The Elephant in the Room: the MDG Capacity Gap for

water and sanitation

Peregrine Swann

Department for International Development, UK

1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HEAbercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA

Parable of the Elephant

To date, thinking on how to meet the water and sanitation MDG targets has been piecemeal

Attaining the MDGs for water and sanitation requires that more thought be given to the total of the parts

1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HEAbercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA

The Elephant in the Room

The MDG Capacity Gap is a highly neglected field of research in the water and sanitation sector

But has been brought into spotlight in other sectors: UNESCO (2008) and World Health Organisation (2006)

1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HEAbercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA

Capacity Gap for the Water and Sanitation MDGs

• Current Best Estimate for sub-Saharan Africa: Additional 250,000 sector staff needed in post each year

up to 2015 to reach the MDG targets.  2.5 million additional staff needed in post by 2015.

• Sector constraints in recruiting, retaining and developing capacity:

Too few staff in the right place Too many staff in the wrong place Staff have wrong skills Staff unproductive

• Civil Service Reform

1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HEAbercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA

Response from Donors

Donor response to the capacity gap tended to be:

Too limited in scale Focused on a specific part of the elephant Not necessarily meeting the most pressing need of the recipient

government Could do more to build local institutions / centres of excellence

1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HEAbercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA

A DFID-supported research project

This will: Prepare 5 case studies in Indicator Countries Working closely with experts in the sector, international and local

organizations and a variety of other stakeholders

Expected Outcomes: Baseline national information and analysis Diagnosis of country capacity needs in the water and sanitation

sector Assessment of the likely sources of capacity: newer sources of

capacity, or innovating in use of capacity Development of headline figures of regional capacity constraints

1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HEAbercrombie House, Eaglesham Road, East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA

Plans for the future

In the longer term, plan is to work with others to: Assist with the development of national capacity

strategies/policies Assist with the costing and implementation of these

strategies/policies

For more information contact: s-cavill@dfid.gov.uk