72413 An AMCOW Country Status Overview Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond The first round of Country Status Overviews (CSO1) published in 2006 benchmarked the preparedness of sectors of 16 countries in Africa to meet the WSS MDGs based on their medium-term spending plans and a set of ‘success factors’ selected from regional experience. Combined with a process of national stakeholder consultation, this prompted countries to ask whether they had those ‘success factors’ in place and, if not, whether they should put them in place. The second round of Country Status Overviews (CSO2) has built on both the method and the process developed in CSO1. The ‘success factors’ have been supplemented with additional factors drawn from country and regional analysis to develop the CSO2 scorecard. Together these reflect the essential steps, functions and results in translating finance into services through government systems—in line with Paris Principles for aid effectiveness. The data and summary assessments have been drawn from local data sources and compared with internationally reported data, and, wherever possible, the assessments have been subject to broad-based consultations with lead government agencies and country sector stakeholders, including donor institutions. This second set of 32 Country Status Overviews (CSO2) on water supply and sanitation was commissioned by the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW). Development of the CSO2 was led by the World Bank administered Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO). This report was produced in collaboration with the Government of Sierra Leone and other stakeholders during 2009/10. Some sources cited may be informal documents that are not readily available. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this volume do not necessarily reflect the views of the collaborating institutions, their Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The collaborating institutions do not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of the collaborating institutions concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. The material in this publication is copyrighted. Requests for permission to reproduce portions of it should be sent to wsp@worldbank.org. The collaborating institutions encourage the dissemination of this work and will normally grant permission promptly. For more information, please visit www.amcow.net or www.wsp.org. Photograph credits: Cover photograph by Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) / Richard Napper (Wherevertheneed - WTN) Photographs published with permission from Gallo Images/Getty Images/AFP and The Bigger Picture/Reuters © 2011 Water and Sanitation Program Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone: Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond An AMCOW Country Status Overview Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond 1 An AMCOW Country Status Overview Strategic Overview Sierra Leone saw a civil war in the 1990s which put most An annual investment of US$164 million is needed for new of its water supply and sanitation infrastructure out of urban and rural water supply facilities, and rehabilitation service. Postconflict reform has advanced steadily to of existing facilities. Compared with anticipated public create an enabling framework for accelerated water and financing, the projected minimum deficit totals over sanitation service delivery in line with good practice. The US$130 million per year for the water supply subsectors. Local Government Act (2004) is devolving water supply For sanitation the annual capital investment requirement functions to local councils. A new National Water and is US$40 million. In rural sanitation the emphasis Sanitation Policy recommends major reforms which include: on Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) with its (a) shifting government focus from implementer to policy no-subsidy approach means public expenditure will mainly making and facilitation; (b) creation of a National Water go to support information, education and communication Resources Board with responsibility for water resources (‘software’) interventions, with capital costs in theory management; (c) establishment of a regime for regulating financed by users. However, it is not clear that sufficient water supply and sewerage services which effectively resources are being committed to software, meaning balances economic, financial, and social objectives; and (d) actual household contributions could be well below what is enactment of a new Water Law which creates a legislative required. In urban sanitation, with a much lower expected framework for all those involved in the sector—public and user contribution, and higher investment requirements, private, present and future— and supersedes outdated there is a projected annual deficit of US$26 million water-related legislation. per year. National targets for water supply and sanitation are 74 Whilst these funding gaps are significant, recent moves percent and 66 percent, respectively, as stated in the towards developing a well-articulated investment plan and National Water and Sanitation Policy. The same targets transparent and accountable systems for procurement and apply in both rural and urban subsectors. The latest estimate utilization may, in fact, see more investment flowing to the for water supply coverage from the Joint Monitoring sector. Programme (JMP) (2008) is 49 percent, achieved mainly in urban areas (86 percent coverage, as opposed to 26 While these efforts to improve the enabling environment are percent in rural areas). The high rate of urban coverage helping to support the development of new infrastructure is, however, contested by sector stakeholders, who argue in Sierra Leone, mechanisms for sustaining services are that it is overly optimistic and does not factor in the poor inadequate, in particular for the maintenance of existing quality of water supplied through sources that are labeled water supply facilities, and the development of markets for ‘improved’. The 2008 coverage estimate for improved sanitation goods and services in rural areas. sanitation is 13 percent (based on the JMP definition which excludes shared facilities). Historic coverage figures indicate This second AMCOW Country Status Overview (CSO2) has that if past rates of delivery continue, both the water and been produced in collaboration with the Government of sanitation targets will be missed by a very wide margin. Sierra Leone and other stakeholders. 2 Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone: Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond Agreed priority actions to tackle these challenges, and ensure finance is effectively turned into services, are: Sectorwide • Implement institutional arrangements as envisaged in the policy. • Resolve and strengthen the institutional home and champion for sanitation. • Undertake extensive capacity-building (manpower and logistics) for sector institutions. • Prepare medium- to long-term Sector Investment Plans to achieve national targets. • Prepare a Millennium Development Goals’ Action Plan and market to get interest from the donor community, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, and consumers. • Continue to increase sector funding and improve fund utilization rates. • Agree to definitions for sector indicators and targets to aid planning, budgeting, and measurement of impact. • Undertake nationally consolidated reporting on water and sanitation. • Improve water quality monitoring to understand relevance of survey coverage data. Rural water supply • Increase subsector funding, through public (including donor) and user contributions whilst rapidly improving the current absorptive capacities. • Rapidly implement the practice of community ownership and management. • Actively build the capacity of the private sector to enable it to provide goods and services. • Develop appropriate strategies and guidelines to support the implementation of interventions. Urban water supply • Undertake preparation of an Urban Water Sub-Sector Investment Plan, with details on financing requirements, mix of funds and achieving financial equilibrium. • Speed up reform of the sector to improve efficiency of cost recovery. • Set realistic tariffs to recover a substantial portion of production cost. Rural sanitation and hygiene • Increase the budget for sanitation, in particular for strengthening institutions and undertaking community sensitization programs. • Complement CLTS with microfinancing to assure uptake. • Undertake continuous monitoring of uptake of CLTS. Urban sanitation and hygiene • Prepare an urban sanitation plan and strategy for achieving targets. • Increase budgetary support for both operations and maintenance of existing facilities and for capital investments in sewerage. • Clearly define strategy for addressing sanitation and hygiene in poor and peri-urban communities. 3 An AMCOW Country Status Overview 4 Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone: Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond Contents ........................................................................................................................... 6 Acronyms and Abbreviations. 1. .................................................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction. 2. ............................................................................................... 8 Sector Overview: Coverage and Finance Trends. 