Participatory approach in macro level planning for rural water supply in Sri Lanka

Though the new strategies and approaches in implementation of rural water supply have been revitalized time to time many issues such as unavailability of equal opportunity to all rural communities to obtain water supply without any discrimination, delays in selection of appropriate water supply technology to fulfill their aspiration promptly based on their affordability and drop out of the most needy communities from project benefits have not been addressed effectively so far. Multifaceted macro level planning (MLP) through participatory rapid rural appraisal is one of the approaches used in Sri Lanka to address these issues and receive encouraging results. The MLP has focused on the preparation of Socio-economic profiles and assess the affordability and willingness to pay of beneficiaries for improved facilities, preparation of water resource profiles including surface and ground water in all communities and conduct comprehensive Public Awareness Campaign (PAC) to provide equal opportunities to beneficiary communities to apply for project assistance.