Integrating a new approach - the example of self supply

In the present climate of DRA and budget support, it is getting increasingly difficult to introduce new ideas. The temptation is to continue with ‘business as usual’, with little room for questioning its sustainability and effectiveness or exploring new approaches. The development of Self Supply is something which has happened naturally in many parts of the world. However, it has been slow to take off in Africa, even though standard communitybased approaches are evidently not able to provide a strategy to fulfil rural water supply MDG targets for most countries by 2015. This paper looks at the process whereby Self Supply is becoming established, and how far this has progressed, in integrating a grass roots level demand into national strategies.