3. ......................................................................................... 11 Reform Context: Introducing the CSO2 Scorecard. 4. Institutional Framework................................................................................................................................. 13 5. .................................................................................................................. 15 Financing and its Implementation. 6. Sector Monitoring and Evaluation.................................................................................................................. 18 7. Subsector: Rural Water Supply....................................................................................................................... 20 8. ..................................................................................................................... 22 Subsector: Urban Water Supply. 9. Subsector: Rural Sanitation and Hygiene........................................................................................................ 24 10. ...................................................................................................... 26 Subsector: Urban Sanitation and Hygiene. Notes and References.................................................................................................................................... 28 5 An AMCOW Country Status Overview Acronyms and Abbreviations AfDB African Development Bank MDAs Ministries, Departments, and Agencies AMCOW African Ministers’ Council on Water MDGs Millennium Development Goals BADEA Arab Bank for Development in Africa MICS Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey CAPEX Capital expenditure MoE Ministry of Education CLTS Community-Led Total Sanitation MoEWR Ministry of Energy and Water Resources CSO2 Country Status Overviews (second round) MoFED Ministry of Finance and Economic CWS Community Water Committees Development DEHO District Environmental Health Officers MoHS Ministry of Health and Sanitation DfID Department for International Development MoIALGRD Ministry of Internal Affairs, Local DHS Demographic and Health Survey Government and Rural Development DRA Demand responsive approach MTEF Medium-Term Expenditure Framework DWSC District Water and Sanitation Committees NGO Nongovernmental organization EHD Environmental Health Department NWRB National Water Resources Board EU European Union NWSP National Water Supply Policy EWRA Energy and Water Regulatory Authority O&M Operations and maintenance GDP Gross domestic product OPEX Operations expenditure GNI Gross national income PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper GoSL Government of Sierra Leone RSH Rural sanitation and hygiene GVWC Guma Valley Water Company RWS Rural water supply HH Household SALWACO Sierra Leone Water Company IDB Islamic Development Bank SWAp Sector-Wide Approach IFMIS Integrated Financial Information UNDP United Nations Development Programme Management System UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund (I)NGO (International) Nongovernmental USH Urban sanitation and hygiene organization UWS Urban water supply JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency WASH Water, Sanitation and Hygiene JMP Joint Monitoring Programme (UNICEF/ WATSAN Water and Sanitation WHO) WHO World Health Organization LIC Low-income country WSP Water and Sanitation Program M&E Monitoring and evaluation WSS Water supply and sanitation Exchange rate: US$1 = Leone 3,975.1 6 Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone: Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond 1. Introduction The African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) commissioned the production of a second round of Country Status Overviews (CSOs) to better understand what underpins progress in water supply and sanitation and what its member governments can do to accelerate that progress across countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).2 The African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) delegated this task to the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program and the African Development Bank who are implementing it in close partnership with UNICEF and WHO in over 30 countries across SSA. This CSO2 report has been produced in collaboration with the Government of Sierra Leone and other stakeholders during 2009/10. The analysis aims to help countries assess their own service delivery pathways for turning finance into water supply and sanitation services in each of four subsectors: rural and urban water supply, and rural and urban sanitation and hygiene. The CSO2 analysis has three main components: a review of past coverage; a costing model to assess the adequacy of future investments; and a scorecard which allows diagnosis of particular bottlenecks along the service delivery pathway. The CSO2’s contribution is to answer not only whether past trends and future finance are sufficient to meet sector targets, but what specific issues need to be addressed to ensure finance is effectively turned into accelerated coverage in water supply and sanitation. In this spirit, specific priority actions have been identified through consultation. A synthesis report, available separately, presents best practice and shared learning to help realize these priority actions. 7 An AMCOW Country Status Overview 2. Sector Overview: Coverage and Finance Trends Coverage: Assessing Past Progress Establishing how far this represents progress, and establishing the internationally recognized Millennium Development Goal National targets for water supply and sanitation are 74 percent (MDG) targets from JMP data, is complicated by the lack and 66 percent, respectively, as stated in the 2008 National of JMP estimates of coverage in 1990. Due to insufficient Water and Sanitation Policy, with the same targets applied household surveys, the JMP trendline is extrapolated only as in urban and rural areas alike. In the absence of up-to-date far back as 1994, and is flat from 1994 to 1998. As Figure national estimates of coverage, the latest estimates from the 1 indicates, extrapolating the 1998–2008 trendline forward Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) provide the best indication portrays a continued decline in coverage for water supply, and of sector progress. 3 According to the JMP coverage for water a slight upward trend for sanitation. In both cases, coverage supply reached 49 percent in 2008: while an impressive 86 in 2015 is set to fall well below the national targets unless percent of the urban population is estimated to have access significant acceleration occurs. At the same time, the lack of to an improved source of drinking water, coverage is only 26 a 1990 baseline precludes calculation of the internationally percent in rural areas. The high urban coverage is, however, recognized MDG target, to halve, by 2105, the proportion contested by sector stakeholders, who argue that it is overly of people without access, relative to 1990 levels. Comparing optimistic and does not take into account the poor quality national estimates of coverage in 1990 to the 2008 JMP of water supplied in urban areas through sources that are estimates gives a different picture—a slight upward trend in nonetheless considered improved, such as protected wells the case of water supply, and a slight decline in sanitation which are used by over 30 percent of the urban population.4 coverage. Again, however, the sector targets remain a distant According to the JMP, improved sanitation coverage stood at prospect without significant acceleration (Figure 1). Some 13 percent in 2008 (24 percent in urban areas, 6 percent in argue that the targets for the rural subsectors, in particular, rural areas) which excludes those accessing shared facilities may be too optimistic given the current access figures. (Figure 1). Open defecation in rural areas is high, estimated at 46 percent of the population. Figure 1 Progress in water supply and sanitation coverage Water supply Sanitation 100% 100% 80% 80% Coverage Coverage 60% 60% 40% 40% 20% 20% 0% 0% 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 Government estimates Government target Government estimates Government target JMP estimates JMP estimates Sources: JMP 2010 Update; Government of Sierra Leone Water Supply Division, National Water Policy. 