Sector leadership and targeted investments are critical to improving access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), which in turn is linked to progress in development areas such as health, education, and economic growth, a report from WaterAid argues. The report, Off-Track, Off-Target: Why Investment in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Is Not Reaching Those Who Need It Most (68 pages, PDF), suggests that political priorities, constrained public-sector budgets, and lack of information impede equitable WASH policy making, and that aid is neither well coordinated nor targeted, its effectiveness hampered by red tape and inadequate alignment with government priorities. To break the cycle of low investment in WASH initiatives, the authors call for stronger government leadership and a minimum percentage of GDP to be spent on WASH programs; donor investments of $10 billion per year in the form of targeted grants (not loans), with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia; and for greater civil society engagement with WASH policy and finance.