Memorandum submitted by the BOND United
Kingdom Water Network (UKWN[146])
The BOND UK Water Network was set up in 1999
to increase the impact of its members by providing a forum where
agencies can exchange information, enhance their analysis and
coordinate their advocacy towards the UK Government and other
relevant institutions on freshwater issues. This includes issues
on water and sanitation, involving preservation of ecology and
biodiversity of freshwater systems, and in relation to freshwater
and their use in food and energy production and leisure. http://www.bond.org.uk/wgroups/water/TOR.html
Whilst encouraging its members and overseas
partners to contribute independently to the IDC Water and Sanitation
Inquiry, the UKWN would like to present the following comments
and recommendations to DFID:
1. The continuing failure of both international
donors (including the UK) and developing country governments to
prioritise water and sanitation in supporting progress towards
the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 7, which aims to reduce
by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to
safe water and adequate sanitation by 2015, and progress to universal
coverage thereafter.
2. Overall movement to reach Goal 7, especially
in sub-Saharan Africa, has been inadequate with the amount of
aid, in real terms, to the water and sanitation sector declining.
UKWN notes that most of the aid that is going to the sector is
not going to those countries most in need[147]
or indeed to the people most in need[148].
Furthermore the importance of water and sanitation has not been
sufficiently recognised in practical policies and programmes as
one of the most important cross cutting issues to the achievement
of all the MDGs, especially in sub Saharan Africa[149]
We recommend that DFID concentrate water and
sanitation ODA to least developed and low income countries.
3. In light of these depressing trends,
DFID's recognition in the 2006 White Paper that water and sanitation
represents one of four essential services is welcome, as are the
recent, substantial increases in aid for water and sanitation
in sub-Saharan Africa by DFID.
4. However, current levels of organisational
capacity within DFID to support water and sanitation undermine
the White Paper commitments.
We recommend that, if the UK is to help to increase
access to water and sanitation especially in sub-Saharan Africa,
organisational capacity, especially in DFID country offices, needs
to be addressed. Capacity-building of partner governments at national
and local levels can only happen if the capacity exists to deliver
such support. In recent years this has been eroded to the extent
that few DFID country programmes possess the expertise or the
ability to fully interact with the Poverty Reduction Strategy
Paper processes regarding water and sanitation. This may help
in part to explain the lack of priority given by developing country
governments themselves to the sector in their PRSPs.
In order to strengthen country governments and
the tools of governance over water and sanitation services and
actors, we recommend that DFID could:
— Commit to assisting governments to
localise the targets and double the financing to achieve them.
— Commit financial support for developing
country governments to more effectively monitor information about
infrastructure services and their performance.
— Encourage sector-wide approaches
and co-ordinating mechanisms in developing country water and sanitation
sectors.
— Agree action plans and financing
for training and building the capacities and institutions of central
and local governments to perform their expanding roles in service
delivery, regulation and co-ordination of providers.
— Agree programmes and financing for
building the capacity of civil society organisations, parliaments,
and national and local media to undertake effective scrutiny of
government and donor undertakings in the water and sanitation
sector.
5. Financing by DFID of water and sanitation
under humanitarian assistance for refugee camps whilst commendable,
should not be taken into account when calculating the amount of
aid spent on addressing Goal 7, as it is short term and thus ineffective
in addressing long term community water and sanitation needs.
6. Over the past 15 years, too much support
from donor governments (including the UK) for water and sanitation
service provision in developing countries has been biased, especially
in urban areas, in favour of private sector approaches. This has
been despite the lack of success of such approaches, especially
for the very poorest communities; the relatively low levels of
private investment in poor countries' water and sanitation sectors;
and the clear evidence, as recognised by the 2006 UN World Development
Report, of the key role of the public sector in meeting the MDGs.[150]
Recent work by UK Water Network members and
overseas partners has shown the effectiveness of public-public
partnership (PUP) approaches to the question of reforming weak
utilities and the urgent need for further investment and research
in this area.
We recommend that DFID considers such approaches
which are based on the recognition that there is expertise and
experience within southern public utilities which can be tapped
and used to build capacity within weaker utilities.
7. Progress for the sanitation MDG has lagged
even further behind water.
We recommend that DFID develop a policy and
build up its support for sanitation, both for households and for
schools. Such support needs to be wide-ranging and innovative,
regarding waste of all kinds as a resource to be utilised through
recycling. This may include the promotion of ecological sanitation
and composting other organic waste, as well as for the promotion
of general recycling for income generation and the defence and
improvement of the environment.
8. The declining environmental state of
many rivers and watercourses in the developing world requires
more proactive support for integrated water resource management
(IWRM) from donors such as DFID, if these resources are to provide
for the increasing demand for fresh water in the long term. There
is also need for protection of water sources to ensure that they
will serve present and future generations.[151]
We recommend that DFID reaffirm the Integrated
Water Resource Management (IWRM) and water efficiency plans (WEP)
target, with:
— Clear processes and support agreed
to help countries that have been unable to meet the target to
meet it and implement plans.
— Clear processes for continued reporting
on achievement of this target.
— Agreement on a mechanism for monitoring
implementation of IWRM-WEP plans, with clear indicators.
— Increase aid allocations and support
for MDG-based Poverty Reduction Strategies, which fully address
the significance of MDG7 ensuring environmental sustainability.
— Call for appropriate institutional
processes to be established by governments to ensure cross-sectoral
and stakeholder coordination to deliver IWRM-WEP.
— Call for co-operation between states
sharing transboundary watercourses, including groundwater.
9. By 2007 the majority of developing country
populations will be living in urban, peri-urban and informal settlement
areas and the provision of water and sanitation services to these
areas is presenting growing and particular challenges, which need
to be met though research and learning from successes in the developing
world itself.
