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The present report summarizes the evidence and findings from a series of studies and new data collection around water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and poverty. This WASH poverty diagnostic was undertaken to increase our understanding of the linkages between monetary poverty and WASH services. The work focuses on answering four questions: who are the poor?, does access to WASH vary by poverty level?, what are the synergies between WASH and other sectors, and how does this affect welfare?, and what are the constraints to service and potential solutions to providing universal access to safely managed water supply and sanitation? Although the work done in the context of this diagnostic covered both urban and rural areas, the main focus has been on the rural, and particularly, the indigenous areas, as these are the ones facing the greatest gaps in services. A more in-depth exploration of urban issues has been left for a future date.

The Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Poverty Diagnostic in Mozambique is part of a global initiative to improve the evidence base on the linkages between WASH, human development, and poverty. The Diagnostic provides a detailed analysis of sector status, strengths and weaknesses to inform the conditions needed to attain the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that aim not only for universal access but for safely managed water and sanitation coverage. This report summarizes three background papers of this activity; the first containing the overall summary of findings, a dossier of sector data, and lessons and recommendations; then two technical reports that cover (i) the detailed information and data on the linkages between WASH, health and human development outcomes, and (ii) the analysis of the main institutional barriers that exist in the rural water subsector. The report presents updated evidence and data using diverse analytical tools that contribute to understand why and how WASH investments could be coordinated with other sectors to improve human development outcomes, such as reduced childhood stunting. The information presented in this comprehensive report explores water supply service quality, affordability and availability and offers conceptual framework and institutional diagnostic applied to the rural water sector, where services have been lagging behind in terms of coverage over the past decades.

This summary report presents the findings of the Ethiopia WASH Poverty Diagnostic (EWPD) study led by the World Bank`s Water and Poverty Global Practices. Though Ethiopia has made good progress in increasing access to water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in recent years, the quality of many services are below the standards set for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study review existing institutional structures and challenges that are inhibiting high-quality service delivery. The EWPD also reviews the quality and inequality in access to WASH service between those living in urban and rural areas, as well as different regions, areas of water insecurity and amongst the poorest households. EWPD also attempts to show the implications of poor access to WASH services on human development (health, nutrition, and education) and poverty reduction. The analysis aims to support the government and other stakeholders identify gaps in service delivery and answer questions on why these gaps exist. The report concludes by offering recommendations for moving Ethiopia`s WASH sector forward.

For many countries still striving to provide their populations with basic access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, the initial years of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is an appropriate time to reflect on and reassess current arrangements to finance the WASH sector. The 2017 High-Level Meeting of Finance Ministers will be the first held since the launch of the SDGs and will provide an opportunity for collective discussion on the roadmap for financing the water, sanitation and hygiene components of SDG 6, the so-called water SDG. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development introduced a new level of ambition for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, encouraging countries to aspire to even higher levels of service and thus greater health, economic, social, and environmental benefits. This discussion paper provides a framework for country-level discussion, setting out key considerations for countries as they undertake financial planning for efforts to meet the SDGs. This paper covers the following aspects:(i) Estimating the costs and benefits associated with the SDG targets for WASH; (ii) Using existing financial resources more effectively; (iii) Accessing new resources; and (iv) Taking action to close the SDG financing gap.

This report concerns two streams of Technical Assistance provided by the World Bank Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) to the Government of Vietnam. They are: strengthening the enabling environment, capacity building systems and evidence-based learning and lesson sharing. Strengthening demand creation and supply chain development together these TAs make up a support program to assist the Government of Vietnam, particularly the Ministry of Health (MOH) in accelerating progress on sanitation under the third National Target Program on Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (NTP3). WSP has supported the government to improve the enabling environment for sanitation service delivery; strengthen rural sanitation supply chains; generate demand for improved sanitation; and inform service delivery models through knowledge and learning. The TAs began in Dec 2012 and are due to end in Jun 2016. This report documents the results and lessons learned from the TA, and makes recommendations for future activities in support of rural sanitation.

This report concerns two streams of Technical Assistance provided by the World Bank Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) to the Government of Vietnam. They are: strengthening the enabling environment, capacity building systems and evidence-based learning and lesson sharing. Strengthening demand creation and supply chain development together these TAs make up a support program to assist the Government of Vietnam, particularly the Ministry of Health (MOH) in accelerating progress on sanitation under the third National Target Program on Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (NTP3). WSP has supported the government to improve the enabling environment for sanitation service delivery; strengthen rural sanitation supply chains; generate demand for improved sanitation; and inform service delivery models through knowledge and learning. The TAs began in Dec 2012 and are due to end in Jun 2016. This report documents the results and lessons learned from the TA, and makes recommendations for future activities in support of rural sanitation.

