Possible Focus Areas *
as identified in international agreements

Desirable (Inter)Governmental Action

(Type 1)

Equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water

§         Halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford safe drinking water (Millennium Target)

§         Meet the water security needs of the poor – for livelihoods, health and welfare, production and food security and reducing vulnerability to disasters. Pro-poor water policies focus on listening to the poor about their priority water security needs.

§         Sectoral themes such as water need to be harmonised with, and possibly integrated into, national strategies for poverty reduction such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers PSRPs), which are themselves multi-stakeholder processes
- should there be greater emphasis on the linkages between NSSDs and PRSPs [remembering that PRSPs are specific to Debt Relief and that there will be other poverty-reduction strategies in other countries, especially outside Africa].
PRSPs: we might have to look at the overall level of indebtedness of national governments, especially to the international financial institutions.  Debt reduction should be a big focus in the freshwater, poverty reduction debate

§         Reaffirm the recommendations of the Bonn Conference on priority actions for mobilising financial resources

§         Reaffirm that water resources development should be based on optimal solutions for all users within catchment basins, including protecting water rights, providing sufficient amounts of water for domestic and other uses; recognizing the needs and special circumstances of Indigenous Peoples and the poor

§         Include gender impact assessments for all water projects to ensure equal responsibilities and benefits among women and men, including distribution of work, paid opportunities and capacity building

·         Restructured sector investments by reallocating a higher proportion of funds to affordable and appropriate projects in rural and low-income urban areas, where needs are greatest.

Bonn recommendation should be reaffirmed, evaluated and turned into action (Jim Oatridge)

·         Identify strategies and existing programmes and projects for access to clean water and sanitation (good practices; lessons learned)

·         Involve small and medium sized businesses in developing countries; create partnerships and generate support for their actions to provide water & sanitation, particularly in rural areas. Very important to recognise the wider range of actors in sector.
 – local entrepreneurial, self-help skills are often under-stated and certainly under-represented in multi-stakeholder discussions. (e.g. Community based Water Services Providers and Water Users Committees, and the Business Partners for Development model - Sarah, RandWater)
- involve small and medium sized businesses in developing countries in the partnership proposal for water access and water resource management. the big organizations are already well represented and can function as providers of information , knowledge banks, training and capacity building in transferable issues, albeit not all of them (Maria, IMAH). 

·         Consider ability for employment generation

·         Social transition measures, for example, measures of re-education & training for workers who lose their jobs when water utilities get an "effectivity increase" (for example, through privatisation & outplacements)

·         Clear distinction between water for basic human and livelihood needs and water for commercial purposes

·         Examine balance of available resources in watershed management (conflicting needs between rural and urban users)

·         Stakeholder to conduct joint reviews of water strategies at national level in developing countries (GWA annual facts and figures report 2002 will concentrate on policies and institutions – identify stakeholder partnerships for collection of data)

·         Review stakeholder participation in national strategies for poverty reduction and/or PSRPs as they relate to water issues, assess lessons learnt, and develop strategies for improvement where necessary.
- WaterAid is engaged in a major review [with ODI] on behalf of DFID of the water and sanitation aspects of PRSPs – countries included are Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda and Kenya.  There will be a high-level conference presenting these findings [the end of Phase I of the research project] in May 2002.
– promotion of watershed development and water harvesting technologies should be included in national poverty reduction strategies where applicable (proved to reduce poverty, improve livelihood opportunities, increase food availability)

·         Identify opportunities for gender impact assessments by donors and stakeholder partnerships (using Methodology for Participatory Assessments – a framework for sustained and equitable WSS services with gender, demand, poverty and equity objectives – developed by Water and Sanitation Program/WB and IRC Int’l Water and Sanitation Centre).

·         Identify opportunities for stakeholder partnerships in providing ‘facts and figures’ on gender and water (GWA annual report based on Human Development Report)

·         The collection of gender disaggregated data to distinguish differences in needs, interest and priorities for water use

·         Identify opportunities for broadening the scope and impact of good practices through stakeholder partnerships (eg, GWA programme with grants for pilots to test, validate and replicate good practise)

·         look at lessons learnt and means of implementation (infrastructure, capacity-building, technical skills, finance); e.g. BOT (build – operate - transfer)

Provide equitable access to safe, sufficient and affordable sanitation

§         To halve, by 2015 the present proportion of people without effective and hygienic sanitation (Bonn Rec.).