8 Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone: Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond Investment Requirements: Testing the is constrained by limited anticipated public ‘seed finance’. Sufficiency of Finance In the rural subsector users are expected to meet 100 percent of hardware costs under a Community-Led Total The CSO2 costing tool was used to estimate the investment Sanitation (CLTS) approach, with public funding primarily required to meet the government targets, of 74 percent engaged in awareness creation, sensitization, and capacity for water supply and 66 percent for sanitation, from the building. These ‘software’ activities are assumed to be JMP access figures for 2008. In the absence of national covered under recurrent expenditure and are not factored unit cost figures for use in the model, regional proxies were into the requirements calculated using the model.5 The adapted taking into account that the country is emerging model also does not include estimates of the cost of from conflict. Population figures used are based on those innovative financing schemes, which the GoSL is expected used by the JMP (themselves derived from UN Population to support, such as a revolving fund or underwriting the Department data); the technology mix was estimated management fees and collection efficiency losses expected using information from the Ministry of Energy and Water in microfinance schemes. It is not clear for what purpose Resources (MoEWR). The investment requirements are (hardware, software or financing schemes) the currently compared against anticipated investments from the anticipated public funds for sanitation will be used. The Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL), donors, and users, to extent of anticipated financing depicted in Figure 2 should establish the gap in financing which the country will need thus be treated with caution, particularly the substantial to address. expected household contributions that will depend on the quality of government promotion and facilitation. The annual capital investment requirement to meet the national targets for Sierra Leone for both rural and urban In addition to the reliance on user contributions, which water supply is estimated at US$164 million. Anticipated are somewhat uncertain, it should be underscored that public funding of US$28 million per year is currently if different (and perhaps more realistic) coverage figures expected to leverage limited user contributions (10 percent are applied to the model then the financing deficit would of capital costs in the rural subsector) leaving a gap of over increase substantially.6 US$130 million per year to be filled (Figure 2). In Sierra Leone, as in many countries, there is an implicit For sanitation capital investments (‘hardware’), an assumption that operations and maintenance (O&M) costs estimated US$40 million per year is required. In the urban will be recovered from users. In reality this is not achieved. subsector it is assumed that 25 percent of the hardware If any of the annual operations expenditure (OPEX) has costs of sanitation will be borne by households, but this to be subsidized from the public purse, for example to Figure 2 Required vs. anticipated (public) and assumed (household) expenditure for water supply Water supply Sanitation Required CAPEX Required CAPEX Required Required OPEX OPEX 0 50 100 150 200 250 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 US$ million/year US$ million/year Public CAPEX (anticipated) Public spending (anticipated) Household CAPEX (assumed) Household CAPEX (assumed) CAPEX deficit CAPEX deficit Source: CSO2 costing. 9 An AMCOW Country Status Overview Table 1 Coverage and investment figures7 Coverage Target Population CAPEX Anticipated Assumed Total requiring requirements public CAPEX HH deficit access CAPEX 1990 2008 2015 Total Public Domestic External Total % % % ‘000/year US$ million/year Rural water supply 32% 26% 74% 215 63 57 6 11 17 2 44 Urban water supply 82% 86% 74% 86 101 101 2 9 11 0 90 Water supply total 48% 49% 74% 302 164 158 8 20 28 2 134 Rural sanitation 2% 6% 66% 277 8 0 0 3 3 8 – Urban sanitation 45% 24% 66% 235 32 24 0 5 5 2 26 Sanitation total 16% 13% 66% 512 40 24 0 7 7 9 23 Sources: JMP 2010 Report; National Water Policy; CSO2 costing. Table 2 To meet the investment requirements Sierra Leone faces Annual O&M challenges at both the national and household levels. The country is one of the poorest in the world, ranked Subsector O&M 179th of 182 in per capita gross domestic product (GDP), US$ million/year which stands at US$326 (current prices).8 A decade of civil Rural water supply 9 war destroyed both economic and social infrastructure, Urban water supply 52 creating competing demands on scarce national resources. Water supply total 61 Ability to pay the true cost of services is constrained given Rural sanitation 1 high poverty levels. However, development partners are Urban sanitation 7 increasingly supportive and improved governance could Sanitation total 8 see increased external finance allocated and utilized. O&M Source: CSO2 costing. and rehabilitation will continue to be a challenge in the short and medium term as user contributions are unlikely utilities that do not achieve operational cost recovery, to be realized. it reduces the amount available for capital investment. Indeed, in many areas water is not paid for as a result of an These considerations are only part of the picture. unwillingness to charge and, in some cases, communities’ Bottlenecks can, in fact occur, throughout the service refusal to pay for water use and poor quality service. delivery pathway—all the institutions, processes, and actors that translate sector funding into sustainable services. The current sector leadership is placing emphasis on piped Where the pathway is well developed sector funding water supply and household connections. Per capita costs should turn into services at the estimated unit costs. for this technology are high. In respect of sanitation, no Where it is not, the above investment requirements may specific technology choices are being promoted within the be gross underestimates. The rest of this report evaluates general framework of CLTS, but the quality and cost of the service delivery pathway in its entirety, locating the latrines will depend on the ability of poor households to bottlenecks and presenting the agreed priority actions to raise needed finance. help address them. 10 Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone: Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond 3. Reform Context: Introducing the CSO2 Scorecard The main driver for sector reform as captured in various SALWACO holds the fort in the interim and will relinquish commitments—Sierra Leone Vision 2025, the Poverty service delivery to councils as soon as their capacity to Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), and the MDGs—is the undertake water supply services improves.11 need to create a high quality life for all Sierra Leoneans based on the fundamental human right of access to A national policy on water supply was seen as the first safe and adequate water to meet basic human needs. requirement to energize the reform process. To support Faced with the challenges of a postconflict environment, the intentions set out in the policy, a new Water Law is sector reform has recognized the following priorities, under development, which will review and incorporate among others: (a) provision of safe drinking water and all existing water-related laws and regulations, create a sanitation facilities for deprived communities in rural and Water Department to act as the principal advisory wing of urban areas through rehabilitation and reconstruction of the ministry, and define new regulatory agencies that will water facilities damaged by the war; and (b) provision of supervise the sector. The Policy and the Law aim to bring adequate liquid and solid waste disposal facilities in urban all water-using sectors in line with the measures intended areas. In its second PRSP, the GoSL has indicated that its to improve water resources management. “overarching aim in the long term is to make available bulk potable safe water to as many people as possible, The emphasis of reform in terms of developing new water targeting high population density areas, such as urban, supply and sanitation services is to shift from centralized peri-urban and large villages. Pipe-borne water supply supply-driven approaches, to demand-driven/led and will be the preference”.9 To achieve this, the government decentralized approaches. In the case of sanitation this expects to prioritize increasing access to safe water both in entails a move from subsidy-driven household latrine the western area (where access has largely fallen behind), promotion to CLTS. Other goals outlined in the policy relate and selected large provincial settlements including district headquarter towns, especially in the short to medium Figure 3 term. Average scorecard results for enabling, sustaining, and developing service delivery, and The sector’s recent history puts the service delivery pathway peer-group comparison in context, which can then be explored in detail using the Enabling CSO2 scorecard, an assessment tool providing a snapshot of reform progress throughout the pathway.10 The CSO2 scorecard assesses the building blocks of service delivery in turn: three building blocks which relate to enabling services, three which relate to developing new services, and three which relate to sustaining services. Each building block is assessed against specific indicators and scored from 1 to 3 accordingly. Reforms have included the establishment of the Guma Valley Water Company (GVWC) to supply water to Freetown and its environs, and the Sierra Leone Water Sustaining Developing Company (SALWACO) to supply water to a number of Sierra Leone average scores key cities and towns. The MoEWR’s Water Supply Division has relinquished responsibility for rural water delivery to Averages, LICs, GNI p.p. <=$500 local governments. Due to limited capacity at that level, Source: CSO2 scorecard. 