Uganda: Rural water supply: major strides in sector coordination and performance

The policy and institutional framework has advanced over the past two decades in Uganda. The policy and legal reform process started with the introduction of the Water Act (1995) and the Uganda Water Action Plan (1995). Other key policies included the National Water Policy (1999) and the Local Government Act (1997, 2000). These policies integrated key principles and service delivery modalities which shaped rural service delivery for the coming years that included: decentralization of implementation; demand-driven approaches; a strengthened focus on ‘software’ investments in water resources management, behavior change and community management of services; and integrated water resource management.

Furthermore, reform studies for Water Supply and Sanitation were carried out from 1997 leading to the development of Strategic Sector Investment Plans (SSIPs). The SSIPs were designed to generate appropriate policies, strategies, and action areas with associated costs for the sector. Also, a reform study of the rural sub-sector was undertaken after 1999 which formed the basis for investment plans and other reform processes, such as the shift from projects to a Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp).

A combination of factors, exogenous and endogenous to the sector, has helped drive progress. These include:
• a strengthened sector policy and institutional framework;
• shifting aid modalities and improved development cooperation;
• development financing and enhanced sector resource allocation;
• and national leadership and political support, particularly up to the mid-2000s.

Since 1990, Uganda has made notable progress in increasing access to improved drinking water sources in rural areas and has taken major strides in improving its national and local rural water service delivery systems.

Significant progress in rural water supply was achieved from 1990 to 2008. Considerable progress has been made in implementing the national water policy and attaining national water targets. In the rural water and sanitation sub-sectors, there has been a steady improvement in service coverage over the years. Rural access to improved water source increased from 39% in 1990 to 64% in 2008 which means 11.9 million rural people gained access to improved water sources. In 2010, access was recorded at
65%. Uganda is, as such, a relative leader in terms of improving access to rural water supply when compared with neighbouring countries in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Challenges going forward include:
• Adequate social sector spending will be needed to maintain sector progress in the long term, particularly in a context of rising unit costs and population growth. Progress was driven by increases in external and domestic development finance and by improved resource allocation to the local level for rural water service delivery. Yet progress may stall as a result of the decline in sector spending and by a shift in focus away from the poverty agenda towards the maintenance of macroeconomic stability, debt servicing and export-driven growth. The social and economic case for basic WSS investments needs to be heard if progress is to be maintained.
• A decline in political backing for the sector and a broader neo-patrimonial logic has restricted further progress and affected the implementation of reforms. Development advocates will need to fully understand these deep-seated – and often intractable – historical and contextual factors to promote WSS sector change more effectively.
• Increasing access to improved water sources needs to be balanced by an adequate focus on sustainability and equity outcomes. Progress will stall, or be reversed, if insufficient attention is given to the OM of water points and to equitable access to water points, especially for the poor and marginalised.
• Incentives linked to project-based aid persist in Uganda, despite progress in this regard. For instance, donors may benefit from the visibility associated with separately managed and ‘branded’ projects. If institutional incentives are not addressed – at all levels – reforms are much less likely to be sustained over time.