Local funding to improve urban sanitation in Africa and Asia

Fiscal decentralisation plays an important role in improving people's access to sanitation. These reports examine the status of fiscal decentralisation in relation to urban sanitation services in five countries across Africa and Asia, and provide recommendations to strengthen service delivery.

Sanitation services can be improved when local governments have greater control over resources and financing. This requires effective fiscal decentralisation — transferring budgets and spending from central to local government —  so they have the resources to deliver at the local level.

Following our Think local, act local report (PDF), this research explores the funding and delivery of local sanitation services in five urban areas: Ablekuma, Accra in Ghana; Commune VI, Bamako in Mali; Boane, Greater Maputo in Mozambique; Lahan in Nepal; and Nansana in Uganda. 

Supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, it uses the Citywide Inclusive Sanitation Framework that proposes that three core institutional functions are key to delivering inclusive sanitation services: responsibility, accountability, and resource planning and management.

The findings show that these municipalities face similar challenges that hold back progress on achieving universal, safe and sustainable sanitation services, including low funding transfers from central governments, delays in the release of funds, and weak local capacity for local resource mobilisation. 

The reports also provide recommendations for key stakeholders, including national and local governments, to address critical financing bottlenecks, unlock progress, and secure the achievement of national sanitation policies and Sustainable Development Goal 6 targets.

Top image: Community toilet in Dinabhadri, Ward 2, Lahan, Nepal as part of Anglian Water’s Beacon Project.