ABSTRACT
The 5 guiding principles and 10 actions presented in chapter 13 represent, in broad strokes, the vital conditions needed both to achieve the Millennium Development Goals for water supply and sanitation and to ensure that sound water resources development and management underpins the broader effort to reach all of the Millennium Development targets. These principles and actions are further elaborated in this chapter within an operational plan that specifies the steps that each actor—national and subnational governments, donors, civic and community organizations, and research institutions—must undertake in support of the goals. Although the operational plan focuses only on actions by actors in the water sector, investments in other sectors, such as health and education, are crucial to the achievement of the water and sanitation targets. As stressed in previous chapters, progress in eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, empowering women, and ensuring environmental sustainability will all help in advancing progress toward the Millennium Development targets for water and sanitation.
