1. The Elephant in the Room: the MDG Capacity Gap for water and sanitation Peregrine Swann Department for International Development, UK

2. 1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HE Abercrombie 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

3. 1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HE Abercrombie 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)

4. 1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HE Abercrombie 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

5. 1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HE Abercrombie 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

6. 1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HE Abercrombie 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

7. 1 Palace Street, London SW1E 5HE Abercrombie 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.uks-cavill@dfid.gov.uk