USAID_Water_Strategy_3.pdf

USAID

WATER AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

20132018

USAID

WATER AND

DEVELOPMENT

STRATEGY

2013 2018

“The impact of water on all aspects of development is undeniable: a safe drinking water supply, sanitation for health, management of water resources, and improvement of water productivity can help change the lives of millions. ”

Dr. Rajiv Shah, USAID Administrator, World Water Day, 2011

USAID WATER AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 20132018 TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary

1. Introduction Strategic Focus Key Development Challenges

2. Strategy Context Implementation of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 Support for Feed the Future USAID Program Cycle

3. Strategic Objectives 2013 2018

SO 1 – Improve health outcomes through the provision of sustainable safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)

■ Measures of Success

■ Country Selectivity Needs and Opportunity Criteria

■ Projections for WASH Programming

Intermediate Result 1.1: Increase first time access to, and improve the quality of, sustainable water supply services

■ Intermediate Result 1.2: Increase first time sustainable access to improved sanitation services

■ Intermediate Result 1.3: Increase prevalence of key hygiene behaviors

SO 2 – Manage water in agriculture sustainably and more productively to enhance food security

■ Measures of Success

Intermediate Result 2.1: Improve the efficiency and sustainability of food production from rainfed agricultural systems

■ Intermediate Result 2.2: Improve the efficiency and sustainability of food production from irrigated agricultural systems

4. Operational Principles

5. Organizational Roles and Responsibilities

6. Conclusion

Endnotes

LIST OF ACRONYMS

BFS – Bureau for Food Security BRM – Office of Budget and Resource Management CATS – Community Approaches to Total Sanitation CDCS – Country Development Cooperation Strategy CGIAR – Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research CLTS – CommunityLed Total Sanitation CMM – Conflict Management and Mitigation DA – Development Assistance DCA – Development Credit Authority DCHA – Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance DIV – Development InnovationVentures DRR – Disaster Risk Reduction E3 – Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment E3/W – Office of Water in E3 Bureau ESF – Economic Support Funds ESP – Environmental Services Program EXIM – ExportImport Bank FTF – Feed the Future FY – FiscalYear GH – Bureau for Global Health HIP – Hygiene Improvement Project IDA – International Disaster Assistance IR – Intermediate Results IWRM – Integrated Water Resource Management JMP – Joint Monitoring Program MDG – Millennium Development Goal NEAT – Nepal Economic Agriculture and Trade NGO – NonGovernmental Organization NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration OFDA – Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance OPIC – Overseas Private Investment Corporation PPD6 – Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development PPL – Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning PWRF – Philippines Water Revolving Fund QDDR – Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review RANET – Radio and InternetTechnologies for the Communication ofWeather and

Climate Information for Rural Development SCADA – Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition SEEDS – School Environment and Education Development for Somalia SO – Strategic Objective SPLASH – Schools Promoting Learning Acievement through Sanitation and Hygiene SWSS – SustainableWater Supply and Sanitation WASH – Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene WATER – Water, Sanitation, and HygieneTransformations for Enhanced Resilience

USAID WATER AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 20132018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This is the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) first global Water and Development Strategy. It is intended to provide a clear understanding of USAID's approach to water programming. This Strategy emphasizes how sustainable use of water is critical to save lives, promote sustain able development, and achieve humanitarian goals.

Projections are that by 2025, twothirds of the world’s popula tion could be living in severe water stress conditions. This stress adversely affects individuals, communities, economies, and ecosystems around the world, especially in developing countries.

Ensuring the availability of safe water to sustain natural systems and human life is integral to the success of the development objectives, foreign policy goals, and national security interests of the United States.

To address global waterrelated development needs, this Strat egy provides an increased focus for USAID’s water programs that is sustainable, works through host country systems, uses emerging science and technology, and learns from past efforts.

The goal of this Strategy is:To save lives and advance develop ment through improvements in water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs, and through sound management and use of water for food security. To achieve this goal, the Strategy sets two strategic objectives (SOs):

SO1) Improve health outcomes through the provision of sustain ableWASH. This will be achieved through a continued focus on providing safe water, an increased emphasis on sanitation, and support for programs that can be brought to scale and be sus

USAIDbuilt electric tube well used for irrigation in the Terai region of Nepal. Photo by Patrick D. Smith

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

tained. Based on previously requested funding levels, USAID projects providing a minimum of 10 million persons with sustain able access to improved water supply and 6 million persons with sustainable access to improved sanitation over the next five years.

SO2) Manage water for agriculture sustainably and more pro ductively to enhance food security. This will be achieved through increased emphasis on more efficient use of rainfall and improved efficiency and management of existing irrigation sys tems including private and farmerowned microirrigation systems. The Strategy recognizes that the greatest and most costeffective potential for crop yield increases are in rainfed areas. USAID will focus on increasing irrigated agriculture in select countries, including expanding irrigation in a responsible, sustainable, and climateresilient way.