Need a target and local specific plan of action to half the present proportion by 2015 and ensure services by 2025

§         Adopt a sanitation target corresponding to the MDG on access to water, eg: “A global plan of action, with financial and technical assistance from developed countries, to have, by 2015, the proportion of people without access to sanitation, with assistance provided to national and local governments for the development and implementation of efficient sanitation systems and infrastructure while safeguarding human health” (WSSCC)

·         Clear government responsibility and political will to ensure integrated approaches to sanitation and hygiene improvement are mainstreamed into government sector policies and championed by a single line Ministry

·         Agree a programme of action for implementing Agenda 21 – see WSSCC draft language

·         Sanitation is linked to pollution control very closely. It is only fair that the Polluter Pays Principle should be adopted and given enforcement ‘teeth’ in each country. This is one way in which diseases such as cholera can be prevented (Sarah, Randwater)

Financing & Resources

Governments to commit to providing adequate resources for reaching targets.

Mobilize international and domestic financial resources at all levels for water and sanitation infrastructure and services, transfer of technology and knowledge and capacity building, ensuring that water and sanitation infrastructure and services meet the needs of the poor, low-income and vulnerable groups and are gender-sensitive.  Sound methodologies are needed to assess the environmental, economic and social costs and benefits of new water resources developments to ensure the best
use of resources (WSSCC)

§         Review of the resources required to achieve the Millenium Development Goals

§         develop new finance mechanisms for investment in public infrastructure without privatisation.

§         Discussion on the need to focus on sustainability of outcomes and institutional arrangements

Integrated water resource management for protecting ecosystems and sustainable water resources

§         Stopping the unsustainable exploitation of water resources by developing integrated water management strategies (Millennium Target)

§         Preventing pollution

§         Water management organisations from community to basin level to include effective representation of women and men of all social strata

§         Call on governments to work with each other and with all stakeholders to develop and implement integrated water management strategies

§         Intensify the water pollution prevention to reduce health hazards and protect ecosystems by introducing affordable sanitation, treatment of waste water, monitoring and effective legal frameworks (WSSCC)

§         Support research efforts and refer to suitable international agencies (CGIAR for agriculture)

§         Comprehensive monitoring programmes and data bases on the various uses of water in major catchment basis, in order to achieve demand-based, multi-stakeholder water management strategies

§         Affirmative action required to secure balanced participation through clear criteria setting

§         Develop plans for transboundary action

§         Build on existing mechanisms

§         Use appropriate technologies, especially in agriculture

§         Focus on water conservation (Protection of water resources from external contamination; indiscriminate exploitation of groundwater; stormwater management)

§         Respect the linkages between ecosystems, habitat, and protection with efficiency, and with demand management, incl prices; pricing signals needed.

§         Capacity building regarding legislation and enforcement; working with UNEP Regional Centres

§         Global Water Partnership: aim to transfer the GWP Toolkit for regional level to national level

§         Design and conduct further research into non-conventional uses of water, such as wastewater, brackish and saline water, including cost effective desalination and water harvesting

§         Develop recommendations on the design of such programmes and data bases

§         Produce proposals for ‘Integrated Least Cost Planning’ to be accepted and implemented by all players in the supply chain (Sarah, RandWater)

Risk Management

Desertification

Drought planning

Flood planning

Climate Change

Insurance Crop schemes

§         Call on governments to include Risk Management as part of their water resources planning disciplines.

