Memorandum submitted by UNISON
1. INTRODUCTION
(a) UNISON is well known as the prime trade
union representing employees in the UK's water industry covering
England, Wales and Scotland. Perhaps less well known is the work
UNISON does on international water and sanitation issues, particularly
in the developing world.
(b) UNISON has a proud history of international
solidarity work with fellow trade unions in developing countries.
UNISON has also been a staunch supporter of civil liberties and
is particularly proud of the role played in supporting the ANC
during the apartheid era in South Africa and currently in support
of trade unions and civil society groups in Palestine and Iraq.
(c) UNISON's involvement in international
water issues can be traced back to 1989 when water was privatised.
This was seen at the time as a uniquely interesting development
and it led to a succession of requests from trade unions elsewhere
in the world for information about what had happened here in the
UK following privatisation. Consequently UNISON became involved
with many efforts to resist the spread of water privatisation
throughout the world but particularly in Africa, Asia and South
America. Most of this work was done in close liaison with Public
Services International (PSI), the world federation of public service
trade unions. In addition UNISON has sought to engage with the
key UK NGOs operating in the field of water and sanitation including
WaterAid, WDM, Tearfund and WWF. UNISON is a member of the BOND
UK Water Network of NGOs and is also a member of the UN Stakeholders
Forum.
UNISON is also an active member of Partners
for Water and Sanitation (PAWS), the cross sectoral partnership
based at DEFRA.
2. UNISON'S AIMS
(a) Over the last 15 years or so UNISON
has been campaigning in favour of public service based solutions
to the water and sanitation crisis. In summary UNISON's aims are:
(1) To promote the concept of public
water and sanitation services for the developing world.
(2) To generate support for public/public/partnerships
as a practical and effective contribution to the achievement of
the Millennium Development Goals for water and sanitation.
(3) To lobby for an increase in the amount
of development aid from international and bilateral donors for
water and sanitation.
(4) To build and foster relationships
with sympathetic NGOs, companies and governments.
(5) To provide advice and assistance
to other trade unions operating in the water sector of developing
world countries.
3. RESPONSES
TO INQUIRY
QUESTIONS
(a) Water Service Delivery
Based on the evidence amassed by UNISON arising
from missions to Africa, South America and Asia, often undertaken
in partnership with UK NGOs, and having regard to the testimony
offered by delegates from the developing world at international
conferences, it is clear that most people regard water services
as something special with its own unique characteristics. "Water
for life" is a common refrain closely followed by "water
as a human right". What both these concepts share is a belief
that water services are not a tradable commodity to be bought
and sold like other goods and services.
Research into the most appropriate models for
delivering water and sanitation services have highlighted the
insurmountable problems faced by private sector operators in developing
world countries. Earlier this year the World Development Movement
(WDM) and PSI launched a new collaborative report, "Pipe
Dreams". This documents the failure of the private sector
to invest sufficiently in water services in developing countries.
Over the last 15 years the private sector had made new water connections
for just 1% of those people without water in Sub Saharan Africa
and Asia. The report concludes that the private sector cannot
any longer regard itself as a credible answer to the water crisis.
Instead donors should divert their attention to the reform and
improvement of public water services.
This move away from private sector involvement
was confirmed by the World Bank at the World Water Forum in Mexico
City when Jamil Saghir, the Director of the World Bank's Energy
and Water Division, acknowledged that 15 years had been wasted
in flirtations with the private sector. He recognised that future
progress could only come by engaging with Governments and focussing
on improving the performance of local public water utilities.
This belated recognition was welcomed by PSI/UNISON but it will
remain important to maintain pressure on the international funding
institutions and regional World Bank officials to ensure that
appropriate non conditional funding is made available to the public
sector for investment in public water services.
UNISON remains extremely concerned over DFID's
choice of consultants to work in the field of water and sanitation.
In many people's experience too often they promote private sector
solutions to the difficulties faced by developing countries. This
is particularly true in the case of the Adam Smith Institute,
an organisation that shamelessly promotes the private sector.
