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" Understanding the Complexities of Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Systems through Local Stakeholder Perspectives "
Valcourt, Nicholas Routhier
Javernick-Will, Amy
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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1052748
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| Doc. No
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TL51865
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| Main Entry
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Valcourt, Nicholas Routhier
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| Title & Author
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Understanding the Complexities of Water, Sanitation Hygiene Systems through Local Stakeholder Perspectives\ Valcourt, Nicholas RouthierJavernick-Will, Amy
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| College
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University of Colorado at Boulder
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| Date
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2019
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| student score
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2019
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| Note
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262 p.
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| Abstract
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In this thesis I present theoretical and practical contributions to the rapidly emerging field of systems approaches within the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector. To begin, I present findings from a wide-ranging systematic literature review of the methods, scope and application of relevant tools and approaches for WASH system (Ch 2). Through a structured systems literature search I identified 110 relevant studies and present findings that highlight the highly dispersed nature of the field with a wide application of methods across geographic and programmatic applications. Building on a knowledge gap identified in the literature review, I then evaluated the efficacy of a novel, low-resource Group Model Building (GMB) activity for engaging local stakeholders in systems thinking exercises by comparing Causal Loop Diagrams (CLDs) developed from outputs of the workshop to those from CLDs developed from interviews conducted before the workshop using a Purposive Text Analysis method (Ch 3). Results from the analysis showed that, although the workshop format bounded the number of factors in the CLD, the group setting helped participants consider critical feedback effects that were not identified in pre-workshop interviews, and align their individual mental models into a collective shared understanding of the local system. Results showed that the alignment of factors, causal links and feedback loops identified by participants dramatically improved when individuals were convened in a group setting. This work demonstrated how GMB approaches can produce higher quality models than can be obtained by eliciting individual mental models in isolation. I then used data from the GMB activities focused on rural water services to systematically and quantitatively evaluate the roles that different factors play in influencing the service sustainability (Ch 4). Drawing on four case studies from Uganda and Ethiopia, results showed that local stakeholders tend to identify a common set of factors necessary for sustaining services but, there are few consistent trends in the relative influences of these factors to drive system outcomes across the four contexts. These findings highlighted the importance of a complex systems view of WASH services as well as the importance of context and incorporating the perspectives of local stakeholders. The thesis concludes with a discussion of theoretical and practical contributions and reflections on the direction of future research (Ch 5).
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| Descriptor
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Civil engineering
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Environmental engineering
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Javernick-Will, Amy
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University of Colorado at Boulder
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