Photo Credit Dominic Chavez

Country ownership has led to an increase in rural access to clean water and sanitation services in many sub-Saharan African countries according to a report released this week by The World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) in partnership with the African Development Bank, UNICEF, and the WHO. “Pathways to Progress: Transitioning to Country-Led Service Delivery Pathways to Meet Africa's Water Supply and Sanitation Targets,” reported that economic growth, debt relief, and increasing political stability have allowed for many countries to take charge of their water supply and sanitation sectors while developing sustainable service delivery pathways.

The report states that this success could not have been achieved without development partners’ funding; however the large impact of donor money was attributed to countries leading the implementation of services through their own systems:

“Country performance is not only the result of greater funding but also the nature of that funding. As aid modalities have shifted from donor-driven projects to country-led programmatic approaches to service delivery—along the lines of the Paris Principles for aid effectiveness—line ministries have increasingly used core government systems (public financial management systems and decentralized service delivery capacity) and capacity in the wider economy (markets, civil society, and private sector).”

Countries, including MLI focal countries Mali and Senegal, have taken funds and invested heavily in piped water schemes to rural areas. While there is substantial work remaining to connect the whole country to clean water, their investments have already paid off in providing numerous rural households with improved access to clean water. The impact of which is significant to the health of a population, particularly in reducing the risk of diarrheal disease, the second largest cause of death of children under five.

The report also highlighted the progress of another MLI country, Ethiopia. The rural sanitation subsector of the government expanded throughout the country by using the existing systems of the Federal Ministry of Health. The health extension worker network proved to be a vital tool as health workers stationed in pairs in rural communities were able to educate and help provide sanitation services. The results, the report stated, were “impressive strides in basic sanitation coverage.” 

And while donor support is essential for the program, grants are managed by the national budget and the expenditure management system at the federal level and are then cascaded down to the local government level. The government determines where the funds are best used, strengthening existing systems while removing and preventing any duplication of efforts. As stated in the report, Ethiopia’s system “demonstrates the extent to which three factors—political stability, sector leadership, and aid modalities—underpin progress in water supply and sanitation.”

The report ends by defining clear roles that donors and governments can take to reach MDG 7c: halving the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015. By placing ministries in the lead, development partners simply have two jobs: support countries to develop their service delivery pathways and respond to country-identified needs.