Meeting report "Water is affordable : taking into account the poorest and systems sustainability", Delft, 19 June 2003

Current strategies for cost recovery address only part of the issue of sustainability (for instance focusing solely on operation and maintenance costs) and result in degradation of systems and failure to deliver reliable water supply and sanitation services.

While there is some agreement within the sector that consumers have to pay for water, methods and tools for ensuring access to improved services by the poor remain highly debatable and many knowledge gaps remain to be properly addressed. Tackling these problems and translating validated principles and procedures into guidelines and capacity development tools needs an urgent and concerted effort.

In an effort to address the gaps in knowledge resources and understanding about the role of financing and cost recovery in service and systems sustainability IRC has initiated a process of setting up a Thematic Group on Financing and Cost Recovery for rural and peri-urban water and waste water services. The aim of creating this platform for individuals (and the organisations they represent) with a shared interest in the topic of financing and cost recovery for poverty reduction, is to increase the effectiveness and influence of the partners involved in changing current strategies.

For this purpose, a one-day meeting entitled "Water is Affordable: Taking into Account the Poorest and Systems Sustainability" was held of the 19th June in Delft, the Netherlands with 11 experts in attendance.

The outcomes of the meeting included:
" the mapping out the specific interests and ongoing initiatives that participants are involved in on the theme of financing and cost recovery in water and sanitation services delivery;
" the development of an initial plan of action, with fixed time frames and commitments by partners to undertake specific activities over the come six months; and
" ideas for follow-up activities for further discussion and elaboration.

Some points remain open for discussion such as the position of the group in the broader spectrum of activities on this theme and the impact the group wants to achieve through its collaborative efforts on developing knowledge resources