Piloting new indicators and methodologies to measure the human right to water in rural Nicaragua

Abstract

There is a growing interest internationally to recalibrate the monitoring framework used to measure access to basic water services. There are drives to move on from the current technological and binary approach (improved - vs. - unimproved water supply technologies). Several initiatives have been applied to support the processes of resource allocation, targeting and prioriti s ation in development policies. These approaches consider the level of service delivered by taking into account aspects such as water quality, quantity, and continuity. The recognition of the human right to water and sanitation is a milestone that should contribute to the evolution of this work in progress. It brings in other issues such as affordability, physical accessibility and acceptability. To incorporate all these human rights criteria in monitoring initiatives is undoubtedly a complex task. It involves the definition of new indicators, design of field data collection methodol ogies, statistical analysis of collected data, and use of information generated in policy formation and decision - making. The research presented in this paper has tried to tackle this emerging challenge. It has developed and piloted indicators that measure access to water from a human rights perspective. The proposed indicators have been applied to two different groups within communities in northern Nicaragua: people using a water system managed by a rural water committee against those vulnerable groups char acteri s ed by self - provision. The research concludes that data needs to be well analysed , information needs to be adequately post - processed, aggregated and disseminated to promote its use in decision - making.