RWSN Country Information

The climate crisis and global pandemic have accelerated the urgency of providing safe
drinking water services around the world. Global progress to safe drinking water is
off-track with uncertain and limited data on the extent and performance of rural water
service providers to inform policy and investment decisions. This report documents
a global diagnostic survey to evaluate the status and prospects of rural water service
providers from 68 countries. The service providers describe providing drinking water
services to a population of around 15 million people through over 3 million waterpoints.

The data provides information on the scale and sustainability of rural water services to
examine:
• The extent and type of professional water service provision in rural areas globally;
• Self-reported metrics of operational and financial performance; and,
• The size and scope of current rural service providers that could transition to resultsbased
funding.

Five major findings emerge. First, most service providers aim to repair broken
infrastructure in three days or less. Second, almost all service providers reported at least
one type of water safety activity. Third, most service providers collect payments for water
services. Fourth, about one third of service providers reported major negative shocks to
their operations from the COVID-19 pandemic. Fifth, non-governmental service providers
in low income countries less often report receiving subsidies for operations, and more
often report paying part of user fees to government, including through taxes.
Most rural water service providers are working towards provision of affordable, safe and
reliable drinking water services. Key barriers to progress include sustainable funding
and delivery of services at scale. We propose four conditions to promote scale and
sustainability based on policy alignment, public finance, professional service delivery,
and verifiable data. To illustrate these conditions, we consider the differing context and
service delivery approaches in the Central African Republic and Bangladesh. We conclude
by identifying a group of 77 service providers delivering water services for about 5 million
people in 28 countries. These 77 service providers report operational metrics consistent
with a results-based contracting approach. Technical assistance might support many
more to progress. We argue that government support and investment is needed to
rapidly progress to the scale of 100 million people to provide evidence of pathways to
universal drinking water services for billions more.

This report draws together the insights on drilling on groundwater and drilling from 181 participants that were shared on the 2018 and 2019 UNDP Cap-Net/Skat Foundation courses entitled Professional Management of Water Well Drilling Projects and Programmes. The report provides insights into groundwater dependency, self-supply, groundwater data, siting, supervision, procurement and contract management, the institutional and legal framework, and the drilling industry from over 50 countries.

Manual pumps have been used for centuries but this simple technology remains the mainstay of rural water supplies in many countries. The Handpump Technology Network (which later became RWSN) was set up in 1992 to promote collaboration and standardisation so that handpumps could provide more reliable and better quality rural water services.

This survey is aimed at practitioners in government, NGOs, private sector and development partners who are directly involved in rural water service implementation, or who are involved in the procurement of handpumps or spare parts (as either a buyer or seller).

This manual is a hand tool for the villagers and the workers who are actually doing the job of digging wells.

DISCLAIMER: This is a non-RWSN publication and endorsement by RWSN or any of its member organisations should not be inferred.

This document provides a short summary of each of the hand drilling techniques being utilised today; a county-by-country overview of the extent of hand drilling taking place in select countries; an annotated list of organisations involved in promoting and supporting hand drilling and an extensive list of literature, from published articles to training materials and on-line videos.