5 days in Indonesia: How people, not pipes, keep water flowing

On a humid December morning in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia, as our delegation gathered for the debriefing session, we asked Mr. Chanthephar Khattiyavong, an official from the Lao PDR’s Ministry of Public Works and Transport, what had resonated most with him during the week. He reflected:

It’s not just the infrastructure. It’s how the systems push everyone — utilities, districts, communities — to keep improving. No one is passive.

In December 2025, a delegation from the Government of the Lao PDR and the World Bank undertook a knowledge exchange visit to Indonesia to learn from two long-running World Bank–supported programs: the National Urban Water Supply Project (NUWSP) and PAMSIMAS, Indonesia’s flagship community-based drinking water and sanitation program.

The delegation came not to copy solutions, but to understand how water services are able to function, scale, and endure in very different settings.

Coordination Makes Ownership Possible

What stood out in Indonesia was how easily different parts of government worked together. Ministries, planners, and local governments share a common direction, and people were clear about who does what — creating space for local ownership.

That space was very visible in the PAMSIMAS villages. In conversations with members of community water committees, there was little talk of “projects.” They spoke simply about how the system runs, how tariffs and maintenance are managed — and, almost in passing, emphasized one thing: that they are volunteers.

We fix problems together.

In Sumber village, one committee member explained that meetings are held in the evenings, after farm work is done. “We don’t receive a salary,” she said. “But everyone here depends on this water. We agreed on the tariff, we collect it, and we fix problems together.” What made this possible, she added, was knowing that the village system is recognized and supported by local government.

Village Voices 

Villagers feel the impact of these systems every day in deeply practical ways. We heard a mother describe how access to a reliable water source had changed her daily routines. “Before, my daughters spent a long time collecting water every day,” she said. “Now the water is close and cleaner. They have more time for school, and we worry less.”

In another community, an elderly farmer spoke about the dry season. “We used to argue when water was scarce,” he said. “Now there are clear rules, and everyone knows what was agreed. Extra water goes into the fields.” Those rules, he emphasized, were set by the community itself.

Listening to these conversations, it became clear that the project results are not abstract figures. They represent hours saved, stress reduced, dignity restored, and relationships strengthened. And they depend as much on trust and shared responsibility as on pipes and pumps.

Different Contexts, Shared Principles

In urban areas supported by the NUWSP, the setting was different, but the underlying ideas felt familiar. One utility director, Mr. Mat Hasyim, spoke about learning from peers, responding to clear expectations, and coordinating with both local governments and national agencies. He noted that improvements only became possible when “everyone understood who was responsible for what.”

Indonesia is large and decentralized. Laos is smaller and more centralized. Yet the visit reinforced an important lesson: World Bank–supported programs succeed not because they export fixed models, but because they are grounded in principles that flow across governance systems and scales. These principles are simple, but powerful:

• clear roles,
• coordination across institutions,
• incentives that encourage responsibility,
• transparency in decision-making, and
• sustained engagement over time.

Wherever they are applied, they shape behavior in remarkably similar ways. As one Lao delegate, Dr. Viengkhan Phixay, mentioned, “The form of governance may differ, but coordination and ownership matter everywhere.”

What This Means for Laos

The visit came at an important moment for Laos, as the country’s first World Bank–supported rural water supply and sanitation project approaches completion in 2026. The question ahead is not whether Indonesia’s systems can be replicated, but how these underlying principles can be adapted to the Laos context — strengthening alignment between ministries, empowering local governments, and reinforcing community ownership. This learning agenda is being supported through the Global Water Security and Sanitation Partnership (GWSP), which has helped enable this knowledge exchange and is supporting the Government of Lao PDR as it scales up water supply, sanitation, and hygiene services nationwide.

Indonesia’s experience with water services shows that community ownership does not happen by accident. It is enabled when national policies, local implementation, and community action are aligned. Similarly, service providers perform better when coordination replaces fragmentation, and when responsibilities are matched with authority.

Carrying the Lessons Home

As we prepared to leave Indonesia, what stayed with many of us was not the technical presentations, but the people — volunteers who see themselves as caretakers of a shared resource, beneficiaries who speak plainly about everyday changes, and officials across ministries and local governments who work toward common goals. 

On our last day, we asked Mr. Sukandar, a volunteer member of the village water committee, why he continued to show up week after week to manage the local water system. He looked at us, slightly surprised by the question. “Because this is ours,” he said simply. “If we don’t take care of it, how will the system last?”

This is ours.

That sentence stayed with us all long after the visit ended. “This is ours.” In the end, that sense of ownership — supported by coordination, trust, and clear roles — may be the most transferable lesson of all.