Historically, USAID budget allocations for water programs have been made in four thematic areas: (1) WASH; (2) Water Resources Management; (3) Water Productivity; and (4) Disaster Risk Reduction. Between FiscalYears 20032011, USAID annu ally allocated an average of $452M to water activities. Over this time period, USAID annually programmed an average of $318M to WASH, $61M to Water Resources Management, $57M to Water Productivty, and $16M to Disaster Risk Reduction.

Beginning in FiscalYear (FY) 2014, the Strategy calls for all new USAID water programs to fully align with the two SOs of the USAID Water and Development Strategy.

Strategic Approach

To achieve these objectives, this Strategy:

■ Furthers the strategic approach to water and development put forward by the Secretary of State in 2010 by emphasiz ing five ‘streams of action’ to address water issues.

■ Advances activities consistent with the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005 including establishing criteria to designate high priority countries for increased investments to support access to safe water and sanitation.

■ Addresses the impact of water problems for countries important to U.S. national security interests.

■ Builds on the joint USAID and U.S. Department of State’s 2008 Framework for Action, which called for improving access to water supply and sanitation, promoting better hygiene, improving water resources management, and improving water productivity in agriculture.

■ Draws on USAID Forward and the USAID Policy Frame work 20112015 by supporting host country systems, emphasizing an integrated approach to development, focus ing where resources will be invested, programming resources

USAID WATER AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 20132018

selectively to ensure meaningful impact, leveraging science, technology, and innovation, promoting gender equality and female empowerment, and increasing partnerships.

■ Gives priority to supporting the Presidential Initiatives of Global Health and Feed the Future, and supports other devel opment objectives such as resilience, natural resource and coastal zone management, climate change efforts, humanitar ian assistance, increasing access to education, and gender equality efforts.

■ Will seek investments in longerterm monitoring and evalua tion of its water activities in order to assess sustainability beyond the typical USAID Program Cycle and to enable reasonable support to issues that arise subsequent to post completion of project implementation.

■ Emphasizes an integrated water resources management approach to development.

■ Increases attention to sanitation in WASH programs and encourages multiple use systems of water for agriculture.

■ Builds on USAID’s comparative advantage in capacity building and governance by emphasizing policy reform, strengthened enabling environments and institutions, participatory gover nance, and innovative financing.

■ Links humanitarian and development efforts more effectively by supporting programming ofWASH funds in emergency situations.

■ Applies the USAID Gender Equality and Female Empower ment Policy by supporting gender sensitive approaches to empower women in the development and implementation of waterrelated programs.

USAID intends to address the global challenges of water in close cooperation with nongovernmental and civil society organizations that undertake the critical frontline responsibility of developing and implementing water programs. This includes working with advocacy groups that bring both knowledge and passion to the challenge, with governments that are dedicated to providing a better life for their citizens, with communities that best understand the challenges and solutions, with universities that are creating innovative solutions today, with the private sec tor that can build a new global economy while supporting sustainable development, and with international development and financial institutions which provide essential program devel opment implementation and financial support.

USAID seeks to be both a leader and a partner in the global effort to elevate the importance of water across all develop ment objectives.

USAID WATER AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 20132018 1. INTRODUCTION

1. INTRODUCTION

Achieving water security for regions, nations, and individu als is one of the greatest development challenges confronting the world today. By its nature, as a basic and essential resource, water considerations cut across nearly every aspect of USAID programming.

The purpose of the Strategy is to guide USAID investments in water programming, to inform the development of Country Development Cooperation Strategies (CDCS), to guide deci sionmaking on budgeting and resource allocation, and to highlight priority regions and program areas for water programs.

Over the duration of the Strategy there will be greater focus and selectivity among USAID water programs leading to greater development impact.

STRATEGIC FOCUS

USAID has three overarching development objectives that address the Presidential Initiatives of Climate Change, Food Security, and Global Health.This Strategy focuses on two key development objectives related to effective and multiple uses of water resources: water for health and water for food.

USAID addresses the climate change and water linkage in its Climate Change and Development Strategy (20122016).1

This Strategy responds to the need for USAID to focus invest ments and identify priorities within the wider role that water and watershed management play toward energy, conflict, cli mate change, education, biodiversity, ecosystems, and economic growth.This Strategy specifically endorses the princi ples and proven approaches of integrated water resources management (IWRM) and encourages the use of all appropri ate technologies and tools in achieving those objectives.

