Study Session 15  Looking to the Future

Introduction

We started this Module with the broader global context for WASH and the challenges that led to the creation of the One WASH National Programme. As you reach the end of the Module, you have learned about the ambitious goals of the OWNP and the plans for achieving them. In this final study session we broaden the scope again and look to the future to consider some of the changing issues in Ethiopia and the wider world that may affect OWNP plans and implementation. Planning for the future can never be entirely certain but it’s possible to manage the uncertainty by recognising that change will happen and being prepared to adapt to its influence.

The design of the OWNP in two phases was intended to allow for review and adjustment in response to change at the end of Phase 1, with Phase 2 following for the next five years. In the OWNP document the possible redirection of the Programme is acknowledged. It suggests that in future there could be ‘different policy priorities, targets, institutional roles and responsibilities and/or implementation modalities’. Broadening the Programme in future may consider such topics as ‘watershed and water resources management, productive uses of water, environmental protection, and climate resilience’ (OWNP, 2013).

In this study session we will first consider the dynamics of the OWNP itself and the developments in national policy. Then we will look to wider issues of urbanisation, industrialisation and climate change that may affect implementation of the OWNP. Finally, the study session returns to the Millennium Development Goals that set the international agenda until 2015 and considers what happens next.