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Indirect support is about creating and regulating the enabling environment for water, sanitation and hygiene services. It includes the costs for macro-level policy formulation, planning, regulation, sector-level monitoring, developing IT systems, maintaining frameworks and institutional arrangements, etc.
In comparison to [[Expenditure Direct Support (ExpDS)|direct support]], expenditure on indirect support is not particular to a programme or project.
===Examples===
'''Institutional arrangements''' <br>
Institutional arrangements for indirect support are assigned to national level entities (Smits et.al, 2011). Specific arrangements differ from country to country for examples see table 1. If there is no independent regulator, government ministries and agencies are tasked with responsibilities such as planning and policy formulation or even regulation. Donors, NGOs, research institutes and other entities at a national level may also contribute.
Since exact data for indirect support expenditure in India were absent, the costs (see table 2 above) are estimated using some assumptions and expert opinion (Smits et.al, 2011). Mozambique included data from the Rural Water Department (Departamento de Água Rural, DAR) and the Sanitation Department (Departamento de Saneamento, DES). [[#WASHCost|WASHCost]] Mozambique also analysed the costs of three other departments: the Division of Planning and Control (Gabinete de Planificação e Controlo, GPC), the Department of Administration and Finance (Departamento de Administração e Finanças, DAF) and the Directorate of Human Resources (Direcção de Recursos Humanos, DRH). Since these three departments do not only deal with rural and peri-urban areas, a coefficient was applied, taking into account the weight of the subsector population. Other weighting factors are still being considered and the result could be to lower the figure for indirect support expenditure in Mozambique.
===Key documents===
* Smits, S. et al., 2011. [http://www.washcost.info/page/1567 Arrangements and cost of providing support to rural water service providers]. (WASHCost working paper; 5). The Hague, The Netherlands: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre.
* Fonseca, C. et al., 2010a. [http://www.washcost.info/page/752 Life-cycle costs approach: glossary and cost components]. (WASHCost briefing note; no. 1). The Hague, The Netherlands: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre.
===Links===
<div id="WASHCost">'''WASHCost'''</div>
* WASHCost was five-year action research programme, running from 2008 to 2012. The WASHCost team gathered information related to the costs of providing water, sanitation, and hygiene services for an entire life-cycle of a service - from implementation all the way to post-construction. The WASHCost programme was led by IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre with several partners to collect data in the rural and peri-urban areas of Burkina Faso, Ghana, India, and Mozambique. For more information see [http://www.washcost.info WASHCost]