Guiding Principles

Millennium Development Goals

WSUP's objectives are aligned with international agreements on development targets, most notably the Millennium Development Goals. Adequate water and sanitation underpin all of the MDGs, whether education, health or gender equality. In addition WSUP directly addresses 11 of the MDGs to significantly improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.

Health

WSUP’s focus is on water, sanitation and hygiene promotion, which, according to a recent authoritative review by the World Bank of dozens of different interventions of public health, are some of the most cost effective. Improved water and sanitation reduces infant & child mortality

Poverty

Inadequate water and sanitation is both a result and cause of poverty. People with poor services are trapped in poverty because of the hours they must waste in waiting for water or a latrine, the high cash costs and the additional burden of illness from poor sanitation, contaminated drinking water and insufficient water for good hygiene. Poor people cannot afford to invest in better water and sanitation facilities, but if they improve their economic well-being, then investments in piped water and a personal latrine are common priorities.

Enhanced Aid Effectiveness

WSUP follows the principles for Aid Effectiveness as articulated in the OECD / DAC Paris Declaration in 2005 in respecting the strategies developing countries set for poverty reduction and improving their institutions, the use of local systems, the sharing of information to avoid duplication and a focus on development results and their measurement.

Economic Development

The residents of informal urban settlements are important drivers of economic growth, providing a pool of labour as well as many informal sector enterprises. Adequate water and sanitation help ensure a healthy labour force; water is an essential input to many goods and services and there are many entrepreneurial opportunities in the WASH sector, such as construction of facilities, the emptying of pits and septic tanks and the retailing of sanitation and hygiene products.

Environment

WSUP is committed to using its projects to achieve positive environmental impacts, ensuring that environmental regulation and integrated water resource management principles, climate mitigation and adaptation are included in project design and implementation. WSUP member WWF has supported the development of a strategic environmental framework within which WSUP projects will be implemented. This includes issues such as water security, energy efficiency, management of on and off-site impacts, environmental regulation and conservation.