KEY DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES

Population growth, increased demand for and rising cost of energy, increased urbanization, watershed and environmental degradation, natural disasters, conflict, climate change, and weak water governance are putting water resources under increasing pressure. Projections are that by 2025, twothirds of the world’s population could be living in severe water stress conditions.2

This stress adversely affects individuals, communities, economies, and ecosystems around the world, especially in developing coun tries. It also underscores why it is so critical to properly manage the scarce freshwater resources upon which human life depends.

Inadequate access to safe drinking water and sanitation Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 7C calls to halve by 2015 the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.While the safe drinking water target was met in 2010, 783 million people still do not have access to safe drinking water, and major issues related to equity of access, water quality, and sustainability of water supplies remain.3 In addition, the world is not on track to meet the sanita tion target as approximately 2.5 billion people still lack access to improved sanitation.4The challenges and solutions vary signifi cantly by region; for example, subSaharan Africa has the highest proportion of people without sufficient sanitation facilities, while South Asia has the largest number of people practicing open defecation.

Often the burden of inadequate access to water and sanitation falls heavily on women and girls. Examples of this are evident throughout the developing world.Two concerns of particular importance are reducing the many hours women and girls spend seeking water for their families which often put their safety at risk and addressing the different sanitation needs of women and adolescent girls which have direct impacts on maternal mor tality and morbidity.

Lack of access to safe water and sanitation services has direct health implications as nearly two million people – the vast major ity of whom are children under five – die from diarrhea each year. Nearly 88 percent of diarrhea is attributed to unsafe drink ing water, inadequate sanitation, and poor hygiene, and is preventable by known interventions.5

The importance of meeting sanitation goals Conventional sanitation, a flush toilet connected to a centralized sewer system, is available for only a small fraction of people in developing nations. Forty percent of the world’s population use unsafe toilets or practice open defecation.The consequences of

1. INTRODUCTION USAID WATER AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 20132018

unsafe sanitation can be devastating and last a lifetime. Every year, food and water tainted with fecal matter cause up to 2.5 billion cases of diarrhea among children under five, resulting in 1.5 mil lion child deaths. Chronic diarrhea can hinder child development by impeding the uptake of essential nutrients that are critical to the development of children’s minds, bodies, and immune sys tems. Studies show that hand washing, improved sanitation, and improvements in household water quality significantly reduce the risk of diarrhea.6

The impact that clean and safe sanitation can deliver is transfor mational. The economic benefits of improved sanitation can increase productivity, reduce healthcare costs, and prevent illness, disability, and early death. People who have access to clean, safe, and convenient sanitation services also experience greater dignity, privacy, and security.This is especially important for women and girls, who may miss work or school when they are menstruating or risk sexual assault when they do not have access to safe sanita tion facilities.This importance extends not just to the existence of sanitation facilities, but also to the physical location and design in a school/workplace that has an impact on safety, security, and use.

Limited access to fresh water for food security The interdependence between food security and sustainable water resource management is significant. Globally, agriculture consumes 70 percent of available freshwater resources and is often used in irrigated systems that are inefficient and environ mentally unsustainable.7 Global population growth projections of two to three billion people over the next 40 years, combined with changing diets, are expected to increase food demand 70 percent by 2050.8 However, as the largest user of water, food production also represents the largest unknown factor of future water use in terms of future global water demand. Significant effi ciency gains are possible. Based on current use patterns, agricultural water consumption will increase by approximately 19 percent to feed a larger and richer global population of 9.1 billion people.9

The impact of climate change on water resources The impacts of climate change can be seen from oceans to mountain tops. Rapid glacier melt and decreased snowpack will increase variability of streamflows and may contribute to a long term decline in supplies. Rising sea levels will exacerbate saltwater intrusion into many river deltas, salinizing productive/cultivatable land and impacting drinking water. Stronger storm surges could flood large tracts of coastal areas, where a significant number of people and critical infrastructure are located.The effects of cli mate change in combination with other drivers of stress on water resources will increasingly restrict access to safe water and sanitation and make food security even harder to achieve.

The risks of climate change to rainfed agriculture could be partic ularly acute. Increased rainfall variability and reduced natural storage will likely reduce crop yields by producing higher rates of runoff, escalate soil desiccation at critical times, and shift rainfall patterns and the timing of rainy seasons. Resilience to climate change and other pressures is an emergent property of a func tioning ecosystem, and water programs need to consider climate impacts.This Strategy seeks to strengthen adaptation and resilience to climate change, in accordance with the USAID Cli mate Change and Development Strategy, through increased efforts to support integrated water and watershed management practices.The USAID resiliency policy will further guide Agency programming and development approach.10

The significant energy requirements for water Every drop of water that has to be pumped, moved, or treated to meet health and food needs requires energy. Inefficiency and waste in the use of water for industrial production increases energy demands and raises emissions. Effective comanagement of water and energy, including the integration of water, food and energy programs, as well as support for and development of technology, can lead to significant returns on investment.

