Strategic objective 1

WaterAid Nigeria will directly facilitate and leverage access to sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene promotion services for 3% and 2% (respectively) of National MDG water supply and sanitation targets for poor people in 30 Local Government Areas by 2011

WaterAid Nigeria will work with local authorities and NGOs to improve access to water and sanitation across six States. In line with the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) WaterAid Nigeria will target the poorest communities and groups for implementation of demonstrative projects.

We aim to maximise community involvement and management of programmes. These will incorporate capacity building, community-led decision making, operations, maintenance, monitoring and evaluation to ensure maximum impact, ownership and sustainability of safe water supply, improved sanitation and behavioural change. Five Specific Objectives have been identified here:

Specific Objective 1.1: WaterAid's work will achieve a direct water and sanitation beneficiary count of 84,000 annually by 2011 and will, within the same period, have levered a beneficiary count of 100,000 for water and sanitation in 30 Local Government Areas in six states. Currently WaterAid Nigeria has a presence in the six states and will consolidate its work in these states (Bauchi, Benue, Ekiti, Enugu, Jigawa and Plateau) during the strategic period. The 84,000 water and 84,000 sanitation beneficiaries per year implies that WaterAid Nigeria will contribute 3% of the national annual coverage required in water and 2% in sanitation to achieve the Millennium Development Goals across the country. The MDGs sanitation target will be met through effective hygiene promotion that reduces risky behaviour.

Specific Objective 1.2: WaterAid Nigeria will ensure that 30% of its project work will be in urban environments by 2011. Urban refers to small towns, peri-urban and urban sub-sectors. One of the key sector obstacles is the inadequate attention paid to water demand in the small towns and peri-urban areas.

Specific Objective 1.3: WaterAid Nigeria will strengthen local governments' ability to provide equitable and pro-poor water and sanitation services on a larger scale through the Local Millennium Development Goals Initiative (LMDG-I). According to the Federal Government's decentralisation policy, local governments are the primary institution responsible for ensuring water and sanitation services are delivered to all. This objective aims to prepare local government authorities, local communities and their partners by providing appropriate capacity building, policies and opportunities to fulfil their roles in the local development process and to influence the wider institutional framework and agenda. This represents a key programme shift for WaterAid Nigeria.

Specific Objective 1.4: WaterAid Nigeria will ensure that all future water and sanitation projects address the threat of water depletion and contamination through appropriate integrated water resource management. We will promote the sustainability of water resources and equitable access to them, to ensure that poor people are not denied access as a result of competition from other demands.

Specific Objective 1.5: WaterAid Nigeria will seek to maximise the impact that its projects have on communities as a whole, especially the most vulnerable. As such WaterAid Nigeria will further develop its ability to identify and work with those people who are excluded from water and sanitation services on the basis of economic or social factors, such as gender, disability or HIV/AIDS.