Their activities in Dar a Salem in Tanzania are well documented
and they have achieved a certain notoriety. UNISON believes
that DFID should rule out any consultants/consultancies that adopt
a pre-determined stance on the issue of private sector participation.
(b) Financing and Aid Instruments for Water
and Sanitation
UNISON and PSI have been promoting the concept
of Public Public Partnerships (PUPS) for many years. We see this
as a tool that has the potential to make a significant contribution
towards the achievement of the MDGs. The idea is simple and is
based on the realisation that over 90% of the world's water and
sanitation utilities are public sector organisations, many of
which are municipally based. It follows that most of the world's
expertise in water and sanitation lies not in the private sector
but the public sector. Thus the PUPs concept is based on partnerships
between failing water undertakings and more successful examples.
These can be South/South partnerships or North/South partnerships.
They foresee the transfer of skills, knowledge and experience
from the thousands of employees that exist in the water sector
together with their trade unions. This represents a huge source
of capacity building support.
At the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico the United
Nations Secretary-Generals Advisory Board on water and sanitation
launched its "Compendium of Actions" (now called the
Hashimoto Action Plan) aimed at achieving the MDGs. A feature
of the Action Plan was the creation and implementation of a global
mechanism to promote "Water Operator Partnerships (WOPS)
on a "not for profit" basis. The WOP concept is little
different from the PUPs concept and both UNISON and PSI are strongly
of the view that the WOP idea should become a reality. However
to do so requires investment, support and organisation.
DFID is in an excellent position to support this
initiative and UNISON hopes that it chooses to do so when approached
by UNISON, PSI and others in the coming weeks.
There continues to be debate around the inclusion
of water and sanitations in the GATS negotiations conducted by
the World Trade Organisation. UNISON believes that these vital
public services should be excluded from GATS and that it should
be left to each country to determine its own approach to how water
and sanitation services should be delivered.
(c) DFID's Organisational Capacity for Support
to Water and Sanitation
Currently DFID capacity to support water and
sanitation services is limited particularly so in country offices.
This reflects DFID's lack of prioritisation for water and sanitation
within the department. Most NGOs conclude that the reason why
the MDG targets are not being met is the chronic lack of capacity
at municipal and local level in most developing countries particularly
in Sub Saharan Africa. This is an extremely important point as
in most cases state governments have decided to devolve responsibility
for water and sanitation to municipal/local level. To build this
capacity up in terms of human resources, strategies and plans
requires targeted long term support. It is a matter of deep concern
that few DFID country offices have the necessary expertise in
water and sanitation to work with struggling municipal water utilities.
Is it surprising that water and sanitation targets do not feature
very highly in country PRSPs? UNISON contends that to push water
and sanitation up the list of priorities requires DFID itself
to reposition water and sanitation as a priority target for all
country offices and that sufficient human resources with the appropriate
knowledge and skills should be appointed in country offices.
(d) Gender Aspects of Water and Sanitation
Issues
It is clear from empirical evidence that women
and girls are the main victims of poor provision of water and
sanitation services. Girls of school age are often prevented from
taking advantage of educational opportunities by the time taken
to fetch and carry water each day for their families. This task
invariably falls on women and girls. Moreover too many school
premises either have no toilet facilities for girls or have only
dilapidated filthy facilities. Both these situations lead to girls
deciding to opt out of formal education. It is therefore clear
that investment in water and sanitation schemes have a beneficial
impact on the lives of girls and women.
However even though women and girls play a pivotal
role in the provision of water for their families and communities
they are often denied an opportunity to get involved in the planning
and development of new water and sanitation schemes. DFID needs
to recognise the important role played by females and should develop
strategies to ensure that females are involved in the development
of water and sanitation schemes for their communities.
(e) Improving Health and Education through
Water and Sanitation
The needs of those suffering from HIV/AIDS has
often been overlooked in the development of water and sanitation
strategies. Medical evidence shows that access to clean water
and hygienic sanitation can assist in the treatment of people
with AIDS and can help prolong life. UNISON calls upon DFID
to include this element in its water and sanitation strategies
at every level.
October 2006
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