Working with service providers and other stakeholders in the district to develop and implement a long-term strategic plan for achieving sustainable WASH service provision for all, can help putting local government more strongly in the driving seat and fulfil its role as service authority.
District WASH master plans help rally stakeholders around a common vision and a road map for achieving SDG 6. It forms a starting point for district-level collective action.
District WASH master planning can play a key role in ensuring climate resilience. District WASH master planning takes into account possible future scenarios related to climate change and availability of water resources and ensures the development of a resilient plan for ensuring sustainable WASH service provision accordingly. Good water and sanitation services themselves provide resilience to communities.
Well-developed, robust, data-driven plans have been proven to attract funders and financiers required for the implementation of the plan.
District WASH master planning promotes and enables systems strengthening at district level and beyond. Strong local systems set within national frameworks must be in place. These include monitoring, regulating, asset management, financial, planning, and coordination systems. Strengthening these systems ensures that services are delivered, forever. Master planning helps strengthening local (and national) planning and financing systems. Monitoring systems are also (often) strengthened, through the data collection for the situational analysis at the beginning of the development of the master plan, and the monitoring of the implementation of the master plan. Furthermore, the master planning process helps identifying weaknesses in the local (and national) WASH system, which need to be addressed in order to ensure sustainable WASH service provision for everyone, forever.
