Provision of efficient and poverty-oriented infrastructure

Project description

Reliable provision of basic infrastructure is a core elements of pro poor policy. For one thing, infrastructure services contribute in important ways to meeting the basic social needs of poor population groups; for another, it creates the conditions needed far a productive integration of economic regions. This goes in particular for the provision of electricity and drinking-water and wastewater services, which are among the department’s focuses.
There is a controversial discussion underway over which provision models (public, private, public-private, central, decentral) are best suited, in given contexts, in terms of their contributions to poverty reduction and their economic and operational efficiency. The department is conducting a comparative study on the issue. Studies on the sector named above also analyze the actor interests associated with competing models and discuss, against this background, the aspect of the political economy of reforms and the influence of governance on infrastructure provision.