Mutual Accountability Mechanism
Mutual Accountability Mechanism
Accountability is central to the SWA partnership. It is the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions and account for them to others. It is a requirement for progress and a human rights principle.
Accountability is about how promises are translated into action and aspirations into reality. While States ultimately have an obligation to ensure the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation, all stakeholders have a role to play in moving our societies toward the vision laid out in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
In response to this need, the Sanitation and Water for All partnership has created the Mutual Accountability Mechanism: a tool for partners to commit and hold each other to account for progress in achieving the SDGs’ water and sanitation targets – as well as an opportunity to collaborate, learn and catalyze collective action.
What is the Mutual Accountability Mechanism?
SWA’s Mutual Accountability Mechanism (MAM) is the only global accountability process in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector that is dedicated to all stakeholders working together towards achieving universal access to water and sanitation services. The mechanism helps to set priorities and a shared vision for the sector, as well as to identify roles and responsibilities for achieving them.
The MAM provides a process for all partners to make commitments and hold each other to account on the specific, measurable, time-bound actions they plan to take to achieve their targets set on the road to reaching the Sustainable Development Goal 6.
Commitments tabled under the MAM are based on national policies and enable monitoring. In just four years since the mechanism’s launch, over 400 commitments have been tabled, with half of them coming from 60 national governments.
COMMITMENTS
Government
External Support Agencies
Civil Society
Research and Learning
Private Sector
Country | Constituency | Body / Organizations | Commitment | Target year | Progress |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Global | External Support Agencies | Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency | FINANCING Until 2020: USD 160 million annually invested in WASH, with 65% spent in rural areas and 90% in off tracked countries for sanitation. | 2020 | |
Global | External Support Agencies | The Ministry of Foreign Affairs | The Netherlands will contribute to providing access to safe and affordable drinking water for 30 million people (SDG 6.1) and to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for 50 million people (SDG 6.2), by 2030 | 2030 | |
Global | External Support Agencies | United States Agency for International Development (USAID) | Global Coordination & Impact USAID will report on the value of new funds mobilized for the sector as a result of U.S. Government assistance, and on institutional strengthening. | 2022 | |
Global | External Support Agencies | United States Agency for International Development (USAID) | Global Coordination & Impact Consistent with USAID’s Water and Development Plan in support of the U.S. Global Water Strategy, USAID commits to contributing to the global WASH community by investing in governance, institutions, and innovative financing to foster vibrant, financially sound, and increasingly self-sufficient systems of service providers. | 2022 | |
Global | External Support Agencies | Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (UK) | The UK renews its existing commitment to help 60 million people to gain sustainable access to water supply and sanitation services by the end of 2020. | 2020 | |
Global | External Support Agencies | United States Agency for International Development (USAID) | National Coordination USAID has sharpened its consistent application of criteria to allocate resources at the national level in order to better tackle inequalities. This includes identifying, on an annual basis, priority countries for USAID WASH activities. Consistent with the Water for the World Act of 2014, USAID will aim to increase coordination of actors within the water and sanitation sector in priority countries to align objectives and leverage resources in conjunction with relevant public, private, and other donor institutions, including through mechanisms such as SWA’s Mutual Accountability Mechanism or other Joint Sector Review processes. Additionally, USAID will use its funds strategically to mobilize financial resources from host country governments and the private sector; increase the capacity of national and sub-national governments to assess, regulate, and manage water and sanitation service delivery and water resources in high-priority and strategically aligned countries; and aim to increase the capacity of civil society to advocate for water and sanitation service delivery and water resources management. | 2022 | |
Global | External Support Agencies | Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (UK) | Noting the theme of the 2019 SMM and our own Disability Inclusion Strategy, FCDO will ensure that all the WASH services we support are disability inclusive | 2020 | |
Global | External Support Agencies | Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency | MONITORING Until 2020: spend 5% on actions to support an unified, robust framework for national monitoring (20 countries, CSOs, …) and global (JMP, GLAAS, GEMI) and 2% for Research | 2020 |
Explore our Partner countries
Line of Control as promulgated in the 1972 SIMLA Agreement
Dotted line represents approximately the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir agreed upon by India and Pakistan. The final status of Jammu and Kashmir has not been agreed upon by the parties
The boundaries and names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations
Why should my government or organization participate?
The Mutual Accountability Mechanism provides a concrete entry point for dialogue, transparency, and coordination. It is an opportunity for stakeholders to sit around the table to plan, mutually commit to act in a coordinated way, and improve the Sustainable Development Goal 6 outcomes through collaborative efforts. The MAM provides a framework for tracking progress and increasing the visibility of water, sanitation and hygiene initiatives, nationally and globally.
Mutual Accountability Mechanism Global Report 2021