10. An emphasis on improving hygiene practices
could significantly reduce water-borne diseases in developing
countries. Massively increased and effective hygiene promotion
and education is urgently needed to improve practice in this area.
This requires the scaling up of known participatory approaches
that centre around what both adults and children can do for themselves,
via education and empowerment, for example through using "participatory
hygiene and sanitation transformation (PHAST)" and the health
club methodologies.
We recommend that DFID give special attention
to school sanitation and hygiene to address specific needs of
girls and boys both in terms of hardware and software at their
learning environment.
11. All too often women and girls are denied
equitable access to water and sanitation; neither are they involved
in the planning, development or management of water and sanitation
facilities. The UK Water Network and its partners submit that
including a gender balance in the development of water and sanitation
is vital to its success.
We recommend that, from promoting equitable
access, to effective planning, maintenance and management, women
should be essential participants and drivers of successful water
and sanitation interventions and improvements. With access to
water and sanitation women and girls can maintain dignity, reduce
their work burden and chances of sexual harassment. Attendance
for girls at schools can also improve (see appendix 1 for links
with the MDGs).
12. With climate change now acknowledged
as a reality, its impact on some already vulnerable groups in
the developing world is likely to become catastrophic. The role
for increased access to water and sanitation in these circumstances
becomes vital, either through access to increased amounts of water
to allow for productive uses in micro irrigation of kitchen gardens,
or through the production of safe organic fertilisers from human
waste that can be used to maintain soil moisture and nutrient
content. This will not only help to mitigate against the effects
of climate change but also help to address poverty and food security.
We recommend that DFID:
— Encourage the full valuation of ecosystems
(economic, social and environmental) and the use of this information
in water resource planning.
— Encourage appropriate technology,
often small-scale solutions, such as rainwater harvesting and
compost toilets, especially in rural areas.
13. The needs of vulnerable people including,
disabled people, elderly people, and HIV/AIDS infected and affected
people, has often been ignored in water and sanitation programmes.
This requires attention in order to make access to water and sanitation
easier and appropriate for them.
14. Most communities living in poverty are
unable to hold their governments accountable for failure to design
and implement pro-poor water and sanitation policies and budgetary
allocations. This situation is beginning to change due to increasing
international recognition of the right to water and sanitation.
In 2001, the Committee of (Foreign) Ministers of the Council of
Europe stated: "International human rights instruments recognise
the fundamental right of all human beings to be free from hunger
and to an adequate standard of living for themselves and their
families. It is quite clear that these two requirements include
the right to a minimum quantity of water of satisfactory quality
from the point of view of health and hygiene".[152]
In 2002, the United Nations recognised that the right to water
for personal and domestic uses is implicitly recognised by the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR)—a treaty ratified by the United Kingdom and 153
other countries.[153]
Much remains to be done to convert this recognition in theory
into practice on the ground. However, progress towards this goal
is being resisted by a small number of States. The United Kingdom
has publicly stated that while it accepts that water is an important
element within the right to health and the right to food, it does
not accept the existence of the right to water as a "self-standing
right."[154]
DFID has not carried out any actions to promote the right to water.
We recommend that the UK declare its support
for the right to water and sanitation, and its willingness to
assist civil society and development partners to mainstream rights-based
approaches in water and sanitation policies and programmes
October 2006
146 Christian Engineers in Development, Centre on
Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), Muslim Aid, Plan UK, Practical
Action (ITDG), Birdlife International (RSPB), Tear Fund, The Rights
Practice, UNISON, WaterAid, World Development Movement, Baghri,
Sohrab, Global Water and Environmental Sanitation Advisor, and
Brian Mathew, Independent Consultant. Back
147
Appendix 1-A scorecard assessment of developing country and
donor progress, Joint Paper (2004) Care, Freshwater Action Network,
Green Cross, Oxfam, Tearfund, WaterAid, WWF. [Not printed]. Back
148
An estimate of the total level of financing required to reach
the MDGs for Water and Sanitation is around US$5 billion annually,
or US$30 billion over the remaining time until 2015, but this
is only if the funds are allocated transparently for those in
need and not siphoned off for improving the situation of those
already covered (Brian Mathew, 2005). Back
149
Appendix 2-Matrix showing the importance of Water and Sanitation
to achieving the MDGs. Ev 217. Back
150
See UN Millennium Project. (2005). Health, Dignity, and Development:
What Will it Take? Task Force on Water and Sanitation. Earthscan.
and WDM. (2006). Pipe Dreams-the failure of the private sector
to invest in water services in developing countries. World Development
Movement. London. March 2006. Back
151
See Water: supporting life, sustainable livelihood. shttp://www.birdlife.org/action/change/water/index.html Back
152
Recommendation (2001) 14 of the Committee of Ministers to member
States on the European Charter on Water Resources, https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=231615&BackColorInternet=9999CC&BackColorIntranet=FFBB55&BackColorLogged=FFAC75 Back
153
United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights,
General Comment 15 (The Right to Water), UN Doc. E/C.12/2002/11,
available at: http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/comments.htm.
For further information, see Legal Resources for the Right to
Water: International and National Standards (Geneva: COHRE, 2004),
www.cohre.org/water and The Human Right to Water: Legal and Policy
Dimensions (Washington DC: World Bank, 2004). Back
154
K Engbruch "Workshop Report-Day One" in E Riedel and
P Rothen (eds) The Human Right to Water (Berlin: Berliner
Wissenschafts Verlag, 2006), p 127-8, quoting the representative
of the foreign and commonwealth Office at the workshop. Back
|
