Philippines: toolbox for rural water utilities launched

The Philippines and the World Bank have created the Rural Water Supply (RWS) manual for small-scale providers. Photo: Department of Interior & Local Government(DILG).

The Philippine government – together with the World Bank, the United Nations through the Millennium Development Goal Achievement Fund (MDG-F) and other development partners – have launched a ‘local water governance toolbox’. The toolbox is aimed at small-scale water service providers (SSWPs) with less than 5,000 connections.

Otherwise known as “Tubig Yaman,” this new set of manuals and knowledge products on water and sanitation was unveiled at the ‘Water Knowledge Fair’ held in Manila in celebration of World Water Day. The manuals present a coherent set of guidelines that hopefully will help overcome operational difficulties and sustainability issues, which occur due to flaws in design assumptions, deficiencies in construction, and poor knowledge on operation and maintenance.

Asia: leadership for sanitation needed at both central and local level

The responsibility for sanitation in Asia is fragmented over different agencies, and in most cases the priority given to sanitation is low. Therefore more leadership and political will is needed to make sure that organisational structures function, that plans with good intentions become a reality on the ground and that resources go to the right places. While leadership for sanitation is needed at all levels, it’s most urgent at sub national level, in districts and provinces, because it’s there where the actions take place.

This is the outcome of an email discussion [1] of the WASH Asia Dgroup platform held from 9 August to 9 September 2011. The discussion was moderated by the SNV Asia knowledge network and IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, and involved 120 WASH practitioners from 5 different countries in Asia.

Asia: accelerated and sustainable progress in sanitation and hygiene is within our reach, hygiene experts say

Accelerated and sustainable progress in sanitation and hygiene is within reach in Asia, as long as we aim at district-wide coverage and build a broad alliance under leadership of local governments. This is the main conclusion of sanitation and hygiene experts from five countries (Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia) participating in a workshop for governance on water, sanitation and hygiene organized by the Nepal government together with SNV Netherlands Development Organisation and the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre from 13 to 17 September 2011.

Regional sharing and learning from experiences is an important aspect of the Sustainable Sanitation and Hygiene for All programme being implemented in 17 districts across Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, implemented by local government partners and assisted by SNV and IRC since 2008. Last year, this programme was intensified with co-funding from the AusAID Civil Society WASH Fund and recently with support from DFID in Vietnam. The aim is to contribute to giving two million rural people access to improved hygiene and sanitation facilities by the end of 2015.

Signatories of Colombo Declaration commit to values of integrity

April 13^thseven South Asian leaders signed the “Colombo Declaration” by which they agreed to improve the access to sanitation in their countries. One of the main commitments stated in the declaration calls for adherence to the values of participation and accountability. Whereas the declaration is only a first step towards improved access to sanitation, the signatories’ commitment to participation and accountability is an important answer to the call for enhanced water integrity.

The document was signed as an outcome of the fourth South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN IV) held in Sri Lanka from 4 -7 April 2011. A proposal for the new declaration was written by leading Civil Society Organizations including WaterAid, Freshwater Action Network South Asia (FAN-SA) and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC). Their plea for strong monitoring and accountability mechanisms, as well as community participation throughout all phases of sanitation programs was included in the final signed document.

Source: http://www.wateraid.org/international/about_us/newsroom/9716.asp

Employees expose corruption in water districts

United through their national federation, employees of water districts in the Philippines raised their voice against the seizure of surplus benefits by their direct superiors. Whereas most of the employees are still waiting for last year’s annual rice allowances, members of numerous directory boards have granted themselves up to $1500 of bonuses. Early 2011 the government issued an “Executive Order” to limit such excessive bonuses. Yet, the same document is abused by board members to continue these practices under the clause of “separate rules”. Rodrigo Aranjuez, president of the national federation of water employees, links the protest to the continuous fight against water privatization in the Philippines. He claims that privatization increases the corrupt use of money meant to provide employee salaries and improve water services. “Water is considered a basic human right, as such, the government has the responsibility to ensure this service.”

Source: Bulatlat.com, 25 March 2011

Philippines: Water crisis blamed on overlapping bureaucracy

A study conducted by a strategic policy group has blamed the overlapping functions of at least 12 major government agencies over the management of water as the main cause of a looming crisis that has already hit Metro Manila and other areas of the country.