§         Call on governments to work on the UNCCD (UN Convention to Combat Desertification) to implement its resolutions. Desertification should be taken as a systemic issue (socio-economic, climate problem)

§         Identify, review and promote good practice in community-level stakeholder action to prevent flooding

§         Promote rainwater harvesting systems
and look at existing approaches for efficient use of rainwater harvesting (e.g. historical irrigation practices)

§         Develop with individual local authorities early warning systems and disaster preparedness and management systems

§         Identify how to support UNEP's capacity, e.g "Early Warning Assessment" (identify areas of risk)

§         Regeneration and development of the eco-systems, catchment basins and watersheds with involvement of local residents

§         Promote appropriate farming methods to prevent desertification.

IFAP is carrying out a study on good farming practices in the fight against desertification and its negative impacts for WSSD. This could be undertaken as a joint research project, including the scientific community, Indigenous Peoples (to include traditional techniques), women’s groups, private sector.

Valuing Water

This does not have to stand on its own. It could fall under two other main issues : Finance and also Education (Sarah, RandWater)

Ongoing discussions about water pricing vis-à-vis cultural and spiritual meanings of water

Additional point is the tension between using water pricing to restrict / minimize the use of water [an ecological argument] and the inability of poor people to afford water on a full-cost recovery basis.

§         Link up with Human Rights Commission (Convention on Rights of the Child refers to Right to Water)

WaterAid is doing some work with others on a draft of the Right to Water. This might form a topic in its own right.

·         Water pricing: look at mechanisms of affordability and promote appropriate systems (eg tiered tariff systems: public/private.)

·         Appropriate levels of service that people can afford are very important for the developing world.

§         Share case studies for the provision of ‘life-line’ water services e.g. the 6 kl per month Free Basic Water model in South Africa.

§         Need for capacity building for experts on water pricing, adequate cross-subsidy systems, etc

§         The value of water is not just about pricing – it is also a major education requirement. Certainly in the developing nations there is a strong need for basic education about water as a resource.

§         Valuing water in non-financial sense

Private sector engagement in water supply and sanitation

§         Ongoing discussions about the actual scope and the actual impacts of private sector engagement

§         Private Sector engagement discussion could be:

o        Philosophical – i.e. only the state should provide basic services; basic services should be free at the point of delivery; profits should not be made from basic services. However, there is a cost in providing services, and that cost has to be met by someone e.g., Government, Local Authorities, "the rich", via cross-subsidiaries etc, and investment in infrastructure has to have a return either by way of profit or by Government providing subsidised loans etc. (Jim Oatridge)

o        And / or financial – what are the incentives required to achieve the financial resources required to meet the Millennium Development Goals?

o        And / or governance focused – how do you achieve managerial systems of control with disparate power / financial imbalances; what is the role of regulation and the regulator; can poor people become consumers; is this a monopoly or a cost problem?

Call on governments at the Summit not to discount the role of public-public partnerships. Public sector involvement can’t be automatically associated with less efficient delivery, and there are public sector organisations with capacity that should be maximized rather than marginalised.

Promote public-private partnerships by providing stable and transparent regulatory frameworks, involving all concerned stakeholders, and monitoring the performance and improving accountability of public institutions and private sector companies through good governance and the development of a code of ethics. (WSSCC)

§         Design and conduct a multi-stakeholder review of the social, economic, and environmental impacts of privatisation in the water sector

§         Include all types of utilities (not a question of either/or)

§         Link to existing initiatives
(e.g Tearfund's questionnaire on responsible business in the water sector; WaterAid's Assessment of approaches in public/private management; analysis by TU; WaterAid’s PSP research will produce a final report in late April / early May, after which there will be specific findings and positions.)

§         Share information on the way PPP contracts are regulated and develop best-practice guidelines for nations to adopt/ use.

§         Establish Performance Management systems which can be monitored and benchmarked (Sarah, RandWater)

§         Discussion on the need to focus on sustainability of outcomes and institutional arrangements.

