The present paper examines the
sector reforms approach vis a vis the traditional PREDR
WS (Panchayatiraj Engineering Division Rural Water
Supply) type of providing rural water and sanitation
services and makes a case for partnership as a critical
institutional mechanism to implement the demand driven
approach piloted by government of India in selected
districts of the country

V.L. Prasad (7221524)

English

Loughborough University Institutional Repository

- 28th WEDC Conference Kolkata (Calcutta), India, 2002 M SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION AND WATER SERVICESWhither Partnership V. L. Prasao1 InoiaDevelopment stratagies in recent years have undergone a dramatic shift, with the emphasis changing from State being a central actor toward greater participation by a variety of other actors, including local governments, NGOs, CBOs and hte people themselves. This calls for a major institutional reorientation at the policy level to ensure responsiveness to local demand and to empower and enable local communities to act. Partnership is one such mechanism that is being increasingly sought to get away from state-centric approach. Partnerships are joint initiatives of the public sector in conjunction with the private, for-profit and not­for-profit sectors, also referred to as government, business and civic sectors. Within this arrangement each of the actors contributes resources such as financial, human, technical and intangibles such as information or political support5 • The present paper examines· the sector reforms approach vis a vis the traditional PRED­R WS (Panchayatiraj Engineering Division Rural Water Supply) type of providing rural water and sanitation services and makes a case for partnership as a critical institutional mechanism to implement the demand driven approach piloted by government of India in selected districts of the country. Rural Water and Sanitation Service Sector National guidelines and investments in rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) sector have traditionally focused on extending coverage of villages at the expense of quality of services. Public RWSS services are poorly designed and constructed, oftentimes designed and positioned at sites without consideration to community needs or preferences2• Planning of RWSS services also took place with out due attention to resource avilability or quality and is rarely financially viable. Systems often fail due to poor operation and maintenance. The end result is a government dominated target-driven service that has become unsustainable institutionally, financially and ,environmentally3. The Government has realized that investments alone are not enough, as systems are failing to be sustained. Therefore, a new approach based on managing water as a commodity has been proposed in 8th plan document (1992-97). However, the approach was not translated into action during the plan period for want of suitable mechanisms for implementation 4. Presently (1999 - 2000 onwards) Government of India is piloting the demand driven approach under Sector Reforms for water and sanitation in 67 districts of the country. The major emphasis in Sector Reforms approach is the changed role of government from provider of service to a promoter and - users having a central role in designing and maintaining the service. A comparison of the new approach with the traditional is summarized in Table 1. Sector reforms evidently turn the conventional departmental approach on its head. That the new approach, save a few pilot districts, did not catch up yet in implementation even two years after its launch in the country calls for a serious rehtink7 • Given the multiple facets of the program, a partnershipapproach which ensures that institutions with differentcapacities and mandates participate in the implementationwith shared responsibilities, would be in order.What the State should do The greatest contribution government can make towards partnership is to provide space for other actors/ organizations in implementing the rural water and sanitation services. In other words N GOs, CB Os, gram panchayat and private sector should be able to take care of certain tasks specifically devolved to be handled by them. Government officials with departmental affiliations often work in an isolated, monolithic fashion; so in the first place government representatives should be trained so that they can effectively work with the non-government partners. For partnership to flourish it is not enough that Government is permissive, it has to be promotional with regard to other actors. Principle of subsidiarity must be the guiding factor for working with non-state actors. According to this principle if a decision can be taken at lower level it should not be taken at higher level. NGOs and private consultant firms NGOs have the advantage of being closer to the target community and their incentive structures, unlike government staff, can often be tailored more easily to match the requirements of the user groups or beneficiaries. However, a majority of them lack capacities and resources. That good NGOs are not available - is the stand often taken by the public sector. A key factor 

Whither partnership

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Whither partnership

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