Indicator 6.b.1 Proportion of local administrative units with established and operational policies and procedures for participation of local communities in water and sanitation management

Indicator 6.b.1: Proportion of local administrative units with established and operational policies and procedures for participation of local communities in water and sanitation management

Target 6.b: Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management

World Health Organization (WHO)

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Definition:

The indicator assesses the percentage of local administrative units (as defined by the national government) that have an established and operational mechanism by which individuals and communities can meaningfully contribute to decisions and directions about water and sanitation management.

The indicator Proportion of local administrative units with established and operational policies and procedures for participation of local communities in water and sanitation management is currently being measured by the Proportion of countries with clearly defined procedures in law or policy for participation by service users/communities in planning program in water and sanitation management, and hygiene promotion and the Proportion of countries with high level of users/communities participating in planning programs in water and sanitation management, and hygiene promotion.

Concepts:

Stakeholder participation is essential to ensure the sustainability of water and sanitation management options over time, e.g. the choice of appropriate solutions for a given social and economic context, and the full understanding of the impacts of a certain development decision. Defining the procedures in policy or law for the participation of local communities is vital to ensure needs of all the community is met, including the most vulnerable and also encourages ownership of schemes which in turn contributes to their sustainability.

Local administrative units refers to non-overlapping sub-districts, municipalities, communes, or other local community-level units covering both urban and rural areas to be defined by the government.

Policies and procedures for participation of local communities in water and sanitation management would define a formal mechanism to ensure participation of users in planning water and sanitation activities.

A policy or procedure is considered to be established if the mechanism for participation of local communities is defined in law or has been formally approved and published. It is considered to be operational if the policy or procedure is being implemented, with appropriate funding in place and with means for verifying that participation took place.

‘Water and sanitation’ includes all areas of management related to each of the targets under SDG 6, namely: water supply (6.1), sanitation and hygiene (6.2), wastewater treatment and ambient water quality (6.3), efficiency and sustainable use (6.4), integrated water resources management (6.5) and water-related ecosystems (6.6).

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 community and user participation has been expanded beyond WASH for the 2016-17 GLAAS cycle to address all targets in SDG 6, including water quality, water rights/allocation, 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 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). A key component of IWRM is community participation and management of water resources at the local level. 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).

The OECD Water Governance Initiative (WGI), a technical platform gathering 100+ members from the public, private and non-for-profit sectors, is currently developing a set of Water Governance Indicators, within the implementation strategy of the OECD Principles on Water Governance (OECD 2015a). The Water Governance Indicators are expected to be able to provide additional information on local participation on the basis of an indicators system proposed in OECD (2015b) for measuring “stakeholder engagement for inclusive water governance”. An indicator providing metrics on local participation will be developed and tested by 2017. Data will be made available through interactive platforms and databases in a format to foster policy dialogue and peer learning by 2018. A dedicated publication on “Water Governance at a Glance” will be launched at the 8th World Water Forum in Brasilia (2018).

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

Data on local administrative units with established and operational policies and procedures for local participation is being collected through the current cycle of GLAAS, and will be available by end-2016. Until then, the presence of policies and procedures as reported at the national level for different subsectors will be reported.

Additional data, including data measuring local participation from the OECD Water Governance Indicators and administrative data, will be progressively included in the calculation of the indicator as they become available.

The UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) questionnaire provides information on whether there are “clearly defined procedures in laws or policies for participation by service users (e.g. households) and communities in planning programs”. For countries that have data available from the local administrative unit level, they are asked to provide data on the number of local administrative units for which policies and procedures for local participation (i) exist, and (ii) are operational, as well as (iii) the number of local administrative units assessed, and (iv) the total number of units in the country. The indicator is computed as (ii) the number of local admin units with operation policies and procedures for local participation divided by (iv) the total number of local administrative units in the country.

Both numerator and denominator will be obtained through the GLAAS survey for the 2016-2017 cycle.

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]

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) 15.9 (integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies and accounts)

1