The SWA Collaborative Behaviors What are the behaviour changes needed? Based on extensive research, country experiences and lessons from other sectors, SWA has identified four key behaviours. If these are adopted, the potential for sustained and universal service delivery is increased These are: Enhance government leadership of sector planning processes Strengthen and use country systems Use one information and mutual accountability platform built around a multi-stakeholder, government-led cycle of planning, monitoring and learning Build sustainable water and sanitation sector financing strategies that incorporate financial data on all 3Ts (taxes, tariffs and transfers), as well as estimates for non-tariff household expenditure

Enhance government leadership of sector planning processes Nationally agreed sector priorities, strategies and plans Cycle of planning, monitoring, and learning Partners should support Governments’ ability and efforts to lead country processes Consistent and capable government leadership and policy direction is necessary to deliver universal and sustained access to WASH. This leadership includes: setting the rules and guidance needed to agree sector priorities; taking clear policy decisions; developing the plans and processes needed to implement priorities; and directing and coordinating resources – including external support – around the sector priorities. Leadership is equally needed to periodically review policy and implementation progress against service delivery, institutional development and mutual accountability targets across a country, state or territory. Building sector leadership requires investment and action from all stakeholders. Governments need to have an identified lead agency, and a transparent and defined participatory planning process. Country leadership cannot flourish when services are consistently delivered outside country-owned and government driven sector planning processes. Development partners (bi- and multi-lateral organizations as well as non-state actors financing the sector) need to be willing to support the country-led process both by investing in building capacity of those involved in leadership and planning by operating within, rather than outside, the country-led framework.

Strengthen and use country systems Core country systems Effective and transparent management of public resources Monitoring and regulating services. Partners should work toward the strengthening and use of country systems to develop, monitor and regulate services. What do we mean by country systems? Core country systems are the fundamental capabilities of government needed for the effective and transparent management of public resources, including those received through development assistance. They include functions for: public financial management, human resources management, statistics, procurement and contract management. Delivering universal access to WASH requires building on the backbone of core country systems, utilising the reach of decentralized levels of government and the economy-wide capacity (private sector and civil society contractors and service providers) to construct and manage services. Most WASH investment by both developing countries and their development partners still relies on project based approaches, rather than a system strengthening or programmatic approach. There are a number of reasons for this – mainly, it is easier and quicker to fix infrastructure than it is to fix institutions. The current approach diverts resources and development impacts and draws capable staff out of government If sustainability is to be improved, if countries are to develop the capacity to serve growing populations and aid is to leverage domestic and commercial finance for expanding WASH services, a far greater emphasis on strengthening and using country systems is needed. Integration of WASH institutions with core country systems enhances sustainability, as well as extending reach and scale beyond that which is possible using project-based approaches. Though there is a tradeoff between spending resources on directly expanding access versus spending it on system strengthening, there is a strong case for increasing investments in system strengthening as a means to sustaining access investments.

Evidence of JSR Process Effectiveness Demonstrate and demand mutual accountability for sector progress Reliable data Critical joint reflection Adaptive management Partners should build, share and learn from data and hold each other accountable for results In order to decide where to invest, how to sustain and improve services and to understand which policies and strategies work, it is crucial that sectors have reliable data and engage in critical joint reflection and adaptive management. Effective development cooperation requires appropriate, inclusive processes that encourage all partners to build and share data and to come together – systematically – to make use of it and to learn and change All partners should: Use nationally agreed and developed information systems. There needs to be a transparency of information for all stakeholders on national targets, national and external resources, their use and the results achieved Development partners and developing countries need to be accountable to each other for their joint effectiveness in delivering development results and exercise transparency and accountability to citizens and civil society. All development actors need to participate in a multi-stakeholder accountability process. These actions will be underpinned by cooperation bred by trust. And partners will need to demonstrate flexibility and openness to adjust policies, strategies and practices, based on sound evidence, good practices and innovations

WASH financing data availability Water and sanitation sector financing strategies enable stakeholders to make better investment decisions and to plan for financing of operations and maintenance over the life-cycle costs of services Effective and equitable development of WASH services requires financing strategies that incorporate financial data on all 3Ts (taxes, tariffs and transfers) and include estimates for non-tariff household WASH expenditure. Building these strategies relies on the transparency and predictability of sector financing and a prerequisite is that there is transparent recording of fund flows from taxes, transfers and tariffs in: a) Financing agreements between development partners and governments; b) Government budgets (national, state and local) showing both budgeted and actual funding flows, including those from development partners; c) Service providers financial statements, d) Household consumption surveys that clearly separate out expenditure on WASH. Together these data sources enable the legislators and policy makers and other stakeholders to exercise a leadership role in directing and monitoring sector investment to where they are needed most. They can also promote domestic accountability for sector spending, both through parliamentary oversight and increased civil society scrutiny. In contrast, the lack of systems within the water and sanitation sector for gathering financial data, assessing it and making it accessible is a critical impediment in generating a picture of who is financing what, with what funding, for how long and with what effect.