Memorandum submitted by the Water Research
Group@ Bradford University
1. We are pleased to have the opportunity
to submit evidence to the Water and Sanitation Inquiry of the
International Development Committee. We were also pleased to respond
to the consultation document on the 2006 White Paper and we welcome
the increasing attention being given to water development by DFID.
2. Our evidence focuses on water governance,
which forms an over-arching issue for many of the other points
within the terms of reference for the inquiry. Our evidence is
based on field experience, primarily in South Asia and Africa,
our recent ESRC-funded seminar series, Water Governance—Challenging
the Consensus, and on our on-going work with the International
Commission on Irrigation and Drainage.
3. Our recommendations can be summarised
in three points:
3.1 DFID should actively support critical
and analytical work in water governance, as a necessary complement
to the importance given to technology for improvements in water
and sanitation delivery. The summary of the outputs from our Water
Governance seminar series (attachment 2) suggests specific areas
in which DFID should work.
3.2 Whilst we welcome the focus on water
and sanitation, we believe that DFID must increase its engagement
with land and water issues, since these play an important role
in sustaining the livelihoods of poor people and supporting their
efforts to cope with climate change. In this respect, agricultural
water management is a key area of concern but DFID has steadily
reduced its involvement in such areas over the past few years.
3.3 We acknowledge the importance of efficiency
and value for money in DFID's delivery of development. Nevertheless
it must be recognised that the delivery of water and sanitation
services, and integrated water resource management, do not lend
themselves to "blanket solutions", but instead to localisation
and contextualisation. This inevitably means looking for a range
of approaches (research- and project-led, as well as policy-based)
and the involvement of a wide range of people. In addition, if
the UK is to exert a significant influence, DFID must ensure a
continuing supply of expertise and experience in water development
in the UK.
4. We would be pleased to provide further
evidence on these points if necessary. In the meantime the body
of evidence on which this submission is based can be found at
www.splash.bradford.ac.uk.
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