Development Aspects Impressum Editors

Conclusions

A number of conclusions can be drawn from this experience relative to water sector capacity development and the Green Economy. Even though this CD project was designed to address local issues that constrain the delivery of sustainable water, sanitation and solid waste services rather than promote measures in support of the Green Economy, many of its elements aim to achieve similar objectives.

The more efficient use of water and the improvement of water quality for a better environment were at the heart of the LVWATSANI and, by consequence, most of the 21 CD interventions addressed these issues, whether from an insti- tutional, regulatory, social, financial, commercial or operational perspective. The issues of sustainability and social inclusiveness were decided to be cross-cutting subjects for the entire CD programme and were an integral component of all CD interventions. In addition, three interventions were specifically directed at social inclusiveness. Six interventions were specifically concerned with the environmen- tal impacts related to drinking water, sanitation and solid waste management by service providers and users. Without exception, the CD interventions promoted interdisciplinary thinking and problem-solving and interlinked management ap- proaches. They achieved this by delivering and discussing interdisciplinary content, by bringing people from different towns, organizations, disciplines and hierarchical levels together, and by sharing experiences across participants and across organiza- tions, towns and countries. But most of all, this was achieved by the participants themselves when they sat down together to draw up town-based action plans and then jointly stood in for their implementation.

The innovative approaches by this CD project can be summed up as follows:

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  First, the broad, interdisciplinary and on-the-ground identification of issues that
  

was undertaken together with the stakeholders;

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  Second, the inclusion of multiple aspects and multiple stakeholders in the analy- sis of the issues and the design of the CD programme;
  
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  Third, the delivery of a CD programme that addressed the key issues and brought
  

together and empowered all local stakeholders;

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  Fourth, the resolve by the stakeholders to prepare and implement (joint) action
  

plans; and

Fifth, the active follow-up of action plan implementation and the active pursuit of constraints that were faced when implementing these plans.

The partnership arrangement of UN-HABITAT, the four international partners and the local capacity builder was another innovative aspect of this project. It aligned a broad international expertise base in the thematic areas and in capacity develop- ment with a wealth of local knowledge and experience that was accumulated in the same and earlier projects. Whilst formalized through contracts and partnership agreements, the mode of operation of the partnership was based on equality of the partners, on shared objectives and approaches for project implementation, on respect and trust, on consensus-building for decision making, on the use of inter- disciplinary approaches and methods, and on the wide variety of expertise and experience that the partners brought to the project.