Introduction institutions and economic development: A framework for understanding water services

Abstract

The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target is to halve the number of people without access to improved water and sanitation services. This chapter provides a framework that can be employed to understand the institutional context within which policy and management decisions are made with regard to delivery of water services in developing countries. The potential role that international development cooperation can play in furthering discussions on accountability and autonomy of local governments is examined in the context of trends such as rapid urbanization, expansion of information technology and use of innovative instruments of infrastructure financing to meet basic needs. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.