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

Access to water, women’s work and child outcomes

Koolwal, G. and Van de Walle, D. (2010). Access to water, women’s work and child outcomes. (Policy research working paper ; WPS 5302). Washington, DC, USA, World Bank. 39 p. : 9 tab. 46 ref.
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Poor rural women in the developing world spend considerable time collecting water. How then do they respond to improved access to water infrastructure? Does it increase their participation in income earning market-based activities? Does it improve the health and education outcomes of their children? To help address these questions, a new approach for dealing with the endogeneity of infrastructure placement in cross-sectional surveys is proposed and implemented using data for nine developing countries [Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda ; India, Nepal and Pakistan ; Morocco ; and Yemen]. The paper does not find that access to water comes with greater off-farm work for women, although in countries where substantial gender gaps in schooling exist, both boys’ and girls’ enrollments improve with better access to water. There are also some signs of impacts on child health as measured by anthropometric z-scores.

** 95/96

The above figure, based on Koolwal, G. and Van de Walle, D. (2010), was included in a presentation by Jaehyang So (2010), “How can the G20 best support economic development through Infrastructure?”

Corresponding author: Dominique van de Walle, World Bank, USA, dvandewalle [at] worldbank.org

Climate change adaptation in the water sector

Ludwig, F., Kabat, P., Schaik, H. van and Valk, M. van der (2009). Climate change adaptation in the water sector. London, UK, Earthscan. 304 p. ISBN 9781844076529
Price: £49.95
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This book offers a compendium of climate adaptation strategies in the water sector for students, water managers and decision makers. The book consists of two parts: the first part describes the general issues and is written mainly by the editors of the book and the second part contains specific case studies. These are drawn from a wide range of contrasting countries, including Australia, Thailand, the Netherlands, Germany, Philippines, South Africa, and Yemen.

Contents

Introduction

Part I: Climate Change and Water

• The Art of Predicting Climate Variability and Change
• Climate Change Scenarios at the Global and Local Scale
• The Impacts of Climate Change on Water
• Managing Water Under Current Climate Variability
• Using Seasonal Climate Forecasts for Water Management
• Adapting to Climate Change in the Water Sector
• Climate Proofing

Part II: Case Studies

• Adaptation to Climate Change and Social Justice: Challenges for Flood and Disaster Management in Thailand
• Water and Spatial Planning in The Netherlands: Living with Water in the Context of Climate Change
• Climate Change and Alluvial Aquifiers in Arid Regions – Examples from Yemen
• A Water Utility’s Approach to Addressing the Potential Impacts of Climate Change
• Adaptation Measures for the Metropolitan Water Supply for Perth, Western Australia
• Benefits and Costs of Measures for Coping with Water and Climate Change: Berg River Basin, South Africa
• Institutional Adaptation to Climate Change: Current Status and Future Strategies in the Elbe Basin, Germany
• The Use of Seasonal Climate Forecasts Within a Shared Reservoir System: The Case of Angat Reservoir, Philippines

Index

Water is a gift – an awareness video of Yemen’s National Water Resources Authority (NWRA)

Yemen is expected to be the first Arab country to use up all of its groundwater, so in a race to shape public opinion, the government has developed a national mascot to encourage water conservation.

The GTZ Yemeni-German Water Sector Program and the Swiss Video-lab Jetzt.bewegte bilder have produced an animated awareness video on water scarcity for Yemen’s National Water Resources Authority (NWRA). NWRA came up with Rowyan – an cheery animated raindrop to promote public awareness seen in this clip. He also has a wife called Rowyana with curling eyelashes, handbag and full-length black robe.

Source: BBC, 3 Sep 2008