Asian Development Bank

3^rd World Water Forum: Water and Poverty

Background

Better water management can make a key contribution to poverty reduction. This is recognized in internationally agreed targets to halve the proportion of people without access to drinking water and improved sanitation by 2015. This will help remove the burden of disease and huge costs in time (and for the urban poor, money) that gaining access to water entails. But this is just part of the story.

Improving the water security of poor people will help reduce poverty and support sustainable development in direct and material ways. Water is essential for the food security of the poor, not just from agriculture but also from trees and home gardens, from fish and other foods collected from aquatic ecosystems and from livestock. Water is an essential input into many livelihood activities, including manufacturing and services, and improved access to water for both urban and rural poor can create livelihood opportunities that can break the cycle of poverty. A more complete understanding of the relationship between water security and poverty reduction is needed to improve the management of water resources and the delivery of water services.

In February 2002, a group of collaborators formed the Water and Poverty Initiative (WPI) and agreed to work together to explore the linkages between poverty and water security. The Asian Development Bank coordinated the group's activities. The initial results of the Initiative's efforts were presented during the 3rd World Water Forum in Kyoto, Japan.

The Initiative's work involved a series of consultations with policy and decision-makers, practitioners, funding agencies, the private sector, NGOs, professional organizations, and the media. The collaborators also undertook extensive research to highlight water actions on poverty and water security at the local, national and regional levels. Finally, the Initiative developed strong links with a range of other themes and dialogues that were being developed for the Forum to ensure a strong core program and a coherent position on poverty and water security that cuts across all the different sessions at the 3rd WWF.

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Goals of the Water and Poverty Initiative

• Raise public awareness about poverty and its linkages to the management of water resources, the delivery of water services and the overall water security of poor people
• Exchange experience about successful and unsuccessful project approaches designed to meet diverse needs for water security of the poor
• Catalyze pro-poor financing and action at policy and project levels

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Thematic Framework

To prepare for the 3rd World Water Forum, a thematic framework was developed to explore the linkages between poverty and water security.

The framework recognized that water needs are intricately woven through the daily life of poor communities, women and children. Four aspects are particularly important:

• availability of water for production and income generation
• water, sanitation, and hygiene for health
• sustainable environmental management
• vulnerability to water-related disasters.

The framework also proposed six key action areas to improve water security for the poor:

• pro-poor water governance
• improved access to quality water services
• pro-poor economic growth and livelihood improvement
• community capacity building and empowerment
• disaster prevention and mitigation
• management of the environment

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Partners

There is a wide range of partners who continue to collaborate in this Initiative, among them the following:

• Gender and Water Alliance
• Global Water Partnership
• International Union for the Conservation of Nature
• International Water Management Institute
• Japan Bank for International Cooperation
• Japan International Cooperation Agency
• Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Royal Danish Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Royal Netherlands Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh
• UNICEF
• WaterAid
• Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) also helped to catalyze activities in their respective regions.

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Initial Findings from the 3^rd World Water Forum

The Water and Poverty theme held 19 sessions at the Forum. Six of these were organized by the Initiative.

The results of the Forum are still being analyzed but some initial messages can already be highlighted. These are:

• We must sharpen the message: the potential contribution of water to poverty reduction is not reflected in existing national poverty reduction and development policies or Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) processes. This is because water practitioners have not made the case for these potentials to policy makers and politicians outside the water sector.

• We must stretch the imagination: domestic water is widely used for productive purposes and can make a difference to the livelihoods of poor people. This includes things like vegetable gardens, livestock, fruit trees, small manufacturing; services such as laundering and hairdressing and food preparation for sale. These activities are important for very poor households with few other assets (especially the landless), for female-headed households and for households with few other opportunities for cash income. Providing for these activities greatly improves the financial sustainability of water supply systems.

• We must argue the case more effectively: improving water supplies and sanitation bring a wide range of benefits. These include health and welfare benefits as well as reduced income losses and medical expenses, time-savings that mean more work can be done and open new production opportunities, improving equity and social organization.

• We must create awareness: the huge challenges presented by improving sanitation, together with hygiene promotion, were identified as a particular cause of concern. There is no prospect of the target agreed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) being realized under 'business as usual'. The need for advocacy to increase knowledge of and support for large-scale efforts to improve sanitation, along with the need to find ways to increase coverage without greatly increasing water demands in scarcity areas, were identified as particular areas for action.

