A/HRC/18/33
also crucial to ensure that such transfers are well targeted and used at the local level to
support access to water and sanitation by those who are the most disadvantaged and
neglected, with no access to services, rather than only improving service for those already
connected. However, criteria for targeting funds have not yet been developed in many
countries, and if they exist they are not necessarily applied consistently. Some countries,
such as Cambodia and Mongolia, present notable exceptions, in particular in relation to
urban water supply.38 In the United States of America, the Rural Development agency run
by the Rural Development agency of the Department of Agriculture makes loans and grants
to small municipalities. Consideration is given to the maximum amount that a community
can afford while maintaining reasonable user fees in determining the appropriate mix
between loans and grants.39
62.
Finally, international assistance often contributes to financing with external transfers.
Donor policies must integrate the human rights to water and to sanitation and support national
priorities regarding water and sanitation, as well as targets to reduce disparities in access. For
instance, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation has prioritized
water and sanitation, launching a Water and Sanitation Fund of one billion Euros in
2009, with the specific purpose of contributing to the realization of the human right to water
and improving policies and planning processes.40 Generally, international assistance
contributes to financing at the national level (which can then be transferred to the local level),
but in some countries local governments are also authorized to receive international grants
and loans directly. While this may open up new opportunities, it may also reinforce the risk of
disparity between municipalities.41 It also increases the need for capacity-strengthening at the
local level in dealing with public and private funding institutions.
2.
Allocation to the maximum of available resources
63.
Strategies and plans must be developed taking into account the overall expenditure
framework, since planning will not achieve its stated goals if it is not situated within the
context of available resources. The projected costs of planned activities must be
determined. In deciding on the appropriate measures, policymakers, with the participation
of all concerned stakeholders and communities, should consider innovative approaches and
solutions that can bring the envisaged results, while being less expensive than conventional
approaches and technologies. For instance, Community-led Total Sanitation has achieved
impressive results in increasing access to sanitation as a low-cost solution.42
64.
Determining the costs of service provision should cover not only capital
expenditures for infrastructure, but also costs associated with the life cycle of the system,
including operation and maintenance, labour and managerial costs. Additionally,
expenditure for on-site sanitation should be taken into account, but as it occurs mostly at
the household level, it is difficult to quantify. UNDP is undertaking interesting work on
costing, such as its development of the Millennium Development Goals needs assessment
model. This model, which integrates the rights to water and to sanitation, provides a
framework for national Governments to assess the costs of reaching the water and
sanitation targets over the period to 2015.
38
39
UN-Water and WHO, GLAAS 2010 (note 9 above), p. 34.
See www.rurdev.usda.gov/hi/Rural%20Utilities%20Programs.htm.
40
41
42
16
Seehttp://www.aecid.es/web/es/aecid/normativa/fondos/Fondo_de_Cooperacion_para_Agua_
y_Saneamiento/003.html.
International Council on Human Rights Policy, Local Government (note 35 above), p. 45.
For an analysis of the Community-led Total Sanitation approach, see the compilation of good
practices (A/HRC/18/33/Add.1).