,

Review on Indonesian Regional by Law on Community-based Water and Sanitation

Friday, September 21, 2012

Mr. Al'Afghani has recently completed a review of a draft by-law on community-based watsan. The review is a collaboration between dropbydrop, Watsan Working Group of the East Nusa Tenggara Province, UNICEF and the Sikka Regency.


Most of the challenges found are due to ambiguities of the legal framework at the national level. The review highlighted the lack of acknowledgement towards community based watsan in national legislation.

Assets ownership is one of the major issue during the review. Neither the national policy nor the national legislation provide clarification as to the actual owner of the assets. There is a general understanding that the assets "belong to the community" but what "community" actually means is not clear in the legal framework.

One of the aspirations that develops during the review is that the assets should be owned by villages but operated by the communities. The review provide recommendation as to how this could be translated into provisions in a regional by law and also provide solution for ownership arrangements for entities other than villages.

The lack of clarification on assets ownerships would affect the sustainability and security of community based watsan, which is developed mostly through fundings from the World Bank, AusAid and various other institutions.

Some of the findings from the review is currently being discussed at the national level.

For further information please contact dropbydrop's senior water lawyer Mohamad Mova Al'Afghani: mova(at)alafghani(dot)info