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| MEK-WATSAN Initiative: Profile
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The Mekong Region is home to around 250 million population, referring to the geographical area centred on the world’s 12th largest river, the Mekong and has been facing serious challenges of poor quality of water and sanitation services. The Mekong Region Water and Sanitation (MEK-WATSAN) initiative is a collaborative effort between UN-HABITAT and the governments of the Mekong region in 2005 with a goal towards improving the living conditions of the urban poor
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Mekong Region
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| and protecting local environments of the secondary urban centres. The MEK-WATSAN initiative supports the participating countries attain the water and sanitation related MDGs in the rapidly growing economic corridors.
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Objectives
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Expedite pro-poor water and sanitation investments in secondary towns,
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Enhance institutional and human resource capacities at local and regional levels to sustain water and sanitation services,
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Operationalise upstream sector reforms at the local level,
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Enhance capacities of local private sector entities in service delivery,
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Reduce the adverse environmental impacts of urbanisation on local river catchments,
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Support economic development in secondary towns through improved water and sanitation and related income generating activities, and
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Support cooperation between the countries of the Mekong region and thus economic development.
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Sustainability
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MEK-WATSAN initiative ensures sustainability by:
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Promoting ownership at local level;
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Training and Capacity building;
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Developing sustainable structures at local level: clustering of towns;
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Flexibility in project planning, design and implementation at town level;
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Integrating physical planning with water, sanitation, solid waste management and drainage; and
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Gender mainstreaming.
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Implementation Strategies
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| Projects implemented in a flexible manner to suit region-specific or country-specific or project-specific requirements in the following phases:
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Capacity building including:
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mobilization of political will and advocacy to promote policy, regulatory and tariff reforms, and preparation for pro-poor investments;
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pilot demonstration projects, improving governance and capacity at all levels of government for effective integrated water and sanitation development and management;
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promotion of water quality, sanitation and hygiene education; and
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performance benchmarking and monitoring of MDGs.
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Project preparation aiming at identifying, developing and preparing investment proposals.
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Investments in which the reforms and proposals are developed and implemented. The strategic support to pro-poor investments is to identify and assist activities that promote good policy, best practices, new strategies and tools in the water and sanitation sector.
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