This policy note examines the impact of the World Bank's poverty reduction support credit (PRSC) budget support instrument (BSI) in the context of rural water supply (RWS) and sanitation in Uganda. The policy note is based on a 2004 study commissioned by the World Bank: towards the millennium development goals (MDGs) in Uganda: a retrospective study of the impact of three years of the BSI on rural water. Uganda can meet the MDG if the BSI process continues to be refined, and poverty eradication action plan (PEAP) targets are also within reach. The outlook for the next 12 years indicates that the MDG are indeed within reach, however, targets set in the sector investment plan (SIP) and PEAP appear less attainable. With continued refinement, indications are strong that the BSI process will further enhance accountability and efficacy of RWS. Continued and improved implementation of the BSI thus offers the optimal approach to meet all targets.

Efforts to improve the water supplies used by people in rural areas of developing countries have run into serious obstacles: not only are public funds not available to build facilities for all, but many newly constructed facilities have fallen into disrepair and disuse. Along with the numerous failures there are also successes in this sector. From these successes a new view has begun to emerge of what the guiding principles of rural water supply strategies should be. This book brings together and spells out the constituents of this emerging view. The central message is that it is the local people themselves, not those trying to help them, who have the most important role to play. The community itself must be the primary decisionmaker, the primary investor, the primary organizer, and the primary overseer. The authors examine the implications of this primary principle for the main policy issues - the level of service to be provided in different settings, the level and mechanisms for cost recovery, the roles for the private and public sectors, and the role of women. The potential advantages of proceeding from this outlook, instead of the older top-down approaches, are considerable. Improvement efforts are more likely to meet felt needs, new facilities are more likely to be kept in service, and more communities are more likely to get safe water sooner.

This book offers insights into ways countries and individual organisations can move towards a service delivery approach and is a valuable resource for professionals in who are interested in improving the design and implementation of rural water supply programmes. Published in association with IRC.

These guidelines are to help planners and managers in national governments to develop their own rural water supply and sanitation programmes. They can also be used by consultants, and NGOs could adapt them for their programmes. The Guidelines have been developed to help planners and managers to meet two challenges in rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS): 1. how to integrate the different components of RWSS - water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion, and now, water resource management (in relation to domestic water supply and sanitation), together with the institutional arrangements to provide the services. 2. to enable all the stakeholders to participate in the planning process - women and men in the villages and communities to be served; field staff of implementing and facilitating agencies; the various technical and management staff at district, provincial and central levels; and other organisations including NGOs and the private sector. The Guidelines and supporting Manual provide a participatory process and methods to enable the user to address both these challenges. The process and methods can be applied in most contexts - they are intended to help the user to develop their own solutions to their own issues and problems.

This report on India's rural water supply and sanitation points out that India has achieved considerable success in providing safe drinking water to about 85% of her rural population by tapping ground and surface water through 3 million hand-pumps, thousands of water supply schemes and traditional sources. Despite the impressive coverage of provision of safe drinking water facilities in the rural areas, there are certain areas of serious concern. The issue of sustainability and maintenance of quality of water supplied are cited as the two major constraints in achieving the avowed objectives. In the years to come, the rural water supply program is sure to have serious challenges by way of meeting the expanding needs of a fast growing population, as well as the increasing demand of the population for higher service levels. The adoption of the demand driven approach replacing the present supply focused approach is a pre requisite for evolving suitable cost sharing practices with active participation of the stakeholders. In this background, the report on the rural water supply and sanitation by the World Bank, as part of the Water Resources Management Work, dwells on the policy and constraint of this sector, as well as on institutional and financial issues related to the sector reform process, and advocates an approach to bring about radical reforms in the sector.