 30 years of experience supporting governments and development partners to improve how public services are planned, governed, financed, and delivered. He believes that lasting development is achieved not through isolated projects, but by building capable institutions, fostering meaningful partnerships, and creating systems that continue to serve people long after projects have ended.

His career spans government, public enterprises, international NGOs, multilateral organisations, and the private sector, where he has worked as a client, contractor, consultant, and programme leader. This wide experience gives him a nuanced understanding of the priorities and constraints that shape decision-making across institutions. He is skilled at bridging the gap between policy and implementation, working closely with different stakeholders to build partnerships, facilitate dialogue, and support evidence-informed action.

Gezahegn's expertise includes water, sanitation and hygiene systems (WASH) strengthening, programme leadership, IWRM, institutional development, water governance, groundwater resources development, programme evaluation, action research, and knowledge management. In his current role as Programme Manager at Riva, he provides strategic direction for programmes that strengthen rural and urban water and sanitation systems through institutional capacity development, programme evaluation, partnership management, and sector learning. His work has contributed to policy dialogue, organisational improvement, and the generation of practical evidence that informs sector reforms and supports the scaling of effective approaches.

Earlier in his career, Gezahegn led large-scale groundwater exploration and water supply engineering programmes, managed regional water supply and water resources management operations, and guided multidisciplinary teams responsible for infrastructure development, utility governance, and public sector reform. This combination of technical and leadership experience allows him to connect engineering solutions with institutional and policy change.

Gezahegn is passionate about helping organisations learn, adapt, and improve. He values collaborative leadership, continuous learning, and locally led development, believing that the most effective solutions emerge when governments, communities, development partners, and the private sector work together towards shared goals. His work is guided by a commitment to strengthening public systems that improve people's lives and build resilience for future generations.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Geology and a Master of Science in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), both from Addis Ababa University. He is fluent in English, Amharic, and Afan Oromo.

Career highlights

• Supported the development and implementation of district-wide WASH master plans, resource mobilization strategies, expenditure tracking, asset management systems, and urban utility strengthening initiatives to improve service sustainability and institutional performance.
• Contributed to the development of Ethiopia's Guidelines for Strengthening Woreda-Wide WASH Systems, led the preparation of the policy brief Improving Rural Water Supply Financing in Ethiopia, and contributed to the policy brief on Climate Resilient WASH: Working Across SDG 6, supporting evidence-informed policy and sector reform.
• Was Deputy Bureau Head of the Oromia Water, Mineral and Energy Bureau, chaired the Regional One WASH Technical Coordination Platform, the Regional WASH Cluster, and was a director of the Boards of Directors of the Adama and Bishoftu Water Supply and Sewerage Utilities.

A researcher at heart, Marieke loves working with local and national governments, non-governmental organisations, private sector and academic institutions on identifying and addressing challenges related to the provision of public services, especially water supply and sanitation. The practical application and use of research findings, information and data is central to Marieke’s work. She has supported local governments and their partners in Ghana, Ethiopia and Rwanda, in using data to develop and implement robust master plans. Based on these experiences, and those of others, she developed a comprehensive resources base on district WASH master planning, including a Systems Academy course, which has been accessed and applied by various stakeholders. Districts and municipalities in Ghana, Ethiopia, and beyond now have and implement such plans, to ensure water and sanitation for all.

Over the years, she has played an active role in informing, facilitating and stimulating sector debate both at national and global levels. This has included the establishment of Ghana’s National Level Leaning Alliance Platform, and facilitation of the Thematic Group on Sustainable Services of the rural Water Supply Network (RWSN). In addition, she has co-authored several papers bringing together global experiences, lessons and insights on issues like small town water supply, utilitisation of rural water supply, and regulation of water and sanitation services. She has also been instrumental in developing and applying monitoring and evaluation frameworks for systems-strengthening projects and programmes, as well as strengthening sectoral monitoring systems. 

Her PhD, completed at Erasmus University Rotterdam in 2026, examined the political, cultural, and institutional factors that determine whether monitoring data shape decisions and accountability. This combination of academic and practical insights sets Marieke apart and enables her to contribute to systems strengthening, transition and change processes that ensure the provision of sustainable public services for all. 

 Some highlights

• Years and geography: Over 23 years of experience in a great variety of countries, including Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Peru, Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe.
• Types of clients/partners: The Blue Deal Office, FCDO, USAID, UNICEF, DGIS, CNHF, Osprey Foundation, BMGF, VEI  
• Flagship assignments: Managed the 1 million USD monitoring and learning part of the ONEWASH Plus project in 8 small towns in Ethiopia (2014-2020). Developed and manages a facility which provides (local) governments and its partners with access to case examples, tools, and resources for developing and implementing district master plans (2020-ongoing). Led strategic monitoring of FCDO’s WASH Systems for Health Project in six countries (2024-2026).  
• Global/institutional roles: Has (co-)authored many peer-reviewed publications, including on monitoring and data use, ‘utilitisation’ of rural water supply, and regulation. Published her PhD dissertation on the use of monitoring data in early 2026. 
• Languages:  Dutch (mother tongue), English (fluent), French (intermediate), Spanish (basic)