Forensic Law and Policy Strategies Inc. (Forensic Solutions) – a think tank offering services in the fields of policy, law reform, advocacy and governance – said that despite the abundance of water, the country is now suffering from a water shortage due to fragmented management of available resources.

Nepal: National Sanitation Week

Within three years, Nepal has to upgrade sanitation facilities by 15 per cent to achieve its three years interim plan 2010-11.

The interim plan has targeted providing sanitation facilities to 65 per cent of the country’s population by the end of three years. At present, around 49.2 per cent Nepali population have access to sanitation facilities.

Nepal marked the 11th National Sanitation Week (5-11 June 2010) with the theme ‘role of local bodies for sanitation promotion’.

Kamal Adhikari, sociologist at Department of Water Supply and Sewerage (DWSS) said local bodies were allocating budgets for the construction of toilets at present.

Nepal has to ensure 53 per cent toilet coverage by 2015 to achieve the sanitation Millennium Development Goal. The government has also targeted to provide sanitation access to all by 2017, which needs an annual investment of NRs 7.5 billion [US$ .

According to DWSS, the present trend of toilet construction is 180,000 toilets per year, which is 493 per day. The government is required to almost double the current rate of the latrine construction to achieve the goal. Ten toilets should be constructed every month in each of the VDCs for the purpose.

Informing that they have decentralised the awareness programme this year, Adhikari assured that the government could achieve its goal with the present trend of toilet construction.  “The government is adopting standalone sanitation programme, reducing open deficit and including sanitation under the water supply project to achieve the goal within time,” he said.

The 2006 National Demographic and Health Survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Population, showed that inadequate access to water and sanitation was responsible for 10,500 child deaths every year in Nepal.

There were few reports of National Sanitation Week activities, at least in the English-language media in Nepal.

In Dang, the District Water Supply and Sanitation Division Office launched a ‘One House One Toilet’ campaign that aims to declare Dang an open defecation free district before2014.

The District Water Supply and Sanitation Division Office in Tanahun celebrated National Sanitation Week by launching programmes to declare Risti and Chipchipe VDCs free from open defecation, promoting and washing and by testing water quality in the VDCs, which have been declared open defecation free zones. Other activities included the distribution of 10 filters under the Western Nepal Rural Water Supply Project, displaying banners and posters featuring sanitation messages and organising a secondary level essay competition on sanitation.

Source: Himalayan Times, 05 Jun 2010 ; Rajdhani / NGO Forum, 04 Jun 2010 ; Annapurna Post / NGO Forum, 27 May 2010

Timor-Leste: water supplies running on empty

Despite significant donor investment in the water sector in Timor-Leste, sustainability remains the biggest challenge. Much of the country’s rural water systems fell into disrepair years ago. The government has made water a national priority for 2010.

According to Timor-Leste’s National Statistics Directorate, almost 40 percent of the country’s 1.1 million inhabitants lack access to an improved water source.

The problem is most evident in rural areas where approximately 75 percent of the population lives – 44.4 percent do not have access against about 15 percent in urban areas.

In the eastern districts of Baucau, Lautem and Viqueque, and Oecussi District, an enclave inside Indonesia, that figure tops more than 50 percent.

One community’s story

Of Lisapat’s 800 households, only 18 have access to piped water, with the rest relying on a nearby spring. Before 2002, everyone had access.

“It’s a big problem and one that we need to fix,” said Julio do Rosario Lemos, 34, who was recently elected the village’s head.

Between 70 and 80 percent of the country’s water system was destroyed in the violence and displacement that occurred after Timor-Leste’s indepence in 199.

“In many villages there are pipes with no water. In others there never have been,” Bishnu Pokhrel, a water and hygiene specialist with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN, citing poor management, lack of awareness, low institutional capacity and the impact of the 1999 political crisis.

Sustainability

“Sustainable water systems is the key goal,” Keryn Clark, programme team leader for the Timor-Leste Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme (RWSSP), an AusAID-funded project working with the Timorese government to improve water supplies, told IRIN.

