CRIN - Child Rights Information Network
MEXICO CITY 17 March: At the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico City, WaterAid called for the development of a citizens' action movement to ensure the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on water and sanitation are met. The MDGs commit world governments to halving by 2015 the proportion of people without access to safe water and basic sanitation - two services recognised as essential steps on the road out of poverty.
WaterAid chief executive Barbara Frost said: "There is a silent holocaust occurring around the world caused by lack of water and sanitation. People are dying because the international aid community and national governments are not listening to the poor or looking at the overwhelming evidence. It is happening because fetching water and caring for children disgorging with diarrhoea are women's problems. If we are ever to see genuinely pro-poor national and international policies, the poor must have a voice."
A new report released today, Bridging the Gap details the experiences of WaterAid and its partner organisations in Africa and Asia in the inauguration of Citizens' Action projects designed to empower local communities.
Peter Ryan, principal author of the report, said: "In many countries the poor have rights they do not know exist. In some instances there is money earmarked for services that are not being provided. With a clear understanding of their entitlements and who is responsible for delivering them they are in a stronger position to engage with service providers and local governments, negotiating and where necessary demanding the delivery of their rights. The success of the programme can be seen in the extraordinary outcomes and in the number of new communities coming forward to join."
For example, in Nepal citizens' action in Kathmandu led to an 84% reduction in the connection tariff and a substantial reduction in charges for water.
In Uganda a citizens' action project in impoverished parishes of Kampala involved community mapping which identified rubbish dumps, water points, drainage channels and latrines, and gave each home a number - and identity - for the first time. Local authorities were astonished to discover how many people lived in these communities - the first accurate picture they'd ever had.
Most of the citizens' action projects detailed in the report began with WaterAid country programme officers and local partner organisations talking to women's groups, faith groups and other civil society representatives, making sure they knew their rights. To avoid potential confrontation local government officials and service providers are invited into the process as early as possible. Although some officials may have been inclined towards scepticism, many recognised this as an opportunity to strengthen their own demands to national governments for increased resources.
In Ghana, water and sanitation director B.B. Batir has said of the process: "We are so used to telling the poor what they need and what they should do. Now we need to listen, we need to turn it around the other way."
Barbara Frost continued: "If the six years since the Millennium Development Goals were signed by all governments has taught us nothing else it is that top down solutions are not delivering water and sanitation to the poor. Pressure must continue on donor and recipient governments, but we also need to encourage bottom up solutions. If service providers are not held to account, the poor and the socially excluded will never achieve their water and sanitation rights. The groundwork has been laid. Citizens' Action needs to become a movement."
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