Formulation of water and sanitation policies and strategies: experiences from Rwanda

This paper describes the process of formulation of Rwanda’s National Water Supply and Sanitation Policies and Strategies, which were approved by the Cabinet in December 2016. The major steps in the process included conceptualisation (preparation of a concept note and work plan); constitution of a dedicated task force to oversee the process; engagement of international consultants; literature review and information collection; preparation of background papers; stakeholders’ consultations; preparation of draft polices and strategies; review and quality assurance by the sector working group and the task force; consensus building; finalisation and approval. The process spanned almost two years and cost approximately US$ 170,000, including the cost of external consultants and stakeholders’ consultations. The case of Rwanda provides valuable lessons for other countries that plan to update their national water and sanitation policies and strategies in view of changes in the context and emerging issues and to ensure alignment with the SDGs

Rural WASH programming: experiences from Rwanda

Rwanda WASH Project was implemented in rural areas of four low-WASH access districts during 2009 - 2015 by the Government of Rwanda with support from UNICEF and the Government of the Netherlands. This project had four key components i.e. community water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion, institutional WASH and capacity building. The project, which benefitted over 500,000 people, resulted in increase in average access to improved water supply and sanitation in the target districts from 47 per cent to 85 per cent and from 34 per cent to 70 per cent, respectively. A project sustainability assessment carried out in 2016 showed that the infrastructure built under the project was fully functional. The experiences of the project underline the importance of establishment of effective project coordination mechanism, use of existing government structures, capacity building, strong monitoring and evaluation framework and public-private partnership for management of water supply systems