Publication: Knowledge Brief: When, Why, and How Water and Sanitation Utilities Can Benefit from Working Together
Date
2017-08
ISSN
Published
2017-08
Author(s)
World Bank Group
Abstract
The World Bank Water Global Practice,
under the WSS GSG Utility Turnaround thematic area, has
implemented the Global Study on WSS Utility Aggregation to
provide evidence-based guidance to policy makers and
practitioners regarding when, why, and how water and
sanitation utilities can work together, or aggregate, to
successfully deliver specific policy outcomes, such as
better services or lower costs. Aggregation has been
regarded as an opportunity to improve cost efficiency and
performance of service delivery through economies-of-scale
and cost-sharing, as well as enhanced human capacity.
However, the study shows that successful aggregation—where
the aggregated service provider performs significantly
better than the previously disaggregated entities regarding
the intended purpose, without unreasonable deterioration of
other performance dimensions—is not always guaranteed. This
work presents and reviews global evidence, analyzes specific
aggregation case studies, and identifies the key
characteristics that successful aggregations have in common,
depending on their purpose and the context in which they
occur. This knowledge brief summarizes the study outcomes,
which are detailed further in the main report, Joining
Forces for Better Services? When, Why, and How Water and
Sanitation Utilities Can Benefit from Working Together. The
accompanying toolkit (accessible at
www.worldbank.org/water/aggregationtoolkit), offers a
broader set of resources to inform aggregation processes.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank Group. 2017. Knowledge Brief: When, Why, and How Water and Sanitation Utilities Can Benefit from Working Together. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27945 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”