1. Taking stock: Tracking 2012 HLM Commitments
Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF
PM, Geneva, Switzerland November 11-13, 2013

2. At the 2012 HLM, unprecedented political leadership
Intro to HLCD and particularly the high-point HLM
SWA’s key activity is the High Level Commitments Dialogue. Previously, we talked about the biennial High Level Meeting. But in fact, the activity is so much more. SWA intends to strengthen: 1) the on-going sector dialogue in-country; 2) political engagement and 3) accountability for actions and results.
At the SWA High Level Meetings – Finance Ministers and donors -- held every two years – have an opportunity for countries to further review and discuss obstacles and address solutions based on the most up to date evidence. The HLM provides a forum for high level dialogue and for laying out concrete actions. Developing countries and donors make concrete commitments
There is a distinctive in-country preparatory process that leads up to the HLM.
The HLCD brings either a renewed or new focus to the SWA Framework issues (targeting of resources, planning, budgeting, M&E, human resources, etc.). An opportunity to take what is often a sector issue and sometimes a working level issue, to the political level.
Based on bottleneck analysis, stakeholder dialogue and political engagement of lead Ministers but also others such as the Finance Ministry (public administration, others): commitments are developed with high-level agreement and participants at the HLM submit a Statement of Commitments which summarizes the actions each will take over the coming two years. By tabling it publicly, there is an agreement to be held to account.
Donors conduct a donor preparatory process and also table commitments at the global level – this creates a platform for mutual accountability.
SWA provides the forum and Partners attend and ensure a productive dialogue and resulting actions. The first HLM was held in 2010, second in 2012 and third is coming up in 2014.
Details OF 2012 HLM:
The 2nd HLM took place in Washington DC at the WB on April 20, 2012
Focus: economic impact of investing in water and sanitation
80 ministers and senior officials attended from:
45 Developing countries (finance, water, sanitation ministers)
10 Donors (ministers of development cooperation and heads of development agencies)
3 Development banks
UN Agencies and Civil society representative
Over 400 specific commitments developed and tabled on the global stage
Australia and the USA joined SWA
35 developing countries committed to increase access:
307 million new users of sanitation facilities
224 million new users of water services.
2 donors committed to increase access:
The UK will double to 60 Mil people
The Netherlands will serve additional 10 Mil people

3. Moving to an on-going process: SWA High Level Commitments Dialogue
2012 HLM
2014 HLM
2011 Monitoring
2013 Monitoring
2015
Monitoring
Attention/Effort
Prep Process
As mentioned, the SWA High Level Meeting – held every two years - brings Finance Ministers together with donors to discuss obstacles and address solutions together at a global level. Participants bring statements, which links the discussion back to country level and helps to ensure there are results at country level.
The HLM is more than a short meeting in Washington. In the past, we referred to an extensive preparatory process in advance and follow-up and monitoring after the HLM. We are now moving to an on-going dialogue
Before: peak role of HLM and very intense , short term preparation process in country
(walk audience through the previous sharp peaks and lows and the shift to an on-going dialogue with peak points)
Prep Process
Previously & going forward...

4. Political Prioritization Nat. Planning Processes
2012 HLM Commitments
Commitments are focused on the ‘SWA Framework’:
Political prioritization
Evidence based decision making
National planning processes (institutional strengthening, HR capacity, investment plans, dedicated budget lines, etc)
Commitments are also key to mutual accountability as they are made both by donors and countries (by donors they are made at global level)
2012:
353 specific commitments were made by 37 countries
59 commitments were made by 11 donors
Political Prioritization
Ev-Based
Decision-Making
Nat. Planning Processes

5. One Year Later: 2012 HLM Commitments are being implemented

6. Key Findings from the 2013 Progress Report
1. Good progress has been made; however, additional effort is needed to fulfill commitments by 2014.
2. ‘Quick-win’ budget allocations have been made, however, progress towards structural changes in overall financing systems has been slower.
3. Substantial progress has been made in tackling open defecation but additional effort is required to achieve elimination.
Of interest:
Points 1, 2, 3: Good progress is being made – see next slide
Point 4: 100% of those tabling commitments in 2012 provided updates in 2013
Point 4: Reporting in most countries was not only by the lead ministry but this is still an area for improvement. Most importantly, Finance Ministries were involved in the development of the commitments and in the future will hopefully be more involved in the on-going dialogue.
Point 5: see next slide

7. Key Findings from the 2013 Progress Report
4. Partners have taken mutual accountability seriously; however, inclusion of multiple stakeholders in the review could have been stronger.
5. The SWA HLM positively influenced progress in sector visibility, financing and sanitation.
Of interest:
Points 1, 2, 3: Good progress is being made – see next slide
Point 4: 100% of those tabling commitments in 2012 provided updates in 2013.
Point 4: Reporting in most countries was not only by the lead ministry but this is still an area for improvement. Most importantly, Finance Ministries were involved in the development of the commitments and in the future will hopefully be more involved in the on-going dialogue.
Point 5: see next slide

