Publication:
Output-Based Aid in Cambodia : Private Operators and Local Communities Help Deliver Water to the Poor

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (540.04 KB)
241 downloads
English Text (23.12 KB)
34 downloads
Date
2004-11
ISSN
Published
2004-11
Editor(s)
Abstract
After decades of war and social disruption in Cambodia, publicly run water, and sanitation services are scarce, and limited mainly to urban areas. While private providers offer relatively good service, their high one-time connection charges put that service out of reach for all, but the more affluent. The Government of Cambodia is piloting an output-based approach in four towns, where the private operator will be paid on the basis of performance - in large part, only after it has made a connection to a customer. Where connections are made to poor households deemed unable to pay, the operator will receive an International Development Association - IDA-funded subsidy.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Mumssen, Yogita. 2004. Output-Based Aid in Cambodia : Private Operators and Local Communities Help Deliver Water to the Poor. OBApproaches; Note No. 1. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11049 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Better Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor : Good Practice from Sub-Saharan Africa
    (Kenya: European Communities and Water Utility Partnership, 2003-07) Water Utility Partnership for Capacity Building (WUP) Africa
    The document is structured in three parts covering the key thematic areas of water supply service delivery, sanitation service delivery, and overall policy. Each part describes a series of different actions that can be taken to improve service delivery to low-income communities, outlines key lessons and challenges and identifies the principles of good practice. This project is aimed at developing a better understanding of the conditions necessary for water and sanitation services to reach low-income communities. It sought to build on the knowledge and experience of the various actors currently involved in delivering or supporting these services. One of the main observations of the authors is that there is never just one solution to any particular problem. Within each country context, the key to a successful strategy lies in the capacity of practitioners working in the water and sanitation sector to innovate and to adapt solutions to address local constraints and opportunities. This document aims to: (i) describe the challenges facing service delivery to low-income urban communities; (ii) outline key principles that guide water and sanitation sector practitioners in the delivery of services to the urban poor; and (iii) provide tangible examples from a range of sub-saharan African countries to illustrate these principles and challenges.
  • Publication
    Indonesia : Enabling Water Utilities to Serve the Urban Poor
    (Washington, DC, 2006-01) World Bank
    The scope of this paper is limited to how donors and governments can stimulate owners to realize the potential of water utilities in serving the urban poor. As survey data indicates that reliable water utility service is a key aspect of serving the poor, this paper focuses on how Indonesian water utilities (PDAMs) can increase access to the poor. It also touches on tariff reform because the reluctance of PDAMs to connect the poor at an artificially low tariff creates a hindrance to overall reform. However, this discussion does not offer a comprehensive analysis or solutions to PDAM or tariff reforms, topics that have already been covered by several excellent studies. This study draws heavily on recent Indonesian survey data, while offering insights and first-hand accounts from those who have successfully managed water utilities in serving Indonesia's poor. Several water utility Diruts (Direktur Utama or a utility's Managing Director) have been able to serve the people by turning around weak utilities and guiding them to profitability. Their solutions on PDAM management appear in the annexes and apply mainly to PDAM reform, which is needed for sustainable service to the poor. This paper is more concerned with what can be done in the short term to move toward a system based on more reformed utilities that are led by motivated owners serving the poor. In general, while rural settlements are built up and maintained around water sources such as shallow wells, the quick spread of urban pollution due to crowding quickly eliminates clean water sources in those areas. Therefore, it is generally cheaper to find water in settled rural areas than in cities. Furthermore, the significant difference in Indonesia between the sometimes artificially low price of piped water and the high price people are willing to pay for it often results in serious social inequalities, including economic rents, illegal connections, water strongmen, water smuggling from social tariff to commercial tariff areas, and water theft.
  • Publication
    Do Pro-Poor Policies Increase Water Coverage? An Analysis of Service Delivery in Kampala's Informal Settlements
    (Washington, DC, 2014) World Bank
    Uganda is one of the poorest countries in Africa with a gross national income (GNI) per capita in 2010 of United States (U.S.) $500 compared with the Sub-Saharan regional average of $1,170. Uganda's population growth of over 3 percent per year, one of the highest in the world, puts a considerable strain on public sector service delivery, not just for water and sanitation but also in other areas such as health, education, and transport. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of the pro-poor policies introduced by the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) between 2004 and 2010, by analyzing the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of these policies and strategies implemented by the Government of Uganda (GoU) and NWSC to increase coverage of urban water supply services in poor settlements. The study focuses exclusively on the area of Kampala city, the capital of Uganda, as this constitutes the largest service area of the NWSC - with approximately 60 percent of its connections and 64 percent of its revenues. The assessment of the impact of the pro-poor policies on the poor in Kampala is based on an analysis of the effectiveness, the efficiency, and the equity of these policies since 2004. The report is divided into the following six chapters: chapter one gives the introduction of the report and presents the objectives and methods used. Chapter two presents an overview of the water sector in Kampala, including the legal, institutional, and regulatory framework, a definition of poverty in Kampala and what this means for poor households. Chapter three describes the urban water sector policy and the strategy developed by the NWSC to expand services and improve financial performance. Chapter four analyzes in detail the impact of NWSC policies and water supply delivery mechanisms on services to poor households in Kampala. Chapter five contains the conclusions of the study. Chapter six contains recommendations for further analysis which can be undertaken by the NWSC, GoU, and or the World Bank.