11 An AMCOW Country Status Overview to financing rural water on a cost-share basis, building the service delivery pathway concerned with developing local capacity for service delivery and backstopping, services score reasonably, though there is still much and harmonizing and aligning activities among various that can be improved, through the above-mentioned agencies and actors. Many of these, however, remain implementation of policy goals. Across subsectors, policy intentions, awaiting the development of the building blocks for sustaining services, such as funding required strategies and implementation of the identified and support for water supply maintenance, and markets measures. for sanitation, are weakest. An overview of results from the CSO2 scorecard (Figure Sections 4 to 6 highlight progress and challenges across 3) suggests Sierra Leone has made some progress in three thematic areas—the institutional framework, finance evolving the enabling environment within the service and monitoring and evaluation (M&E)—benchmarking delivery pathway, due in part to the 2008 policy. The Sierra Leone against its peer countries based on a grouping country falls slightly short of the average score for its by GNI. Related indicators are extracted from the scorecard economic peer group, comprising low-income countries and presented in charts at the beginning of each section. with per capita gross national income (GNI) below The scorecards for each subsector are presented in their US$500 (World Bank Atlas Method). Building blocks of entirety in Sections 7 to 10. Table 3 Key dates in the reform of the sector in Sierra Leone Year Event 1961 The Guma Valley Water Act (1961) established the GVWC to supply water to Freetown 1963 The Water (Control and Supply) Act (1963) established the Water Supply Division to oversee provincial water supply services 1996 Public Health Act (1996) created the Environmental Health Division to oversee sanitation services 1999 Forestry Regulation Act (2001) created Forest Reserves to protect water sources and catchment areas 2001 The Sierra Leone Water Company Act (2001) established an agency to supply water to Bo, Kenema, Makeni, Kono, and Lungi 2004 The Local Government Act (2004) devolved water supply functions to local councils 2008 Adoption of a National Water and Sanitation Policy. Recommended major reforms including the creation of the National Water Resources Board, Energy and Water Regulatory Authority and a Water Department to act as the key advisory unit in the Ministry. The Water Supply Division is to be scrapped. 2009 Efforts are ongoing to establish a new Water Law which will review and incorporate all existing laws related to the sector including relevant customary laws and practices 12 Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone: Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond 4. Institutional Framework Priority actions for institutional framework • Implement institutional arrangements as envisaged in the policy. • Resolve and strengthen the institutional home and champion for sanitation. • Undertake extensive capacity building (manpower and logistics) for sector institutions. Sierra Leone is taking various measures to address the architecture of the sector. The paragraphs that follow institutional framework to improve sector performance. outline key challenges relating to the sector’s institutional The decision to limit the role of the sector ministry to framework. policy formulation, creation of regulatory agencies, and efforts to improve funding, coordination, and monitoring New Water Law: The decision to enact a new Water appear consistent with good practice. In addition, the Law will provide legal backing for the measures outlined decision to rename the ministry to include water resources in the policy document. The enactment of the Water will give it greater visibility and clearly demonstrate Law will require amendments to some of the existing a commitment to drive socioeconomic development legislation to make it consistent with the new policy and through the country’s water resources infrastructure. institutional framework, and drive sector performance. Figure 4 shows that Sierra Leone’s performance against related scorecard indicators—which assess the presence Sector leadership: Discussions with various of subsector policies, nationally recognized targets, and stakeholders clearly pointed to the need for a strong clarity of roles and leadership—is reasonable compared sector leadership in practice. Current legislation and to its peers. Figure 5 sets out the essential institutional the new water policy give the ministry oversight responsibility for water resources management. This Figure 4 requires that sector agencies (principally SALWACO and Scorecard indicator scores relating to institutional GVWC), development partners, and nongovernmental framework compared to peer group (see organizations (NGOs) align with the ministry’s policies and endnotes)12 report their operations in accordance with requirements RWS set out by the ministry. Capacity building: New institutions are to be created to ensure a more effective sector management framework. Whilst it is desirable to strengthen the USH UWS functions for facilitation and regulation in the sector, lean, yet highly professional institutions will be key in this regard. Weak capacity for these and other functions is a major hindrance in the sector, and in Sierra Leone as a whole. Beyond establishing water supply and RSH sanitation (WSS) institutions, a greater challenge will be Sierra Leone average scores building their capacity—both in relation to professional Averages, LICs, GNI p.p. <=$500 manpower and in logistics—to deliver on the mandates assigned to them. Source: CSO2 scorecard. 13 An AMCOW Country Status Overview Figure 5 Institutional roles and relationships in the water supply and sanitation sector Sewerage and Water supply related hygiene General sanitation and School Urban promotion hygiene promotion Sanitation Sanitation Sector MoEWR MoHS MoE leadership Regulation NWRB & EWRA National GVWC SALWACO Service development DWSC LAs Regional and provision CWCs DEHO Local MoEWR: Ministry of Energy and Water Resources, lead for water oversight for water resources management. resources and the custodian of the Water Law. Exercises oversight EWRA: Energy and Water Regulatory Authority (EWRA), economic over sector agencies through Water Department. regulation of water and related sanitation delivery. MoHS: Ministry of Health and Sanitation, lead for overall GVWC: Guma Valley Water Company, provision of water to coordination of sanitation and hygiene activities, through the Freetown and its environs. Environmental Health Department (EHD) taking the lead in the SALWACO: Sierra Leone Water Company, water and sanitation in promotion of sanitation and hygiene programs. all urban areas outside of Freetown and some rural areas. MoE: Ministry of Education, lead for sanitation and hygiene DEHO: District Environmental Health Officers, responsible for education in schools health, sanitation, and hygiene promotion at the district level. LAs: Local Councils, focal entities at the district level for CWS: Community Water Committees: management of water and implementation of water and sanitation delivery. Work through sanitation delivery at the community level. District Water and Sanitation Committees (DWSC). Additional actors include the private sector and a significant NWRB: National Water Resources Board, regulation and number of international and local nongovernmental organizations. Source: Author, developed from National Water Policy. Regulation (including tariff regime): There is budget in 2009 not exceeding US$20,000.13 The MoEWR currently no effective regulation of the urban water has assumed responsibility for water-related sanitation sector, besides the requirements of the Governing Board policy and as the National Water and Sanitation Policy of sector agencies and the sector ministry. More effective concedes, “the confusion surrounding whether full regulation is now being contemplated, through the sanitation responsibility should fall under Ministry of National Water Resources Board (NWRB) and the Energy Health, Environment Commission, Local Government and Water Regulatory Authority—for water use and or the Ministry responsible for water has not been fully economic regulation (standards, tariff-setting, customer addressed”.14 care), respectively. The current lack of economic regulation means that tariff decisions are determined Private sector participation: The private sector’s more through political than economic considerations. role is currently very limited throughout the service delivery pathway. This includes drilling contractors, Institutional home for sanitation: Whilst many water supply operators, and small-scale entrepreneurs recognize the Ministry of Health and Sanitation as providing sanitation hardware and back-up services. In responsible for sanitation, in practice the Environmental large part this is a reflection of the lack of capacity across Health Department has been neglected, with an annual the whole of Sierra Leone. 