Choosing Among Pro-Poor Policy Options in the Delivery of Municipal Water Services

Abstract

The poor are most likely to suffer from a service provider that cannot reliably supply high-quality water through the piped network. Effectively assisting the poor is a key component of a successful tariff reform process. This paper provides practical, up-to-date advice that water utilities, municipalities, central governments, and donors can use to design and implement pro-poor policies for municipal water supply in low- and middle-income countries. After mapping contextual factors for a given situation and outlining the set of pro-poor policy alternatives, we use a simplified typology to diagnose common types of situations a water provider might be facing, provide policy recommendations, highlight potential policy mistakes, and discuss the challenges that policymakers are likely to face.