MIND THE GAP… It is commonly known that investments in water supply and sanitation are mostly mobilized either for rural villages (handpumps/latrines) or cities (large piped networks). The GAP is in SMALL TOWNS. Mozambique has more than 120 small towns with dilapidated infrastructure built by the Portuguese colonialists in the 1950s and 1960s. The infrastructure was designed to serve a population of less than 1000 and many of these towns now have a population of more than 20,000.
As the New Year unfolds, the water and sanitation sector looks forward to greater fiscal allocations as a result of the upcoming Sanitation and Water for All meeting in Washington DC. Countries are preparing the relevant evidence to demonstrate if, and how, they have increased government and non-government funds to this important sector despite the globally stretched economic situation resulting from the financial crisis. 
The One Million Initiative of the Government of Mozambique aims at supplying access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation for one million people. The program has constructed hundreds of new boreholes and implemented trainings on sanitation in communities from three provinces. To evaluate the program, a panel survey design was set up with a baseline in 2008, a midterm in 2010 and an end-line in 2013. The survey covers interviews with 1600 households, focus group discussions about the community and water points in 80 clusters in 9 districts. To our knowledge this is the first rigorous evaluation of such a large scale program in the water and sanitation sector.
UNICEF Mozambique Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Programme is one of the largest UN water programmes in Africa. In partnership with the Government of Mozambique, the programme has a strong focus on service delivery through private sector civil engineering, drilling contractors and NGOs.
Water Supply in Mozambique
Everyone wants Impact. In the spirit of aid effectiveness, all water and sanitation development programmes are required to provide evidence of impact. This is beyond the conventional engineering rhetoric of number of pumps/taps or sanitation systems constructed and there contribution to the Millennium Development Goal Number 7.
One Million Initiative Mozambique
Mozambique is experiencing a rapid proliferation of private sector participation in a number of key sectoral areas such as mining, manufacturing, agriculture and industry. These developments are resulting in an increased migration of skilled (and unskilled) to small urban centres. These centres require essential services such as water, sanitation, roads, schools, communication, health centres etc.
What are we doing to respond to these development challenges?
Why are our colleagues from the communications sector (VODACOM etc) ahead of us in ensuring that the people get a mobile phone before a TOILET?
This BLOG is going to follow developments in this area.
Keep posted