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Goals and challenges facing the water and sanitation sector

If you are working within a national water and sanitation authority, you know what responsibilities and challenges come with developing sector policies and strategies. Dealing with the reform of the public sector has a deep impact on the way your administration operates, both internally and with the other sector stakeholders.

If you are working at regional level, you support decentralised governments in their role of contracting authority of water supply and sanitation services. You also promote the sharing of services at regional level, for example the set-up of operation and maintenance (O&M) and spare part systems.

If you are working at the local level, then decentralisation has made you a key actor in the provision of basic services (drinking water, sanitation facilities, schools, health centres, etc.) to the population. Procurement and contract management, technical and financial management, and operation and maintenance of the communal infrastructure is your challenge.

If you are part of a user group or community-based organisation, you have mutliple responsibilities: to guarantee that the needs of the beneficiaries are taken into account throughout the project cycle; to help educate and inform the population; and to promote behaviour change through hygiene awareness and the financial or in kind contribution to the operation and maintenance of the facilities.

The right mix for your project

We have built up valuable expertise in development cooperation from 30 years of involvement in the institutional and capacity development aspects of water and sanitation projects.

This means that we are highly experienced in:
  • supporting participatory and demand responsive approaches
  • facilitating user contribution and promoting willingness to pay
  • providing assistance to regional and local communal development plans
  • promoting improved governance, integrated water resource management and private sector participation.

 

Working with us gives you access to proven knowledge, methods and tools, as well as to pioneering concepts that aid both basic service provision and institutional projects.

We build our project teams by gathering high-level international consultants and the very best national experts. Our teams include, among others, experienced economists, sociologists, marketing experts, geographers, topographers, and surveyors.

We trust specialists who already have a history of commitment to Development Assistance - people with a track record in boosting infrastructure projects, strengthening communities and driving development in your part of the world.

Sound planners know that capable and dedicated people are the cornerstone of outstanding accomplishments. We build our teams around the right people, professionally and socially, to help our clients drive their projects forward successfully.

Mobilising teams that move forward

Improved governance, institutional and capacity development are required preconditions to secure access to and sustainability of basic services. Below are some examples of GITEC-IGIP GmbH's Development Assistance activities that help institutions make positive change.

We assist ministries in developing and strengthening their human resources to plan, manage and evaluate water and sanitation sector policies and conduct public sector reforms. Many of our technical assistance projects focus on helping authorities set up smart programmes for rural water supply and sanitation - GITEC-IGIP GmbH is a recognised specialist in this field.

We assist regional and municipal authorities in meeting the challenge of decentralisation. We help authorities increase the professional skills of their personnel, manage water and sanitation facilities more efficiently and increase cooperation with the private sector.

Information, education and communication are needed at all levels of society: national, regional or district and local authorities, user and community-based organisations, NGOs, professional sectors. We have cutting-edge expertise in developing training programmes and awareness-raising campaigns.

 

know-how

Accompanying measures for water
and sanitation infrastructure projects

  • Socio-economic studies, Sector studies (Poverty, Gender)
  • Baseline studies and needs assessment
  • Water and sanitation marketing, Hygiene awareness campaigns through information, education, communication (IEC)
  • Creation and training of user groups, Cooperation with local NGOs and CBOs
  • Capacity development and training, Preparation
    of didactical material
  • Tariff studies, Calculation of water tariffs

Institutional development with a focus
on communal infrastructure

  • Capacity building for administrations and decentralised services in their role within the frames of decentralization
  • Human resource plans for local administrations and decentralised services
  • Improved governance at regional and local institution level
  • Water and sewage sections of communal development plans, Selection of adapted technologies for sanitation
  • Community and communal structure strengthening, Assistance to user groups
  • Selection and setting-up of a facilities management method (leasing, community-based management, etc.)
  • Maintenance and repair systems for facilities, Monitoring and control systems
  • Citizen involvement through a participatory approach

Institutional development with a focus on administrative reforms and finance

  • Technical assistance for the development of the water and sanitation sector
  • Public sector reforms, Decentralisation processes
  • Human resource development for planning, managing and evaluating water and sanitation sector activities
  • Recommendations and concept preparation for national strategies for water and sanitation services

Resource protection and irrigation

  • Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA)
  • Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)
  • Irrigation