Memorandum submitted by Water and Sanitation
for the Urban Poor (WSUP)
THE ENQUIRY
The White Paper pledges support for the delivery
of water and sanitation services and the sustainable and equitable
management of water resources. The inquiry will examine how DFID
is fulfilling these commitments, as well as assessing multilateral
efforts to secure progress on water and sanitation. The Committee
will also look at progress by other stakeholders on water and
sanitation.
RESPONSE FROM
WATER AND
SANITATION FOR
THE URBAN
POOR
The following comments are designed to support
the committee in its enquiry, with particular reference to "Financing
and aid instruments for water and sanitation".
1. BACKGROUND
Progress towards the water and sanitation MDG's
is not on track. If the goals of reducing the proportion of people
without access to safe water and basic sanitation by 50% by 2015
are to be reached, the rate of progress will need to increase
dramatically. There are inherent limitations to conventional approaches:
(a) public sector utilities are often hampered
by lack of financial resources and expertise, inefficiency and
in some cases lack of accountability to the poor.
(b) private sector solutions have in general
been unsuccessful in reaching the poor communities effectively,
and the majority of private companies are divesting overseas investments
in water utilities.
(c) NGOs, while making significant advances
in rural water and sanitation solutions, remain limited by lack
of capital and know-how in the urban and peri-urban setting.
So traditional approaches have not delivered
fast or effectively enough for the poor.
Looking forward, the picture looks particularly
bleak for the urban poor. First, their number is increasing. 100,000
people worldwide move into a slum settlement every day. By 2030,
60% of the world's population will live in cities—up from
47% today. Secondly, finding viable water and sanitation solutions
for the dense living conditions found in slums is both technically
and socially challenging.
2. WATER AND
SANITATION FOR
THE URBAN
POOR (WSUP)
Recognising these trends, a group of private
and not-for-profit organisations founded Water and Sanitation
for the Urban Poor (WSUP). WSUP is a non-profit company whose
mission is to support local service providers to deliver safe
water and basic sanitation to urban poor people in developing
countries.
WSUP was founded in 2004 and started operations
in 2005. Its members are Halcrow Group, Unilever, Thames Water,
Care International UK, WaterAid, WWF, Water for People and Cranfield
University. WSUP takes a cross-sectoral approach which involves
bringing together the expertise of water operating companies,
engineers and NGOs in order to make a more effective contribution
to the MDGs.
WSUP is a new organisation with a project portfolio
consisting of nine projects spread across Africa, Latin America
and Asia. The most advanced of its projects is due to enter the
implementation phase in 2007.
WSUP aims to learn, evolve and refine its modus
operandi continuously with the aim of developing a model that
is effective, practical and replicable. Once WSUP has demonstrated
its model, it will encourage other groups to take the same approach
and hence scale up its impact.
WSUP's working model is explained in Annex 1:
"Introducing WSUP".
The notable features of WSUP's approach are:
2.1 Project design involves community from
the start
We are convinced that any sustainable solution
depends on the active participation of the community even at the
earliest planning stages. If community representatives participate
in the project design, then ownership is established, solutions
are likely to be appropriate and workable, and an interest in
the ongoing success of the solution is secured. Without this,
whatever is proposed is likely to be seen as imposed from outside
and at best politely ignored.
It is the beneficiaries who have the greatest
vested interest and who therefore are the key to making the solution
a lasting one. Millions of pounds of high level project expertise
have been wasted over the years because the community have not
been involved from the beginning. WSUP supports communities to
find their own solutions.
2.2 WSUP ensures the right balance between
technical and social components
This balance is key for the success of any project
and is one of WSUP's key design principles. The achievement of
this in practice is challenging as it relies on building trust
between project partners from very different organisations. As
a cross-sectoral organisation itself, WSUP works hard to ensure
the balance is maintained.
2.3 WSUP aims to be involved throughout the
process
We believe that from the very first time stakeholders
are brought together to plan the project, implementation has begun.
It is the relationships forged between these people that will
carry the project through to completion and into the future.
At the same time, the relationships forged between
local stakeholders and WSUP functional experts are vital and the
project is put at risk if these relationships are not allowed
to continue during implementation. For this reason, WSUP offers
project implementation assistance to the service provider, to
ensure the project remains on track and the design principles
are upheld.
