Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) is a not-for-profit partnership between development NGOs (including CARE International), the private sector and academia.

It offers a new approach to the challenge of urban water and sanitation by working as an implementing partner to Local Service Providers (LSPs) including utilities, municipalities and small independent providers to achieve practical, sustainable and scalable solutions.

WSUP strengthens the capacity of LSPs to provide sustainable water and sanitation services, promote good hygiene and raise the health and environmental standards of the community. This support is providing insight and resources to the challenges which partners are facing and which, without WSUP’s support, are preventing services being delivered to the urban poor in a sustainable and replicable way.

Since 2006, support provided by WSUP to projects in Africa and South Asia has enabled improved access to safe, affordable water for over 127,000 people, improved sanitation for 20,000 and improved hygiene for over 120,000 people. WSUP has strengthened the capacity of local service providers in a range of towns and cities and has contributed to the development of institutional processes and policies that improve the lives of the urban poor.

WSUP is owned and governed by its Members. As a multi-sector partnership, each WSUP Member brings a unique range of skills and knowledge to the design and delivery of programmes. While each organisation is recognised as an expert in their field, WSUP brings together their skills and resources to find innovative and lasting solutions. Each Member benefits from working in partnership with others, learning new skills and approaches from a variety of different sectors.

As a Member of WSUP, in-country CARE offices are supporting the components of water, sanitation and hygiene promotion in Antananarivo (Madagascar), Maputo (Mozambique), Kumasi (Ghana), Lusaka (Zambia) and Dhaka (Bangladesh).

CARE US are providing senior technical advice on the delivery of a large scale USAID funded programme and CARE UK have been linked to the partnership from the inception with DFID funding

Our membership of WSUP provides us with insight and experience of working with other organisations more familiar with such aspects as reducing leakages in urban water networks, helping water utilities to model the financial implications of extending their systems to informal settlements and how to improve the environmental conditions of slums.

CARE has, in turn, influenced the other members of WSUP to adopt approaches that integrate water, sanitation and hygiene, are community based and inclusive. CARE’s engagement with WSUP will also enable a more coordinated approach to promote pro-poor urban service delivery approach, focussing on utilities and regulators.

For more information about WSUP, please visit their website www.wsup.com.

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