Water supply and sanitation in Burkina Faso

rdf:langString Water supply and sanitation in Burkina Faso

rdf:langString not available

rdf:langString The flag of Burkina Faso

rdf:langString Yes, ONEA

rdf:langString None

rdf:langString Water supply and sanitation in Burkina Faso are characterized by high access to water supply in urban areas, while access to an in rural areas – where three quarters of the population live – remains relatively low. An estimated one third of water facilities in rural areas are out of service because of a lack of maintenance. Access to lags significantly behind access to water supply. The government and donor agencies alike consider urban water supply in Burkina Faso one of the rare development success stories in Sub-Saharan Africa. Access to an improved water source in urban areas increased from 73% in 1990 to 95% in 2008. Water supply that used to be intermittent now is continuous. The national utility Office National de l'Eau et de l'Assainissement (ONEA) was insolvent twenty years ago and provided poor service to a small number of customers. As of 2010, it has grown substantially and is financially healthy. The World Bank and USAID today consider the public company one of the best performing water utilities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Increasing cost recovery and improving the efficiency of service provision have been important elements in the turnaround of the utility. In the late 1990s, the World Bank had insisted that the private sector should play a significant role in providing water services in Burkina Faso. The government rejected this approach. Instead, it pragmatically integrated certain principles of market-oriented sector reforms into its own policies in order to further increase the performance of the public utility. In rural areas, a 2004 decentralization law has given responsibility for water supply to the country's 301 municipalities (communes) which have no track record in providing or contracting out these services. Implementation of the decentralization has been slow. Municipalities, whose capacities are being strengthened, are contracting out service provision to local private companies, or in some cases to ONEA. The government has adopted a National Sanitation Strategy in 2008 and President Blaise Compaoré launched a campaign in 2010 to boost the implementation of the strategy.

rdf:langString Mostly continuous

rdf:langString In some small towns and in rural areas

rdf:langString Mainly external donors

rdf:langString high

rdf:langString Ministry of Water, Hydraulic Planning and Sanitation

rdf:langString n/a