Global monitoring reports, such as the Joint Monitoring Programme for water supply and sanitation, indicate that water and sanitation coverage is increasing over time.
Published on: 24/10/2012
However, not all countries will be able to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation. During the South Asia Regional Conference on Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (10 to 12 October 2012), Harold Lockwood, Director of Aguaconsult and Triple-S International workstream leader, explained why certain countries will not be able to meet the MDG target by 2015.
One billion people are still without access to safe water sources—while nine out of ten live in rural areas. Over that last thirty years, substantial amounts of finance and development aid have been injected into the provision of rural water supply in developing countries. Global monitoring reports, such as the Joint Monitoring Programme for water supply and sanitation, indicate that coverage is increasing over time. However, not all countries will be able to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking-water and basic sanitation. During the South Asia Regional Conference on Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (10 to 12 October 2012), Harold Lockwood, Director of Aguaconsult and Triple-S International workstream leader, explained why certain countries will not be able to meet the MDG target by 2015.
Harold categorised countries into those still struggling to meet the basic challenges of first-time provision, and countries where there are ‘second and third generation’ challenges around functionality, water security, and long-term financing. There must be a fundamental shift from building projects that deliver water infrastructure, to more service delivery oriented approaches—where focus is on providing permanent water services. Supporting this shift has implications for all stakeholders and how investments are planned, implemented, and monitored. Implications for governments, funding agencies, and implementers are explored in Harold’s presentation. What is the role of development aid in providing capital investment for only new hardware? Development aid for rural water supply needs to move towards a coordinated sector support approach—which is the norm in the urban water sector.
Experts, practitioners, and policy makers convened in Kathmandu, Nepal at the Radisson hotel to share best practices and challenges in implementing rural water supply and sanitation initiatives in the region. High level officials from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as well as experts and practitioners from Brazil, Vietnam, The Netherlands, and The United States of America attended the event. The three-day conference was organised by the World Bank in partnership with AusAid.
24 October 2012
