Financing the water sector: macro issues

Talking about financing the water sector at a macro level may appear as a misnomer. As the water sector is eminently operated at the local level, most financing also tends to be local. Understanding where financing for the sector is coming from, whether it is sufficient to meet investment needs and where additional financing may come from is absolutely critical, however, as lack of finance often results in low coverage, deteriorating standards and plain water scarcity. 

Conveying such difficult messages to policy-makers is essential so that they can start shifting priorities and understand that sustainable water and sanitation services are the lynchpin of any economy. To do so, they require solid evidence, facts and figures. For a number of clients, including the OECD and UN-Water GLAAS, we are working on producing the evidence and gathering the facts in a way that is attractive to policy-makers.