The views expressed in this presentation are the views of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the

views or policies of the Asian

Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Directors or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the source, originality,
accuracy, completeness or reliability of any statement, information, data, finding, interpretation, advice, opinion, or view presented, nor
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NON-STATE PROVISION
OF WASH SERVICES
IN EAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
Andy Robinson, UNICEF EAPRO Consultant
Content: WASH NSPs

WASH in the East Asia and Pacific region

Key features of NSP services

Key issues around NSP services

Challenges to improving NSP services

Success factors
Water Supply in the EAP region

Improved water supply coverage (JMP 2008 data)
Regional averages: 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Papua New Guinea 10% 30% 60%

50% Oceania Lao PDR 20% 37% 43%
86% South-eastern Asia Cambodia 16% 45% 39%
Kiribati 33% 29% 38%
89% Eastern Asia Timor-Leste 16% 53% 31%
Solomon Islands 13% 57% 31%
Myanmar 6% 65% 29%

High rural population Mongolia 19% 57% 24%

Indonesia 23% 57% 20%
China 83% 6% 11%
Philippines 48% 43% 9%
High range across region: Vietnam 22% 72% 6%
Tuvalu 97%
0%-60% unimproved WS Thailand 54% 44%
Republic of Korea 93% 5%
6%-100% piped WS Japan 98%
Malaysia 97%
Singapore 100%

Water supply Piped Water supply Other improved Water supply Unimproved
Sanitation in the EAP region

Improved sanitation coverage (JMP 2008 data)
Regional averages: 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Cambodia 29% 5%2% 64%

56% Eastern Asia Kiribati 33% 5% 13% 49%

69% South-eastern Asia Timor-Leste 50% 3%4% 43%

Lao PDR 53% 3% 6% 38%
Indonesia 52% 10% 12% 26%
Papua New Guinea 45% 39% 16%
Mongolia 50% 28% 9% 13%
Philippines
High rural population 76% 15% 8%
Vietnam 75% 4% 15% 6%
Tuvalu 84% 11% 5%
China 55% 17% 24% 4%

High range across region: Myanmar 81% 11% 7%

Solomon Islands 31% 69%
0%-64% open defecation Japan 100%
Malaysia Limited data 96%
29%-100% improved san. Republic of Korea 100%
Singapore 100%
Thailand 96%

Improved Shared Unimproved Open defecation

Equity in WASH services
Water supply Richest 89%

Lower access by poor 4th 80%

Much lower service quality 3rd 77%

(time to collect, contamination, 2nd 68%

reliability, consumption)
Poorest 56%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Sanitation Improved water supply

Richest 97%

Much lower access by poor
4th 76% 19%

Higher disease and economic
burdens from unsafe disposal 3rd 60% 32%

2nd 47% 40%

Poorest 29% 57%

Source: UNICEF (2009) Status and trends in drinking water
and sanitation in East Asia and the Pacific
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Improved Unimproved Open defecation

WASH: Non-State Providers
Water Supply NSPs

Piped network operators
(utility supply, independent source)

Point source operators
(kiosks, standposts, boreholes, handpumps, tanks, bottled water producers)

Mobile distributors
(tankers, trucks, carts, carriers)

Support services
(drillers, well diggers, pipelayers, plumbers, mechanics electricians)

Manufacturers
(pipes, pipe fittings, water meters, pumps, generators, water tanks, precast
concrete goods)
Sanitation NSPs

Builders
(latrines, sewer connections, septic tanks, soakaways, drains, toilet blocks)

Mobile waste collectors
(hand emptiers, mechanized systems, vacuum trucks, garbage trucks)

System operators
(sewer networks, treatment works, dumps, sanitary landfills, incinerators)

Support services
(marketing, hygiene promotion, community development)

Manufacturers
(latrine pans, pedestal toilets, washbasins, plastic tanks, pipes, potties, diapers,
soap, detergents, precast concrete goods)
Who are the Non-State Providers?
URBAN
Network water and sewerage operators Non-network water providers

International Formal Informal

Corporate Private Private

International Local Community

NGOs NGOs Groups

Toilet providers
Waste management
RURAL services
WS: Volume of NSP services

Small-scale water providers (World Bank, 2005)
> 10% in Cambodia & Philippines
> 30% in Vietnam
> 50% in Indonesia

