Objectives of the project:
The UN MDG Achievement Fund sponsored “Securing Access to Water through Institutional Development and Infrastructure” joint UNICEF-UNDP project in Bosnia and Herzegovina took place between 2009 and 2013. It has three expected outcomes with a human rights-based approach (HRBA) at its centre.
Participation: First, strengthened inclusion of citizens, particularly of poor and vulnerable citizens, in the participative municipal governance of water access. This was to be achieved by mapping and assessing the efficiency of the existing participatory mechanisms; addressing weaknesses identified in municipal governance mechanisms, and increasing the skills and capacities of the municipal administrations to support participation of citizens, particularly the vulnerable and excluded, in planning of water regulation and social protection through training on a HRBA to policy and programme development; organizing vulnerable communities and groups into permanent participatory action groups (PAGs); developing their capacities and skills to influence decision-making processes as they relate to water supply regulation; ensuring networking of the community PAGs in different municipalities.
Tariffs: The second expected outcome was the improved economic governance in water utility companies for better services to citizens, especially to poor and vulnerable ones, in targeted municipalities. Attention was also to be placed on changing the attitude of citizens with regard to payment of water bills, informing them on the need for new water pricing, and at the same time the potential measures that the municipal and entity authorities could introduce to support low income and vulnerable families.
Planning and social protection measures: The third expected outcome was the strengthened capacity of governments for evidence-based policy making and resource planning for equitable water related service provision. This outcome was to contribute to a more equity-focussed development and regulation of the water supply, to enable the relevant government officials at different levels to select appropriate social protection and mitigation measures to respond to rights and needs of vulnerable populations, particularly in the context of anticipated increases in water tariffs and benefiting from the participation mechanisms established at municipal level.
Equity and gender focus:
This UNICEF-UNDP joint project had a strong equity and gender focus. Women’s representation in each community’s participatory mechanisms was to be made mandatory. The objectives were threefold: making a contribution to the empowerment of women, and therefore making progress toward the achievement of MDG 3; developing women’s understanding of how, and capacity to, impact political processes in general, thus improving their lot and that of their families regarding other multi-dimensional poverty issues beyond the water sector; and increasing the ability of water utility companies and their associated municipalities to provide improved water services to the rights-holders and, for the latter, to design social protection and mitigation measures that can ensure the equal status of women and girls in households.
Besides, the project planned to address the plight of young and vulnerable adults in both direct and indirect ways: by including community youth group representatives in Municipal Management Board, thereby directly engaging them and giving them a voice in water sector decision-making processes; and by addressing the needs of the vulnerable young people through the social protection component of the programme.
Achievements:
The evaluation noted that the partner Municipality Commissions have taken an increasingly active role in connecting decision makers with vulnerable citizens, and in representing the interests and needs of the latter, ensuring increased equity-focussed budgetary allocations in the present and future. The participation of water utilities in the Municipality Commissions also gave them an exposure to the challenges faced by the poor and vulnerable, and hear suggestions on what could be done.
A national database was created to map available data on social and economic development indicators at national and municipal levels. Each municipality developed the so-called DevInfo database providing a cross-section of the social situation within the municipality, focusing on children and other vulnerable population groups. Members of the municipal administration staff have been selected and trained to collect relevant data and enter them into the database. As a result, the municipalities gained a more comprehensive and accurate picture of who are the poor and vulnerable in their communities and have a mechanism to identify the ways in which these households could be assisted. They have learned how to target their social assistance to specific population groups using HRBA – for instance, in Gračanica: children with special needs; poor families; elderly without family support; and in Bihać: economically disadvantaged families with children; elderly and infirm persons without family care; children with special needs.
Subsequently, each of the partner municipalities has developed a document titled "Proposal of social policy criteria and measures in the area of water supply in the Municipality". The eligibility criteria have been tested. 13 Action Plans were adopted and implemented by Municipal Councils for 2011-2012 addressing gaps in the social protection and inclusion system, with the support from the project. Until June 2012, out of 206 planned activities, 162 have been realized. For example, Municipalities, in cooperation with PAR members, developed a referral system for the protection of the rights of vulnerable households in the Education, Health and Social protection sectors, with specific projects aimed at improving their lot. In several of the municipalities, the poor and vulnerable households received a subsidy on the water bill or on water connections. In other municipalities, funds were allocated to provide water tanks for the population who are not supplied by the water network in the draught period.
The estimates of direct and indirect beneficiaries stand at around 50.000 according to project reports. All the planned target groups benefitted from the programme results, with positive differentiated effects for the poor and vulnerable, IDPs, ethnic minorities (e.g. Roma).
Outcomes:
The introduction of these measures and services has led to the enhancement of the governance and social protection system at local level, to better networking among various sectors in addressing issues faced by socially excluded groups, to improvements in the living conditions of identified vulnerable groups, and increased capacities of all stakeholders. As a result of interacting with the PAG groups and the operation of the Commissions, Municipalities now have an example on how they should assist the correctly identified vulnerable households with targeted financial assistance towards their water bills. While this subsidy mechanism is not mandatory, the experience in the partner municipalities is a good example for other municipalities, utilities and central level ministries for future replication. With the project, policy makers, both at municipal and state levels, tested a number of approaches which have now been enshrined in the legislation, as is the case with the Law on Social Assistance, or have a potential for being enshrined in the law (e.g. the mechanism of targeting for social assistance taking into account vulnerability criteria).
Source: Based on the evaluation report cited above
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