Abstract
Sanitation, water supply, and their governance remain major challenges in many Pacific Island countries. National sustainable development strategies (NSDSs) are promoted throughout the Pacific as overarching improved governance instruments to identify priorities, plan solutions, and fulfill commitments to sustainable development. Their relevance to local village-level development priorities is uncertain. In this work we compare national priorities for sanitation in NSDSs with those in village community development plans (CDPs) and with metrics in censuses from the Kingdom of Tonga. Tonga’s Strategic Development Frameworks (TSDFI 2011–2014 and TSDFII 2015–2025) were developed to focus government and its agencies on national outcomes. From 2007 to 2016, 136 villages throughout Tonga’s five Island Divisions (IDs) formulated CDPs involving separately 80% of women, youth, and men in each village. It is shown that censuses in 2006 and 2016 reveal linked improvements in water supply and sanitation systems but identify IDs with continuing challenges. It is found that sanitation and water are a national priority in TSDFI but are absent from the current TSDFII. In contrast, analysis of CDPs, published just after TSDFII, show in one ID, 53% of villages ranked sanitation as a priority and marked differences were found between IDs and between women, youth, and men. CDPs’ sanitation priorities in IDs are shown to mostly correspond to sanitation and water metrics in the censuses, but some reflect impacts of natural disasters. Explanations for differences in sanitation priorities between the national and local development plans, as well as suggestions for improving NSDS processes in island countries, are advanced.
Highlights
The combined challenges of climate change and economic development have long been recognized as major threats to the sustainability of small island developing states (SIDS), impacting especially vital water and sanitation services [1,2,3]
WASH has been identified as a major continuing national challenge in Pacific Island countries (PICs) [9] and improved governance is seen as a key step in addressing that challenge [14]
National sustainable development strategies and plans have been advocated as efficient governance instruments to identify overarching national priorities, select appropriate solutions, allocate responsibilities and resources, and fulfil international and regional commitments, especially in sustainable development
Summary
The combined challenges of climate change and economic development have long been recognized as major threats to the sustainability of small island developing states (SIDS), impacting especially vital water and sanitation services [1,2,3]. National sustainable development strategies (NSDSs) [5] have been seen as an efficient way for SIDS to identify national challenges, plan their solutions, assign resources and responsibilities, and fulfill country commitments to international and regional agreements and programs, the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and UN SIDS action programs [3]. Part of their efficiency stems from the fact that they are mainly top-down processes, often encouraged, assisted, and supported by external agencies. In this work, using a valuable example from a multi-island PIC, the Kingdom of Tonga, comparison is made between the planning priorities given to sanitation in top-down national processes and bottom-up village development planning processes
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