Water as a potential source of conflict As indicated by the 2012 Intelligence Community Assessment on Global Water Security, water problems will contribute to instabil ity in countries important to U.S. security interests.11 Water security is an increasingly important component of the U.S. Gov ernment’s diplomatic and development efforts to promote peace and security within and between key countries and around transboundary river basins. Growing demands on lim ited fresh water, degradation of fresh water quality, and greater variability in rainfall patterns are potential drivers of tension.

Competition and disputes over water and watersheds exist in many places around the world.The causes and nature of these disputes vary widely; from smallscale clashes over pasture and water, to urban protests over changes in water pricing schemes, to subregional disputes between provinces over water for agri culture or hydropower, to upstream/downstream countries competing for a share of an increasingly limited water supply.

As water becomes scarcer at community water points, women and children who gather the water may find themselves at the forefront of inter and intracommunity based conflict as they compete against each other for access to scarce water resources.

The U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, for instance, calls for building resilience through assistance that supports women’s roles in the management of natural resources, mitigation of resource related conflict, and adaptation to climate change in fragile and conflictaffected states.

http:interests.11 http:approach.10

USAID WATER AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 20132018 2. STRATEGY CONTEXT

2. STRATEGY CONTEXT

USAID supports integrated water resource management as a vital approach to achieve global development objec tives. USAID’s engagement in the water sector will continue to reflect the Senator Paul SimonWater for the PoorAct of 2005, annual appropriations directives, the Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development (PPD6), the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), USAID Forward, and the USAID Policy Framework 20112015, as well as global tar gets such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).The Strategy raises the importance of water programming across the Presidential Initiatives of Global Health, Feed the Future, and Global Climate Change.14

With limited resources in the face of significant challenges, the Strategy responds to PPD6’s call for selectivity and focus by priori tizing the water needs for health and food security. USAID’s resources are most effective by leveraging resources at the coun try level, and by using emerging science and technology to promote innovation. As such, the Strategy emphasizes sustainable solutions that work through host country systems.

The Strategy applies selectivity by focusing resources in fewer countries, subnational regions, sectors or programs so that USAID can have the greatest possible development impact. In addition, the Strategy encourages shifts in program emphasis to include increasing attention to sanitation inWASH programs, supporting multiple use systems of water supply for agriculture and, when appropriate, integrating water programming with multiple develop ment objectives.

The Strategy builds on the joint USAID and U.S. Department of State’s 2008 Framework for Action, which called for improving access to water supply and sanitation, promoting better hygiene, improving water resources management, and improving water productivity in agriculture.15 The Strategy furthers the strategic approach to water and development put forward by the Secretary of State in 2010 by emphasizing five ‘streams of action’ to address water issues.These streams include building capacity at the local, national, and regional levels, elevating our diplomatic efforts, mobi lizing financial support, harnessing the power of science and technology, and broadening the scope of our partnerships to lever age our efforts against the work of others.16

The Strategy also draws upon the extensive experience of public and private sector partners that are engaged in the financing, development, and support of USAID programs and development objectives.Among others, this includes nongovernmental organi zations (NGOs), businesses, faithbased organizations, universities and international organizations.

Implementation of the Senator Paul SimonWater for the Poor Act of 2005 One of the primary sources of guidance for water programming is theWater for the PoorAct.As amended to the ForeignAssistance http:PoorAct.As http:others.16 http:agriculture.15 http:Change.14

2. STRATEGY CONTEXT USAID WATER AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 20132018

Act, this legislation defines access to safe water and sanitation for developing countries as a specific policy objective of U.S. foreign assistance programs. Each year USAID, with the U.S. Department of State, reports to the U.S. Congress on progress achieved towards the goals of this Act. This Strategy supports this effort by advancing many activities consistent with the goals of the Act including:

■ Developing quantitative metrics and indicators to measure results;

■ Mobilizing and leveraging the financial and technical capacity of public and private entities through partnerships;

■ Encouraging capacity building to strengthen the ability of host countries to develop, manage and implement water programs and practice watershed management;

■ Supporting governance structures, regulations and policies to expand access to safe water and sanitation services;

■ Protecting the supply and availability of safe drinking water;

■ Establishing criteria to designate high priority countries for increased investments to support access to safe water and sanitation; and

■ Supporting sound environmental management including the pro tection of watersheds.

Support for Feed the Future Feed the Future (FTF), the U.S. Government's global hunger and food security initiative, supports countrydriven approaches to address the root causes of hunger and poverty and forge longterm solutions to food insecurity. Through FTF, the U.S. Government renewed its commitment to agriculture and economic growth and focused on harnessing the power of the private sector and research to transform agricultural development. Integrated water resource management is a critical component of the long term objectives of FTF to meet the challenges of global hunger.17

USAID Program Cycle The USAID Program Cycle integrates Agencywide polices and strategies, strategic planning, project design and implementation, and evaluation and monitoring. TheWater Strategy represents one component of the Program Cycle, the setting of policies and strategies, within a broader cycle of an integrated approach to development. The Strategy provides Missions with strategic direc tion for the CDCS process and encourages Missions to formulate development objectives and multisector approaches to integrate water for health and water for food programming.