8. Progress is being made
Progress of Commitments by Category – Developing Countries
This is from the 2013 Progress Update on the 2012 HLM Commitments…a result of Self-reporting
Countries report nearly 60% of their commitments are complete or progressing well; while donors report more than 80% are complete or progressing well
There is a mixed picture though. There is still a lot to be done. (next…)

9. Outlook for 2014: Extra efforts are needed Additional effort is required to fulfill commitments by 2014
Currently only 44% of countries commitments are reported to be on track to be fulfilled by the 2014 HLM. However, countries also reported that, with extra efforts an additional 43% could be achieved. - which brings it to 87% fulfilled
For donors – similarly, 42% are on track to be achieved. However on the donor commitments, in fact 43% were not designed to be fulfilled in this period.
So we continue to work to strengthen the structure of the HLCD – the developing country dialogue is different than the donor dialogue at central level – so how do we continue to build a stronger accountability mechanism while recognizing the different challenges by different stakeholders.

10. Countries and donors report HLCD influence
Strengthened relationships with ministries of finance
increased budget allocations and increased interest in implementation by MOFs
Increased prioritization of sanitation
further buy-in for and scaling up of CATS
Strengthened visibility of the WASH sector within technical ministries
stronger support to the sector
Strengthened dialogue within the sector
improved coordination
The process is proving to be an influential one.
We’ll soon hear from panelists and also hopefully audience members on the influence of the HLCD

11. Commitments bring sanitation to the attention of Finance Ministers
Burkina Faso committed to eradicate Open Defecation by 2015
Zambia announced at least 1,000 open defecation-free wards by 2014
DRC will introduce expenditure tracking for sanitation
13 countries will introduce or scale-up Community Approaches to sanitation
Elaborating on one area of influence
Making Commitments that would be read by ministers in front of a global audience gave a chance to technical teams to bring up specific issues to the attention of high level politicians
Sanitation for example, received a great deal of attention
Debrief calls with countries revealed that Burkina’s Minister of Health was really galvanised by the HLM and really put sanitation high in the agenda upon her return
- When returning from the HLM the Chad Minister of Water also gave a press conference highlighting the importance of sanitation

12. 1. Advocacy efforts should be focused on areas that are lagging behind
What did we learn? Strengthening the HLCD
1. Advocacy efforts should be focused on areas that are lagging behind
commitments should be focused, based on analysis of bottlenecks and more measurable
3. Monitoring commitments should be aligned with existing monitoring and review processes
Highlights from the reporting submitted by SWA Partners
1. Advocacy efforts should be focused on areas that are lagging behind
Partners reported that many of their commitments will not be achieved unless ‘extra effort’ is made.
By moving to a more on-going dialogue, the Partners of SWA can hopefully keep building the momentum to tackle the bigger issues.
Partners need to work in the coming months to advocate for acceleration in the areas where progress is slow if commitments are to be achieved by the 2014 HLM.
Commitments should be focused and more measurable
Generally, strong advocacy is based on a small set of clear, focused messages – either at global or national level.
If commitments were fewer in numbers, efforts to gain political action would likely be more successful. Further, developing commitments which are SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound –could strengthen the drive for results and facilitate tracking of these results.
The Secretariat will work to facilitate a dialogue cohesive across countries and donors that support the development of high quality commitments which are fewer in number and SMART.
3. Monitoring commitments should be aligned with existing monitoring and review processes
There was recognition that involvement of multiple stakeholders increases the accuracy and credibility of reporting, however the short timeframe of the 2013 reporting exercise limited the possibility of partners to involve other stakeholders effectively. In the future, with appropriate lead time, the SWA HLM commitment review process for developing countries and donors should, where possible, align with existing processes, such as joint sector reviews, portfolio reviews and preparatory meetings for regional sanitation conferences (such as AfricaSan, SACOSAN and EASAN) or regional platforms such as AMCOW.
In addition, partners have often reported that the time to prepare commitments was not long enough and that preparations by both developing countries and donors for an April SWA HLM should begin earlier – thus the Secretariat has already begun to issue guidance and refocus attentions on the commitments.

13. Road to 2014 HLM Three pronged-approach at country level
Advocacy Campaigns
Sector Dialogue
Alignment with GLAAS, BAT, AfricaSan prep, etc.
Ministerial Dialogue
Donor preparation
Joint and individual
Secretariat support
HLCD and Advocacy Campaign Guidelines (Aug)
Letters to Heads of State (November)
Guidance on developing commitments (Sept-March)
Individual country 2014 progress reports - website
The Secretariat has issued the first in a series of suggested guidance notes recently: Introduction to HCLD. Suggested guidance was also issued to country-level partners on carrying out advocacy campaigns – using the recent monitoring report (especially the specific results within country) to highlight the achievements thus far and also to increase attention on the work that remains.
More guidance and facilitated discussions amongst governments and the SWA Partners supporting the governments will be rolled out in the coming months.
Further, the Secretariat will facilitate a series of high level letters to heads of state of both countries and donors as well as save the date letters and invitations to Finance, WASH and donor Ministers.
We heard earlier from Pim Valdre about the UN Deputy SG’s passionate dedication to ending open defecation. The DSG is a strong supporter of SWA – he moderated the 2012 HLM and he is committed to putting the weight of his office towards supporting the partners of SWA in our endeavors.