Robust regulatory arrangements are critical in professionalising rural water supply and sanitation (WSS) and small water supply services and, in turn, accelerating progress toward meeting SDG 6.
Although most progress has been made in urban contexts, a smaller number of countries such as Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia have taken important steps to expand regulatory activities to cover rural WSS and small water supplies. Barriers to more widespread regulation of these services include engagement with a heterogenous, institutionally fragmented and dispersed set of service providers, operating under informal legal status and often with low or no accountability to consumers.
Within this context, the Eastern and Southern Africa Water and Sanitation Regulators Association (ESAWAS) has commissioned Aguaconsult, in collaboration with a set of experienced national consultants and WSS regulatory experts, to develop a regulatory framework and strategy for rural WSS services and small water supplies.
This will first include learning from international best practices and conducting a gap analysis on the status of the regulation of rural WSS services and small water supplies in eight sub-Saharan African countries, including Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia). We will then develop a regulatory framework covering elements such as the rationale for regulation, requirements for a robust policy and legal framework, recommended service delivery models, the institutional framework for regulation, and different regulatory mechanisms to be applied. Finally, an implementation strategy will be developed to provide a stepwise roadmap for operationalising the regulation of rural WSS and small water supply services.
This strategically important assignment will start in October 2024 and is due to be finalised by March 2025. For more information, reach out to Bill Twyman, Harold Lockwood, or Analia Saker Stanig.