On some projects in the past, the focus had been more on laying pipes that on community management, she said. It was critical that the community, which ultimately will be managing the system, is fully on board from the very beginning.

Maintenance of the infrastructure is also critical and outside Dili, the capital, few spare parts are available.

While many of the country’s community water management groups are well organized, others are less so and may not have the knowledge or means to undertake necessary repairs.

“You need to determine what the community can realistically manage and what they can’t, and then how you can support them,” Clark said, emphasizing that community training is key.

Institutional capacity

Until recently, each district had just one non-technical rural water supply and there was only one fully trained water engineer in the whole country.

Now with support from AusAID, another district level technical person has been added, as well as one or two community facilitators at the sub-district level, focusing on community management and sanitation.

“These are all key points in making the system more sustainable,” Clark said. “If we can actually make the systems that have been built, or are in the process of being built, work properly and [be] more sustainable, more people will have access to water.”

Source: IRIN, 08 Feb 2010

Afghanistan, Uruzgan: first water shura held in Kowtal

The first shura (meeting) on water was held on 26 January 2010 in Kowtwal, Uruzgan, by Task Force Uruzgan (TFU). Led by the Netherlands, the TFU is part of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) force in Afghanistan.

Senior representatives of the Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, the Provincial Reconstruction Team and twenty mirabs (traditional Afghan water supervisors) met to discuss channel maintenance and the fair distribution of water.

‘It is an honour for me to be able to meet with you, mirabs of Kowtwal and the surrounding area, to discuss water,’ said TFU civil representative Michel Rentenaar at the opening of the first water shura in Uruzgan. Unequal distribution of the limited water supplies available regularly causes tension between tribes. A slight change to a channel upstream can have implications for villages situated downstream. The objective of the meeting was to restore the mirabs’ contact with each other and with the provincial authorities.

‘This is really exceptional,’ Mr Rentenaar said. ‘We’re not just helping to re-establish a water management system, we’re actually getting canals and wells built and repaired. This means more water is available. And more water means a more stable Uruzgan.’ At the shura the Afghan partners determined which water project was the most urgent and would most benefit local people.

Source: Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 27 Jan 2010

India: cities needs a paradigm shift to move towards sustainability

Increasing urbanization in India has led to pressure on urban infrastructure and deteriorating service delivery. Improving service quality given the infrastructure constraints and limited capacity, especially with rapidly rising demand is a challenge for the local governments. Good Governance is therefore a prerequisite to achieve efficiency and quality in service delivery. Thus realizing its importance, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) with the Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) South Asia and Infrastructure Development Finance Company Ltd (IDFC) organised the “National Urban Conference – Good governance: towards improved basic services“, from 23-24 November 2009, in New Delhi .

Inaugurating the conference, Mr Jaipal Reddy, Hon’ble Minister of Urban Development, Ministry of Urban Development, said, “The problems resulting from increased urbanisation are inevitable and recognising this, the govt. instituted the JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission). There is a need for distributional equity and investment in basic services as opposed to building more and more flyovers. 90% of the investment should be spent in issues such as sanitation, slum development, public transport and water.”

The Ministry of Urban Development has recently developed indicators for measuring service delivery.

The conference discussed the following issues:

1. Promoting good urban governance in order to achieve improvements in service delivery, integration of the poor and the marginalised groups, environmental protection and meaningful participation of local communities.
2. Ways to recover costs of providing urban services through rationalization of user charges to various groups of consumers, better billing and better collection mechanisms.
3. Options and ways to enhance the quality and efficiency of the existing systems of service delivery bring down losses and inefficiencies like unaccounted water loss etc.
4. Issues of equitable access to basic urban services and systems for ensuring availability to all citizens.

In April 2009, TERI released its report on An Exploration of Sustainability in the Provision of Basic Urban Services In Indian Cities. The study included a comprehensive assessment of state of urban service delivery in water, transport, power, solid waste and buildings sector with an in-depth assessment of Governance issue that over-arch the whole. The study came up with recommendations for service delivery improvements as well as improvement in governance mechanisms to facilitate the same. More recently TERI has been recognized as Center for Excellence in Urban Governance by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and through this TERI intends to take forward and implement some of its recommendations.

Source: TERI, 24 Nov 2009