How to Leave: 6 Lessons From FSMA's Closure

One overlooked but profound lesson that I learnt from the recent albeit sad exit of FSMA from the WASH sector is "How to strategically close down!". Here is what I could deduce, some lessons for projects follow:?

How FSMA closed down

FSMA had about one year to close down due to changes in the funding landscape and used this time to do the following 5 important things that with lessons that others can learn from:

1. Ensured that all the knowledge resources that they had built up were archived in a freely hosted website: Link.? This includes all of our resources, webinars, and past conference materials. This will make sure that this information is available to sanitation professionals long after.
2. Harmonized all their video resources and uploaded them to one YouTube channel. These resources include FSM6 Conference videos, Pit-emtying challenges, Spotlights series and more.?Here is the link to the channel Link. This means that no resource was left behind.
3. Did a series of webinars to reflect on their journey in the sector with the wider public.
4. Transferred their Toolbox?to Athena Infonomics, who they had partnered previously and established a contact person in case of questions after they are gone.
5. Communicated consistently online and via mailing list to all stakeholders throughout the winding down process.

Lessons for projects/initiatives:?

1. Early financial planning helps to know when to leave, budget tor the exit process beforehand.
2. Never let accumulated knowledge flow to the drain when you have free options to archive it.
3. Look for partners willing to pick up from where you leave and engage them in the exit process.
4. Know when and how to leave.
5. Leaving is a process, not an?event. How you leave matters.
6. Communication with all stakeholders is essential.

Kudos to Jennifer L. Williams and team for seeing this process through.?Sandec-Eawag was happy to collaborate with FSMA with Linda Strande as a founding member and in different capacities and continues to contribute to the evidence base for the sector.?

#PREF4WASH #ExitStrategy #WASH #KnowledgeManagement