Historically, USAID budget allocations for water programs have been made in four thematic areas: (1)WASH; (2)Water Resources Management; (3)Water Productivity; and (4) Disaster Risk Reduc tion, Between FiscalYears 20032011,USAID annually allocated an average of $452M to water activities. Over this time period, USAID annually programmed an average of $318M toWASH, $61M toWater Resources Management, $57M toWater Produc tivty, and $16M to Disaster Risk Reduction.

Consistent with the USAID Policy Framework, when designing water programs Missions are required to apply selectivity in regions and program areas, and to focus the volume of resources to have a meaningful, measurable, and lasting impact.

Based on the analysis and results framework of the CDCS, the Strategy will be operationalized through project design. The Proj ect Design guidance outlines a series of steps each Mission should take when operationalizing the Strategy. Projects, defined as a set of interventions intended to achieve a discrete development result over a specific timeframe, in the water sector should align to the priorities outlined in the Strategy.To help determine whether proj ects are having the intended impact Missions should monitor the achievements of programs and projects, analyze results and track progress, use data to inform decision making, and communicate this information to stakeholders. Project design should utilize gender, youth, and community analyses to ensure that design, implementa tion, and measurement of impact specifically include women and children.All Program Cycle components applied to water pro gramming contribute to improving the clarity, analytic rigor, and evidence with which requested resources connect to expected results.programing contribute to improving the clarity, analytic rigor, and evidence with which requested resources connect to expected results.

USAID Budget Allocations for the Water Sector by Thematic Fiscal Years 2003 2011 (Millions of Dollars)

Area

USAID Budget Allocations for the Water Sector by Theme ($ Millions) 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Ave.

2003-2011

Drinking Water Supply, Sanitation & Hygiene (WSSH) 159.80 239.80 216.93 265.00 213.22 389.92 493.01 520.41 360.05 318

Water Resources Management (WRM) 105.70 82.50 60.73 56.00 27.41 58.58 41.24 47.20 67.19 61

Water Productivity (WP) 115.60 68.40 45.35 22.50 17.39 38.91 45.30 53.11 109.30 57

Disaster Risk Reduction 20.60 10.00 6.76 5.84 5.65 2.20 50.55 21.45 21.82 16

Grand Totals 401.70 400.70 329.77 349.34 263.67 489.61 630.11 642.17 558.36 452 http:Strategy.To http:hunger.17

USAID WATER AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 20132018 3. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES 20132017

3. STATEGIC OBJECTIVES 20132018

The overarching goal of this Strategy is: To save lives • SO 1 Improve health outcomes through the provision of and advance development through improve sustainable WASH ments inWASH programs, and through sound management and use of water for food security. To • SO 2 Manage water in agriculture sustainably and more pro achieve this goal USAID will pursue two SOs: ductively to enhance food security

USAID WATER STRATEGY FOR 2013-2018

Goal To save lives and advance development through improvements in WASH programs, and through sound management and use of water for food security.

SO 1

Improve health outcomes through the provision of sustainable WASH.

SO 2

Manage water for agriculture sustainably and more productively to enhance food security.

IR 1.1

Increase first time and improved access to sustainable water supply.

IR 1.2

Increase first time and improved access to sustainable sanitation.

IR 2.1

Improve the efficiency and sustainability of food production in rainfed agricultural systems.

IR 2.2

Improve the efficiency and sustainability of food production from irrigated agricultural systems.

IR 1.3

Increase adoption of key hygiene behaviors.

3. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES 20132017 USAID WATER AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 20132018

To accomplish the SOs, intermediate results (IRs) have been identified that will guide the planning and implementation of this effort.

SO 1 – IMPROVE HEALTH OUTCOMES

THROUGH THE PROVISION OF

SUSTAINABLE WASH

SO 1 Measures of Success 20132018

■ Projects providing a minimum of 10 million persons with sustainable access to improved water supply and 6 million persons with sustainable access to improved sanitation.

■ Key hygiene behaviors adopted in priorityWASH countries

WASH investments can improve health and save lives, espe cially by reducing incidences of diarrheal disease in children under five years. By improving health outcomes through improvedWASH practices, girls can have better opportunities for education and women can be less burdened in the home.

WASH programs have significant economic and social benefits including reducing the time, labor and risk of fetching water, and reducing violence against women who use public facilities or defecate in the open after nightfall. Predictable access to water expands job options for both men and women and supports broadbased economic development. When safe water and sanitation are reliable and accessible, food security and nutrition can be improved. When wastewater is adequately treated, environmental quality, food safety, and human health are better protected.

