Learning Repository

Strengthening multi-stakeholder engagement and mutual accountability in water, sanitation and hygiene: Cross-country synthesis

Publication

This report synthesizes research findings on multi-stakeholder platforms and mutual accountability across five countries that received catalytic funds from Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) in 2022. The five countries were Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Niger and Paraguay. This synthesis report identifies common enabling factors that support effective multi-stakeholder collaboration, and common challenges that often inhibit this collaboration. The report also assesses current multi-stakeholder engagement and mutual accountability efforts in each country context, as well as demonstrating how such approaches can support progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6).

Urban Domestic Wastewater Management in Vietnam - Challenges and Opportunities

Publication

Valuing Water: The Australian Perspective. Cultural values of water in the Murray-Darling Basin

Publication

This is one in a series of four reports that examine how the diverse values placed on water have shaped the development and management of water resources in the Murray Darling River Basin.

The report tells a story of how Australia’s First Nations communities and their cultural values are included in the management of water in Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin. It explores themes regarding the recognition or identification of First Nations water values, how these values are considered in decision making, and the protection of these values. Connection to land and waters is fundamental to the cultural values of First Nations people and there is increasing progress in recognising and involving First Nations in restoring sustainable management as Australia continues its journey of dealing with increasing water demands in a highly variable and changing climate. However, only in recent decades has there been a move towards legal and moral recognition of ownership of the lands and waters occupied by its many nations before the colonisation of Australia from 1788.

The report looks at the inclusion of First Nations values and perspectives in water management across the Basin through various statutory mechanisms, tailored engagement processes and mainstream community engagement activities. The case study concludes with some general lessons about efforts in the Murray-Darling River Basin to recognise, assess and realise Indigenous cultural values associated with water that may be useful for others.

Valuing Water: The Australian Perspective. Lessons from the Murray-Darling Basin

Publication

This is one in a series of four reports that examine how the diverse values placed on water have shaped the development and management of water resources in the Murray Darling River Basin.

The report synthesises and elicits generalisable lessons from three case studies that tell the story of valuing water in the Basin through the primary lenses of economics, environment and Australia’s First Nations cultural values of water. The insights and generalisable lessons presented in this report are primarily intended for policy makers, practitioners, water managers, water engineers, civil society organisations and academics to inform and improve water management in other country contexts. These lessons are provided not as a roadmap for direct transfer elsewhere, but rather as framing and guidance that should be viewed through the lens of the hydrological, ecological, socioeconomic and political context of a specific basin or country.

This series of reports is the result of a collaborative effort between the World Bank and the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with support from the Australian Water Partnership, to promote more equitable, transparent and effective management of water resources development. The report is also available to download from the World Bank.

WASH FINANCE: Accessing Commercial Finance for Water and Sanitation Service Providers in Kenya, Cambodia, and Senegal

Publication

This paper presents three case studies from the USAID Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Finance (WASHFIN) Program, which illustrate different approaches to leveraging commercial finance in the water supply and sanitation (WSS) sector. The Program implemented activities in ten countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America since 2016 and helped raise over US$118.8 million from a mix of public and private financing sources. These three examples from Kenya, Cambodia, and Senegal are representative of the Program’s efforts to help close financing gaps utilizing both public and commercial funding sources.