Scaling Up

Scaling Up Community Management of Rural Water Supply, hosted by WSSCC

Formed in 2001 following a meeting organized by the International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC), this Thematic Group arose to look more closely at the issue of scaling up community management and to ask why many successful, but small-scale, or pilot initiatives, often fail to be taken up more broadly. The group aims to contribute to the impact of water supply programmes on people’s livelihood through increased coverage, greater sustainability and better demand responsiveness, by strengthening and developing the community management model based on promoting improved policy and practice. It focuses on community managed water supply, principally in rural areas, within the context of sanitation, hygiene, food production, economic uses etc. and seeks to identify and explore effective ways in which limited resources in the water sector can be used to serve the maximum number of people for the longest time in the quickest way. The Thematic Group also supports advocacy about scaling up community management, principally aimed at policy makers and sector professionals, including donors and members of international financing institutions.  

For more information, please contact the thematic group coordinator, Mr. Ton Schouten at IRC (schouten@irc.nl) or visit the website at www.scalingup.watsan.net.

More documents on the activities of this thematic group are available below:

• Scaling up rural water supply, a framework for achieving sustainable universal coverage through community management, 2005
• Report Mini Conference and Thematic Group meeting, scaling up rural water services, WaterAid London, 2006
• Scaling up rural water services, a joint vision

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