AGUASAN Workshop Series
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Forging and facilitating the implementation of the Swiss response in water supply and sanitation issues in developing and transition countries.
The AGUASAN group is an interdisciplinary Swiss community of practice bringing together a wide range of specialists to promote wider and deeper understanding of key issues in water supply, sanitation and hygiene in developing and transition countries. Since 1984, AGUASAN group members from SDC, Skat, Helvetas and Sandec organise every year in June a workshop in Switzerland. There project field staff, desk officers, researchers and consultants from all over the world come together for five days to reflect collectively on a cutting edge theme of the sector. AGUASAN workshops undergo an annual cycle of preparation, organisation, realisation and assessment conducted by the steering committee. Every year the team works with a facilitator to choose a “hot” topic and to carefully prepare and structure the event. Skat heads the steering committee and bears the overall responsibility of organising and conducting the workshop series. For doing this, Skat:
Recent themes of AGUASAN workshops include caring and integrated management practices, private sector involvement, the household-centred approach and the impact of personal paradigms. The 23rd AGUASAN workshop (2007) dealt with the topic “Opportunities and Challenges for the Water and Sanitation Sector in a Decentralised Context” and explored how shifting of power, competencies, responsibilities and resources from the central government to local levels particularly affects the way water supply and sanitation (W&S) issues are dealt . The inputs and outcomes of the workshop are documented in the AGUASAN workshop report 2007 (see article below). The forthcoming workshop (2008) will address the issues around innovative management approaches for sustainable rural water supplies. The reports of the most recent AGUASAN workshops are available for download in the publications section of the Skat website. |
AGUASAN Workshop Report 2007 Published 13.02.2008Sustainable and effective decentralised W&S services need not only institutional, organisational and human resources capacity building at local level, but also a functional financial mechanism, and a clear and appropriate allocation of roles and responsibilities.
On 18 - 22 June 2007, the 23rd AGUASAN workshop took place in Gwatt (Switzerland). The presentations, discussions, learnings, and results are summarised in a workshop report. During five days, 46 development professionals from all over the world delved into the issue topic of “Opportunities and Challenges for the Water and Sanitation Sector in a Decentralised Context” and explored how shifting of power, competencies, responsibilities and resources from the central government to local levels particularly affects the way water supply and sanitation (W&S) issues are dealt with. Looking at four topic cases dealing with decentralised models for service delivery and an analysis by a concept working group, the workshop brought up several findings: the W&S sector needs to be flexible to respond to the dynamic decentralisation processes, which includes a lobbying and negotiation process amongst the players, and to find its niche. Decision-making power, institutional capacity, fiscal and technical resources for services delivery and their management have to be devolved concommitantly and in an adequate way. In addition, roles and responsibilities in the sector should be devolved to the lowest appropriate and competent level. And finally, an effective decentralisation process should be part of a broader governance and democratisation reform, and neither an isolated nor a universal remedy to W&S sector needs. The report can be downloaded or ordered in the publications section of the Skat website. |