14 Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone: Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond 5. Financing and its Implementation Priority actions for financing and its implementation • Prepare medium to long term Investment Plans to achieve national targets. • Prepare an MDG Action Plan and market to secure interest from the donor community, NGOs, the private sector, and consumers. • Continue to increase sector funding. • Improve fund utilization rates. WSS allocations as a percent of the total national budget, of allocations, to the clarity and comprehensiveness of excluding salary and interest payments, have more than subsector budget lines, and levels of utilization. The doubled between 2008 and 2010, reaching close to stronger performance of RSH relative to the peer group 3 percent. Whilst this is still low by regional standards, average is partly attributable to the adoption of the CLTS the trend is a healthy development, and as the economy approach by all sector actors, coordinated by the MoH and improves it is expected that allocations to the sector will UNICEF. For now, however, CLTS is a common approach continue to increase. WSS capital spending as a percentage adopted by all for RSH, but pooling of resources to drive of GDP has increased from 0.17 percent in 2008 to 0.47 the agenda is not immediately in sight and it is not clear percent in 2010, and is projected to rise to 0.51 percent that sufficient allocations are being made to support in 2012. The absolute increases are shown in Figure 7. this program (see Section 9). The following paragraphs Figure 6 shows the performance of the four subsectors highlight the key challenges the sector faces in financing against scorecard indicators relating to financing and and its implementation. its implementation, which look beyond the adequacy Planning: Linking inputs, outputs, and need: Figure 6 While the sector agencies have investment programs, Scorecard indicator scores relating to financing and these are not properly aligned to the achievement of its implementation, compared to peer group15 sector targets. Both GVWC and SALWACO’s investment horizons lie only two years ahead, as captured in the RWS Corporate Plan (GVWC) or annual budget statements. Comprehensive subsector investment plans to meet the targets, as well as a consolidated sector investment plan, are currently missing. Programmatic approaches are not in place in Sierra Leone, with the possible exception of CLTS USH UWS in the rural sanitation subsector, nor is a framework for developing them. Donor-driven projects remain the main route for implementation. Given its recent history, the GoSL is pursuing basic water RSH and sanitation services in phases—with emergency to Sierra Leone average scores short-term, and medium- to long-term strategies. In Averages, LICs, GNI p.p. <=$500 the short term the focus is on increasing access to safe drinking water in Freetown and its environs, the district Source: CSO2 scorecard. 15 An AMCOW Country Status Overview Figure 7 noting that “Government is strengthening the integration Increase in total (recurrent and development) of procurement planning in the budget process in order budgetary allocations to water supply, to better synchronize sectoral plans with annual budget FY2008–12 allocations”. Both donors and recipients agree on the need to build the capacity of the sector institutions to prepare 14 12.12 project documents, drive the procurement process, and 12 10.69 monitor the implementation of projects. US$ (million) 10 9.31 8 6 Aid delivery, harmonization, and coordination: 4 3.280 3.22 Emerging from a civil war, Sierra Leone has benefited 2 0 from an influx of donor aid flows—both bilateral and FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 multilateral—as well as from NGO activity. This naturally Source: GoSL, 2010 Budget Profile. presents challenges for coordination. Major donors for the sector include: AfDB, BADEA (US$4m), DfID (£35m), EU headquarter towns, and large provincial settlements. In (€7m), Islamic Development Bank, JICA, UNICEF (US$2.9m) the medium to long term, the government will focus on and the World Bank (US$52m). The central focus of aid has increasing the volume of water supplied nationwide. Some been on rehabilitation of water infrastructure and building information for planning these phased interventions is the government’s capacity to own and drive sector activity. available: population, coverage, and technology. However, For example, US$45 million (£30 million) in DfID support more detailed information from inventories, including to the sector includes activities in sector harmonization, functionality of systems (to establish a truer picture of capacity building, water resources management, and coverage), and clear unambiguous policy direction on implementation of the National Water Policy. issues such as subsidies, cost recovery, and technology options remain unclear or are not pursued to the letter. UNICEF currently leads donor coordination. Aid is provided as both budgetary support through MoFED and Budgeting: Directing finance effectively. Over the as project support through other Ministries, Departments three-year period 2010–12, the GoSL expects to increase and Agencies (MDAs), and there has been a gradual shift its spending in the water sector from Le34 billion (US$9.3 from emergency to recovery and development projects, million) in 2010 to Le46 billion (US$12.1 million) by 2012. now that the sector is recognized as safe and investment- These figures compare to spending of Le10 billion (US$3.3 friendly. The long-term plan is to fund WSS services in all million) in 2008 and Le11 billion (US$3.2 billion) in 2009.16 district headquarters towns from domestically generated However, as indicated by the CSO2 costing model, current revenue. This is set out in the current Medium-Term anticipated sector budget allocations do not match policy Expenditure Framework Budget. It is expected that when intentions and targets. mining operations (especially of iron ore and bauxite) pick up in 2010, coupled with oil production in 2011, Sector agencies indicate that historically the actual the government’s revenue base will improve strongly to disbursement of budget allocations has been around 60 reduce overdependence on donor assistance. percent, but both the sums allocated and the disbursements have been increasing in recent years. Though a number of NGOs continue to play a crucial role in service delivery and instances of delays to projects were noted17 (attributed to capacity building. Their interventions are geared towards capacity limitations), the utilization of budgetary allocations strengthening MDAs and local councils/communities is improving, thanks to the introduction of the Integrated through training and technical support and the provision Financial Information Management System (IFIMS).18 The of vital services in the water, sanitation, education, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) agriculture, and housing sectors. recognizes the challenge of matching allocations and disbursements and is taking measures to address this, Best estimates of the distribution of domestic finance, with the 2010 Budget Speech of the Minister of Finance external (donor and NGO) finance, and expected 16 Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone: Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond household contributions within and between subsectors proportion of sector resources are channeled through are shown in Figure 8. local councils. For now the resources available to the fund are limited, totaling US$242,000 for FY2009. Local council grants for rural water supply (RWS): While there are no pooled funds specific to WSS, Gaps in financing policies and strategies: The rural water and sanitation services receive dedicated relative shares of central government, local government, intergovernmental transfers via the local council grants for and communities in financing the capital costs of WSS RWS, guided by the Local Governments Equitable Grants facilities need to be made clearer. Likewise, there should Distribution Formulae and Allocations. Under this system, be an unambiguous definition of cost recovery for both central government grants are allocated to councils to rural and urban WSS services, indicating how current cover activities such as construction, rehabilitation, and revenue gaps for O&M and capital maintenance—due to drilling of boreholes, spring wells, and other systems. In low tariffs—will be closed over time. The current practice the case of RWS, the criteria used relate to the ratio of the of making free water available at standpipes is sending individual council’s rural population to the total national the wrong signals on the responsibilities of consumers rural population, and the ratio of the proportion without and is inconsistent with sustainable delivery of the service. access to safe water to that of all local councils. A weighting There is also a policy gap regarding ultimate responsibility of 60 percent and 40 percent is attached to each factor, for rehabilitating rural WSS facilities after they have been respectively. This stands to enhance equity when a greater built. Figure 8 Annual overall and per capita investment requirements and contribution of anticipated financing by source Rural water supply: Urban water supply: Rural sanitation: Urban sanitation: Total: $63,400,000 Total: $101,000,000 Total: $7,680,000 Total: $32,400,000 Per capita (new): $162 Per capita (new): $719 Per capita (new): $19 Per capita (new): $119 Domestic anticipated investment Assumed household investment External anticipated investment Gap Source: CSO2 costing. 