Sanitation and Water for All:
Progress and challenges
Tom Slaymaker
WaterAid UK

Outline
• Why do we need SWA-GFA?
• How will SWA-GFA work?
• Work in progress
• Challenges
• Next steps
http://www.unwater.org/activities_san4all.html

A global issue needs a global
solution
One in eight people without safe water
Sub-Saharan Africa is most off-track Water - Cited as the
based on current MDG progress: highest priority of
- Water not until 2035 the poor
- Sanitation not until 2108
Poor Sanitation –
In Sub-Saharan Africa, only the one of the biggest
maternal mortality MDG is more killers of children
off-track than sanitation

Poor access to WASH is holding back progress on
health and education and economic development
• 88% of diarrhoeal deaths from poor WASH –
WASH could prevent 1.4 million diarrhoea deaths
every year
• Health and
• fewer diarrhoea episodes & less worm infestation
Nutrition improves nutritional status
• hand-washing with soap can halve incidence of
Acute Respiratory Infections
• improving WASH in schools has an impact on
• Education enrolment levels, particularly for girls
• 5.5 billion productive days per year lost due to
• Poverty diarrhoea and burden of fetching water household
water required for small-scale productive activities
• Women & girls bear the brunt of fetching water &
• Gender benefit most when distances are reduced

Defining the
problem in
the WASH
sector

SWA provides a structured partnership
mechanism linking global and national efforts
to accelerate progress on WASH
Structure Principles
Operationalise principles of Aid
Global Effectiveness in the sector
• Annual High Level Meeting • Country ownership
(GLAAS) • Harmonisation
• Global Compact • Alignment
• Predictability and untying
Country Level Processes
• Results focus
• Sector diagnostics • Mutual accountability
• Development/strengthening of (Paris Declaration & Accra Agenda
national plans for Action)
•Improved sector performance

Focus on improved aid targeting
All WASH aid, average over 2006-8
low income
countries
32%
other
countries
68%
2002 - 2006

Focus on developing and
strengthening national plans
Accelerate
progress
towards the
water and
sanitation MDGs

Work in progress
• End Water Poverty Campaign since 2007
• SWA-GFA initiative developed and championed
by UK and Dutch governments since 2008
• Temporary Governance Structure est. 2009
(interim core group plus small secretariat)
• Technical Working Groups (concept
development and consensus building):
- Aid Effectiveness and Financing Modalities
- Country Processes
- Political Communications and Strategy
- Governance
• Regional and country level consultations…

Challenges
• Complex political process
(global, regional, national) involving
govts, donors & NGOs
• One step forwards, two steps backwards –
generating consensus and building coalitions
• Engaging developing country governments and
regional bodies (e.g. AMCOW) in global
discourse
• Critical mass of donors
(UK, Netherlands, Germany, EC, UNICEF, UND
P, World Bank, AfDB, ADB, US, Japan)
First ever High Level Meeting scheduled for 23
April in Washington (hosted by UNICEF)

Next steps…
• The High Level Meeting aims to result in
commitments to:
– Increase political and financial prioritisation
– Increase and improve targeting of aid
– Improve donor harmonisation/alignment
– Supporting or strengthening and resourcing
actionable national plans
• 23 April 2010, Washington DC
• 20 “pilot” developing country Ministers of Finance
• 8-10 donor Ministers of Development Cooperation