publications and resources | key topics | relevant links

Nearly three-quarters of the world's poor live in rural areas, and a large part of this population does not have access to clean water and safe sanitation facilities. The World Bank has become an important investor in rural and small town water supply and sanitation and currently funds 21 stand-alone projects with loan amounts totaling $807 million, with another 15 projects in the pipeline. Provisions also appear in many multi-sectoral projects, including rural development, water sector reform and social fund projects.

The World Bank is also the implementing agency of the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), a partnership of donors, governments, and NGOs, which focuses on water and sanitation in poor rural and peri-urban areas. In addition to project lending, the World Bank and WSP provide technical assistance to governments to help improve policies, develop strategies, pilot-test new approaches, and build capacity.

Until recently, projects often failed because they used top-down approaches in which community members had little or no say in deciding what services were to be implemented and how. The World Bank now promotes the demand responsive approach (DRA) as part of an effort to achieve effective and sustained community-managed services. Experience with successful projects suggests a set of basic principles to guide the design of rural water and sanitation interventions.

Publications and Resources

Key Characteristics of demand responsive approach (DRA)

Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Toolkit for Multi-Sector Projects
The toolkit introduces Multi-Sector Task Managers and consultants to basic concepts and emerging best practices in the field of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation.

Community Water Supply & Sanitation Conference, Water and Sanitation Program, Washington, DC. May 1998. This international conference focused on demand-based approaches to rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) provision and the implications for management and sustainability of services.

Managing Water as an Economic Good: The Transition from Supply-Oriented to Demand Responsive Services 
Mike Garn. The World Bank, 1998.

The Link Between Demand-Responsiveness and Sustainability: Evidence from a Global Study
Travis Katz. The World Bank, 1998.

Giving Communities Choice Is Not Enough!
Jennifer Sara. The World Bank, 1998.

Other online publications (listed by organization)

Key Topics

To learn more about the World Bank's activities in rural water and sanitation development, please select one of the following key topics:

Rural Water and Sanitation Basic Principles
Community Contracting
Social Intermediation and Gender
Economics of RWS
Hygiene and Sanitation Promotion in RWS
Monitoring and Evaluation in Rural Projects
Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in Handwashing
Small Towns
Supply Chains
Technology Links

Relevant Links

One World Water Think Tank

Water and Sanitation Program: Rural and Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation

Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project:
Providing Loans for Water, Wastewater, & Housing Projects in the Rural Southeast