Governance

General comment – governance is a very complicated issue in nations where there is a high degree of lawlessness –e.g. high crime, violence, intimidation, corruption etc. Where the moral fibre is seriously damaged it is extremely difficult to manage in any of these focus area. On top of that many countries have the added complications of a very heterogenous society in terms of many cultures and languages which makes communication difficult, and the building of a common vision and framework of how to get there.  The whole issue of rights versus responsibilities can be a very ‘hairy’ one, particularly in less educated communities (Sarah, RandWater)

·         Renew commitments by Governments and other stakeholders to priority actions in governance in water and sanitation and capacity building at all
levels, and to provide new and additional financial resources and innnovative technologies to developing countries in order to promote the
implementation of Chapter 18 of Agenda 21 (WSSCC)

·         Promote closer coordination among the various international and intergovernmental bodies working on water-related issues, both within he UN system and between the UN, international financial institutions, NGOs and other organizations within civil society. WSSCC

·         Recognise that the Ministerial Declaration of The Hague, the World Commission on Dams, and the Bonn Conference process have demonstrated that people and governments of different and sometimes opposing views can converge in constructive alternatives and form new partnerships on water resources management that go beyond sectoral approaches

·         Reaffirm the recommendations of the Bonn Conference on priority actions in the area of governance; including that participatory approaches to water resource management should be strengthened

·         Reference to Codes of Conduct (and their monitoring) in the water sector, particularly those developed and adopted by a variety of stakeholders

·         General Assembly to establish a process to globalise the Aarhus Convention

·         Develop institutional frameworks that work effectively to support sustainable development (to facilitate the building of partnerships among major groups and with governments for structuring implementation of Agenda 21). Develop institutional framework for water rights and access to water (Nora, IFAP)

·         National Water Authorities (consultative bodies that include all stakeholders, taking a participatory approach) would ensure harmonisation of water policies. Examples: the Netherlands, France, Italy, Algeria (Water Ministry), Lebanon.
IFAP’s Mediterranean Committee is developing this idea.

·         Strong independent regulators and ‘ombudsmen’ to be established in each country- and the regulator should have ‘teeth’. 

·         Establish an international water authority for managing the water resource (not for its supply). 

·         Develop a multi-stakeholder statement / campaign on good governance, transparency and accountability in the water sector (towards Summit process & beyond)

·         Use Jo’burg as a platform for public commitments on water governance; local governments would commit themselves to providing an inventory of water resources; other stakeholder groups could commit to making certain advances within 6 / 12 months (Kyoto – one step) within their area of weakness

·         Create linkages with the 'C41' process on national governance (WRI / IUCN / USCIB)

·         National multi-stakeholder councils to develop water management strategies (this might include advising on the regulatory framework)

·         Improve public governance by supporting public water managers, departments, etc.
(involve workers for reforming public water systems, for abetting polluting practices in industry, and to reach out to community members)

·         Local multi-stakeholder councils & Forums to develop water management strategies (which might include collaborative management mechanisms on access, price, and delivery of water & sanitation (e.g. pilot communities?) and gender issues – GWA developing advocacy tools for local governments to mainstream gender)

·         Develop and monitor a Code of Conduct for public and private delivery of water & sanitation (support public water managers, departments)

·         Address corruption - But remember that big blue-chip companies have resources to address this issue [at least in PR terms] – much corruption is petty-corruption affecting local government and the borehole contract – way out of the normal discussions of international conventions and Codes of Practice.

·         Set up joint information centres providing data on water quality for citizens, based on existing experience with such services (eg Eco-Telephone in the Ukraine); establish links with The Access Initiative (WRI et al)

·         look at the feasibility of the Aarhus Convention by focusing on water as one element (e.g focus on water policy, collection of data etc. in 1-2 countries)

·         Introduce more concrete measures of implementing principle 10 of Rio Declaration (access to environmental information)

·         Investment for integrated rural development plans (economic and social infrastructure, capacity building for local governance).

·         Establish Performance Management systems which can be monitored and benchmarked (Sarah, RandWater)

Monitoring pledges and commitments

Review of international and national commitments that come out of WSSD

This should be built into every Focus Area as part of the “Means’ – the way we do things – or it can be assimilated into Good Governance

§         Establish multi-stakeholder review mechanisms to follow-up, held citizens in each country, hold their governments / officials to account on the agreements they enter.

§         Establishing an institutional framework to facilitate the building of partnerships among major groups and with governments for structuring implementation of Agenda 21 (Nora, IFAP)