MARCH 2005 VOLUME 1 ISSUE 5

A NEWSLETTER FOR WATER FOR ASIAN CITIES PROGRAMME IN MADHYA PRADESH (INDIA)

The Mayors Endorse UN-HABITAT Plan for Pro-poor Urban Water

and Sanitation Governance in Madhya Pradesh (India)
UN-HABITAT under the Water for Asian Cities Pro-
gramme in India organized a two-days workshop on
Pro-poor Urban Water and Sanitation Governance
from 18-19 March 2005 in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
The workshop brought together both the primary and
secondary stakeholders to discuss and decide on the
approach and strategy to be adopted by UN-
HABITAT in the implementation of the Water for
Asian Cities Programme in Madhya Pradesh. The
workshop was attended by the State Policy-makers,
the City Mayors, the Municipal Commissioners, the
Engineers, the Urban Planners and representatives
of various regional and international organisations
which included ADB Manila and New Delhi, DFID,
Cities Alliance, USAID, several of the NGOs includ-
ing Water Aid, SEWA, SAMARTHAN and many
others.
In a message to the Workshop delegates Dr. Anna
Tibaijuka, the Executive Director, UN-HABITAT cited
the need for addressing Water and Sanitation Gov-
• UN-HABITAT plans
ernance as a matter of priority for achieving the
MDGs in Madhya Pradesh, the third poorest State of city wise Stake-
India.
holders’ Consulta-
Dr. Uma Shashi Sharma, Mayor of Indore, said that
UN-HABITAT should help Indore and other cities in tions and Develop-
addressing the issues pertaining to pro-poor water ment of City Action
and sanitation governance as well as capacity build-
ing through public awareness, advocacy, education, Plan
experience sharing and carrying out demonstration
project. The workshop looked at ways of mapping • Steps being taken
the poor, bridging the sanitation gap and enhancing
the city capacities for delivery. The issues pertaining for conducting Wa-
to monitoring and evaluation as well as knowledge
sharing were also discussed at length. In his mes- ter Audits/
sage, the Mayor of Bhopal underscored the need for
developing and implementing strategies for the provi-
Diagnostic Studies
sion of water and sanitation services that will maxi-
mize the income and employment earning opportuni- • Training needs as-
ties for the urban poor.
sessment and city
based training on
Water Demand
Management

• Mapping the Urban

Poor in Slum and
non-slum areas

Inside this issue:

Ugandan Minister visits 2
Ananthapur Water Supply
Project

Roundtable for Develop- 3

ing Strategies in M.P.

Forthcoming Events 3

Roundtable on VBWSE 4
WATER FOR ASIAN CITIES PROGRAMME IN INDIA

The four city Mayors asked UN-HABITAT to play an active role in the introduction of respon-
sive demand management strategies to improve efficiency and equity of water supply, water
use and to give more influence to those currently deprived of water and sanitation. The
Mayors also sought the UN-HABITAT support for capacity building for Municipal Staff, plans
for sustainable water and sanitation management and demonstration projects in water de-
mand management and other related areas.
During the workshop several priority actions were identified in the field of Pro-poor Urban
Water and Sanitation Governance. These included Government – Non-government dialogues
and partnerships for mapping the poor; creating mechanisms for dialogue, information shar-
ing between different groups and initiating community level planning in all the project cities for
understanding key governance gaps and mechanisms for addressing them. Several priority
actions in the field of environmental sanitation, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation
and knowledge sharing were also identified.
Based on these recommendations UN-HABITAT worked out follow up actions for implemen-
tation of Water for Asian Cities Programme in Madhya Pradesh (India). The meeting agreed
that consultations should be held with each city and its partners on water development plans,
training needs and assessments, surveys of requirements and strategic planning so that
implementation can begin as soon as possible. Smt. Susheela Singh, Mayor of Jabalpur addressing the delegates of the UN-HABITAT Workshop

