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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

UNICEF and WHO, Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation; 2012 Update, Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sa nitation, 2012. 8

UNICEF and WHO, 2012.

around how to define ‘adequate’ service standards. For example, in high-income (and many middle-income) countries, adequate provision for water is defined as drinking quality water piped into each home 24 hours a day. However, the only global dataset on water provision8 only indicates the proportion of residents with water piped to their premises and the proportion with ‘improved provision.’ This includes public taps or standpipes, tube wells or boreholes, protected springs, protected dug wells or rainwater collection. Those with access to just a public tap or standpipe are still classified as having ‘improved provision’ even when fetching water involves long queues, sporadic availability, punishing loads and often undrinkable water. There are comparable problems for sanitation. In high-income (and many middle-income) countries, adequate sanitation is understood as a water-sealed toilet (WC or pour-flush) in each home with provision for the safe collection and treatment of waste water. The only indicator available globally defines ‘improved provision,’ which includes, without disaggregation, pour-flush to a piped sewerage system, septic tank or pit latrine, ventilated improved pit latrines, pit latrines with a slab and composting toilets.9 Another data issue is the reliance of national governments and international agencies on sample surveys that reveal the proportion of the urban or rural population with services but do not break down the data any further. Information on local inequalities in provision is thus very limited. Census data is rarely available to local governments in a form that makes it possible to locate where provision is deficient. Such surveys are aimed at national governments and international agencies, rather than at the local governments responsible for provision. Despite data limitations, the scale of the differences in the quality and extent of provision of basic services across the world is evident. In high- and some middle-income

countries, all, or nearly all, of the population is well-served. In most middle-income countries, the proportion of the population with access to basic services increased significantly between 1990 and 2010. However, in low- and some middle-income nations, half or more of the population still lacks provision. In 2010, in sub-Saharan Africa, only 16% of the population had water piped to their premises – a 1% increase from 1990. In Southern Asia, the figure was 25% in 2010, up from 20% in 1990.10 Even with the low standards set for ‘improved provision’ of sanitation, only 30% in sub-Saharan Africa and 41% in South Asia had access to such services in 2010. 41% and 25% still relied on open defecation in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, respectively.11 Management and finance: The design and implementation of management and financing models are analysed. Management models include direct public provision, privatized provision and public-private partnerships, public-NGO and public-community partnerships. Where provision is not provided directly by the public sector, a focus is given to the capacity of local governments to provide oversight of external operators, and to ensure appropriate tendering, monitoring, enforcement and sanctioning of contracts. In terms of financing, chapters examine the extent to which local responsibilities are accompanied by fiscal decentralization (particularly local powers over taxes and service tariffs). They also review financing from the ‘3Ts’, a framework of the sources of funds for services initially developed by the OECD to ensure sustainable funding in the water sector, but applicable to any public service. The 3Ts categorize the main sources of funds for basic services as: Tariffs paid by service users, Taxes (local or national) paid by