17 An AMCOW Country Status Overview 6. Sector Monitoring and Evaluation Priority actions for sector monitoring and evaluation • Agree to definitions for sector indicators and targets to aid planning, budgeting and measurement of impact. • Undertake national consolidated reporting on water and sanitation. • Improve water quality monitoring to understand relevance of survey coverage data (which is often challenged as being too high). A water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) database is and (h) percentage of people with basic knowledge of currently being developed by UNICEF in collaboration hygiene practices. The project is being implemented by with Statistics Sierra Leone and MoEWR to monitor eight Statistics Sierra Leone and the Water Supply Division of WASH indicators, namely (a) the percentage of people the MoEWR in partnership with the 19 local councils. with access to improved drinking water; (b) the percentage The measurement of some of these indicators will be of water handled safely at household level; (c) the challenging and will require substantial resources to be percentage coverage of sanitation facilities; (d) coverage of undertaken on a regular basis. It is also important that the improved solid waste disposal; (e) improved waste water definitions of these indicators are agreed within a national management; (f) percentage of people practicing hand consultative process. washing with soap/ash at critical times; (g) percentage of people with access to hygiene promotion activities; Figure 9 indicates that Sierra Leone’s water subsectors score below the peer-group average for indicators relating to sector M&E, while the sanitation subsectors score above Figure 9 average. However, substantial improvements can be made Scorecard indicator scores relating to sector M&E, in all subsectors, particularly RWS, with regards to the compared to peer group19 reporting of allocations, fund utilization, and output. RWS M&E needs considerable strengthening as sector data is currently hard to come by. The following paragraphs outline key challenges for sector M&E in Sierra Leone. Consolidating sector reporting: Mechanisms for USH UWS M&E of the sector exist largely at the project level and there is currently no nationally consolidated reporting of sector information. Discussions for the CSO2 identified no specific reasons for this but the lack of adequate personnel to collect and collate subsector reports may RSH be a factor. A clear need for consolidated reporting was Sierra Leone average scores acknowledged, however, and the MoEWR intends to Averages, LICs, GNI p.p. <=$500 undertake this within its ongoing sector performance Source: CSO2 scorecard. improvement arrangements. It is hoped that the WASH database will contribute the necessary data. Given the 18 Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone: Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond myriad NGOs making significant contributions to the management has been limited and could be enhanced. sector, a key challenge is getting information from Community participation in M&E, including through them for national reporting, let alone in a sector-agreed civil society and community-based organizations, could format. An exception is the CLTS activities supported by also be institutionalized in WASH activities to enhance UNICEF, for which reporting is regular and up-to-date. sustainability of services.21 At the subsector level reports are prepared by SALWACO and GVMA but these have been tailored more to guide Enhancing coverage data: There is consistency management and the Governing Boards’ decision making between the definitions used in household surveys by than to feed into a sector reporting mechanism. Statistics Sierra Leone and the JMP for assessing coverage, with the 2008 Demographic and Health Survey fully Improving participation for M&E and ownership: applying the definitions used by the JMP. The cooperation A sector review process has been in place for the last between Statistics Sierra Leone and the MoEWR in five years, led by the MoEWR working in partnership capturing sector data is appropriate. As part of that effort, with UNICEF. This is mainly attended by government which is supported by UNICEF, a water-point mapping agencies, service providers, donors, and NGOs, and exercise including all 19 councils is to be undertaken. could benefit from wider participation.20 Beyond this, This will help establish the functionality of systems and stakeholders’ participation in sector dialogue on policy establish more realistic figures on coverage. formulation, programming, project implementation, and 19 An AMCOW Country Status Overview 7. Subsector: Rural Water Supply Priority actions for rural water supply • Increase subsector funding, through public (including donor) finance and user contributions, whilst rapidly improving absorptive capacities. • Rapidly implement the practice of community ownership and management. • Develop appropriate strategies and guidelines to support the implementation of interventions. • Actively build the capacity of the private sector to enable it to provide goods and services whilst public agencies gradually transition to a facilitation and regulation role. The JMP figures show a reduction in rural water coverage (see Section 5), anticipated public funding of around from 49 percent in 1994 to 26 percent in 2008. Due to US$17 million per year still leaves a considerable deficit, lack of household surveys, the trendline is not extrapolated given the large backlog in coverage indicated in Figure back to 1990, and flatlines from 1994–1998. The national 11. While it was estimated for the CSO2 costing model coverage estimate for 1990, of 32 percent, would entail that users could be expected to meet 10 percent of the a slower decline. In either case, however, projecting the costs of installations, current anticipated public allocations trendlines to 2015 shows that the national subsector mean only US$2 million per year in user finance would be target of 74 percent is unlikely to be reached. According leveraged in this way. The relative poverty in rural areas to JMP estimates, access to piped water in rural Sierra means the possibility for increasing household contributions Leone is minimal. to capital expenditure (CAPEX) is slim. At a minimum, rural communities should meet the cost associated with O&M if An estimated US$63 million per year would be required systems are to be sustainable. However, for the moment in capital investments for the subsector to meet the target even this is rare for rural and small town schemes, without of 74 percent coverage. While allocations have increased commitment to community management, meaning O&M Figure 10 Figure 11 Rural water supply coverage Rural water investment requirements 100% 80% Coverage 60% Required CAPEX Required 40% OPEX 20% 0% 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 0 20 40 60 80 US$ million/year Government estimates Government target Public CAPEX (anticipated) JMP, improved JMP, piped Household CAPEX (assumed) CAPEX deficit Sources: JMP 2010 report; Water Supply Division, GoSL. Source: CSO2 costing. 20 Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone: Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond Figure 12 Rural water supply scorecard Enabling Developing Sustaining Policy Planning Budget Expenditure Equity Output Maintenance Expansion Use 2.5 1.5 0.5 1.5 2 0.5 0.5 2 2 Source: CSO2 scorecard. costs of around US$10 million per year are likely to be Figure 13 unmet or fall on the public purse. Average RWS scorecard scores for enabling, sustaining, and developing service delivery, and Figure 12 shows the scorecard results for the RWS service peer-group comparison delivery pathway. The scorecard uses a simple color code Enabling to indicate: building blocks that are largely in place, acting as a driver on service delivery (score >2, green); building blocks that are a drag on service delivery and require attention (score 1–2, yellow); and building blocks that are inadequate, constituting a barrier to service delivery and a priority for reform (score <1, red). The subsector scorecard indicates several concerns along the service delivery pathway. The poorest scores were Developing Sustaining registered for planning, budgeting, delivering outputs, and ensuring adequate maintenance of services. Sierra Leone average scores For planning, while Sierra Leone has developed a policy Averages, LICs, GNI p.p. <=$500 covering rural water supply, it has yet to develop a sector Source: CSO2 scorecard. investment plan through which to operationalize policy goals. While in recent years budgets for the subsector challenges, and limited private sector involvement have gone up considerably, they remain inadequate in providing goods and services. The low score for relative to requirements and do not comprehensively maintenance is attributable to the fact that SALWACO capture all spending in the sector. Levels of expenditure (which is currently in charge of many rural systems) is (budget utilization) are improving but are still inadequate unable to generate sufficient tariff revenue to meet basic due to capacity limitations, particularly for procurement. O&M requirements, whilst operational cost recovery also remains low or nonexistent in systems provided by NGOs. In respect of equity the formula for distributing allocations The supply chain for water supply spare parts in rural areas to local councils for rural water and sanitation based on is also considered to be inadequate. needs (see Section 5) is positive but the sums involved are too small to make any meaningful impact at this stage. Figure 13 indicates that Sierra Leone’s performance is The scorecard’s low score for output is explained by a host below the peer-group average for building blocks relating of factors, including insufficient funding, procurement to enabling and developing services. 