The true cost of services

Published on: 23/05/2011

In 2009, the global review of Plan’s water supply and sanitation (WES) expenditures during three fiscal years – 2005, 2006 and 2007 was carried out, to better understand the true costs of the delivery of water and sanitation services.

What is it?

The review had three main objectives:

• Assess unit costs, cost-sharing schemes, and expenditure patterns
• Compare programme costs and cost-sharing schemes to those of other agencies
• Provide recommendations for improvements to Plan’s WES programme policies, practices, and expenditure tracking systems

and two phases:

• A global survey, which assessed expenditure data from 45 Plan programmes for three fiscal years 2005 to 2007
• An in-depth survey of WES expenditures in eight country programmes.

The review was based largely on financial data from Plan’s information systems, and its scope did not include looking at the effectiveness or sustainability of Plan’s WES interventions.

How is it used?

The global WES expenditure survey was based on the WES expenditure and output data contained in Plan’s Business Intelligence Online information system. These data were assembled for 45 Plan country programs for the three fiscal years, including a summary of WES expenditures under the main cost headings, and an analysis of the unit costs of four key outputs: new boreholes and handpumps, new community water supply systems, household toilets, and school toilets.

The 45 Plan country programs were then asked to examine the expenditure data obtained, to explain any anomalies or inconsistencies, and to inform the study team of any important cost components or issues that were missing from the global survey.

A more detailed expenditure survey and analysis was drawn up for review by eight focus countries.

The focus country expenditure survey was used to elaborate methodologies for calculating unit costs, and for allocating software and post construction support expenditures. These approaches were then used as templates to complete the analysis of the other country program expenditure data.

This expenditure review of a large implementing agency in the water and sanitation sector was the first and only so far which has been shared publicly.

Further reading

Robinson, A. (2009). Global Expenditure Review: Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation. Final report, May 2009, Plan International.