A powerpoint presented by Sally Sutton, Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN). There is a growing awareness of the investment people have made and could make in their own water supply in rural areas. This could be built upon especially if productive use brings a return on investment. The Self Supply approach largely removes the dilemmas of co-ordinating joint sector investments from agriculture and domestic water supply for multiple uses (see MUS Laos discussion), concentrating less on funded implementation and more on creating an enabling environment for people to develop their own solutions. As it is less a top-down donor approach and more a marketing of products and skills, there is a need to think of water supply less in terms of a necessary service and more as user defined solutions which should employ marketing principles for their growth. This in turn highlights some of the areas in which conventional rural water supply is weakest in its understanding of consumer attitudes and practices, which particularly affects sustainability. Marketing approaches to encourage and enable private investment among people who are poor (but generally find a way to attain goals if they really want to achieve them) form an area of common interest to MUS and Self Supply.