Advances in human development are closely linked to increasing access to water and sanitation services in developing countries. The present study investigates the role of governance for mastering this challenge. The motivation for choosing this subject is the insight that the focus on privatisation, which has dominated the academic and the political debate, is too narrow to explain success or failure in the provision of water and sanitation services. By shifting the attention towards the influence of governance, the study works out those political and sectoral institutions that are essential for the provision of water and sanitation services and presents empirical evidence for their influence on access to services and internal efficiency of providers. The regression analysis performed with data from 69 developing countries yields that the level of democracy has a statistically significant positive impact on access to water and sanitation services. Moreover, the case study on Colombia finds some evidence that low-quality governance of sub-national governments compromises the internal efficiency of providers and the widespread access to services. With regard to privatisation it can be said that it contributes to enhance internal efficiency. However, the results also suggest that privatisation is not necessary and even less sufficient for achieving widespread access to low-cost and good-quality services.
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