Too few people in rural Nepal had access to improved water sources or modern sanitation services. Many of the women spent half their day just fetching water for their families, and children skipped school to help. When the government began to build public tap stands, they frequently broke down. Villagers were too often left waiting in vain for a government repairman to show up and fix the problem. A study showed that nearly half of all rural water systems in Nepal required major repairs. Making matters worse, less than half the population had sanitation facilities, undermining the health benefits of clean water if it was available. Although the Government of Nepal had set a target of achieving universal access to basic water and sanitation by 2017, the “top-down,” contractor-led approach to meeting those goals was clearly failing.
The IDA-financed Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project was launched in 1996 to support Government efforts to promote a more inclusive, community-driven approach that could mobilize unused resources to transform the entire rural water sector. Local communities—particularly the women—were empowered through support from nongovernmental organizations to play a lead role in planning, designing, and implementing small-scale subprojects for water supply, sanitation, health, and hygiene. To ensure that a community had sufficient ownership stake in the results, it was required to contribute at least 20 percent of subproject costs and charge fees for access to services. It also had to manage a fund to pay, among other things, for trained local repairmen to maintain newly installed infrastructure. The project continued till 2003 and was so successful that a second phase was launched in 2004 and is slated for completion in 2010.
The project supported implementation of 1,815 subprojects, which provided improved water supply to more than 1.2 million people all across Nepal. Access to clean water has increased from 77 percent of the rural population to 89 percent. Potable water and better hygiene have helped reduce diarrheal death rates among children by more than 10 percent. Importantly, these projects proved to be sustainable—with a significantly higher operational rating of 89 percent, compared to the national average of 56 percent.
Highlights:
- Progress reached remote areas. The project emphasizes service delivery in less accessible rural areas. More than half the subprojects are located eight kilometers from the nearest all-weather road; nearly a quarter are located 20 kilometers away.
- Community ownership expanded. Communities contributed their own cash, labor and local materials, as well as porterage to carry in outside materials.
- A sustainable administrative structure has taken root. The Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Fund Development Board (the “Fund Board”), which was established to administer IDA assistance, has now been mainstreamed as a government implementing agency.
- Implementation was strengthened through local organizations while making them stronger. The Fund Board worked closely with local groups who broadened their skills and capacity as they planned and ran their own subprojects. Areas of partnership included resource allocation, social inclusion, capacity building, skill development, donor coordination, and monitoring and evaluation.
IDA provided a total of US$70.6 million for the project’s various phases. The first Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project received a US$18.3 million IDA credit in 1996. Another US$25.5 million was allocated for the Second Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project in June 2004, and supplemented in May 2008 by additional funding of US$27 million. Recognizing the benefits pioneered by the project’s “Fund Board” approach, the Government of Nepal intends to mainstream inclusive, community-driven development as a central tenet of its strategy for the sector.
IDA support catalyzed additional support from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, which financed 146 subprojects benefiting about 87,600 people. Agencies of the United Nations, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Asian Development Bank, Finland and India are also active in Nepal’s water supply and sanitation sector. IDA is working with these donors to harmonize efforts.
The second project is financing more than 1,400 subprojects, serving more than 1 million additional people. Moreover, it is sharpening the focus on sanitation so that improvements in water supply translate into better village health. Targets for 2010 include provision of clean water to 69,000 more rural households and sanitation coverage for another 65,000.
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