Pacific Region

1. Why did you choose to work in Laos (and why might we choose to work in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu)?

2. What are your plans in Laos (and potentially in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu)?

3. What is the current water and sanitation situation in Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu?

4. What are the key challenges that WaterAid faces in Laos (and potentially in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu)?

5. What impact do you think WaterAid can have in Laos (and potentially in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu)?

1. Why did you choose to work in Laos (and why might we choose to work in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu)?

Laos was selected as a new WaterAid country programmes following careful assessment of the UNDP Human Development Index. This and the other countries listed above are all located near the bottom of the index with water supply and sanitation coverage estimates being amongst the worst in the East Asia and Pacific regions.

As well as a needs-based selection criteria, Laos was also assessed in terms of programme effectiveness: the capacity to carry out and monitor programme work efficiently, the potential for in-country partners that WaterAid could work alongside, the availability of water resources that could be tapped by cost effective, appropriate technologies, the current activities and plans of the government and other external support agencies, and security both on a personal and political level within the country.

2. What are your plans in Laos (and potentially in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu)?

The plan will be to work constructively with policy makers at local and national level to help deliver effective water, sanitation and hygiene programmes that will have lasting benefits to poor communities.

How we achieve these goals will vary depending on context and specific country requirements. For example, the water supply estimates in some Pacific countries are not particularly low, but sanitation coverage is poor. So the emphasis would be on sanitation and hygiene – working with government, local organisations and other NGOs to develop community engagement and strategies to deal with the specific issues.

Detailed plans for each country will be developed in time.

3. What is the current water and sanitation situation in Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu?

The new country programmes vary in terms of water supply and sanitation coverage – but in all a significant proportion of the population lacks access to safe water or sanitation. In all countries the sanitation coverage is lower than that for water, as can be seen from the following list (from the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme) which gives some indication of the current situation in each country:

	Water supply	Sanitation coverage
Cambodia	41%	17%
Indonesia	77%	55%
Laos	60%	48%
Solomon Islands	70%	31%
Vanuatu	60%	50%

 

 

 

 

 

Laos and Cambodia have some of the lowest water supply and sanitation coverage in East Asia. Indonesia’s water supply is higher but sanitation coverage is poor. The Solomon Islands has the lowest sanitation coverage in the Pacific region.

4. What are the key challenges that we face in Laos (and potentially in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu)?

Each country will create a different set of challenges for WaterAid to overcome. Those challenges will include:

• Lack of capacity within governments, local organisations and other agencies to deliver water, sanitation and hygiene services
• Overcoming complex and sensitive political factors
• Political and social instability
• Issues surrounding unplanned urban settlements – high density problems for sanitation, failure of supply companies to recognise the urban poor as customers and lack of cohesive communities
• In the global economic downturn we must first honour our commitments to existing country programmes, so there may be a slower release of funding to set up the new programmes

5. What impact do you think WaterAid can have in Laos (and potentially in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu)?

WaterAid can impact on each country by facilitating the introduction of low cost, appropriate and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services that reach even the most excluded people and communities. This can be achieved by working with local civil organisations, government bodies and other external agencies to build capacity, adopt relevant new processes and strategies, and develop community engagement.

By partnering with other NGOs and organisations in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector, WaterAid hopes to harness combined skills to deliver effective development projects and help local community organisations with advocating change and influencing policy.

WaterAid also aims to engage governments at the highest level and work closely alongside them to bring water, sanitation and hygiene issues to the forefront of their development plans.