Estimation of indicators of the Sustainable Development Goal 6 (6.1.1., 6.2.1. and 6.3.1)

#SDGAction42534

Description

Intro

The estimation of the baseline is an exercise made with the methodology of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), that in addition to quantify the advance or status of the indicators of the goals in Mexico, also identifies the information gaps and the ways to close those gaps. The estimation was made in 2015.

Objective of the practice

The objective is to provide technical information about the advances of the SDG 6, make an evaluation of the information sources existing in the country and based on the results, and establish speciÃ¯Â¬Âc strategies to follow by 2030. 
The information was provided mainly by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) through the National Household Survey (ENH). This survey is made since 2014, in urban and rural areas in all states of Mexico, its purpose is: to know the characteristics of the housing; sociodemographic data of the members of the household, occupation, education and their perception of their health status; as well as the availability of goods and services of information technologies and communications at homes. 
The estimation contribute to the design and orientation of public policies that promote the improvement of the living conditions of the population such as the quality of the service, as well as good hygiene practices to reduce health risks.

Partners

The National Water Commission of Mexico (Conagua) is the main institution responsible of preserving the national waters, their public assets, and sustainable management. Another entities that participate and worked closely with Conagua are: the Panamerican Health Organization (PAHO), World Health Organization (WHO), and Government Agencies.
The participation was carried out with workshops, face-to-face and virtual work meetings.

Implementation of the Project/Activity

The estimation of the goals of the SDGs represent a challenge in the collection of the data and in the monitoring of the goals that cover the whole cycle of the water and sanitation services, nevertheless, it allowed to establish priorities regarding which data should be registered first, the cost that it represents, as well as determining which activities are difficult to register, having as a unit of analysis the population.
For the estimation of the indicators, the National Household Survey (ENH) was taken as the basis of work. This survey is implemented in urban and rural areas in all states of Mexico, whose purpose is to know the characteristics of the households, sociodemographic data of the members of the household, occupation, education and their perception of their health status; as well as the availability of goods and services, information technologies and communications in homes.
Within the framework of this initiative, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) provided technical support to government agencies related to the issue, providing a methodology, as well as an evaluation of sources of information existing in the country.

The work carried out in Mexico had two types of activities, on the one hand a direct coordination was established with the actors related to the water and sanitation sector led by a national consultant of the PAHO, and on the other hand the work of elaboration of contents and estimation of indicators made by the Regional Water and Sanitation Technical Team (ETRAS) and an international consultant of the WHO. For each goal an indicator was determined, as well as some form to be measured.

Results/Outputs/Impacts

The National Household Survey (ENH) was used to measure the first goal about universal and equitable access to drinking water, which includes all the habitants in the household, but does not include health facilities, schools and places of work. That means that the missing information must be complemented, however, Mexico managed to reduce the water access gap by 27.9 percentage points in a period from 1990 to 2015, that is, one third.

The access also requires that enough water be available to cover the domestic demand and its availability close to home, which is continuously 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. In this area the ENH highlights that 66.1% of the population of Mexico has access to water every day of the week with a significant difference between the urban (70.6%) and rural (50.9%) areas, therefore the equitable access to water is an important gap.

Regarding access to safe water (safe drinking), 43.16% of the population consumes quality water in Mexico. However, this information cannot be determined at the urban and rural levels, because there are several public institutions that do not have the information at the level required for the calculation of the indicator.

For its part, affordability is not taken into account considering that the payment of water service in Mexico does not represent a barrier or impediment to its access.

Indicator 6.2.1, determined that 71.6% of the population of Mexico has sewerage service, 19.5% has in situ sanitation, 4.8% shared latrines, 1.2% unimproved facilities and 2.8% open-air defecation.

Indicator 6.3.1 estimates that the percentage of the population with a sanitation system managed in a safe manner is 27%.

Enabling factors and constraints

With the support of the United Nations custody agencies, specifically from Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The existence of an institutional structure dependent on the Presidency of the Republic is responsible of following up on the theme of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Involvement of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) and institutions linked to the sector.

Sustainability and replicability

The existence of an institutional structure dependent on the Presidency of the Republic is responsible of following up on the theme of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Shared costs for holding meetings and workshops to estimate goals. It is considered that with the collaboration of the partners involved in the theme this scheme can be replicated for other indicators.

Conclusions

The exercise carried out in Mexico allows generate recommendations that can be taken as a reference for other countries. 
The Ã¯Â¬Ârst that must be taken into account when carrying out an exercise of this nature, is that the variables have to be expressed in terms of percentage of the population. Therefore, if they are expressed in another unit, the work of converting the data must be done. 
 
b) Regarding the identiÃ¯Â¬Âcation of a survey or database to estimate the indicators, it is necessary to analyze the degree of conÃ¯Â¬Âdence that the survey has that is representative at the urban and rural levels and of the total population. 
c) The technical team of the country that will estimate the Baseline, must have proven knowledge of the management of databases, as well as consolidation with the water and sanitation indicators in their country.

Other sources of information