The Water for Asian Cities Programme has been working in close collaboration with the Government of the Netherlands and the Asian Development Bank(ADB) to improve water use efficiency, scale up sanitation, and provide appropriate technical assistance in the Asia and Pacific region. The ADB has approved a US $181 million loan for the ‘Urban Water Supply and Environmental Improvement in Madhya Pradesh Project’ to address citywide deficiencies in basic urban services in four of the largest urban centres in Madhya Pradesh. UN-HABITAT has worked to build partnerships at all levels and to support the involvement of civil society in influencing and setting priorities and investment decisions.

The programme managers have paid specific attention to the needs of women, adolescent girls and boys, and other marginalised groups and are supporting the institutionalization of mechanisms to enable the most vulnerable groups to articulate their interests and hold government and service providers to account. UN-HABITAT has worked in India to support the creation of a regulatory framework that protects service providers and consumers alike and ensures that services are demand responsive, affordable and sustainable.