Water, sanitation and hygiene approaches are most effective in reducing diarrhea and other waterrelated infections when implemented as a package of interventions. A balanced WASH program has three interdependent pillars: (1) hardware (e.g., water and sanitation infrastructure); (2) the promotion of behavior change; and (3) support to an enabling policy and institutional environment. USAID support will generally include interventions within all three pillars of the framework, with dif ferent levels of emphasis in each area as determined by the development context.

WASH Needs and

Opportunity Criteria

WASH country needs criteria:

■ The number of people and the percent of the population without access to improved sources of safe water and sanitation.

■ The mortality rate and number of deaths of children under five years due to diarrhea.

WASH country opportunity criteria:

■ The extent of host government commitment to

WASH.

■ The presence of supportive enabling environments.

■ The opportunities for leveraging existing donor and/or private sector investments in the water sector.

COUNTRY SELECTIVITY — NEEDS AND

OPPORTUNITY CRITERIA

USAID’s WASH activities in FY 2012 were spread across 62 bilateral programs, regional platforms, and centrally funded pro grams. USAID has identified criteria for country selection based on a combination of factors that relate to country needs and country opportunities for water programming (see box).

These criteria only relate to countries receiving USAID WASH support.

USAID will use these WASH criteria to achieve a greater con centration of resources in fewer countries and fewer program areas. This approach is in line with the goals of the PPD6 towards greater selectivity and focus to facilitate greater coun trylevel impact and results.

COUNTRY CATEGORIES

USAID has established three categories for WASH focus:

transformative impact, leveraged impact, and strategic priority.

These three categories will be used as a framework to analyze funding and program priorities forWASH funds as part of the CDCS process.

USAID WATER AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 20132018 3. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES 20132017

Transformative Impact countries are determined based on an analysis of need, opportunity, and a favorable programming environment to significantly leverage USAID’s resources. These include countries where there is an opportunity to have trans formative impact on national level policies and to leverage host country resources for the development and implementation of services. These countries would have the requisite infrastruc ture, governance, track record, and expertise necessary to bring WASH programs to scale.

■ Ethiopia is an example of a country that could meet the criteria as a transformative impact country. It has the requisite infra structure, governance, and institutional expertise for USAID water programs to have a transformative impact. USAID is cur rently working with the Government of Ethiopia to increase access to improve water supply in rural communities and to achieve universal access to sanitation.

Leveraged Impact countries are based on the strategic applica tion of limited USAID resources, and generally are countries in which relatively small investment levels are likely to generate significant impact in at least one dimension of WASH – such as first time access to an improved drinking water source, first time access to an improved sanitation facility, ending open defe cation, or new hand washing practices. In such countries USAID will concentrate relatively small investment levels to generate significant impact on at least one dimension of WASH.

■ An example of a leveraged impact program is the Philippines Water Revolving Fund (PWRF). USAID established the PWRF, in partnership with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, to enhance financing options and opportunities for small water and wastewater utilities. With an approximately $5 million investment in technical assistance to the sector, the program was able to mobilize $93 million worth of loans ($56 million of which came from private commercial banks), for water supply and sanitation projects reaching two million people with new or improved access to basic water and wastewater services.

Strategic Priority countries or locations are places in which USAID anticipates continued WASH programs due to a com bination of strategic considerations and development needs.

These countries or locations include but are not limited to pro grams located in Lebanon, Jordan,Yemen, and West BankGaza, and often feature largescale programs with a focus on infra structure development.

■ For example, the USAID/West Bank and Gaza Mission recently completed the Dura Cluster Water Storage and Distribution Sys tem Project, which has provided approximately 43,000 Palestinians with reliable access to potable water for the first time. The $17.5 million water project consists of more than 12 kilometers of transmission pipelines, 92 kilometers of distribution networks to rural communities, and the construction of three large, concrete waterstorage tanks, which have the combined capacity to hold 4,000 cubic meters of water.

These three categories, transformative, leveraged, and strategic priority, will be used to review budget priorities and to deter mine expected impacts from WASH programs during the development of a CDCS. When using Development Assis tance (DA) funds, strong consideration should be given to providing transformative impact countries with additional resources to take programs to scale, while leveraged impact countries will need to ensure that their relatively smaller invest ments create appreciable and significant impact. USAID expects a mixture of DA funds to go toward both transforma tive and leveraged impact countries and locations. Economic Support Funds (ESF) are expected to continue to support WASH programs in strategic priority countries and locations.

Missions will need to work closely with their Regional Bureaus, during the CDCS process when possible, to clearly define pro gramming rationale using these categories.

