External Support Agencies Research Articles

The Global Consultation on Safe Water and Sanitation for the 1990s

The Global Consultation on Safe Water and Sanitation for the 1990s was an outstanding opportunity for participants from 102 developing countries along with over 60 External Support Agencies (ESA) to assess the experiences of the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade 1981–1990 (IDWSSD) and to reach a consensus on strategies and approaches for complete and effective coverage of water supply and sanitation. The resulting New Delhi Statement summarizing the conclusions and recommendations of the Global Consultation was presented to the General Assembly in autumn 1990. As one of the positive results, the New Delhi Consultation agreed that the UN Agencies and other bodies should continue the coordination work of the Steering Committee for Water Supply and Sanitation. It also provided a basis for the restructuring and consolidation of the new Collaborative Council for Water Supply and Sanitation, which will form a continuous consultative body for all UN agencies, NGOs, other external support agencies and developing countries concerned with the water sector.

Beyond the Decade: A Framework for Global Cooperation

The International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (IDWSSD) was launched by the General Assembly of the United Nations in November 1980 with the goal “to provide all people with water of safe quality and adequate quantity and basic sanitary facilities by 1990”. The World Bank estimates that despite the efforts during the Decade less than 50 percent of developing country populations have access to adequate water supplies and only 20 percent to adequate sanitation facilities. Major factors for the situation are the continuing population explosion and the economic stagnation of developing countries. Qualitative breakthroughs have been made however, through (i) improved coordination for sector inputs at the global and country levels, (ii) systematic formulation of country strategies, (iii) rationalization of the management of the sector, and most significantly through (iv) community involvement and (v) the adoption of low-cost sustainable and replicable technologies. The UNDP/World Bank Programme and the UNDP/WHO Decade Programmes have played a catalytic role in developing activities in these five areas. To maintain Decade momentum beyond 1990 and to accelerate the provision of water supply and sanitation services to all, with emphasis on the unserved rural and peri-urban poor, by using a coordinated programme “Decade” approach, a Framework for Global Cooperation has been established. A series of meetings of a Collaborative Council of External Support Agencies (ESAs) is involved, leading to a global consultation in India in 1990 for all developing countries to define and achieve consensus on a water and sanitation sector strategy for “Beyond the Decade”.

Developing information systems in the water and sanitation sector

Describes the findings of assignments carried out on behalf of the International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC) and concerned with the development of information systems in the water supply and sanitation sector in Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania and the Philippines. Four areas of information activity in the sector have been identified: Project and Sector Information; Management Information Systems; Technical Information Exchange; and Public Information and Promotion. Discusses the information situation in the water and sanitation sector in the four countries in terms of: information users and their needs; the supply of information; organizational structure; manpower; information resources; accommodation and equipment; finance; technical operations; and information products and services. Concludes that the importance of developing information systems in the water sector seems to have been seriously neglected, both by national government and donor agencies. There is a need to improve the quality and level of support for information activities in the sector from external support agencies.

Planning, evaluation, and legislative capabilities

Virtually all examinations of governmental planning have been restricted to the executive branch. However, over the last fifty years, Congress has acquired a relatively sophisticated, though latent, planning capability which has greatly increased its potential for policy making that is both more anticipatory and more comprehensive. While the transformation of Congress from a quintessential liberal institution into an institution dominated by planning is certainly an unlikely prospect, the reforms of the 1970s, building on the reforms of 1946, have changed Congress significantly. These reforms have vastly expanded congressional sources of internal support, have created and enhanced external congressional support agencies, and have reorganized the internal structure of Congress. It is important to recognize the planning implications of each of the structural modifications, and grouping them all together as part of a grand congressional planning capability puts past reforms and proposals for future reforms in a new and enlightening perspective.