  • Publication
    Africa's Water and Sanitation Infrastructure : Access, Affordability, and Alternatives
    (World Bank, 2011-03-09) Banerjee, Sudeshna Ghosh; Morella, Elvira; Foster, Vivien; Briceño-Garmendia, Cecilia
    The Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD) has produced continent-wide analysis of many aspects of Africa's infrastructure challenge. The main findings were synthesized in a flagship report titled Africa's Infrastructure: a time for transformation, published in November 2009. Meant for policy makers, that report necessarily focused on the high-level conclusions. It attracted widespread media coverage feeding directly into discussions at the 2009 African Union Commission Heads of State Summit on Infrastructure. Although the flagship report served a valuable role in highlighting the main findings of the project, it could not do full justice to the richness of the data collected and technical analysis undertaken. There was clearly a need to make this more detailed material available to a wider audience of infrastructure practitioners. Hence the idea of producing four technical monographs, such as this one, to provide detailed results on each of the major infrastructure sectors, information and communication technologies (ICT), power, transport, and water, as companions to the flagship report. These technical volumes are intended as reference books on each of the infrastructure sectors. They cover all aspects of the AICD project relevant to each sector, including sector performance, gaps in financing and efficiency, and estimates of the need for additional spending on investment, operations, and maintenance. Each volume also comes with a detailed data appendix, providing easy access to all the relevant infrastructure indicators at the country level, which is a resource in and of itself.
  • Publication
    Running Water in India's Cities : A Review of Five Recent Public-Private Partnership Initiatives
    (Washington, DC, 2014) World Bank
    India is home to more than 370 million people in urban areas. Historically, almost all water supply provision has been managed by the public sector through municipal or state-level departments or parastatals. Benchmarking initiatives show that coverage through piped water supply ranges between 55 percent and 89 percent in urban areas. Per capita availability is fairly high, at 90 to 120 liters per day, but no city yet offers continuous water supply. Daily supply averages four hours, with many cities alternating supply every other day. These challenges occur in a context of weak management systems and little data on existing assets, which makes it difficult to assess investment needs and time lines to improve service levels and operational efficiencies. While investment requirements are likely to be significant, it is recognized that investments alone will not be effective unless the country simultaneously addresses related issues such as complex and fragmented institutions with little accountability; lack of capacity to run utilities efficiently and meet performance standards; weak commercial orientation; interference in utility operations by external entities; and the absence of a regulatory framework focused on customer service and financial sustainability. In response to social issues, all contracts have proactively provided for service delivery options to consumers as well as tariff concessions (bulk supply to poor neighborhoods, fortnightly payment options, special tariff for group connections, and so forth). It will also be useful to explicitly state the subsidy that the city will bear for connecting poor consumers to the network. Explicit arrangements in the contract will allay apprehensions of urban poor as well as encourage the operator to connect the poor.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    World Development Report 2023: Migrants, Refugees, and Societies
    (Washington, DC : World Bank, 2023-04-25) World Bank
    Migration is a development challenge. About 184 million people—2.3 percent of the world’s population—live outside of their country of nationality. Almost half of them are in low- and middle-income countries. But what lies ahead? As the world struggles to cope with global economic imbalances, diverging demographic trends, and climate change, migration will become a necessity in the decades to come for countries at all levels of income. If managed well, migration can be a force for prosperity and can help achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. World Development Report 2023 proposes an innovative approach to maximize the development impacts of cross-border movements on both destination and origin countries and on migrants and refugees themselves. The framework it offers, drawn from labor economics and international law, rests on a “Match and Motive Matrix” that focuses on two factors: how closely migrants’ skills and attributes match the needs of destination countries and what motives underlie their movements. This approach enables policy makers to distinguish between different types of movements and to design migration policies for each. International cooperation will be critical to the effective management of migration.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-08-01) World Bank
