Programme Design and Monitoring

Policies have a close link to programmes and their impacts. A sound national sanitation policy is the foundation on which an implementation strategy and action plan will be developed. The strategy will help define details and outline activities based on the policy principles and guidelines, thereby enabling appropriate funding to be sourced, capacity to be developed and progress to be monitored.

By articulating needs and promoting the importance of sanitation, policies set priorities. On the basis of good policy frameworks, programme design and monitoring activities have a mandate and the impetus for moving forward. Design of programme steps and their contents can flow directly from the consideration of key elements.

Stakeholder analysis with a gender and poverty focus is particularly important. Understanding interests and power bases will have an impact on policy change and programme success and be supportive of scaling-up pilot initiatives.

Policy requires attention to programming to support public and private interventions to cater for the underserved. Collective action is less the target than strategies to generate demand and target private behaviour change.

Policies set the stage for monitoring programme implementation and help to define accountability mechanisms. The progress of strategic interventions under sanitation policies can be monitored and evaluated on many fronts, including, amongst others: level of community involvement; promotion of health and hygiene awareness (see also the TOP on hygiene promotion); health and ecological improvements; development of norms and standards for construction and operation of facilities; maintenance and management of services; sensitivity and effectiveness thereof to gender and poverty issues; mobilisation and management of financial resources and clarity of institutional arrangements.