Failure to achieve desired human development outcomes in the water supply and sanitation sector over the last decade has prompted a re-assessment of sector strategies and a focus on issues of governance and political economy. The international community increasingly recognises that the governance and institutional arrangements of a sector and the incentives generated by such arrangements – in short, the political economy of water and sanitation – have a critical impact on how services are delivered.

How can the development community best analyse the governance and political economy of water supply and sanitation service delivery in developing countries? How can the analysis of governance and political economy of the sector inform policy, programming and influencing work? This Working Paper addresses the above questions, as part of a larger research project on Analysing the governance and political economy of water supply and sanitation service delivery funded by DFID.