Title of Event:

Name of Organisation:

Date and time of the session:

Addressing Conflict in Water and Sanitation Services for Urban Poor

CIDA / SIDA

Tuesday 20 th of June 2006, 13.30 - 15.30

Key Highlights

1. Estimated no of participants: Around 80 persons in the room (78 names on the participant list) overflow of at least 40 persons
2. Stakeholder group representation at the event: Many parties represented: Governments, CSOs, NGOs, Private sector, IGOs, Academics, etc.
3. What were the expected objectives: To examine the types of conficts that can emerge in the provision of water supply and sanitation services to the urban poor and discuss possible mitigation and coping strategies
4. What did the networking event achieve: A better understanding of potentially divisive areas in urban water and sanitation, the need for conflict resolution and mitigation mechanisms in the planning and execution of water and sanitation interventions and the types of strategies that have been employed in four countries.

2. What were the core issues identified in your event as they relate to the theme and sub-themes of WUFIII? Many of WUFIII's core issues were touched upon: Municipal government and its role in water provision, financing and planning of water interventions; pro-poor planning and the inclusion of the poorest in water provision schemes; involvement of civil society and other stakeholders in the planning and execution of water and sanitation projects; environmental degradation, land and tenure issues in relation to water and slum upgrading etc.

3. What were the main points raised by panellists and participants in relation to these different issues? What new ideas have been generated as a result of the discussion? The panellists presented four different cases, two from Southern Africa, one from India and one from Vietnam. Notwithstanding the geographical spread, some common issues were identified: the importance of collecting sufficient information before initiating projects to avoid social conflicts at a later stage; the importance of identifying all stakeholders together with their areas of common and competing interest and involving them in the planning and execution of the intervention; the value of being proactive in addressing the needs and interests of the poor for water supply and sanitation, given that this segment of the population is usually not formally recognised by municipalities and rarely has formal representation

4. What process steps have been identified in your event that could help turn ideas into operational reality? The methods discussed by the panellists were multi-stakeholder dialogues in different forms, stakeholder consultations, the advantages of bottom-up versus top-down planning etc. Consensus appeared to prevail between panellists and audience that some appropriate tools exist but require implementation and strengthening in order to assure that the poorest strata of the population benefit from water and sanitation projects - not always the case today.