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An Introduction to the
Sector Partnership for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS Partnership) - Achieving universal coverage of rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) is a priority for the Government of Vietnam (GoV). Since 1998, GoV RWSS services has mainly been provide through one of the six National Target Programs (NTP) established by the GoV in programme areas considered important for national socio-economic development. In 2000, the GoV introduced the ‘National Rural Clean Water Supply and Sanitation Strategy up to the year 2020' in order to improve the impact and sustainability of GoV investments. The national strategy aims to achieve 100% access to safe water and sanitation services in rural areas by 2020. The strategy is underpinned by the principles of demand responsiveness; managing water as an economic as well as social good; and basing decision-making and management at the lowest appropriate level. The strategy aims to promote the participation of private service providers and development of community-based systems for needs definition, planning, operation and maintenance. Rural communities are expected to make decisions about preferred type of technology and operational set-up to through a process of informed choice. As a general principle, users are expected to co-finance construction and pay the operating costs of water and sanitation facilities. The NTP in principle is implemented in accordance with the National Strategy. The RWSS sector in Vietnam is being supported by the World Bank, ADB, Danida, AusAid, JICA, Unicef and several INGOs. A number of donor programmes are currently under preparation, review and revision. This includes the joint formulation by Ausaid and Danida of a programme aimed at providing direct budget support to the NTP. Other donors, including Sida, DFID and the Netherlands have expressed interest in supporting the sector provided improved mechanisms for sector coordination and performance management are established. A joint GoV-Donor Sector Review (JSR) of the National Strategy was finalised in April 2005. The review report analyses Vietnam's progress in implementing the strategy and outlines options to improve progress and effectiveness. The review concluded that while the approach and objectives of the national strategy remain relevant, the principles were only to a limited extent applied by the NTP. The review furthermore concluded that generating higher levels of funding for RWSS programs is not the key issue facing the sector. Failure to mainstream the principles of the national strategy prevented the full potential of user investments in RWSS from being achieved. If a community-centred, demand-responsive approach is fully implemented, sufficient resources will be generated through increased contributions flowing from rural communities themselves. Based on its wide ranging analysis, the JSR puts forward the following key recommendations:
The findings and conclusions of the JSR were to a large extent supported by the GoV's own evaluation of the NTP, which has generated discussion amongst key agencies including the Office of Government, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and MARD. The GoV on this basis is considering options to strengthen the performance and effectiveness of the RWSS sector and is increasingly interested in utilising new aid modalities to maximise the impact of donor resources. It was therefore agreed to explore the options for establishing a GoV-donor RWSS Sector Support Partnership as a mechanism for improved sector coordination and harmonisation in support of nation-wide application of the National Strategy and more specifically for follow-up on the recommendations of the JSR and NTP reviews. The Partership strategic framework and institutional set-up should be embedded in existing GoV institutional structures and planning frameworks. These Terms of Reference (TOR) define the institutional mechanism and approaches to be applied for exploring design options of the proposed RWSS Sector Support Partnership and for reaching agreement on a partnership design that can subsequently be submitted to potential partners for approval. For more details: Task Force progress update The First Meeting of the Task Force for Design of a rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) Sector Support Partnership was held 10 th June 2005. All the members of the Task Force were present at the meeting. Dr. Cao Duc Phat, MARD Minister attended the meeting and made a welcome statement and some remarks. Minister Cao Duc Phat opened the meeting by stressing the importance of RWSS in MARD's 5-year Plan and emphasized that the GoV is highly committed to the development of this sector. He urged the donors and the line ministries to strengthen the collaboration by way of forming a RWSS Partnership. He especially emphasized that sanitation should receive very high priority, since Vietnam is not likely to reach the MDGs in that regard. Presenting the overview of the background for the proposed Partnership and the establishment of the Task Force, Dr. Le Van Minh (Director of ICD-MARD) emphasized that the National RWSS Strategy needs to be updated with a plan of action, and that there is need for improved strategic planning, institutional strengthening and better sector coordination. Since the next phase of RWSS-NTP is currently under design and a number of donors are designing new programs, the time is right for establishing a GoV/Donor RWSS Sector Partnership. The meeting also listened to some presentations on Partnership rationale and “building blocks”/elements; linking the Partnership design process with the formulation of the SEDP/FYP and design of RWSS NTP Phase II and new donor programs; role, responsibility, composition, working approach and work program of the Design Task Force and Working Group; and GoV and donor contributions towards the Partnership Design Working Group. Some actions agreed at the meeting include: bilateral consultations with the donors will be conducted within the coming week to discuss the details of the proposed funding support; specific mobilization of international consultant's inputs should be prepared; some funds will be earmarked for short-term inputs; Funding from donors will be channeled to the ISG; all parties were requested to send CVs of recommended national consultants to the partnership coordinators; CERWASS will consider what support is needed to the design process in terms of funding and human resources. (Extracted from the Minutes of the 1st meeting. For further information, click here) Minutes of the first meeting of the Task Force (10 June 2005) Approved Partnership Documents (English - Vietnamese) Office: Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Partnership (RWSSP) |
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