Serving the Poor: Practitioner Notes

Practitioner Notes are designed to offer practical recommendations for project partners thinking of entering into partnering arrangements.

• Making Innovation Work Through Partnerships in Water and Sanitation Projects
  This Practitioner Note draws on the experiences of the eight BPD focus projects, which have developed a range of alternative solutions for the delivery of cost-effective services to the poor. It examines how and why the approaches were developed, assesses their potential for replication and considers how tri-sector partnership has contributed to their evolution.

• The Interface between Regulatory Frameworks and Tri-Sector Partnerships
  Addressing regulatory issues is rarely at the centre of tri-sector partnership's concerns, even though the constraints set by regulation may have a great impact on what can be achieved. Similarly, regulatory institutions do not necessarily see the relevance of co-operating with partnerships for dealing with issues related to the provision of water and sanitation services to poor consumers. Based on BPD experience, this practitioner note calls for a greater dialogue between regulatory institutions and local-level partnerships.

• Cost Recovery
  Cost recovery in water and sanitation projects is an integral component of long-term sustainability. This practitioner note outlines the ways in which a multi-sector partnership can both help and hinder the achievement of a financially sustainable project.

• Analysing the potential of multi-stakeholder dialogue in water and sanitation sector reform
  Many countries are currently undertaking water and sanitation reform. In many of them, policymakers and practitioners are grappling with resistance to reform, in particular to private sector participation and changes in tariffs. There is limited understanding of the practical mechanisms that can bring multiple stakeholders together over a contentious issue. This paper suggests that more analysis should take place on how to overcome issues around timing, political will, capacity constraints, electoral cycles, transparency, etc.