Listening to those working with communities in Africa, Asia,and Latin America to achieve the UN goals for water and sanitation

This publication compiles the views and opinions of a large number of people who have been very closely involved in and affected by water and sanitation problems.

The overall conclusion of this compilation is that the traditional top-down methods for providing water and sanitation in poor communities of the developing world have not been successful in reaching out to all. Furthermore there is concern that the UN the water and sanitation Millennium Development Goals are unlikely to be achieved if just more of the same flawed methods are to be applied. At the core of that failure has been the attempt to "deliver" solutions from the outside to communities who have had no involvement in, or ownership of, the process.

There is agreement among most of the contributors to the report, that a radically new approach is needed. Such an approach must focus on:

• ensuring a meaningful demand creation, which will bring about the necessary psychological shift in attitudes to sanitation among the communities
• radical re-invigoration of what is meant by community participation, leading to the community organising itself to make decisions and take action
• creating real as opposed to token recognition that women will most likely be the basis of the solution
• progress towards water and sanitation goals must be measured not by counting the number of taps and latrines and dividing them into the total population served, but by recording changes in use, behaviour, and above all improvements in health.

Contributors include: Sheela Patel, Founder Member and Director of SPARC, India; Dipak Gyawali, former Minister of Water Resources, Nepal; Nelly Guapacha, community activist, El Hormiguero, Colombia; Queen Mokhabela, community activist and local government leader, South Africa; Ravi Narayanan, Chief Executive of WaterAid; and David Satterthwaite, of the International Institute for Environment and Development.