2.4 Assistance channelled through local service
provider during implementation
WSUP aims to leave behind sufficient institutional
capacity to govern and manage the system into the future. In most
countries, it is the local service provider which is ultimately
accountable for water provision to all the city's residents, including
the poor. For this reason, WSUP focuses its support during implementation
on advising, assisting and building the capacity of the service
provider.
3. PROGRESS SO
FAR
WSUP is in its early days. It has five projects
in scoping (Lusaka, Paraibo do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Managua and
Maputo) and three in the feasibility stages (Naivasha, Bangalore
and Antananarivo). The first project will reach implementation
in 2007 and, with an estimated two to three years for laying the
infrastructure and commissioning the system, the first water would
be delivered by 2009.
So at this stage WSUP has no track record to
demonstrate the efficacy of its approach. Until this track record
has been achieved, it will, understandably, be seen as an appealing
idea that still needs to be proven. Nevertheless, WSUP is attracting
considerable interest and support from a wide range of sources—public,
private and civil society—and we believe that circumstances
are right for this initiative to make a real impact.
4. CHALLENGES
4.1 Funding Protocols
Multilateral agencies, along with the rest of
the sector, have recognised the limitations of conventional approaches.
The conclusions of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development
in Johannesburg included:
"(we) are resolved through decisions on
targets, timetables and partnerships to speedily increase access
to basic requirements such as clean water, sanitation, energy,
health care, food security and the protection of bio-diversity.
At the same time we will assist one another to have access to
financial resources... ensure capacity building, use modern technology
to bring about development, and make sure there is technology
transfer, human resource development, education and training to
banish further underdevelopment"... and:
"Sustainable development requires a long-term
perspective and broad-based participation in policy formulation,
decision-making and implementation at all levels".
Despite these declarations, the funding requirements
of multi-lateral agencies have not yet adapted to allow for new
approaches.
Funding protocol makes it difficult for non-profit
organisations such as WSUP to be involved throughout the process.
Without the opportunity to build relationships over time and earn
the trust of local stakeholders, it is difficult to deliver the
community participation that is widely recognised as being key
for sustainable solutions.
It is clearly important to tender out implementation
works once the project is designed in order to ensure competitive
pricing. However, the urban poor would benefit if the advisory
and support services for the local service provider could be tendered
out at the start of the process, enabling a single team of selected
experts to provide support throughout.
4.2 Perceptions of Private Sector Involvement
It is a constant challenge to reassure stakeholders
that WSUP is not privatisation by stealth. People often assume
that the WSUP partnership has an underlying agenda which is to
commodify and privatise water. This of course is a total mis-conception.
The reality is that the private sector WSUP members provide their
expertise at cost and they are required to declare no commercial
interest in the WSUP project area. The private sector are involved
because a) WSUP represents a mechanism through which they can
scale up their contribution to the MDGs and b) their staff are
motivated by spending time on WSUP projects.
WSUP believes that water is a right for all
people and that its provision should be democratically accountable
at all times. Therefore, WSUP does not advocate nor promote privatisation.
However, some of the expertise that is needed
to deliver successful project design in water and sanitation is
only to be found in private companies—whether they be water
operators or engineering consultants. WSUP takes a pragmatic approach—if
the solution works, and if the community wants it, then it is
highly appropriate that some of the expertise should be provided
by private companies.
WSUP strives to make these points clear in its
communications. Nevertheless, the urban poor would greatly
benefit if governments and donors would make clear statements
of encouragement and support for such cross-sectoral initiatives
in order to help build a wider constituency of confidence and
trust.
4.3 Replication
WSUP is committed to deliver results. WSUP acknowledges
that it will need to refine its model in the light of its experience.
Some aspects of the partnership approach will not work well and
WSUP will need to improve its modus operandi accordingly.
Given that circumstances in developing countries are varied, specific
challenges to implementing successful projects will vary by country.
As a WSUP member, Cranfield University is focusing on the documentation
of the learnings around the WSUP partnership and these learnings
will be used to refine and develop the model.
Once WSUP has a track record and its model is
proven, our aim is to disseminate our experience and encourage
others to replicate it. WSUP itself estimates that it has the
capacity to reach about 0.5 million people per year with water
and sanitation services. This is just scratching the surface compared
to the one billion that are without access. It is clear therefore
that replication is necessary if we are to make a significant
impact.
The urban poor would benefit if governments
and development institutions encouraged other groups to form similar
partnerships in order to accelerate progress towards the MDGs.
| 
