Policy review of the Dutch contribution to drinking water and sanitation – 1990-2011

Tesselaar, R. et al., 2012. From infrastructure to sustainable impact : policy review of the Dutch contribution to drinking water and sanitation (1990-2011). (IOB evaluation ; no. 366). The Hague, The Netherlands, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. 132 p. : 9 fig., 12 tab. 54 ref.
Available at: <http://washurl.net/d6qgwq> [PDF 4.6 MB]

This policy review examines Dutch aid during 1990 to 2011 to improve drinking water and sanitation services in developing countries. The main focus is on the period from 2004 when aid was directed at supporting the Millennium Development Goal of halving the world’s population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.

The review is primarily based on:

• a study of Dutch policy and its execution;
• impact evaluation studies of drinking water and sanitation programmes in Benin, Egypt, Yemen, Mozambique and Tanzania.

Following an introduction, chapter 2 covers the problem analysis and international context. Chapter 3 describes the Dutch policy that lies at the basis of the targets for drinking water and sanitation, the responsibilities, instruments and policy execution, the budgets, monitoring and evaluation and the available information about the realisation of the contribution to the MDG target for drinking water and sanitation. Chapter 4 analyses the impact of the Netherlands-supported programmes and sustainability of results. The final chapter discusses findings that concern policy efficiency.

The main findings were:

• Dutch aid helped millions of people gain access to improved drinking water supply and sanitation
• the substantial increase in the use of improved water sources did not a guarantee the safety of the drinking water or the necessary water consumption
• effects of training and education on the building of toilets and their use and on hygiene was often limited and sanitary facilities were often too expensive for the poor
• improved access to drinking water supply significantly reduced women’s burden and increased their participation in programmes, and gave girls more time for school, but had a limited impact on income
• positive health impacts were generally modest or non-existent
• water supplies benefitted many poor communities but to a lesser extent the poorest segment while sanitation increased mainly in better off villages and households
• capacity of local communities, governments and NGOs for the maintenance of the facilities remained insufficient, there was limited involvement of the private sector, and partial subsidies remain necessary
• costs of communal water supplies and of privately owned toilets made with local materials were low, but benefits were often limited
• internal policy processes still fell short

Arrangements and cost of providing support to rural water service providers

Smits, S. … [et al.] (2011). Arrangements and cost of providing support to rural water service providers. (WASHCost working paper ;  no. 5). The Hague, The Netherlands, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre.  42 p. :  1 fig., 16 tab.  37 ref.
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This joint WASHCost and Triple-S paper is about the costs of providing direct and indirect support to rural water service provision. It provides an overview of the features such support entails, how those features can be organised, what they cost and how they can be financed. It also provides recommendations to countries for strengthening support. The paper is based on a desk review of existing literature from seven countries and an analysis of primary cost data collected by the WASHCost project in Andhra Pradesh (India), Mozambique and Ghana in 2010 and 2011.

Assessing sanitation service levels – 2nd edition

Potter, A.; Klutse, A.; Snehalatha, M.; Batchelor, C.; Uandela, A.; Naafs, A.; Fonseca, C.; Moriarty, P. (2011). Assessing sanitation service levels. (WASHCost working paper; no. 3). 2nd ed. The Hague, The Netherlands, IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. 27 p. : 16 fig. 12 ref.
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Conventional sanitation ladders rank sanitation in increasing complexity of technological options. However, sanitation improvement is not as straightforward as the concept of “a ladder” with incremental improvements, might suggest. For example, from the user perspective, a VIP toilet may in some circumstances be a better option than a septic tank system. There is a wide gap between technologies and service provision, especially when O&M considerations are taken into account. This working paper from IRC’s WASHCost project sets out a common framework to analyse and compare sanitation cost data being collected across different country contexts (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mozambique, India) with different service delivery norms and standards. It represents a fundamental shift away from the focus on capital investment costs, to the costs of sustainable sanitation services.

Financing on-site sanitation for the poor

Tremolet, S. (2010). Financing on-site sanitation for the poor : a six country comparative review and analysis. (Technical paper / WSP). Washington, DC, USA, Water and Sanitation Program. xiii, 154 p. : 3 boxes, 8 fig., 15 tab. Bibliography: p. 153-154
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Abstract

This study aims to improve understanding of the finance of on-site household sanitation through careful analysis of practical field experience in a wide range of projects.

The study reviews on-site sanitation financing in six carefully selected case studies by examining:

• the financing sources and the financing approaches
• what share is paid by each source, and how? and
• what public funding mechanisms are used, including hardware subsidies, software support, or facilitated access to credit?

In addition to summarizing the mechanics of each approach, all case studies were reviewed in terms of common evaluation criteria:

• impact on sustainable access to services
• costs
• effectiveness in the use of public funds
• poverty targeting
• financial sustainability; and
• scalability.

The case studies were selected to reflect a range of household sanitation financing approaches and contexts. The chosen projects were located in Bangladesh, Ecuador, Maharashtra (India), Mozambique, Senegal and Viet Nam.

The Sanitation and Hygiene Global Practice Team of the World Bank Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) initially conceptualized this study to offer better guidance to sector professionals developing on-site sanitation projects and programs.

Findings

Public investments of varying forms enable an absolute increase in the number of poor people gaining access to sanitation, varying from 20 percent to 70 percent.

“Each of the six sanitation programs studied enabled significant numbers of people to improve their sanitation,” said co-author and World Bank Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist Pete Kolsky. “The numbers of people benefiting varied. The India case enabled the most people to gain access, at over 21 million, while the Ecuador program enabled access for over 140,000 people.”

The first step up “the sanitation ladder” for those without access is on-site sanitation. “Promotion of household investment in sanitation is a cost-effective public health intervention, in terms of the ratio of public cost to estimated health benefits,” said co-author and WSP Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist Eddy Perez. “The case studies reveal a wide spectrum of options: from a minimal investment in start-up of a revolving fund, to significant community mobilization and demand stimulation, all the way to hardware subsidies of up to 75 percent of capital costs in addition to community mobilization. The choice is thus not ‘Subsidy or no subsidy?’ but rather, ‘What form and level of public funding makes sense in a specific context?’ “

The report also shows that households are key investors in on-site sanitation, and careful project design and implementation can maximize their involvement, satisfaction, and financial investment. It also found that hardware subsidies of some form played a critical role in all six case studies.

Water and Sanitation Monitoring Platform (WSMP)

The water and sanitation monitoring platform (WSMP) is the name of an ACP-EU Water facility-funded project  managed by UNICEF, which is being implemented in Ghana, Mozambique and Nigeria. The project concerns the establishment and operation of national water and sanitation sector monitoring platforms in these countries.

The WSMP comprises of nationally established platforms, which work with national sector stakeholders to generate and disseminate sector specific data and information.

The WSMP website, managed by WEDC, is primarily a portal to direct users to country-level WSMP websites and blogs. This website gives an overview of the project and will host details of news and accomplishments of the respective WSMP platforms. At present [07 May 2009] the Ghana web site is the only country-level website with content.