Mind the Gap: East Asia - Pacific

Human Resources Capacity in the Water and Sanitation sectors: Is there enough to meet future demands?

Dr Regina Souter Dr Brian McIntosh

Four East Asia & Pacific assessments

PDR Lao Philippines Sri Lanka Papua New Guinea Project teams = IWC + local water and sanitation sector experts + IWA

• • • •

Approach: Engage stakeholders (esp. Nat gov, private sector and E&T institutions) Gather contextual information: institutional environment, E&T environment Collect data & information about shortages and gaps in HR

Some findings common to all 4 countries

Rural HR needs

 Reliance upon communities to participate in delivering WASH ( e.g. construction, O&M)  need for community mobilisers need for technical back-stopping; For many cultures, sanitation & hygiene promotion needed to improve practices and increase demand for WASH

…more common findings…

-

Urban HR needs

Greatest requirement is for high(er)-tech HR for construction, O&M of infrastructure (“hardware focussed”).

In informal areas especially, also need for community mobilisation, due to high reliance on on-site waste management

…more common findings…

HR strategic planning

• Typically not obvious, but needed to align capacity development with government and investment plans -

E&T contributions to WASH

limited focus on producing HR for WASH sector, quantity or quality (  limited liaison between WASH sector organisations and E&T providers)

Recruitment

- Rarely competency-based, or quantum matched to sectoral needs

….But also many unique findings & recommendations

• • • • Philippines: very complex governance and large population  very complex to assess HR needs Heavy reliance upon communities and volunteers (for construction, O&M, even for enforcement of regulation)  in rural areas, no shortage of engineers /technicians (enough to provide oversight and technical backstop) High participation rates in education, but poor graduation rates and very low job readiness Very significant overseas deployment of skilled workers  failure to attract to WASH

….But also many unique findings & recommendations

• • • • • Lao: WASH governance capacity not strong (but building) O&M in rural areas: done by committees, lacking financial and technical capacity, and without technical backstopping Shortage of HR in rural areas (  difficulty in attracting professionals to rural areas) Existing HR capacity : government comprises only ~25% of the total HR (gov –owned water utilities=~half; NGOs ~quarter) Limited E&T relevant to WASH (e.g. 1 water supply and wastewater course, new in 2012)

Some of the critical (common) recommendations to improve WASH HR

• • • Improve

HR management

: Adoption of strategic

, competency-based HR management (

Recruitment of sufficient numbers of sufficiently skilled personnel to specific job roles and locations)

Incentives

to attract/retain personnel to locations needed Develop

career pathways

to attract HR to WASH (from other sectors) • • Strengthen WASH E&T:

Collaboration between WASH organisations and E&T organisations

(E&T aware of, and responsive to WASH needs)

Improve WASH curriculums

at E&T institutions to increase match between supply and demand of skills Improve short-term capacity (for WASH and E&T) through expatriates • • Acknowledge community as a critical source of HR : Need for

more community mobilisers

Need for

training

suited to community individuals

Most important next step: a capacity development plan (devpmt led by country governments with support) to “action-ise” recommendations

…but need more a comprehensive view of WASH HR requirements

Not addressed here:

WASH governance and sustainable WASH service delivery

 need also to assess HR needs for – Policy & planning (including water resource planning) – Regulatory development and enforcement – Finance and expenditure – Infrastructure planning – Operation and maintenance beyond MDG definition of water and sanitation service: e.g. collection, treatment and disposal of waste; water quality monitoring – Sanitation and hygiene promotion and behaviour change – Monitoring and evaluation