In addition, the Strategy anticipates that USAID will continue to commit significant WASH funds to countries outside of the threetier system through Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Inter national Disaster Assistance (IDA) and emergency and nonemergency Food for PeaceTitle II funding. Emergency sit uations will require flexibility for rapid response in crises.

PROJECTIONS FORWASH PROGRAMMING

Based on previously requested funding levels, USAID projects providing a minimum of 10 million persons with sustainable access to improved water supply and 6 million persons with sustainable access to improved sanitation over the next five years. It is expected that a vast majority of the results from USAID water programming will represent longerterm devel opment programs in transformative impact and leveraged impact countries.

The implementation of the Strategy will begin immediately, and starting in FY 2014,The USAID GlobalWater Coordinator will coordinate an agencywide effort to recommend funding levels of WASH priority countries based on priorities identified through the CDCS process and on the criteria established in this Strategy.20

The projected number of beneficiaries to be reached includes two distinct categories of impact – “sustainable first time access to water supply and sanitation services for unserved popula tions” and “improved access to sustainable water supply and sanitation services.” SO 1 of this Strategy aims to increase both http:Strategy.20

3. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES 20132017 USAID WATER AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 20132018

sustainable first time access to water and sanitation and to improve the sustainable water supply and sanitation to accept able levels of service.

This projection is not a definitive target. The projection is based on estimating methods using available data, and this Strategy sets no commitment to reach a fixed number of people for any specific region or field Mission. Among the quantitative and qualitative information gaps that persist are insufficient data to separate out first time access to safe water from those gaining access to improved quality of water, as well as disaggregated unit cost data for water and sanitation programs across all regions.

Therefore, an important learning objective of this Strategy is to further develop key data points and currently unknown factors affecting water programming. The Strategy intends for these projections to drive approaches leading to greater impact in WASH programming and to develop, by the end of the strat egy period, a unit cost analysis across all regions.

The projection of providing 10 million persons with sustainable access to improved water supply and 6 million persons with sustainable access to improved sanitation only represents the direct impact from USAIDfunded water programming. It does not include additional multiplier effects expected from partner organizations, other donors, foundations, nonprofit organiza tions, and the private sector. When leveraging projected impacts from partner organizations and host country efforts to bring interventions to national scale, the expected total may be significantly higher.

To accomplish SO 1, three intermediate results have been identified that will guide the planning and implementation of this effort.

IR 1.1: Increase first time access to, and improved access to, sustainable water supply services

In the Strategy, increasing “sustainable first time access” refers to access to an improved water source that is gained by previ ously unserved populations. Improving the “quality of sustainable water supply services” refers to increasing existing access to and improving the quality of an already improved water supply.21 For both first time access, and improved access, methods for ensuring the sustainability of water quality in the long term should be incorporated into program design. This may include developing monitoring systems to ensure that water quality, as well as water supply, is sustained at acceptable levels.

The developing world’s population with access to an improved source of drinking water increased by 16 percent from 1990 to 2010, and most regions around the world are on track to reach the goal for access to improved water by 2015. Sub Saharan Africa, however, is not on track, even though nearly 273 million people gained access to an improved source of drinking water between 1990 and 2010. In subSaharan Africa, 39 percent of the population still did not have access to an improved source of drinking water in 2012. Globally, 81 per cent (653 million) of people who are still without access to an

SouthSouth Knowledge Sharing Transforms UrbanWater Systems

Sometimes the most effective drivers of change are local. This was the principle that drove USAID efforts to improve water and sanitation access in Asian cities through the regional network called Water Links. Of

1.7 billion people who live in Asian urban centers, 340 million lack access to safe water supply. WaterLinks built water sector capacity by facilitating partnerships between water operators in cities throughout Asia.

Partnerships paired mentor operators with expertise in water access, water quality, and sanitation with recipient operators looking to improve and extend their service. Both mentor and recipient organizations benefited from targeted trainings and knowledge shar ing. “There is nothing like learning from one’s peers,” said ArjunThapan, Chairman of theWaterLinks Board ofTrustees. WaterLinks has to date orchestrated 60 such southsouth partnerships, which have brought reliable access to safe water to more than one million urban dwellers in Asia.22 improved drinking water source live in rural areas.23 To meet this development need, the Strategy, in alignment with the Global Health Initiative, Feed the Future, and the Water for the Poor Act emphasizes increased programming and focus in sub Saharan Africa.

Urban coverage is currently far ahead of that in rural areas, but challenges remain and Missions must consider the scale of required investment and potential for sustainability. As the world rapidly urbanizes, with urban populations expected to increase over 50 percent to 4.9 billion between 2008 and 2030, maintaining coverage levels in urban settings will create new development challenges.

