CEPT University has received a major grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to research urban water and sanitation issues. The aim of this programme is to develop better information on water and sanitation performance at the local level. This in turn will be used by the state and local governments for extending services to the poor, strive for financial viability, and improve reliability and quality of services.

The research will focus on the use of performance indicators and benchmarks to facilitate consistent reporting, monitoring, planning, budgeting, and investing in water and sanitation services in all urban areas of Gujarat and Maharashtra states. Lessons from the project will be disseminated to other states and at the national level.

CEPT University with its partners will work with state and local governments to develop a reliable and sustainable Performance Assessment System (PAS) for urban water and sanitation services. The PAS envisaged in this project includes: Performance Measurement, Performance Monitoring, and Performance Improvement.

The key project objectives of the five year project are: - Objective 1: To develop and implement a performance measurement system for regular and reliable UWSS information - Objective 2: To design and share results with ULBs, state government agencies, other stakeholders and media through performance monitoring and dissemination system for use in decision making, providing incentives and influencing demand - Objective 3: To facilitate development of performance improvement plans by urban local bodies with support from state government, NGOs and the private sector An Executive Summary of the project detailing further activities can be downloaded here: CEPT UWSS Benchmarking and Performance Assessment Project