Water for the poor : dedicated to making a difference

The paper describes how using Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) to establish framework and regulatory conditions would be more effective. Without enabling famework conditions, many nations are doomed to continue the failed policies of the past. Neither the public sector nor the private sector can deliver water services efficiently in the absence of an enabling framework. Key messages are: accelerate the introduction of public-private partnerships to improve and expand water service to the poor through an open and democratic process; improve the basic framework conditions at local and national levels to encourage greater private sector investment in water services; create regulatory mechanisms and good governance systems to (1) protect the public interest from excessive charges, (2) ensure that water service providers recover the full cost of providing the service, and (3) ensure service levels promised are delivered.
The paper provides an action-oriented roadmap for delivering water services for the poor. The business community cannot do the job by itself. It must be done through partnerships. To demonstrate what can be achieved, the paper provides a series of cases showing how business has already begun to provide water and the enabling environment needed to accelerate the process.