    Middle-income countries are in a race against time. Many of them have done well since the 1990s to escape low-income levels and eradicate extreme poverty, leading to the perception that the last three decades have been great for development. But the ambition of the more than 100 economies with incomes per capita between US$1,100 and US$14,000 is to reach high-income status within the next generation. When assessed against this goal, their record is discouraging. Since the 1970s, income per capita in the median middle-income country has stagnated at less than a tenth of the US level. With aging populations, growing protectionism, and escalating pressures to speed up the energy transition, today’s middle-income economies face ever more daunting odds. To become advanced economies despite the growing headwinds, they will have to make miracles. Drawing on the development experience and advances in economic analysis since the 1950s, World Development Report 2024 identifies pathways for developing economies to avoid the “middle-income trap.” It points to the need for not one but two transitions for those at the middle-income level: the first from investment to infusion and the second from infusion to innovation. Governments in lower-middle-income countries must drop the habit of repeating the same investment-driven strategies and work instead to infuse modern technologies and successful business processes from around the world into their economies. This requires reshaping large swaths of those economies into globally competitive suppliers of goods and services. Upper-middle-income countries that have mastered infusion can accelerate the shift to innovation—not just borrowing ideas from the global frontiers of technology but also beginning to push the frontiers outward. This requires restructuring enterprise, work, and energy use once again, with an even greater emphasis on economic freedom, social mobility, and political contestability. Neither transition is automatic. The handful of economies that made speedy transitions from middle- to high-income status have encouraged enterprise by disciplining powerful incumbents, developed talent by rewarding merit, and capitalized on crises to alter policies and institutions that no longer suit the purposes they were once designed to serve. Today’s middle-income countries will have to do the same.
  • Publication
    Unlocking the Power of Healthy Longevity
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-09-12) World Bank
    Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are among the major health and development challenges of our time. Every year, about 41 million people die due to NCDs. This makes up about 74 percent of all deaths globally, the majority of which are in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Countless more people live with NCDs every day. Yet, NCDs are largely treatable and preventable. The risk of developing NCDs and deaths from them can both be lowered with appropriate attention to prevention and treatment. However, weak health systems and limited access to affordable care and information, especially in LMICs, contribute to lapses in seeking and receiving appropriate and timely care. This compendium is a compilation of 18 chapters, each exploring a different but related topic in the nexus of NCDs, human capital, and productivity. It is based on a series of analytical work taken up by the World Bank to support the Healthy Longevity Initiative (HLI) - a collaborative effort between the World Bank, the University of Toronto, and key academic and development partners including the Harvard University and the University of Washington. The HLI presents one of a growing set of efforts to increase the urgency of policy response to NCDs across the world.
  • Publication
    Making Procurement Work Better – An Evaluation of the World Bank’s Procurement System
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-06) World Bank
    This evaluation assesses the results, successes, and challenges of the World Bank 2016 procurement reform. Procurements acquire the works, goods, and services necessary to achieve the World Bank’s project development outcomes. The World Bank’s procurement processes must ensure that clients get the best value for every development dollar. In 2016, the World Bank reformed its procurement system for Investment Project Financing and launched a new procurement framework aimed at enhancing the Bank’s development effectiveness through better procurement. The reform sought to reduce procurement bottlenecks impeding project performance and modernize procurement systems. It emphasized cutting edge international good practice principles and was intended to be accompanied by procurement capacity strengthening to help client countries. This evaluation offers three recommendations to scale up reform implementation and enhance portfolio and project performance: (i) Improve change management support for the reform’s implementation. (ii) Strategically strengthen country-level procurement capacity. (iii) Consistently manage the full spectrum of procurement risks to maximize project success.
  • Publication
    Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, Fall 2024: Better Education for Stronger Growth
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-17) Izvorski, Ivailo; Kasyanenko, Sergiy; Lokshin, Michael M.; Torre, Iván
    Economic growth in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is likely to moderate from 3.5 percent in 2023 to 3.3 percent this year. This is significantly weaker than the 4.1 percent average growth in 2000-19. Growth this year is driven by expansionary fiscal policies and strong private consumption. External demand is less favorable because of weak economic expansion in major trading partners, like the European Union. Growth is likely to slow further in 2025, mostly because of the easing of expansion in the Russian Federation and Turkiye. This Europe and Central Asia Economic Update calls for a major overhaul of education systems across the region, particularly higher education, to unleash the talent needed to reinvigorate growth and boost convergence with high-income countries. Universities in the region suffer from poor management, outdated curricula, and inadequate funding and infrastructure. A mismatch between graduates' skills and the skills employers are seeking leads to wasted potential and contributes to the region's brain drain. Reversing the decline in the quality of education will require prioritizing improvements in teacher training, updated curricula, and investment in educational infrastructure. In higher education, reforms are needed to consolidate university systems, integrate them with research centers, and provide reskilling opportunities for adult workers.