IRC Symposium 2010 materials overview

Overview of materials from the IRC Symposium 2010

• View all papers and presentations under the cost, finance and accountability themes by clicking on the links provided.
• View all the keynote presentations here and on-the-spot synthesis and trend-setting insight offered by IRC's Patrick Moriarty and WSP-EAP's Guy Hutton.
• View the Symposium background paper here.
• View the Synthesis document emerging from the symposium here.

Articles

Government spending, not aid, is achieving MDG for water

David Hall challenges development thinkers and decision makers alike to take on the perspective that government spending is what will achieve the MDG target of improving water access for people in developing countries, rather than development aid or the private sector. Current points of view deem overseas aid as being critical in expanding WASH services since there is a “spending gap” that needs to be filled by foreign investors. However, Hall argues that this spending gap is misleading and that the role of the government should be taken more seriously and made more central.

Dear policy maker - it's very complicated

Since policy makers are often given overly complicated advice from researchers, Guy Hutton presents that policy makers need clear and well argued messages that can be understood by the general public. Particularly when it comes to costs and financing WASH services, it is important that policy makers get simple interpretations, pros and cons, and the affordability of what is being proposed.  

Building a social movement against corruption in the WASH sector

Dr. Iftekhar Zaman argues in his paper that although Bangladesh’s effort towards steady economic growth over the past two decades is commendable and ought to be recognised, much more should have been possible if it were not for the prevalent corruption practices taking place. Kathy Shordt, who presented on his behalf during IRC’s 2010 Symposium drew attention to the people who mobilised in Bangaladesh to improve transparency in the public arena. She also criticised how the Western world should be less complacent about corruption within their own borders, and move towards identifying and addressing corruption as common day practice.

Relook at costing WASH services, says Andhra Pradesh Minister

The Hon. Vishwarup Pinipe drew attention to the need to revise costing methodologies for rural WASH services in India, among other parts of the world. He agrees with the WASHCost (India) findings which emphasize that when it comes to planning for WASH services there is a need for identifying cost components such as operation, maintenance, cost of capital, and cost of source sustainability, as well as other direct & indirect costs. The Minister also presented the policies and programmes of India that are currently in place to help provide clean drinking water and basic sanitation in order to reach the MDGs.

IRC Symposium challenges WASH sector to focus on services

The underlying message behind the IRC Symposium 2010 was to challenge WASH sector actors to switch from basic service delivery of infrastructure, and to look beyond the years and aim for a more sustainable service delivery model. This would mean having to look at the full life cycle costs, as well as the costs that the communities will pay if/when these services fail.

WASHCost reveals the high cost of low quality services

Catarina Fonseca identified that, simply put, providing low quality services costs a lot of money. Providing more expensive technology is not the sole solution to the problem of poor service delivery quality. There is a preconceived notion that more expensive infrastructure will provide better services. However, the WASHCost research in four countries (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mozambique, and India) shows that switching from handpumps to small piped services can still leave people with sub-standard service levels.

Associations of pump mechanics in Uganda help improve functioning of handpumps

Jacinta Nekesa gave an example from the field demonstrating the linkages between costs, financing and accountability for sustainable water, as well as sanitation and hygiene services. In West Nile, Uganda, five district-based associations of handpump mechanics have been created, and have helped increase the functionality rate of the facilities to up to 96%. Jacinta presents that the associations also help strengthen the accountability, and therefore help reduce corruption of the systems.

Are sustainable services the new paradigm?

Ton Schouten presents the aim of Triple-S during IRC’s 2010 Symposium. In order to achieve sustainability, we need to push for service providers within different districts to work together, instead of acting as disjointed service providers. We also need to move away from simply counting water points, towards counting the years of sustainable access for people. This way of thinking shifts the paradigm from simply providing the service infrastructure, to exploring the learning and adaptive capacity of the sector to deliver sustainable services.

UNICEF asks why health and water are divided over subsidies 

Paul Edwards explores the concept of user fees and how it can act as a barrier to services for the poor. He argues that helping poor people generate their own income to pay for WASH service costs is a far better approach than subsidising water and sanitation. He also highlights the importance of offering learning programmes that teach and help change behaviour of sanitation practices, rather than simply subsidising the infrastructure.