21 An AMCOW Country Status Overview 8. Subsector: Urban Water Supply Priority actions for urban water supply • Undertake preparation of an Urban Water Sub-Sector Investment Plan, with details on financing requirements, mix of funds, and achieving financial equilibrium. • Speed up reform of the sector to improve efficiency of cost recovery. • Set realistic tariffs to recover a substantial portion of production cost. The JMP reports 86 percent urban water coverage for Anticipated financial flows to the urban water subsector 2008. Many local stakeholders argue that this figure is are inadequate relative to capital investment requirements overly optimistic on the grounds that many water sources of around US$100 million per year for meeting the sector in urban areas which are being considered improved by target, even though both the SALWACO and GVWC have the JMP—for example, protected wells and tube wells (on reported an increased financial commitment to the sector which 36 percent of urban households depend)—may in from the GoSL for the 2010 financial year. Even assuming fact be supplying water of doubtful quality. However, no the subsector coverage target is already met (Figure 14), reliable alternative administrative data on coverage exist costs will be incurred for both new infrastructure (due to (the government trendline depicted in Figure 14 uses population growth) and rehabilitation.22 national estimates for 1990 in the absence of JMP figures, but otherwise uses the same disputed 2008 figure). With no up-front user contribution to capital costs, the projected financing gap for water supply infrastructure is The National Water and Sanitation Policy (NWSP) indicates US$90 million per year. Additional to this, major costs will a target of 74 percent for urban water supply by 2015. If be incurred developing new water resources, particularly the current survey data are to be believed, this has already for Freetown. been achieved. The JMP data imply that piped water coverage has decreased in the past decade and a half. Figure 14 Figure 15 Urban water supply coverage Urban water investment requirements 100% 80% Coverage 60% Required CAPEX Required 40% OPEX 20% 0% 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 0 50 100 150 200 US$ million/year Government estimates Government target Public CAPEX (anticipated) JMP, improved JMP, piped CAPEX deficit Sources: JMP 2010 report; Water Supply Division, GoSL. Source: CSO2 costing. 22 Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone: Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond Figure 16 Urban water supply scorecard Enabling Developing Sustaining Policy Planning Budget Expenditure Equity Output Maintenance Expansion Use 2.5 1.5 1 3 1.5 1 0 2 1 Source: CSO2 scorecard. In the future a substantial proportion of costs could be statements are an important indication that expenditure recovered through tariff revenues as the subsector moves monitoring is being taken seriously. Whilst budgets have closer to cost recovery. Currently, however, there appears been small, utilization rates for domestic allocations are to be an unwillingness to charge for services (particularly assessed to be good. to those considered poor) even when considerable improvements have been made. For example, public In terms of equity, no mechanisms/criteria exist for standpipes dispense water free when consumers previously allocating resources between unserved regions and among paid substantial amounts to obtain water through private different categories of consumers. Some consideration of providers. equity issues may, however, be seen in an emphasis on provision of standpipes for the poor in all new projects. The urban water subsector scorecard suggests satisfactory progress in putting in place a number of building blocks, For the moment there is insufficient output to meet the with policy and expenditure being particular highlights. service delivery gaps that have arisen from years of civil The NWSP clearly spells out the vision and the targets war that saw infrastructure seriously deteriorate. The that the subsector must pursue and follows regional best quality of output remains an unknown as water quality is practice, although some policy measures have yet to be not systematically monitored. translated into practice. The GVWC’s annual financial Maintenance represents the greatest challenge for sustainability for urban water supply systems, given the Figure 17 SALWACO’s low internal revenue-generating capacity Average UWS scorecard scores for enabling, sustaining, and developing service delivery, and (only 12 percent of revenues are generated from tariffs) peer-group comparison and the inability of the GVWC to achieve cost recovery (compounded by an unwillingness to charge for Enabling standpipes). Sustaining Developing Sierra Leone average scores Averages, LICs, GNI p.p. <=$500 Source: CSO2 scorecard. 23 An AMCOW Country Status Overview 9. Subsector: Rural Sanitation and Hygiene Priority actions for rural sanitation and hygiene • Increase the budget for sanitation, in particular for strengthening institutions and undertaking community sensitization programs. • Complement CLTS with microfinancing to assure uptake. • Undertake continuous monitoring of uptake of CLTS. The JMP figures show only a marginal increase in rural facilities. Perhaps the greatest challenge in the subsector sanitation coverage from 4 percent in 1994 to 6 percent is the high incidence of open defecation (estimated at 36 in 2008. Extrapolating the trend reveals that the subsector percent by the 2010 JMP report). target of 66 percent would be missed by a considerable margin without a huge acceleration. Household surveys The CLTS approach requires that users meet the full cost remain the only source of data available for establishing of capital investments (CAPEX, or ‘hardware’), which are coverage in the subsector. In terms of definition, Sierra in the region of US$10 million annually: the costing model Leone NWSP refers to ‘adequate sanitation’ rather than (and results shown in Figure 19) depicts the expectation ‘improved’, which is used by the JMP and national of the policy, with household contributions matching surveys.23 It is clear from this definition by the GoSL and the CAPEX requirements. However, these contributions will target figures indicated in the NWSP that shared facilities not be leveraged without complementary efforts from the are counted among those considered adequate (unlike government, in the form of a microfinance arrangement the JMP’s ‘Improved’ definition). The JMP estimates that that supports poor rural households to build their choice of a further 18 percent of the rural population use shared facilities, alongside effective, large-scale software efforts. Figure 18 Figure 19 Rural sanitation coverage Rural sanitation investment requirements 100% 80% Required CAPEX Coverage Required 60% OPEX 40% 20% 0% 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 US$ million/year Government estimates Government target Public spending (anticipated) JMP, improved JMP, improved + shared Household CAPEX (assumed) Sources: JMP 2010 report; Water Supply Division, GoSL. Source: CSO2 costing. 24 Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone: Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond Figure 20 Rural sanitation and hygiene scorecard Enabling Developing Sustaining Policy Planning Budget Expenditure Equity Output Markets Up-take Use 2.5 2 0 2 2 2.5 0.5 0 1 Source: CSO2 scorecard. Figure 21 The subsector scorecard, as depicted in Figure 20, indicates Average RSH scorecard scores for enabling, a number of low scoring building blocks which present sustaining, and developing service delivery, and barriers along the service delivery pathway. This includes peer-group comparison very low budgets to support the Environmental Health Enabling Department, insofar as they can be discerned at all (the obscurity of subsector spending further reduces the score for this building block). The low scores with regard to sustaining services stem from the lack of private sector capacity to facilitate household access to sanitation goods and services (the main concern of the markets building block), as well as the insufficiency Sustaining Developing of uptake—in terms of the quantity and quality of latrines, and sound hygiene behavior. Sierra Leone average scores Averages, LICs, GNI p.p. <=$500 Whilst the emphasis on CLTS is an important initiative, at Source: CSO2 scorecard. this early stage it is difficult to tell how far it will result in increased coverage: implementation will be far more challenging than declaring CLTS as a policy principle. Figure 21 shows Sierra Leone’s strong score, relative to The apparent availability of user finance will thus in practice its peers, for building blocks associated with developing depend on how effectively anticipated public finance (of services. This indicates that the tools for developing around US$3 million per year) is utilized: for underwriting household sanitation equitably and at scale, through any losses associated with recoveries on microfinance the CLTS approach, are at least partly in place. However, schemes; information, education, and communication the low budgetary allocations, insufficient private sector (IEC); and marketing. involvement, and the absence of effective microfinance arrangements may make this sound framework for The O&M requirement (OPEX) for upkeep of rural sanitation implementation redundant, allowing communities and is estimated at an additional US$1 million per year. households to slip back into open defecation. 