Proceedings 2nd Thematic Group Meeting
Updated - Thursday 25 November 2004
Introduction
Through a thematic group, IRC and its partners try to maximize the impact of their research and implementation programmes by working on common thematic priorities and complementing human and financial resources. The thematic group had a first meeting in 2003 to advocate for, and to support the development of, improved policy and practice in tailoring of cost recovery frameworks to the special needs of the poorest. Since that meeting, documentation activities have been initiated with some partners and limited funding has been channeled for research on the theme of financing mechanisms at local level.
Roughly one year later, it was now time to open up the group to other interested organisations, share ideas and discuss possible future activities of the thematic group. In particular, we would like to take the opportunity of the call for proposals for the EU ACP Water Facility.
Objectives of the meeting
- Identify knowledge gaps and priority areas for 2005;
- Discuss the initiation of specific projects for the EC Water Facility (ACP countries only) and other possible funding programmes;
- Discuss advocacy and capacity building events for 2005.
Participants
Present at the meeting were a number of Resource Centres from the South: CREPA (Burkina Faso), NGO Forum (Bangladesh), TREND (Ghana), SEUF (India), NETWAS (Kenya), PCWS/Streams (Philippines); two research institutes: Cranfield University and WEDC (both UK); an NGO from the North: IRC (The Netherlands) as well as a representative from the Directorate of Water Development (Uganda).
Priority themes for further development
In the first part of the meeting we have discussed knowledge/research gaps, implementation gaps and advocacy gaps. See the table in the next page for all the ideas proposed.
There were two main clusters of topics that came out of the discussion. The first one was on finance mechanisms at local level. It was proposed to continue with the documentation of cases, research and advocacy but focusing on financing mechanism for scaling up WASH at the district level. IRC, CREPA, NGO Forum, TREND and SEUF (under the WELL programme) are already working on this topic.
The second main cluster discussed had to do with tariff structures and regulation. Aspects discussed include how to go from policy to implementation, the need for research on regulation, management and frameworks for subsidy allocation and cross subsidies and subsidizing connections for urban poor. It was not decided who would take the lead on this topic. Cranfield, WEDC, PCWS and CREPA have already developed some work on these topics.
| Actual costs | Trends of costs for implementation of WSS (unit costs vs time) Rural Opex/appropriate technologies Water for livelihoods (cost/benefit of productive uses, especially for rural areas) |
| Financing mechanisms | From pilot projects to scaling-up Access to micro finance (link with UN year micro credit 2005) Accessing financial options for intermediate level (districts, regions) Financing mechanisms for sanitation Financing for the poorest Advocacy of best practices Include social capital |
| From policy to implementation | Policy support for entrepreneurs (ADB book: private investments in water systems) Lack of uniformity in implementation of cost recovery policies Tariff structures and regulation, transparency of tariffs => research on regulation Advocacy against block tariffs Management and targeting of subsidies (also cross subsidies) Subsidizing connections for urban poor / how to subsidize access? Advocacy for cost sharing Cost effective sanitation for urban areas Research in cost recovery in small town with water supply |
| Effectiveness of donor technical assistance | Is aid going to where it is most needed? => rural and peri urban watsan and the poorest Efficiency of delivering $1 to community / users (costs of overhead) |
Dissemination/advocacy strategy
During the second part of the meeting the group discussed dissemination and advocacy activities for the work that is being developed. Suggested next steps include: presence in WASH Forum (December 2004) where most of the partners will be present. Other meetings with potential for dissemination through workshops and presentations include:
- The CREPA Network Research Forum, Ouagadougou, 6-10 December 2004
- UN Commission on Sustainable Development, New York, 11-22 April 2005
- International Water Association Conference on water economics and finance for the sector, Crete, 8-10 July 2005. The deadline for the call for papers for IWA is the 30th November.
Training and capacity building events were also discussed:
- CREPA promoted the English and French training packages and the course on Cost Recovery which keeps bringing many participants from West Africa every year. TREND is interested in replicating the course in English. CREPA Mauritania is also interested in developing the course.
- WEDC and Cranfield have developed modules for utility managers on finance and tariffs.
- WEDC has short courses on planning and management for different technologies for rural water supply. Target group: middle managers (government, private and civil society). The information is available in the WEDC Cd-rom and webpage.
Key actions
There are great opportunities for further advocate and publish on the financing mechanism topic as 2005 is the UN year of micro credit. During the Amman meeting, there was very little to no attention to the link between the micro financing and the WASH sector. However there is scope for linking the two (as is being done already by some organisations, like NGO Forum). This means that there is lot’s of work for us for advocacy (and critical reflection) on this. In this context a very concrete action will be to write up all the different findings from the country experience in a Special Water Lines issue on financing for the sector at local level. All the thematic group members can contribute with their on going research and findings in different countries.
For the EU Water Facility it was proposed that combining research on financing mechanisms with district level pilot projects in different countries could bring the knowledge further one step into implementation. IRC will take the lead in developing the first draft of a concept note which will be then further developed by the partners interested in joining.
