The action research was further structured around a jointly developed MUS conceptual framework of ‘principles’ that team members assumed to hold the key to implementing MUS in communities and scaling it up at intermediate and national levels. The leading principle is that livelihoods act as the main driver for water services. Equitable availability and access to water is determined by a range of water resources, appropriate technologies, adequate financing mechanisms and fair institutions to manage communal systems. MUS models The project identified, field-tested and analyzed two models: homestead-scale and community-scale MUS. Homestead-scale MUS promotes household use of water for domestic and productive purposes to improve health, alleviate domestic burdens, and improve food security and income.