Indicator 6.a.1 Amount of water- and sanitation-related official development assistance that is part of a government-coordinated spending plan

Indicator 6.a.1: Amount of water- and sanitation-related official development assistance that is part of a government-coordinated spending plan

Target 6.a: By 2030, expand international cooperation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water- and sanitation-related activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies

World Health Organization (WHO)

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Definition:

Amount of water- and sanitation-related official development assistance that is part of a government-coordinated spending plan is defined as the proportion of total water and sanitation-related Official Development Assistance (ODA) disbursements that are included in the government budget.

Concepts:

“International cooperation and capacity-building support” implies aid (most of it quantifiable) in the form of grants or loans by external support agencies. The amount of water and sanitation-related Official Development Assistance (ODA) can be used as a proxy for this, captured by OECD Creditor Reporting System (CRS). ODA is defined as flows of official financing administered with the promotion of the economic development and welfare of developing countries as the main objective, and which are concessional in character with a grant element of at least 25 per cent (using a fixed 10 per cent rate of discount). By convention, ODA flows comprise contributions of donor government agencies, at all levels, to developing countries (“bilateral ODA”) and to multilateral institutions. ODA receipts, from a recipient perspective, comprise disbursements by bilateral donors and multilateral institutions. Lending by export credit agencies—with the pure purpose of export promotion—is excluded (see http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/officialdevelopmentassistancedefinitionandcoverage.htm).

“Developing countries” refer to countries, which are eligible to receive official development assistance (see http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/daclist.htm). This limits the scope of reporting to those countries receiving water and sanitation ODA, and the number of such countries is expected to decrease going forward.

Water and sanitation-related activities and programmes include those for water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) (targets 6.1, 6.2), wastewater and water quality (6.3), water efficiency (6.4), water resource management (6.5), and water-related ecosystems (6.6). As per target 6.a wording, it includes activities and programmes for water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency, wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies.

A government coordinated spending plan is defined as a financing plan/budget for the water and sanitation sector, clearly assessing the available sources of finance and strategies for financing future needs.

The UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) provides information on governance, monitoring, human resources, and financing in the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector. The UN-Water GLAAS survey is currently conducted on a biennial basis, led by WHO, and collected data from 94 countries (predominantly low and lower-middle income countries) in the most recent cycle in 2013-2014. The scope of the question on external funding has been expanded beyond WASH for the 2016-17 GLAAS cycle to include wastewater and water quality, water efficiency, water resource management, and the status of water-related ecosystems. GLAAS has completed three full cycles (2009-2010, 2011-2012, and 2013-2014), as well as a pilot conducted in 2008.

National governments participating in the GLAAS survey fill out the questionnaire, preferably supported by a multi-stakeholder review. Although one ministry leads the process, it is often the case that many different ministries and departments must be involved in the process in order to obtain the data required to complete the questionnaire. A GLAAS national focal person supports the lead ministry to coordinate data collection, to compile the national response to the questionnaire, and to lead on the process of data validation.

The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) has been collecting data on aid flows since 1973 through the OECD Creditor Reporting System based on a standard methodology and agreed definitions from member countries and other aid providers. The data are generally obtained on an activity level, and include numerous parameters to allow disaggregation by provider and recipient country, by type of finance, and by type of resources provided. Data are available for essentially all high-income countries as bilateral donors, and for an increasing number of middle-income aid providers, as well as multi-lateral lending institutions. Methodology on ODA data collection by OECD can be found here: http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/methodology.htm

The data will be complemented by Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) reporting in SDG target 6.5 (for wastewater and water quality, water efficiency, water resource management, and the status of water-related ecosystems) (UNEP 2016). The analysis of IWRM has been done in the past by UN-Water in 2008 (led by UN-DESA) and in 2012 (led by UNEP, UNDP, GWP and SIWI) as requested by the UN Commission for Sustainable Development (UN-Water 2008, 2012).

Ministries with responsibilities related to finance, water supply and sanitation, agriculture, water resources development and management, environment, and foreign affairs

Data on water and sanitation-related ODA included in the government budget will be available by end-2016 with the current cycle of UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) data. Until then, total water and sanitation-related ODA (denominator) will be reported. Total water and sanitation-related ODA will continue to be reported as an additional indicator going forward.

In addition, the proportion of ODA channelled through the government treasury will be reported as an additional indicator. ODA channelled through treasury indicates a high level of cooperation and alignment between donors and national government in which the donors channel funds through the national budget process.

The OECD Creditor Reporting System (CRS) currently disaggregates ODA for the water and sanitation among several categories including: sector policy and administration, water resources protection, large and basic water and sanitation systems, river basin infrastructure, waste management, agricultural water resources, and education and training. While these categories do not align directly with the target areas of SDG 6 individually, which limits the disaggregation of ODA among the SDG target areas, the combined ODA from these categories does align with a majority of the reported ODA to the water sector.

As the numerator and denominator come from different sources, there is the possibility of different underlying assumptions regarding what should be included/excluded in the ODA figures. This could lead to situations in which the proportion of ODA included in government budget is greater than 1 (100%) if total ODA reported to OECD is lower than ODA reported to be included the budget. To guard against this possibility, the OECD will supply GLAAS with the reported ODA figures, broken down to the project level, so that respondents can match these with their on-budget project data.

ODA represents only one aspect of international cooperation. To capture other dimensions, additional supporting indicators are available, including indicators for the Collaborative Behaviours identified by the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) partnership. Each behaviour has one or two key indicators for governments and for development partners. If the behaviours are jointly adapted by governments and development partners, long-term sector performance and sustainability would improve. For additional information on the Collaborative Behaviours see: http://sanitationandwaterforall.org/about/the-four-swa-collaborative-behaviours/

The indicator is computed as the proportion of total water and sanitation-related ODA that is included in the government budget, i.e. the amount of water and sanitation-related ODA in the government budget divided by the total amount of water and sanitation-related ODA.

The numerator on water and sanitation-related ODA in the government budget will be obtained from the UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) survey for the 2016-2017 cycle. The question on external funding collects data on the amount of donor funds that were included in government budget. Data for 2015 ODA disbursements through GLAAS will be available by end-2016. The scope of the question on external funding has been expanded beyond WASH for the 2016-17 cycle to address all targets under SDG 6, including wastewater and water quality, water efficiency, water resource management, and water-related ecosystems.

The denominator on total water and sanitation-related ODA disbursements will be obtained through OECD Creditor Reporting System (CRS) (purpose codes 14000-series for the water sector and purpose code 31140 for agricultural water resources). Data on ODA disbursements for 2015 will be made available through CRS in December 2016.

2017-07-11

World Health Organization (WHO)

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

6.5:

Number of deaths, missing persons and persons affected by disaster per 100,000 people [a]

7.a:

Number of deaths, missing persons and persons affected by disaster per 100,000 people [a]

13.b:

Number of deaths, missing persons and persons affected by disaster per 100,000 people [a]

15.9:

Number of deaths, missing persons and persons affected by disaster per 100,000 people [a]

Comments:

6.5 (implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including transboundary cooperation as appropriate) 7.a (enhance international cooperation to facilitate access to clean energy research and technology) 13.b (mechanisms for raising capacity for climate change-related planning and management, focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities) 15.9 (integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies and accounts).

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