A/HRC/18/33 national planning. It seeks to galvanize political commitment to increase access to water and sanitation and, inter alia, provides capacity-building support for strong national processes that rely on improved data and analysis of the sanitation and water supply sectors for decision-making.11 For example, this initiative catalysed the preparation of The Ghana Compact: Sanitation and Water for All – A Global Framework for Action, in which Ghana commits to an annual allocation of $350 million towards water and sanitation improvements and up to 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product for hygiene education, including hand washing and Community-led Total Sanitation.12 15. Along with the provision of water and sanitation services, water resource management should be considered. The Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development called on all States to develop integrated water resources management plans by 2005.13 The Global Water Partnership defines this approach as “a process which promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources in order to maximise the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital eco-systems”.14 Integrating human rights into this process would, inter alia, stress the prioritization of basic human needs in the allocation of water. The National Water Sector Development Strategy of the United Republic of Tanzania, for example, demonstrates this approach, stating that “allocation of water for basic human needs in adequate quantity and acceptable quality will receive highest priority”.15 16. Moreover, many developing countries have a development strategy, which is frequently based on the Millennium Development Goals or driven by poverty reduction strategy processes. Water and sanitation should be accorded priority in these broader national development strategies. While development strategies have long been perceived as suffering from a “blind spot” with respect to water and in particular sanitation,16 more recent surveys indicate that many such strategies cover water and/or sanitation.17 Some countries, such as the Plurinational State of Bolivia, in its National Development Plan (2006-2011), have clearly made water and sanitation a national priority.18 17. The realization of the rights to water and to sanitation should be considered from the outset, in the planning exercise that determines the general framework at the national level. Hence, coherent planning will require integration of the human rights to water and to sanitation into existing strategies that cover related policy fields and development more broadly. For instance, since the rights to water and to sanitation relate to all spheres of life, plans in the field of education or health should cover access to (sex-segregated) water and 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 6 Sanitation and Water for All, fact sheet. Available from www.sanitationandwaterforall.org/files/Publications%20and%20Resources/SWA_Fact_Sheet_Englis h.pdf. Pp. 4 and 12. Available from www.sanitationandwaterforall.org/files/The_Ghana_Compact.pdf. Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 August-4 September 2002 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.03.II.A.1 and corrigendum), chap. I, resolution 2, annex, para. 26. Global Water Partnership, ToolBox, “Integrated water resource management”, first paragraph. Available from www.gwptoolbox.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8&Itemid=3. Available from www.maji.go.tz/modules/documents/index.php?&direction=0&order=&directory=Strategies, p. 34. UNDP, Human Development Report 2006 (note 1 above), p. 103. UN-Water and WHO, GLAAS 2010 (note 9 above), p. 40. Plan Nacional de Desarrollo: 2006 – 2011. Available from www.ine.gob.bo/pdf/PND/03.pdf, pp. 2336, 74-80.