Operationalizing Life Cycle Thinking through Social Return on Investment (SROI): A WASH Case Study in Asia

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Poster Number:  24 

Main Presenter:    YouXuan Xiao 

Co-Authors:                                                  

Access to safe drinking water and hygiene continues to shape child health outcomes in rural and flood-prone areas, where seasonal contamination and limited treatment options are common. This study examines a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) intervention implemented in Vietnam’s Thanh Hoa Province between October 2023 and September 2024. The intervention combined the installation of RO drinking water systems in seven kindergartens, construction of community wells, household water treatment and safe storage training, and hygiene education for teachers and young children.

A life cycle thinking perspective is adopted to frame the intervention from infrastructure provision to one-year use-phase outcomes, while Social Return on Investment (SROI) is applied as the primary analytical method to assess and monetize downstream social and health benefits. The analysis draws on project administrative data, beneficiary population coverage, and conservative secondary proxies related to health risk reduction and time savings.

The intervention benefited over 1,000 children aged 0–5 and more than 1,200 adult caregivers by improving access to safe drinking water, reducing reliance on unsafe seasonal sources, and alleviating water collection burdens. The findings illustrate how SROI can operationalize life cycle thinking to support sustainability-related decision-making for WASH infrastructure in data-constrained contexts.

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