The overall goal of BPD Water and Sanitation is to improve the provision of clean water and safe sanitation to poor communities through local-level partnership mechanisms.
It aims to do this by promoting effective partnerships that appropriately incorporate the public, private and civil society sectors, harnessing the complementary resources, knowledge and skills of partners drawn from all three sectors of society and strengthening their impact through formalised interaction and collaboration.
By working in partnership governments can better ensure the health of their citizens with safe water and effective sanitation while apportioning the financial and technical burden, the private sector can more effectively meet their contractual obligations while improving long-term financial sustainability, and communities can gain a real voice in their development.
Measurable results and specific
targets:
The first phase of BPD Water and Sanitation Cluster was completed in 2002. The Cluster worked with eight partnership projects in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Haiti, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa.
All partnerships have shown real, tangible development benefits to the local communities. This includes increased access to water and sanitation services, the development of human capital and community empowerment and some job creation.
For example, 45 projects have been implemented in the South African BoTT project, leading to improved access for roughly 3.5 million people.
In Buenos Aires, NGOs have facilitated dialogue between Aguas Argentinas, public institutions and the communities, bringing about original financial and institutional solutions. From 1997-1999, more than 200,000 low-income inhabitants were connected to the water network.
In Senegal, private, public and NGO partners work together on the ‘Eau Populaire’ standpipe project which has given an estimated 200,000 low-income people access to potable water.
In Haiti, where the public operator works in partnership with NGOs and community groups, 37 poor communities (representing some 600,000 people) now effectively manage significantly less expensive, regularised water services.
A series of three short notes analyse the benefits and risks of partnership initiatives for private, public, and civil society sectors. These provide an introduction to the main body of work undertaken by the Cluster, which deals with partnership-specific, sector-specific, and theme-specific issues.
The Cluster supports learning and disseminates findings through newsletters, a web site, policymaker/practitioner notes and other key research publications to share best practice widely.
Implementation mechanisms
and further application:
The BPD is now moving into a second phase during which it is planned that BPD Water and Sanitation Cluster will:
Assist and support new or existing partnership projects.
Train facilitators to assist with partnership formation, maintenance, and evaluation, and help training institutions incorporate BPD lessons in their training courses.
Build capacity of specific target groups to engage in (or support) local-level partnership projects. For example, transactions advisors, NGOs, regulators, municipal managers, private companies, and donors.
Conduct research and analysis on issues relating to water and partnerships. For instance on PSP contract design, partnerships for sanitation, local-level partner contracts and agreements, timing of partnerships in the reform process, transparency and accountability, management of risk, role of trade unions, consumer associations and communities, M&E in partnership projects.
Enhance an already existing forum for international debate that balances the participation of public, private, civil society and donor sectors.