Ugandan Minister for Water visits Ananthapur Water Supply Project in India
Hon’ble Maria Mutagamba, Minister of State for Water, Uganda traveled from Kampala to Ananthapur District in Andhra Pradesh to know first hand
and learn from the Ananthapur Water Supply Project. Hon’ble Mutagamba, who is also the Chairperson of the African Ministers Council on Water
(AMCOW), was on a study visit to India from 12-15 February 2005, sponsored by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT).
Ananthapur is semi-arid district in State of Andhra Pradesh (India). The whole district with a population of nearly 1.5 million has been facing extreme
shortage of drinking water in all its 1000 villages and several towns. Sri Sathya Sai Drinking Water Supply Project in Ananthapur District, implemented
in 1998, is an innovative project presenting a new approach to financing pro-poor investment for drinking water supply both in rural and urban areas.
The Minister from Uganda was very keen to find out how such a major project was implemented through civil society financing. The Ugandan Minister
was informed that this massive project was implemented at a cost of US$ 69 million in 18 months without any time and cost over-run. During her inter-
action with the project management team, she learnt about the innovative mechanisms of public-private-community partnerships for the implementa-
tion maintenance and regular management of the project. She was excited to know that the project greatly contributed to providing access to more
than 1 million poor in 731 villages unserved earlier by safe drinking water supply.
The project had been evaluated earlier jointly by UN-HABITAT and ADB in the year 2002 and commended as a unique project of its kind both in terms
of its financing mechanisms and implementation plans for serving the poor. This independent evaluation revealed a very vibrant partnership which was
still active even six years after the completion of the project. The project had a very positive impact on the school going girl children who were earlier
forced to drop out of the school to help their mothers with household activities including fetching of water from a distance of several kilometres. The
project brought drinking water close to the house of each family which helped the earning members of the family to spend more time on income gener-
ating activities. The Minister took keen interest in the strong management information
system which had been developed for continuous monitoring and summative evaluation
of this massive project. She was happy to note that the completion of this project in such
a short time had set a new standard for project implementation in terms of timeliness,
professional execution and commitment to quality.

During her visit to Ananthapur the Ugandan Minister also expressed the gratitude of the
people of Uganda for the contribution of 80 borewells by Sri Sathya Sai Organisation.
These borewells will provide safe drinking water supply to thousands of poor Ugandans
mainly in the water scarce eastern region of the country. Work on this project has already
begun. The project is estimated to cost more than US$ 500,000 through generous contri-
butions from Sri Sathya Sai Organisation. The Minister was deeply impressed by the
achievements of the Ananthapur project and has invited the people including profession-
als, who have made it possible, to visit Uganda. She said, "I am now convinced that we
can achieve the same in Uganda".
Commenting on her experience, Hon’ble Mutagamba hailed the excellent work done by
the Sai Foundation and expressed sincere appreciation for the support to construct
borewells in Uganda and other achievements of the trust in areas of health care, educa-
tion, Tsunami Disaster Management etc.

