Decentralised intersectoral rural water supply and sanitation provision: lessons learned from Zambia

The integrated, inter-sectoral approach to rural water supply and sanitation provision adopted under Zambia’s Water, Sanitation and Health/Hygiene Education (WASHE) strategy has had limited success in delivering sustainable services. Given this context, the Government of the Republic of Zambia has recently proposed a new institutional structure and strategy under the National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme. While the new strategy has significant potential for better planning, implementation and performance monitoring, it is heavily dependent on effective decentralisation, which is moving very slowly. It also threatens to undo the positive gains established by a widespread understanding of the need for an interdisciplinary approach to water, sanitation and hygiene provision.