Opinions and voices for change
Navigate the blogs from our experts, water, sanitation and hygiene sector colleagues and guests. Narrow down your search by using the filters.
The "Raising Citizens' Voice in the Regulation of Water Services" is a public education initiative driven by the National Regulator (currently within the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF). Read more...
Dinajpur district residents have stopped defecating in the open because of the children's total sanitation campaign that follows a radical community-led approach. Whistle blowing is a favorite pastime among children in the villages of Dinajpur district in northern Bangladesh. They would blow their... Read more...
After decades of conflict, Cambodian water planners are struggling to provide supplies to urban residents. Many households do not use water from a network connection. Instead they rely on dirty and unreliable sources. Getting poor householders connected is unlikely without subsidies and regulatory... Read more...
The Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) has transformed sewage systems in low income, informal settlements ('katchi abadi'), where 60 percent of Karachi's population lives. OPP has challenged development approaches, which are very technical and overly-dependent on government and donor support. Such... Read more...
The residents of Sudhamnagar, a slum community in Bangalore, made the big leap from defecating in the open until 2007 to having household latrines in 2009, proving that once people understand what they're missing, they will find ways to get it. Read more...
An estimated 20-30% of funds and materials are diverted from sanitation programmes in South India due to corruption, experts have estimated. The Socio-Economic Unit Foundation (SEUF) has successfully employed a number of anti-corruption strategies in a participatory and community-based household... Read more...
In 1998, the Government of Armenia began to seriously weigh a private sector solution to the worsening situation with the water supply system in the country's capital, Yerevan. Read more...
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has had more than 3 decades of partnership experience in supporting the development of water supply services in Metropolitan (Metro) Manila. During this period, ADB provided nine loans (worth US$ 425.3 million) and seven technical assistance (TA) grants (worth US$ 3... Read more...
In October 1999, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved the Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project to sustain improvements in environmental health and the quality of life for the urban communities in small towns. The Executing Agency was the Department of Housing and Urban Planning (DHUP) of... Read more...
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has adopted twinning as part of its Water Operators' Partnership (WOPs) Program. The WOPs program promotes knowledge sharing and builds the capacity of water operators and utilities in the Asia and the Pacific region. Among its key initiatives is the twinning of 20... Read more...
A project supported by the Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) is piloting a project providing safe drinking water to 12,500 poor households in 25 villages in three coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh: Guntur, Krishna, and West Godavari. Read more...
To improve customer service, Sri Lanka's National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) introduced a customer charter and quality circles. Read more...
This paper highlights the importance of issues of local government accountability to citizens, analyses how changes in accountability mechanisms have been accomplished in a specific case, and examines the policy implications. The analysis is based on the case of the city of Gedaref, in Sudan. Read more...
Better accountability improves service delivery performance. Based on more than twenty-five case studies in over twelve countries, this paper describes the attempts of SNV Netherlands Development Organisation to strengthen the accountability capacity of citizens, government and service providers. Read more...
Tien Giang Province's small towns, deemed unserviceable by major water utilities, found a permanent solution to their big water problem in small piped water networks. Read more...
A paper commissioned by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, summarises critical water and sanitation sector reform implementation issues by drawing from recent experience in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. It was written by a group of policy advisors of the... Read more...
The city of Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu, India shows a way out of the sanitation crisis. The Tiruchirappalli model of community-managed toilets with bathing and washing facilities is an example of a partnership between sensitive city authorities, communities and NGOs, working together to address... Read more...
When things are going smoothly, why would someone bother to innovate? Where do ideas for innovations come from? How come some succeed but many do not leave the drawing board or the pilot stage? Read more...
A working paper from the ODI outlines water development policy in the 1990s. Read more...
Many a water utility has been overwhelmed by the prospect of developing a capacity building and institutional strengthening program (CBISP). Where do they start? Which aspects are negotiable and which ones aren't? Read more...