Briefing Note on budget tracking approaches in the WASH sector: methods, applicability and examples

The Dutch WASH Alliance (DWA) works towards a society in which everybody has access to sustainable water and sanitation. DWA acknowledges that sustainable WASH has at least five dimensions: financial, institutional, environmental, technical and a social (FIETS) dimension, which are adopted in DWA programmes as part of its FIETS sustainability principles.

The DWA asserts that employing a "budget tracking" approach is a possible way forward towards accomplishing the objectives of two leading FIETS principles: financial sustainability and institutional sustainability. In this note, budget tracking approaches and methods, and its applicability within the WASH sector are discussed to offer insight into how and whether it can be applied within the DWA programme.