Net ODA disbursement to SSA has more than doubled in real terms since 1980, mostly during the last 10 years. However, the increase in aid has not been matched by commensurate progress in WSS provision. Key recommendations include improved monitoring and evaluation systems and capacity building, and longer project timelines.
This book examines: the current level of water supply and sanitation (WSS) official development assistance (ODA) and how it has evolved over the past two decades; the effectiveness of countries’ use of this aid; the performance of SSA countries in WSS provision to their citizens; and the factors that explain performance differences.
Access to piped water in sub-Saharan Africa remains generally low. It improved negligibly from 15 percent in 1990 to 16 percent in 2008. At the country level, however, the figures show significant variations. For example, Botswana, Comoros, Djibouti, Gambia, Mauritius, Namibia and South Africa, all had access rates of above 90 percent. Similarly, access to improved sanitation remains generally low. Only Botswana, Gambia, Mauritius and South Africa record rates of 60 percent or higher. In 10 countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Niger, Sierra Leone, Chad and Togo) access remains below 15 percent. The group of good performers varies across the water and sanitation sectors. For example, Burkina Faso and Ghana achieved remarkable progress in access to water, yet very small improvements in access to sanitation.
The sanitation sector is often neglected. Thus, increased investment in sanitation facilities, particularly in rural areas, is highly recommended. Greater attention should also be given to adequate public awareness and sensitisation, including hygiene education. With regards to household sanitation, government and donors can support the households in the construction of pit latrines, such as through provision of items like concrete slabs. Evidence from Kenya and Uganda revealed that implementation of the large-scale ecosanitation systems has been effective. This kind of sanitation facility should be promoted for adaptation and uptake in other countries.
Key recommendations
- Implement effective monitoring and evaluation systems. Development aid in the water and sanitation sector is often spent without setting up a proper baseline and reliable monitoring and evaluation systems.
- Set up enabling institutional frameworks. It is important that aid recipients remove inefficiencies within their own resource management systems. For example, in many countries, different ministries are given responsibility for different parts of the same job.
- Develop integrated water resource management policies. While many countries have developed IWRM policies, some have made little progress on implementation. IWRM policies aim to ensure that water is used to achieve social and economic development goals, while guaranteeing sustainable vital ecosystems for future generations.
- Invest in capacity building, awareness-raising and education. Both government staff and members of the public need greater understanding of the links between water, sanitation, and health.
- Strengthen private sector participation. The private sector can play an important role in both capital mobilisation and capacity support, and in providing competitive supply chains.
- Ensure sustainability by expanding projects’ timelines. Lack of progress in the provision of water supply and sanitation in SSA is partly due to the non-sustainability of past development projects The proper consideration of cost-recovery, maintenance and sustainability requires that the donors extend the timeline of their involvement.
- Increase stakeholder participation and coordination. The involvement of NGOs and Water Users Associations (WUA) is particularly important to ensure project ownership by the end users.
- Reform urban utilities. The types of reform that have been demonstrated to be most successful include the introduction of: incentives for employees that tie bonuses to performance; improved commercial systems, including metering and metered billing; knowledge and information systems for monitoring and evaluation; and of services that are financially sustainable and tailored to local needs.
- Improve governance and procurement rules. Donors could take a systematic approach that would involve strengthening the legal institutions of the recipient countries; increasing the share of soft-side investments; fostering effective institutional frameworks; and increasing capacity and ownership.
- Allocate adequate financial and technical resources. There is a need for some funds to be ring-fenced to ensure adequate representation of water and sanitation in central and local government budget allocation decisions.
