Water for the Poor: Partnerships for Action: How to Bring Water to the Rural Poor

Abstract

Both Kofi Annan’s words in Dushanbe and the international debate on water and poverty point to critical areas where action is needed. • Water resources and water services are key to poverty reduction and sustainable development. • Water management needs to be viewed as an integral part of the wider efforts to combat poverty. • Internationally, the context for understanding the role of water in poverty reduction is to recognize how water management can contribute to all of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) targets. • At a national level, the key is to define how water can contribute to reaching national development and poverty reduction goals and strategies. • All aspects of water management matter: Not just water supply and sanitation service targets, but also water’s contribution to reducing hunger, increasing incomes, protecting the environment, improving health and living conditions, and achieving social and gender equity. • Water is everyone’s business. All sectors of society and of the international community must join together to work in partnership to meet these challenges. This reflects the principle of common but differentiated responsibility agreed at the WSSD in Johannesburg in 2002. • Poor people should be in the driving seat. The goal of water management is to provide more choices through which the poor can meet their needs while at the same time build sustainable livelihoods. • The importance of and main principles for improving water management have been agreed. The focus now is on moving from commitment to action. This strategy paper is intended to help stimulate these actions. It provides a framework for the development of action partnerships to improve the access of8 poor people to water within or in connection with the operations of the Asian Development Bank. It builds on the outputs of the Water and Poverty Initiative (WPI), including discussions and documents prepared for the 3rd World Water Forum in Kyoto in March 2003.