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 MARCH 2005
Roundtable for Developing Strategies in Madhya Pradesh
Following the workshop on Pro-poor Urban Water and Sanitation Gov-
ernance in Bhopal, UN-HABITAT organized a Roundtable meeting on
Monday, 21st March 2005 in New Delhi which was participated by sev-
eral partners including ADB, DFID, Cities Alliance and USAID. The core
group discussed strategies for developing a Common Activities Pro-
gramme to ensure greater synergy and compatibility in the implementa-
tion of Urban Water Supply and Environmental Improvement Project
(UWSEIP) of ADB and Water for Asian Cities Programme in Madhya
Pradesh, India.
Based on the Workshop outcome fully endorsed by the Mayors and
State Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, UN-HABITAT outlined a time-table and
action plan for the next six months in four main areas which include (i)
Pro-poor urban water and sanitation governance (ii) Environmental
situation and hygiene assessment (iii) Water demand management and
(iv) Capacity building and Monitoring & Evaluation. UN-HABITAT shall
be undertaking a rapid overview of urban revenue base, livelihood op-
portunities, state of water sector reform, access to services and utiliza-
tion especially by the poor, assessing the status of the infrastructure with
reference to environmental sanitation and hygiene assessment, map-
ping the water losses and drawing up strategies to correct them.
DFID in Madhya Pradesh proposes to follow their earlier approach in
Unheard Voices of Women: April 18, 2005
UN-HABITAT is organizing a special event on the theme of “Unheard
Voices of Women: Water, Sanitation and Human Settlements” during the
13th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development in New
York on 18 April 2005.
At CSD-12, UN-HABITAT had organised an event on “Achieving the
Millennium Development Goals for Water and Sanitation: Unheard
Voices of Women”. The event at CSD12 brought forward the Unheard
Voices of Women on sanitation from South Asia, East Africa and the
Caribbean to national policy-makers and the international community
attending CSD. As a follow-up to this, the forthcoming event at CSD13
will build on the dialogue started between a group of women from under-
privileged communities and a panel of eminent women on how pro-
grammes on water, sanitation and human settlements are impacting on
the lives of people.
The objective of the dialogue is to raise the awareness of delegations
participating in CSD13 on the perceptions, aspirations and priorities of
poor communities, particularly women and girls, with regard to pro-
grammes and initiatives of governments and donors which are aimed at
achieving the MDGs in water, sanitation and slum improvement.
Eminent Panelists will share the platform with women from underprivi-
leged communities. Among others, Hon. Maria Mutagamba, Chair of the
African Ministerial Council on Water, Hon. Hilde Johnson, Minister for
Development Cooperation from Sweden and Kumari Selja, Hon’ble
Minister for Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation, Govt. of India
are expected to join the Panel.
Access to Water and Sanitation
in Schools in Madhya Pradesh
Source
Census 1991
Census 2001
VOLUME 1 ISSUE 5
Andhra Pradesh Urban Services for the Poor (APUSP) Project which
basically had three components viz. (i) capacity building of municipalities
for revenue improvements (ii) challenge fund for hardware and software
projects based on municipal action planning at the local level and (iii)
poverty assessments and fund for slum level improvements.
ADB expressed keenness on UN-HABITAT starting work immediately
and identifying small, tangible projects where results can be seen on the
ground so as to create momentum and interest for the larger investment
to come.
USAID suggested that pilot projects relating to sanitation or solid waste
should be linked to an overall sanitation strategy for the city and USAID
was ready to consider lending support for such initiatives relating to (a)
capacity building activities (b) solid waste and drainage and (c) water
and sanitation.
Cities Alliance informed that both Jabalpur and Bhopal have shown
interest for city development strategies. Both Cities Alliance and UN-
HABITAT agreed to keep each other informed to ensure synergy in
implementation of their projects in Madhya Pradesh.
The Roundtable also considered setting up of a joint project steering
committee for joint reporting and monitoring responsibilities.
Forthcoming Events
Commission on Sustainable Development
(CSD-13): April 11-22, 2005
The 13th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development is
taking place in New York from 11-22 April 2005. The Commission’s main
role is to contribute to advancing the implementation of Agenda 21, the
Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 and the Plan
of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(Johannesburg Plan of Implementation) at all levels.
The Economic and Social Council in its resolution 2003/61 had decided
that the work of the CSD should be organized in a series of two-year
action oriented implementation cycles including a review and a policy
session. The thematic implementation cycle 2004-2005 has a focus on
Water, Sanitation and Human Settlements. CSD-13 will, therefore,
tackle the thematic issues relating to Water and Sanitation in conjunction
with the cross cutting issues which inter alia include poverty eradication;
institutional framework for Sustainable Development; gender equity and
education. CSD-13 is expected to take policy decisions on practical
measures and options to expedite implementation.
The representation of national and state governments, local authorities,
non-governmental organisations and other experts on Water, Sanitation
and Human Settlements from around the world are expected to partici-
pate in CSD-13.
Drinking water Sanitation
(Percentage) (Percentage)
Rural Urban Rural Urban
8 67 - 53
62 89 9 68
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WATER FOR ASIAN CITIES PROGRAMME IN INDIA

Roundtable on Values-based Water and Sanitation Education (VBWSE)

