Europe must act faster to give toilets to the world's poor

Ahead of 'World Toilet Day' on 19th November, London's Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford has pressed the European Commission to reinforce its commitment to improved access to sanitation for people in developing countries, in order to meet crucial Millennium Development Goal targets.

Europe's Development Commissioner Louis Michel admitted in response to Baroness Ludford's question that the effects of the EU Water Initiative 'have been slow in coming'. She commented:

"Toilets are no laughing matter. Lacking a private toilet facility does not just mean a lack of dignity, though that is bad enough. Given that just one gram of faeces can contain 10 million viruses and one million bacteria, people living without access to basic sanitation have a far increased risk of contracting diarrhoea and hygiene-related diseases, which are often fatal to children."

"While the large EU contribution of ?1 billion a year is vital, the work must be speeded up to reduce the total of 2.6 billion people - half the world's poor - without good hygiene from safe toilets and a clean supply of water. EU taxpayers would surely see it as their money being well spent."

The United Nations Development Programme 2006 Human Development Report published last week says that, despite sanitation having been a development goal since the 1970s, 'progress has been glacial'.

Although coverage rates are improving, 'without a rapid increase in the scale and effectiveness of sanitation programmes, the Millennium Development Goal target for 2015 [of halving by 2015 the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation] will be missed by a wide margin.' On current trends Sub-Saharan Africa will only reach the sanitation target in 2076 - 61 years late - and globally the sanitation target will be missed by 430 million people.

That report also highlights how sanitation is linked to broader development issues: 'Without basic sanitation the benefits of access to clean water are diminished - and the health, gender and other inequalities associated with the sanitation deficit systematically undermine progress in education, poverty reduction and wealth creation.'

Baroness Ludford concluded:

"In light of these shocking figures, the EU must show much greater determination to deliver on meeting the Millennium Development Goal target. It would be unforgivable if slow procedures and bureaucracy undermined the objective of building more taps and toilets. "

Notes

According to the UNDP Human Development Report 2006, Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis: 'The biggest barrier in sanitation is the unwillingness of national and international political leaders to put excreta and its safe disposal on the international development agenda.' This report is available at http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/report.cfm

Full text of Sarah Ludford's question to Commissioner Michel:

'19 November 2006 marks 'World Toilet Day'. In 2004 two-fifths of the world's population (2.6 billion people) were forced to defecate in the open or in unsanitary places. To meet the Millennium Development Goal target of halving by 2015 the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation, over 1.6 billion more people need to get such facilities by 2015.

How much of its development aid budget has the Commission channelled to improving access to sanitation in developing countries since 2000 and what, if any, increases in this allocation does it envisage up to 2015?

What concrete benefits have so far been delivered by the Africa-EU Partnership on water affairs and sanitation launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002?'

The response from the Commission was as follows:

Around 2.2 million people, mostly children, die each year in the developing world from diseases associated with a lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. This is one of the main causes of sickness and death in developing countries.

Not only is the EU the biggest provider of development aid among donor countries, but it is also the biggest provider of development aid for water and sanitation, with an annual budget of around ? 1.4 billion.

Between 2002 and 2005 the Commission committed ? 1 283 million to water and sanitation for developing countries. The figures for 2006 are not yet known and those for the period prior to 2002 are not comparable. The Commission estimates that approximately 25% of these sums are intended for sanitation.

The Commission prepares and carries out its water and sanitation activities in the context of strategy papers and national and regional indicative programmes. These documents are drawn up in consultation with the partner countries and reflect the national priorities and requirements of the aid beneficiaries. New country strategy papers are being drawn up in partnership with the beneficiary countries, which will cover financing from the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) (2008-2013) and the EU budget (2007-2012). Details of new commitments are not yet available.

The second part of the question relates to the Africa-EU Strategic Partnership on Water and Sanitation, signed by African and European heads of state at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and implemented via the African component of the European Water Initiative.

The EU's Water Initiative is not a financial instrument for providing aid. It is a concerted effort on the part of the Commission, Member States, partner countries and other relevant parties, including civil society organisations and local governments, to work together to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The effects of the initiative have been slow in coming, but a number of significant achievements have nevertheless been made:

- the initiative has established dialogues between the partner country governments, the relevant parties and the EU with a view to helping partner countries develop and implement policies, strategies and priorities for water and sanitation which donors can support; there has been slow progress and some success in developing these dialogues. By stressing the broad participation of civil society they have provided an opportunity for African civil organisations to be heard;

- the initiative has developed activities for coordinating donors in order to help improve aid effectiveness (notably in Ethiopia);

- the initiative has launched five regional cross-border water management projects in Africa;

- the ACP-EU Water Facility, set up in 2004 with total funding of ? 500 million from the 9th EDF, is a direct result of the political impetus generated by the European Water Initiative and a reflection of the importance which the EU attaches to water and sanitation;

- the European Water Initiative has helped to strengthen the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW) and facilitate participation by AMCOW in the political debate on water at regional and international level;

- the contribution from the Commission's 6th Research Framework Programme to the objectives of the European initiative has led to the creation of more than 50 new research projects, for which the Commission's combined contribution is approximately ? 28 million. A good example is the SWITCH project (Sustainable Water management Improves Tomorrow's Cities' Health), which will receive over ? 14 million (? 14 749 997) from the Commission spread over five years. This project tackles sanitation problems in various parts of the world based on specific case studies carried out in a number of cities in the developing world, including Bogota, Cali, Lima, Belo Horizonte, Accra, Alexandria and Beijing.