25 An AMCOW Country Status Overview 10. Subsector: Urban Sanitation and Hygiene Priority actions for urban sanitation and hygiene • Prepare an urban sanitation plan and strategy for achieving targets. • Increase budgetary support for both operations and maintenance of existing facilities and for capital investments in sewerage. • Clearly define strategy for addressing sanitation and hygiene in poor and peri-urban communities. The JMP figures show a marginal increase in urban An annual capital investment requirement of US$32 million sanitation coverage from 21 percent in 1994 to 24 percent is estimated for the rehabilitation and expansion of urban in 2008; the trend suggests that the national target of 66 sanitation facilities. A user contribution of 25 percent of percent will likely be missed in terms of the JMP’s definition total hardware costs has been incorporated in the model, of improved sanitation. Using the government’s own in the face of a very unclear strategy on urban household estimate of coverage in 1990 yields a steeply declining sanitation delivery. It is assumed that sewer connections trendline. A small portion of the population is connected will be largely subsidy driven, though these are expected by sewers (0.3 percent), 8 percent use an on-site pour- to serve a small proportion (c. 6 percent) of those gaining flush system, whilst 16.5 percent use VIP latrines or improved access. latrines covered with slabs.24 Open defecation is estimated at around 5 percent. On the other hand, the latest JMP The sector lacks a strategy to accelerate urban sanitation. estimate portrays 47 percent of the urban population CLTS is not an option for urban sanitation in Sierra Leone. sharing sanitation facilities; if this is factored into the Indeed, according to UNICEF, an attempt to introduce category of adequate sanitation, as defined by the GoSL, CLTS to the semi-urban Western Area of Freetown, then the target of 66 percent could be met. had extremely limited success. It was found that the Figure 22 Figure 23 Urban sanitation coverage Urban sanitation investment requirements 100% 80% Required CAPEX Required Coverage 60% OPEX 40% 20% 0% 0 10 20 30 40 50 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 US$ million/year Government estimates Government target Public CAPEX (anticipated) JMP, improved JMP, improved + shared Household CAPEX (assumed) CAPEX deficit Sources: JMP 2010 report; Water Supply Division, GoSL. Source: CSO2 costing. 26 Water Supply and Sanitation in Sierra Leone: Turning Finance into Services for 2015 and Beyond Figure 24 Urban sanitation and hygiene scorecard Enabling Developing Sustaining Policy Planning Budget Expenditure Equity Output Markets Up-take Use 2 0 1 2 1 2 1.5 0 1.5 Source: CSO2 scorecard. Figure 25 The service delivery pathway for the urban sanitation and Average USH scorecard scores for enabling, hygiene subsector is faced with barriers in relation to poor sustaining, and developing service delivery, and planning and unclear mechanisms for ensuring uptake peer-group comparison (Figure 24). While budget allocations to the subsector are slightly easier to discern, and capture more domestic Enabling and donor spending, than for rural sanitation, they are still insufficient. The main bottleneck to achieving the targets for improved sanitation in urban areas is the absence of a strategy to increase access. The MICS 2005 established a strong correlation between improved sanitation facilities and location (urban versus rural), increasing wealth status, and Sustaining Developing increasing educational level of the head of household. The current default assumption appears to be that Sierra Leone average scores sanitation uptake will move in tandem with improved Averages, LICs, GNI p.p. <=$500 wealth status. However, increasing urbanization, and the challenges in obtaining basic livelihoods in peri-urban and Source: CSO2 scorecard. low-income urban communities, demand a new strategic direction if the targets are to be met. To underpin a strategy high population density, lack of space, and community and effectively enable service delivery, there needs to be cohesion all hindered the success of the program.25 This greater clarity in the institutional arrangements, and the implies that other means of speeding up sanitation uptake building of adequate capacity to handle urban sanitation. should be used to encourage low-income and peri-urban populations to construct their own facilities. In these The role of sewerage networks in the future technology communities communal facilities, even though considered mix will need to be carefully considered, as it is expensive, unimproved, may be an interim solution to the sanitation tends to benefit only the wealthiest, and poses a challenge deficit. in terms of recovering costs. 27 An AMCOW Country Status Overview Notes and References 1 2010 average, Global Economic Monitor, The World 16 The depreciation of the SL Leone against the more stable Bank. US dollar accounts for the relatively higher expenditure in 2 The first round of CSOs was carried out in 2006 covering 16 2009 in Leone terms, but lower in dollar terms compared to countries and is summarized in the report, ‘Getting Africa 2008. The average exchange rates for US$1 were Le 2,953 On-Track to Meet the MDGs on Water and Sanitation’. (2008), Le 3,562 (2009) and Le 3,650 (2010), according to 3 JMP estimates are based on a linear regression of nationally GoSL (MoFED Budget Profile 2010). representative household surveys. 17 MoFED, Budget Profile for Y2010, Annex 7, and Budget 4 Statistics Sierra Leone. 2008. Sierra Leone Demographic Statement for 2010. and Health Survey, 2008. 18 The Integrated Financial Information Management System 5 The CSO2 costing model also omits the cost of hygiene (IFIMS) promotion and other software activities, relative to the 19 Indicators relating to the sector M&E section are: All targets, due to the difficulty of estimating such costs on a subsectors: annual review setting new undertakings; per capita basis. subsector spend identifiable in budget (UWS: inc. recurrent 6 As for any model reliant on assumptions, the ‘workings’ subsidies); budget comprehensively covers domestic/donor are as important a tool for policy makers as the outputs. finance; RWS, RSH, and USH: domestic/donor expenditure Consequently the model itself is provided to partners and reported; UWS: audited accounts and balance sheets the Government of Sierra Leone. When more reliable from utilities; RWS, RSH, and USH: periodic analysis of data become available they can be used to get a better equity criteria by CSOs and government; UWS: pro-poor appreciation of the financing requirements. plans developed and implemented by utilities; RWS/UWS: 7 Due to rounding, component figures may not sum to nationally consolidated reporting of output; RSH/USH: totals. monitoring of quantity and quality of uptake relative to 8 International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook promotion and subsidy efforts; All subsectors: questions Database October 2010, accessed November 10, 2010 and choice options in household surveys consistent with 9 Government of Sierra Leone. 2008. An Agenda for Change. MDG definitions. Second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP II), 2008- 20 The sector review should involve all sector-related actors— 2012. p.88. including ministries of health, internal affairs, finance and 10 The CSO2 scorecard methodology and conceptual education), local councils, service providers, donors, NGOs framework are discussed in detail in the synthesis report. and civil society, the private sector, academia and training 11 WATSAN Policy–Final Doc, August 2008 page 3o. It notes institutions, consumers, and traditional authorities, among the following: “It is observed that the transfer of urban others. It should also involve water-using sectors such as water supply responsibilities from SALWACO and WSD to energy and agriculture so as to give a broader perspective the Ministry of Local Government (District Councils) needs of water security and its nexus with socioeconomic growth. re-examination with a view to allow sufficient time for The CSO2 consultation workshop had representation from capacity building in the districts, that will make it possible all the listed actors. for the districts to take over the responsibilities”. 21 Discussions with OXFAM. 12 Indicators relating to the institutional framework section 22 Investment requirements for urban water supply are are: All subsectors: targets in national development plans/ amplified by a high-cost technology mix, with exceptionally PRSP; subsector policy agreed and approved (gazetted as high per capita costs for standpipes (US$750) as well as part of national policy or as standalone policy); RWS/UWS: household connections (US$1,000). institutional roles defined; RSH/USH: institutional lead 23 The NWSP defines this as “the provision and maintenance appointed. of systems or facilities of disposing of human excreta, 13 Indicated during discussions with the Head of the waste water and household refuse, which is acceptable and department. affordable to the SL communities…. Facilities must meet 14 MoEWR. 2008. National Water and Sanitation Policy, page construction set standards, should be hygienic and easily 47. accessible, with no adverse elements on the environment”. 15 Indicators relating to the section on financing and its MoEWR. 2008. National Water and Sanitation Policy, p. implementation are: All subsectors: programmatic Sector- 48. Wide Approach; investment program based on MDG needs 24 Sierra Leone 2008 Demographic and Health Survey, page assessment; sufficient finance to meet MDG (subsidy policy 26. for sanitation); percent of official donor commitments 25 UNICEF. 2009. CLTS in Sierra Leone: The Progress So Far, utilized; percent of domestic commitments utilized. January–December 2009, p.7. 28 For enquiries, contact: Water and Sanitation Program–Africa Region The World Bank, Upper Hill Road P.O. Box 30577, 00100, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: +(254) 20 322 6300 E-mail: wspaf@worldbank.org Web site: www.wsp.org