A/HRC/18/33 resources. Moreover, different entities may be involved in the regulation of the water and sanitation sectors. For instance, regulating water quality may rest with the department of health or environment, while responsibility for regulation of tariffs may lie elsewhere. Yet another ministry might be responsible for implementing social policies necessary to ensure affordability for certain parts of the population. The plan should therefore clearly allocate responsibilities and spell out which actor is to undertake which activity as well as provide for coordination among ministries. Apart from the relevant line ministries, strengthening cooperation with planning and finance ministries is crucial. The experience of the Sanitation and Water for All initiative has shown that the involvement of finance ministers makes a significant difference in ensuring adequate budgetary support to realizing the rights to water and to sanitation. For instance, in Chad, the initiative helped to bring together the Ministers of Finance and Water. Their discussions on the need for a sound sanitation strategy resulted in the disaggregation of the previously consolidated budget line for water and sanitation in order to better track investments in sanitation.32 47. To ensure coordination, Governments may wish to appoint a focal point or create a steering committee or task force. The Colombo Declaration, adopted at the fourth South Asian Conference on Sanitation in April 2011, explicitly calls on countries “to establish one national body with responsibility for coordinating sanitation and hygiene, involving all stakeholders including, but not limited to, those responsible for finance, health, public health, environment, water, education, gender and local government at national, subnational and local levels”.33 Such a coordination body needs backing from the highest political level as well as a clear mandate. To avoid a disjuncture between the different phases of planning, it is essential that the same institutions are involved throughout the entire planning cycle. 2. Decentralization and the role of local authorities 48. In many States, service provision is decentralized and rests with the local authorities. This does not in any way reduce the State’s human rights obligations. As part of the State, local governments themselves are bound by human rights law. At the same time, minimum standards based on human rights criteria must be set at the national level in order to ensure coherence and countrywide compliance with human rights. States must ensure that local authorities have the necessary financial, human and other resources to effectively discharge their duties.34 The national Government has the obligation to regulate the activities of local governments, to monitor and control their performance in order to ensure that they comply with international human rights obligations.35 Clear lines of responsibility of the different levels of government are crucial to avoid confusion, gaps and inefficiency. 3. Involvement of non-State actors 49. Often, a range of actors is involved in actual service delivery. While, in many instances, municipalities act as service providers, they may also delegate service provision to non-State actors, including companies and non-governmental organizations. In yet other instances, informal service provision prevails, with a range of different actors involved who fill a gap, but have not been formally mandated by the State authorities to provide services. Moreover, there is a great variety in the types of services provided, ranging from networked 32 33 34 35 Clarissa Brocklehurst, “Sanitation and Water for All: a global framework for action”, presentation at the 2010 Global High Level Meeting, Addis Ababa, 21 November 2010. Available from www.sanita tionandwaterforall.org/files/Annex_11__HLM_Presentation_SWA_SC_Meeting__Nov21_2010.pptx. Para. v. Available from www.sacosan4lk.org/dwnload/cr_cmb_declaration.pdf. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 15, para. 51. International Council on Human Rights Policy, Local Government and Human Rights: Doing Good Service (Versoix, 2005), pp. 20 and 24. 13