• We must focus on actions: many positive experiences were identified but there are formidable challenges to scaling these up and replicating them. This process of learning from and transferring positive experiences is a key to more effective water management for poverty reduction.

• We must bring together sectors: addressing a range of vulnerabilities related to health risks, ecosystems degradation and disaster management must be a central component of pro-poor water policies and management. These vulnerabilities have traditionally been the responsibility of agencies outside of the water sector but must be central to integrated water resources management.

• We must bring together people: the importance of all stakeholders contributing in their own ways was a central theme. These include governments, civil society, the private sector, the international community and, not least, poor people themselves. Partnerships to put the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities into practice are essential if the synergies between these different contributions are to emerge. The basis for creating these synergies is to empower the poor and then see how different stakeholders can support and respond to the needs of poor people.

• We must make action possible: capacity building is needed at all levels, but is particularly important at local government and community levels. Creating or enhancing institutional, legal and policy frameworks to support this is a critical challenge.

• Financing is needed: one critical area is the mobilization of new funding sources. Again, much potentials exist but the potential of local, small-scale private sector involvement in service provision in rural areas is one area where particular actions are needed. Such entrepreneurial development produces more appropriate, cheaper and more sustainable service provision, and generates many additional multipliers through the local economy.

• We must build understanding: there are many knowledge gaps that need to be bridged, including the development of effective indicators and monitoring systems to assess progress in realizing water-poverty targets. There is also a need for major advocacy programs to increase political and public awareness of and support for pro-poor water management.

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Reports of the Water and Poverty Sessions

• Session Report on Opening Plenary: The Multiple Roles of Water in Poverty Reduction [ PDF ]
• Session Report on Securing Community Development and Sustainable Livelihoods for the Poor [ PDF ]
• Session Report on Water, the MDGs and PRSPs- Mainstreaming Poverty Reduction in Water Management [ PDF ]
• Session Report on Reducing Vulnerabilities - Managing Water-Related Disasters and Ensuring Health and Environmental Security [ PDF ]
• Session Report on Changing Policies and Improving Governance for Water Security for the Poor [ PDF ]
• Session Report on Closing Plenary: Building Partnerships for Action [ PDF ]

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Events

• Planning Meeting on Water and Poverty
  7-8 February 2002; Manila, Philippines

• First Meeting of the Steering Group for the Water and Poverty Initiative
  28 May 2002; Manila, Philippines

• Multi-stakeholders Dialogue on Water Services for the Poor
  29-31 May 2002; Manila, Philippines

• Asia and Pacific Regional Consultation Workshop on Water and Poverty
  22-26 September 2002; Dhaka, Bangladesh

• Second Meeting of the Steering Group for the Water and Poverty Initiative
  26 September 2002; Dhaka, Bangladesh

• 3rd World Water Forum- Water and Poverty Initiative
  19-20 March 2003; Kyoto, Japan

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Water and Poverty Documents

Publications

• Bringing Water to the Poor - Selected ADB Case Studies
• Poverty and Water Security: Fighting Poverty Through Water Management
• Water and Poverty - The Realities
• Water and Poverty - The Themes
• The Water and Poverty Initiative - What We Can Learn and What We Must Do
• Water and Poverty-Fighting Poverty through Water Management
• Water for the Poor - Partnerships for Action
• Rural Water and Poverty Action Initiative - Letter of Intent for Investment Partnership between Viet Nam and ADB [PDF]

Papers and Reports

• Report of the Meeting on the Water and Poverty Initiative (January 2004) [ PDF ]
• Report on the Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation Workshop on Water and Poverty [PDF]
• Water and Poverty Initiative (WPI) Status Report [PDF]
• 1^st Steering Group Meeting Report [PDF]
• 2^nd Steering Group Meeting Report [PDF]
• Draft Summary Report on the Multistakeholders Dialogue on Water Services for the Urban Poor [PDF]
• Water and Poverty Theme Summary [PDF]
• Guidelines on developing case studies for water and poverty [PDF] - See Sample case study [PDF]
• Stages of discussion in the Virtual Water Forum: Session on Poverty and Water Security [PDF]

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Sessions at the 3^rd World Water Forum