Planning differently : developing long-term, strategic plans for district-wide water, sanitation and hygiene services

Long-term strategic planning at the district level helps to identify improved service delivery models, system strengthening activities, financing sources and partnerships. By the time of publication, the approach recommended within this position paper was piloted. Starting in 2018, with facilitation and support from the Millennium Water Alliance (MWA), three districts (North Mecha, Dera, and Farta) in the Amhara National Regional State (ANRS) began piloting this approach to long-term strategic planning. The effort, utilizing the process proposed in this paper, resulted in fully costed, twelve-year plans for how to achieve global Sustainable Development Goal target 6.1 by 2030. A follow-up learning document shares the activities conducted to implement this planning process, lessons learned and detailed results achieved. This long-term strategic planning pilot was built on years of collaboration and WASH experience in the selected districts and throughout the region. In line with this, MWA consulted with and built on the lessons learned by partners and other stakeholders. This paper shares the thinking of the MWA Ethiopia partnership on why these planning efforts are important and what they can look like. This is the first position paper in a series of five produced through the 2017-19 Millennium Water Alliance Bridge Program in Ethiopia. It is made possible through support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.