UN-HABITAT is implementing the Water for African
and Asian Cities Programmes. The first is being
implemented in eight countries of Africa since 1999.
In the second phase of this programme which was
launched at the Pan African Water Conference in
Addis Ababa in December 2003, it now includes 12
countries.
Water for Asian Cities Programme is a collaborative
initiative of ADB and UN-HABITAT which was
launched at the 3rd World Water Forum in Japan
March 2003. The programme aims to promote Pro-
poor Governance and investments in African and
Asian Cities and towns.
Within the framework of these programmes UN-
HABITAT has since 2000 been implementing a very
innovative initiative on Values-based Water and
Sanitation Education (VBWSE) both in Africa and
Asia which aims at creating a new water use and
sanitation friendly ethic amongst service provider
and consumers alike. The programme builds on
innovative concepts of education and awareness
raising by focusing not only on imparting knowledge
on water and sanitation, but also skills development
in this area and elicitation of human values based
on indigenous cultures and ethics. Elements of the
VBWSE Initiative consist of incorporating values-
based water and sanitation education in curricula
and teacher training colleges, establishing values-
based water and sanitation classrooms, community
based education in water, sanitation and hygiene
awareness and programmes for improving water
and sanitation in schools.
As part of this initiative UN-HABITAT has devel-
oped detailed teachers guides on values-based
water education in the curriculum. Based on joint
work with Swedish Water Development and Stock-
holm Water Company in the area of Values-based
Water Classrooms, ENPHO in Nepal and VBEDI in
South Africa are in the process of carrying forward
the work and developing a Teachers Guide on
Values-based Water and Sanitation Classroom.
A Roundtable on this topic was organized by UN-
HABITAT in New Delhi on 22nd March 2005 which
was attended by several international and national
organisations. These included representatives of
UNICEF India, Royal Netherlands Embassy,
UNESCO-IHE the Netherlands, ENPHO Nepal,
VBEDI South Africa, University of Wollongong
Australia, CSE New Delhi, CEE Ahmedabad, CSEC
University of Delhi, NCERT and Sulabh Interna-
tional.
The main purpose was to share experiences on
water, sanitation and hygiene education and also
explore opportunities for collaboration. The group
also discussed the role of Water and sanitation
classrooms which are child friendly and at the same
time educative for children and bring values in their
minds leading to the sustainable behavouiral
change. The meeting discussed several social
issues such as growing inequity, health issues,
social conflict due to water scarcity, quality of water,
problems in slums and issues of women’s dignity in
water, hygiene and sanitation sector. The group
further discussed the key issues, opportunities,
constraints that could crop up during the implemen-
tation of Values-Based Water Education in the
communities. Participants raised the importance of
social change and awareness in water and sanita-
tion which will help in increased enrollment of girls,
decrease in prevalence of diseases, enhancement
of environmental cleanliness etc.
In order to meet Millennium Development Goals on
access to water and sanitation to be met, equitable
and Pro-poor approach needs to be incorporated so
that the poorest population in world’s cities will get
the priority attention which will help them to come
out of the absolute poverty situation. The integra-
tion of human values in a sustained and continuous
manner will lead to a heightened consciousness
and understanding towards the need to proper
management; improve efficiency and sustainable
use of water resources and improved hygienic and
sanitation practices taking into account economic,
social and environmental considerations.

Editorial Team
UN-HABITAT
Editorial Board Gopal Reddy, Secretary, UADD, Government Board Water for Asian Cities Programme Office
Savitur Prasad, Director, Govt. of India EP-16/17, Chandragupta Marg, Chanakyapuri
S.N. Mishra, Project Director, UWSEIP, Bhopal New Delhi - 110021 (India)
Debashish Bhattacharjee, ADB, India Resident Mission Tel: +91-11-24104970 - 73
Anniruddhe Mukherjee, TA, WAC Programme Fax: +91-11-24104961
Email: Wac.India@unhabitat.org
Website: www.unhabitat.org & www.unwac.org
Editor Kulwant Singh, CTA, WAC Programme, UN-HABITAT

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