Country-level sector information and monitoring systems (SIMS) for water and sanitation in Africa : practitioners’ workshop, Nairobi, Kenya, March 27-29, 2007

A regional workshop on sector information and monitoring systems (SIMS) for water supply and sanitation was held in Nairobi, Kenya in march 2007. The workshop confirmed that effective SIMS are a critical element of a country’s efforts to expand and improve water and sanitation
services and enhance efficacy, efficiency and equity of sector investments. The key principles of SIMS agreed were: inclusiveness; integration with country systems; and the need to adopt an incremental approach. The workshop also articulated a framework with five main building blocks (strategic decision-making, sector strategic monitoring, sector implementation monitoring, dissemination and institutionalization) that has been derived from the country experience in the region. Country SIMS also need to be linked better to regional monitoring. Development of SIMS guidelines and continued country support were identified as critical for progress.[authors abstract]