A pro-poor community based approach for water and sanitation in small Mekong region towns

Achievement of the water and sanitation related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), to halve the proportion of people without access to improved water supply and sanitation services by 2015, is a major challenge for governments of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS). Rapid urbanisation is increasing the need for services in the small towns to which many rural migrants are moving, yet there are limited financial resources to improve coverage. Under the Mekong Region Water and Sanitation Initiative (MEK-WATSAN), UN-Habitat has partnered with GMS governments with the aim of achieving the water and sanitation related MDG. With a pro-poor emphasis MEK-WATSAN has developed a community-based water supply and sanitation model which has leveraged partnerships with existing institutions to effectively improve water supply and sanitation services to the urban poor in the Mekong Region.