This case study provides evidence of the possibilities for attracting private sector engagement in piped rural water systems, and also clearly lays out some of the on-going sustainability challenges. There is an important learning opportunity for the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa to develop similar PPP schemes to address the challenges with a greater emphasis on sustainable services that evolve together with the changing demands of rural populations.

From 2012 to 2014 water and sanitation service delivery assessments (SDA) have been carried out in seven selected countries in the East Asia and Pacific region under the guidance of the World Bank’s water and sanitation program and with valuable contributions of other development partners, such as United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), WaterAid, and Asian Development Bank (ADB). Countries where SDA were carried out are Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic (PDR), Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam, while in Myanmar, a broad joint sector assessment took place by World Bank, UNICEF, ADB, and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). SDA were implemented as a country-owned process led by key government agencies, and drew on the experience and methodology of similar assessments conducted in more than 40 countries (and states) in Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. It has three main components: a review of past water and sanitation access trends, a costing model to assess the adequacy of anticipated future investments, and a scorecard that allows diagnosis of bottlenecks along the service delivery pathways.

This report summarizes the results and lessons learned from the Technical Assistance (TA) Support to Rural Sanitation Scale Up under the Philippine National Sustainable Sanitation Plan. The TA was carried out by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program from July 2012 to March 2016, and is part of a larger programmatic assistance by the Bank to the Government of the Philippines in framing relevant institutional and financial reforms by key sector agencies and in strengthening the government’s capacity to accelerate delivery of basic water and sanitation services particularly to the poor. This synthesis report provides recommendations to consolidate and accelerate the scaling up rural sanitation initiative focusing on priorities for World Bank engagement and alignment with the incoming government’s overall strategic direction.

Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) launched by Government of India has been the cornerstone of a decentralized, incentive based approach to achieve rural sanitation objectives. The scheme has developed strategic components to ensure coverage of sanitation facilities through financial and programmatic support for households, and for institutional and community sanitation. Construction of toilets needs to be complemented with mechanisms of waste handling to ensure a safe and hygienic environment in the rural areas. Safe disposal of solid and liquid waste is a major step on the sanitation ladder where communities have begun to successfully tackle. Government at present has specific provision for solid and liquid waste management (SLWM) as an important component under TSC. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has been continuously updating technical notes on rural sanitation to reinforce the quality of interventions. The Hand Book on scaling up solid and liquid waste management in rural areas gives a very useful insight on the planning, construction, operation and maintenance of SLWM units in a sustainable way. The effort has been to make a comprehensive document that is user friendly for planning and executing agencies.

The report uses a theoretical model of a typical drainage basin, but the approach could be applied to many of the drainage basins managed by the holding company for water and wastewater in Egypt. This study set out to assess the relative health impacts of different wastewater management strategies on health in the Nile delta region using an approach similar to that used in the Ghana. The ultimate objective was to develop a framework for long-term investment planning based on monitoring of health and productivity impacts of proposed Bank operations which could be included in project Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) systems. This will equip task teams to assess the risks and opportunities which arise due to the proposed shift from on-site to networked sanitation in four governorates where the Bank has wastewater operations. A secondary objective was to assess the extent to which existing legislation supports health riskbased planning. The conclusions of the study provide an indication of how such methods could increasingly be used to enable the selection of cost-effective and appropriate wastewater management strategies.

Sanitation services are beneficial for communities at large. They generate strong positive health and environmental benefits to society ('externalities'). Public financing is an important way to stimulate the provision of these services, but there are serious issues with the way public subsidies for sanitation have been delivered up to now. Recent estimates show that the sanitation millennium development goals (MDGs) will simply not be met in a number of countries if 'business-as-usual' continues. The study looks at how such Output-Based Aid (OBA) schemes might be designed by analyzing the sanitation value-chain, and what institutional, financing and risk mitigation measures would be required for each type of OBA scheme. Questions discussed include 'what' outputs should be subsidized and 'who' are the most likely candidates to provide output-based sanitation services.

This briefing note provides a rapid scan of partnership initiatives by the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) to improve the state of water and sanitation services in Africa. The note aims to highlight the gains and challenges of the major collaborative initiatives, focusing on where progress has been made or activities are ongoing at a strategic, thematic, and regional or country level. The collaboration is now focusing on: a) intensifying operational cooperation and joint work in additional African countries, including fragile and post-conflict countries; b) continuing to share information and to participate in capacity-building activities, with an emphasis on training in operational contexts; c) intensifying joint work in water supply, and particularly sanitation and hygiene; and, d) developing a monitoring system focused on results rather than inputs.

Along with economic growth and improved living standards, waste from households, industries, and commercial or service establishments is expected to increase rapidly over the next years. Managing this waste is a hard challenge for the Government of Vietnam because of its substantial cost and lack of awareness and participation of people and businesses. Wastes can be classified according to: their form (wastewater, solid waste); their origin (industrial wastes, agricultural wastes, urban (municipal) wastes); and their hazardous nature (non-hazardous or hazardous).