Keynote topic 6: Building coherence in global-regional-national monitoring

The purpose of this paper is to introduce Theme 6 of the Monitoring Sustainable WASH Service Delivery Symposium: “Building Coherence in Global-Regional-National Monitoring”. The paper sets out to provide a background for the discussions in this theme and to summarise some of the key issues expected to be raised in the four sessions devoted to this theme.

The objective of this theme is to increase the coherence between different levels of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) monitoring. Specifically it seeks to:

1. Clarify the purposes and improve communications, coordination and understanding of monitoring at different levels to build a more coherent global WASH monitoring framework, especially looking forward to post-2015.
2. Promote coordination and widespread application of generic, high-quality, country analytic assessments for the WASH sector.
3. Provide a platform for a key neglected issue in WASH monitoring - human resource (HR) capacity – and examine ways in which HR can be better incorporated into a comprehensive WASH monitoring framework.

These issues will be addressed in four sessions.