Even at local scales there can often be multiple actors working side by side but using different approaches to provide WASH services. The result is that the sector is extremely fragmented and incoherent and in many cases highly inefficient and unsustainable. A simple example that could be solved easily through better communication is the type of water pipe that is used. Different service providers use different pipes and this can mean that the water and sanitation systems of cities can consist of many different types of pipe, each requiring different kinds of expertise and different replacement parts. These types of challenges are the result of WASH financing being channeled too often into short-term, independent projects that are not part of wider common plan (Battle 2015).
At the root of these challenges is the way WASH actors work with each other. While SDG 6 sets out a clear and united set of goals to be achieved by 2030, the development strategies and the structures through which they are delivered can sometimes lead to inconsistent approaches that undermine the development process. To address this issue, recent efforts have been made by WaterAid and other sector partners to identify 'collaborative behaviours that, if adopted by countries and their partners, will make development cooperation more effective in the sector, and ensure universal, sustainable access to WASH services' (Battle 2015). Four behaviours have been identified:
Applying these behaviours to the water sector is a challenge but progress is already being made. In 2015 these behaviours were adopted by the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) partnership, a global consortium of WASH development actors including over 150 country governments dedicated to working 'towards a common vision of sanitation, hygiene and water for all, always and everywhere' (SWA 2016). Experience from other sectors suggests that a global platform such as SWA has an important role to play in realising the universal adoption of these behaviours (Sanitation and Water for All 2016).
Institutional change is notoriously difficult to achieve for it poses a threat to the established ways of thinking and must often must be done through those persons who have been most successful in the current system. However, the adoption of these behaviours by the SWA represents an important step towards achieving an effective and coordinated action in water and sanitation development.
Liberia is one such country whose government has been aiming to increase coordination in the WASH sector with the help of SWA. To do this, a number of institutions have been set up to coordinate and monitor the many actors involved in the WASH sector in Liberia. The National Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion Committee (NWSHPC) was set up in 2012 and by 2013 was coordinating the activities of 51 institutions both government, private and charitable. Without such an umbrella committee, the activities of these institutions that include the likes of WaterAid, Oxfam and the Liberian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, would be near impossible to coordinate and organise into an effective action.
Harmonisation in the WASH sector is beginning to happen at a global, national and local scale and represents an important step forward for the sector which currently suffers from inefficiencies due to a lack of coordination between actors. However, many challenges lie ahead including a lack of institutional capacity to organise the almost absurd number of WASH actors, a lack of political will to bring about change that may require more funding and a change to the status quo, and disagreements between actors that have conflicting attitudes about WASH provision (WELL 2016). What is certain however is that if the SDG number 6 goal is to be completed by 2030, it will require the coordinated efforts of institutions around the world of all types and sizes and not a confused mess of short-term, parallel delivery mechanisms fated to undermine one another.
No comments:
Post a Comment