A project supported by the Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) is piloting a project to provide safe drinking water to 12,500 poor households in 25 villages in three coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh: Guntur, Krishna, and West Godavari. Each village will have a water treatment plant connected to a distribution point from which users will purchase water in jerry cans.

Four Community Safe Water Schemes (CSWSs) have already been constructed and verified under the scheme, a public-private partnership between local NGO the Naandi Foundation, water purification technology provider WaterHealth International (WHI), and the village councils. The GPOBA subsidy has made it easier for Naandi to borrow funds from commercial banks. The output-based approach promotes participatory community involvement and builds management and delivery capacity in the villages. The grassroots fee-for-service model coupled with community ownership will contribute to the sustainability of the water supply schemes.

GPOBA, Naandi and WHI anticipate that the lessons learned and methodology developed can readily be applied to other villages in Andhra Pradesh and ultimately other parts of India. They also believe that scaling up is possible, as the pilots motivate adjoining villages to engage in similar projects. Lessons from this project may also assist in the design of national programmes.

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• Microfinance: improving access to water supply and sanitation in urban India, Source South Asia, 08 Dec 2008;
• Decentralisation: local governments and user groups plan and implement water supply schemes in India, Source South Asia, 25 Sep 2008

Web sites: GPOBA (includes slideshow); Naandi; WaterHealth International

Source: Mandri-Perrott, C. (2008). Output-based aid in India: community water project in Andhra Pradesh. (OBApproaches note ; no. 21). Washington, DC, USA, Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA), World Bank. 4 p. Download here

Tags: financing, participatory management, rural wash, scaling up, south asia, water treatment