Since most water and sanitation services are provided by the public sector, public utilities are critical to achieving the water and sanitation MDG targets. DFID supports several international programmes that aim to strengthen public operators.
DFID supports the International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities (IBNET), an international network managed by the World Bank, that increases the transparency of utility performance and monitors their efficiency. Since 2002 DFID has provided £1,055,000 in funding to IBNET. DFID has also funded Building Partnerships for Development (BPD), an informal network that demonstrates, through research, how public, private and civil society partnerships in the water sector can work effectively at the local level. The research is then used to promote further partnerships which help to increase the capacity of local level operators to increase service. DFID supported BPD with £400,000 from 2002-06.
Sustainable improvements in utilities often require political and institutional changes, not simply improved hardware or technical skills. Ensuring that everyone, including the poorest and most marginalised, is served requires Governments that are capable, responsive and accountable to poor people—ie good governance. In most, if not all, cases where we provide Poverty Reduction Budget Support (PRBS) it is accompanied by support for governance reforms, particularly improved public sector financial management. Where we support sector programmes (as in Ghana or Sierra Leone) support for utility reform is usually a significant component.
Finding better ways to strengthen public utilities is a high priority for DFID. We are looking both at how we can provide further support to programmes that are working successfully and at identifying new partnership that can make a difference.