Cambodia Small Towns Survey (BURGEAP, 2006)
17% paid for delivery by water vendors
3% connected to mini piped networks

Metro Manila water supply (ADB, 2004)
30% using small-scale water providers (for some or all water)
50% urban poor households using small-scale providers

Rural water supply in the Pacific (Willets et al, 2007)
NGOs & FBOs providing primary water services in many areas
(due to limited public and private capacity in remote island states)
SAN: Volume of NSP services
Higher proportion of NSP services than water supply

Septic tank coverage in urban areas (AECOM, 2010)
40% in the Philippines
63% in Indonesia
77% in Vietnam 40%-80% septic tank coverage in SE Asia

Private provision of new rural latrines (various, 2007-09)

65% in Timor-Leste (lower due to small market and large UN & NGO presence)
87% in Cambodia
88% in Lao PDR

Sanitation entrepreneurs (BPD, 2008)
10% sanitation treatment and disposal by private providers
70% sanitation transport by private providers
90% household facility provision by private providers
Key NSP issues
Lack of recognition or inclusion
NSPs often excluded from sector activities:

Little recognition of the volume of NSP services

Few alternatives to NSP services in many low-income

communities (i.e. critical services; quality affects health)

Significant capacity and resources in NSPs

High household investment in NSP services

(both non-poor and poor households)

Failure to include NSPs in sector activities affects scale, cost-

effectiveness and sustainability of interventions.
Affordability
Serving
Profiteering
the poor

Low quality +
high prices =
high profit? Flexible and
convenient services

Studies suggest that informal provider prices are often similar to public service
prices (despite subsidies) … where competition exists.
Service quality
Assumption that NSP service quality is low?

Independent network WS comparable to utility

WS satisfaction surveys (e.g. Manila) find few differences

between NSP and other services

Competition important to service quality?

Water quality issues among all providers?

(evidenced by complementary use of bottled water)

Sanitation: service quality problems

Badly designed septic tanks and latrines

Limited knowledge of key hygiene principles?

Public finance
Bulk of WASH public finance to non-poor?

Utility water and sanitation subsidies (non-poor urban)

Household latrine subsidies (non-poor rural)

Septage management finance (non-poor urban, commercial)

Ideology that expanding utility and CBO supply will (eventually)

reach the poor … but a slow process in practice?

Inadequate targeting
(reliance on processes influenced by local political economy)

Little public finance to support NSP services
Policy alignment
NGOs, FBOs, CSOs, CBOs:

Independent objectives, policies and constituencies

Limited coordination and co-implementation

(risk of undermining other provider interventions)

Little sharing of resources and capacity

Sustainability issues (linked to finance & objectives)

Private sector (formal and informal):

Prohibition ineffective (enforcement limited)

Few incentives or support mechanisms

Challenges to improved NSP services

High uncertainty and risk
(asset seizure, corruption, rent seeking, lack of protection)

Vested interests
(public providers, politicians, profiteers)

Administrative, legal and financial barriers

(tenure, paperwork, fees, registration)

Ineffective regulation
(limited capacity, resources or authority for enforcement)
Success factors (1)

Information (service mapping, evidence of costs of
inaction, identification of high-risk areas)

Pro-poor units and funds (explicit objectives, specialist
skills, performance incentives)

Asset protection and investment guarantees
(for competent providers)

Political support (high-level advocacy, evidence of
investment benefits, outcome-based incentives)

Phased approach (recognize capacity & resource
constraints; willingness to pay; scale requirements)
And ….
Success factors (2)

Appropriate finance (demand-side, performance-
based, objective targeting, and enabling environment)

Effective regulation (encourage registration and self-
regulation through incentives & social accountability)

Professional support services (business development,
capacity building, access to credit)

Partnerships (local government facilitation + NGO
skills + private sector efficiency)
In Summary

Non-State Providers = diverse + complex group

Important services (with potential for more)

Enabling environments inadequate (for NSPs)

NSPs hard to monitor and regulate

Need a more incentive and performance-based
framework (rather than regulations and penalties)
 Thank You!
Recent sanitation campaign in the Philippines:
“Check your septic tank or swallow the consequences”