To accelerate access to water, USAID should support, when adequate resources are available, decentralization of responsi bilities. This requires capacity building of local governments to engage communities, mobilization of financing for both system expansion and operations and maintenance, and oversight of public and private sector service providers. Increased support to smallscale, private water suppliers will also increase service access, particularly in smaller towns, periurban neighborhoods, and rural communities relying on nonnetworked, decentralized systems. Support to water and sanitation entrepreneurs can increase coverage and generate income, while recognizing the http:areas.23 http:supply.21 need to balance between expanded coverage and the price differential between municipal and private water service, partic ularly for those that have no alternatives.

Capacity building to ensure the continued quality of water resources, environmental sustainability, and climate resilience of all investments will be supported, especially where competition for scarce water resources is increasing. By focusing on capacity building and leveraging local partners, programs can minimize overreliance on donors and bolster lasting sustainability.24 Col laborative relationships with other multilateral and bilateral donors, with local and international banks, and with financing institutions to increase attention to smalland mediumscale financing should be strengthened.

IR 1.2: Increase first time and improved sustain able access to improved sanitation services25

USAID will highlight scaling up and strengthening its sanitation programs as a special area of focus in the Strategy. This includes bringing a number of proven innovative and successful approaches to scale through Community Approaches toTotal

USAID/Egypt:Water and

Sanitation Services at Scale

Since the 1970s, USAID has supported the develop ment of a sustainable water sector in Egypt. Beginning with emergent major infrastructure projects to address critical health issues in large urban centers and coastal cities, USAID sustained investment in the sec tor through smaller but critical infrastructure projects in provincial and secondary cities and smallscale sim ple projects in the poorest governorates in Upper Egypt. USAIDsupported institutional strengthening activities and focused on helping local utilities develop their management capabilities and operations and maintenance capacity. USAID supported Egypt’s water sector policy and regulatory reform, establishing the holding company for Water and Wastewater and establishing 24 regional utilities. As a result of this nearly $4 billion program,more than one quarter of Egypt's population has gained access to new and improved water supply or sanitation service and basic human health has improved dramatically.

Sanitation (CATS). In addition, these efforts will focus on com bining the promising approaches of CommunityLedTotal Sanitation (CLTS) and sanitation marketing to generate sanita tion demand and strengthen the supply of sanitation products and services at scale, leading to improved health for people in rural and urban areas.26

A number of innovative and successful approaches have increased access to sanitation on a small scale. However, gov ernments and the global community have not been able to scaleup and sustain these efforts. Moving forward, Missions must increase the proportion of water investments focused on sanitation services, as sanitation is critical to health and access lags far behind that of water. Sanitation is too often left out of programs, almost universally falling behind in terms of priorities in water programming. This Strategy encourages Missions to focus on sanitation services in both urban and rural settings. In countries that are off track to meet the MDG for sanitation, and where diarrheal disease and undernutrition are prevalent, Missions must add sanitation as a key element of their water, health, and nutrition activities.

Initiatives should promote the three pillars of WASH program ming: support for sanitation infrastructure, the promotion of behavior change, and creation of an enabling policy and institu tional environment including robust financing and the development of local ordinances and regulations to stop open defecation and/or establish latrine building codes. These approaches generate sanitation demand and strengthen the supply of sanitation products and services. With limited sanita tion funding, these approaches can be integrated to add value to nutrition, HIV/AIDS, governance, education, and maternal and child health programming.

USAID Missions can promote community or public toilets in dense settlements, as well as sanitation facilities in institutional settings, such as schools, health facilities, markets, and trans portation hubs. It is important that these efforts involve youth associations and women's groups, and encourages the con struction of facilities that are accessible for people with disabilities and the elderly.To accelerate expansion of decentral ized sanitation solutions in rural and periurban areas not connected to a sewerage network, Missions should focus on the entire sanitation hierarchy in developing sustainable sanita tion services. Integrating supplydemand marketing approach can help address sustainability concerns of past sanitation efforts, especially those that focused on highly subsidized rural and periurban latrine construction. USAID sanitation programs will need to address how and where to dispose of concen trated sewage and sludge to not add to the environmental http:elderly.To http:areas.26 http:sustainability.24

Starting with a Sustainable

WASH Formula

While constructing latrines and wells has been essen tial for improved public health in rural Afghanistan, it is not enough to create lasting impact.With 89 percent of rural Afghans defecating out in the open, changing longheld behaviors was the key to longterm health results. USAID’s Sustainable Water Supply and Sanita tion (SWSS) project mobilized communities to seek change and to build their own capacity to make it happen. Rather than using subsidies for latrine con struction, SWSS trained women, religious and community leaders, and teachers in hygiene promo tion.The program also trained select community members in CLTS to ensure ownership and sustain ability at the community level.With 42,129 new or renovated latrines for more than 294,900 people, now communities not only have the hardware, they have the tools and the will to make real change for…