Sustainability Planning and Monitoring

ForewordAccess to safe water and sanitation lies atthe very core of poverty reduction.Improved access gives the poor, especiallywomen, control over basic aspects of their life anda sense of empowerment.Within the context of the Millennium DevelopmentGoals for water and sanitation, interventions mustbe designed to strike more effectively at the rootsof global poverty and involve more than the mereconstruction of facilities. The keys to success willbe establishing pro-poor policies and institutionalpractices; promoting sustainable financingmechanisms; and sharing knowledge with andbuilding capacities in institutions for scaling upsustainable and equitable water and sanitationservices. Meeting these targets at the ground levelwill require infrastructure improvement projects thatuse appropriate targeting strategies, involvecommunities in decision making, and measureachievements in social equity and justice.The Methodology for Participatory Assessment(MPA) offers the mechanism needed to track genderand social equity in large-scale infrastructureprojects and measure progress of the goal toprovide sustainable services for all. Increasedinvestment flows can reach the poor. Communitydrivenprojects–those that represent the needs andchoices of each member of the community–provide the channel.The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) andthe IRC International Water and Sanitation Centredeveloped the MPA through a global pilotingand validation exercise in 18 large-scale projectsin 15 countries. The study, Linking Sustainabilitywith Demand, Gender and Poverty, foundempirical evidence that community-managedwater supply services, which employed demandresponsiveapproaches sensitive to gender andpoverty issues, were more sustainable and moreeffectively used.Since its inception in 1998, the MPA has gainedwide appreciation and popularity with sectorstakeholders in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.Country governments, donor agencies, andNGOs active in water supply and sanitation haveinvested in building institutional capacities for itsuse and in tailoring MPA applications to their workat the policy, institution, and community levels. Inthe process new applications have been developedand fielded, strengths and weaknesses of the MPArecognized and addressed, quality controlmeasures identified, and knowledge generatedfrom the field widely shared. In this book, WSPand IRC bring together the fruits of learning gainedby and with partners worldwide during the period1999 - 2002.The MPA can empower poor communities to plan,manage, and sustain their water and sanitationservices, and gain control over their life, health,and environment. This volume and its companionmaterials can ensure that the poor exercise theirrightful voice and choice in community-drivendevelopment processes.Jamal SaghirDirectorEnergy and WaterChairWater Supply and SanitationSector BoardThe World BankWalter StottmannProgram ManagerWater and Sanitation Programiii