large share of investments is financed by donors, including by the World Bank. Communities contribute to the initial capital costs. In 2009 the World Bank's Water and Sanitation Program and the government of Rwanda completed a study of Rwanda's funding mechanisms for water and sanitation which found that "existing financing modalities are highly fragmented and not appropriate for consistent financing of an ambitious water sector program". A new financing option recommended by the study was awaiting government approval in October 2009. It proposes a pooled Water and Sanitation Fund that would handle both government and donor contributions through the same national procedures. Districts would submit projects based on their regular planning procedures while a unit managing the Fund would appraise and monitor the projects. The Fund would be established under a new water supply and sanitation authority. External cooperation Donors in the Rwandan rural water sector follow a unified implementation framework which is based on the government's national strategy and program and medium-term expenditure framework. According to the Rwandan Development Gateway, in 2005 Rwanda's "achievements in establishing an aid coordination, harmonization, and alignment framework are being recognized as international best-practice." This is significant progress compared to the observation in the government's 2002 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, which had observed "a piecemeal and uncoordinated approach" among donors in the sector and had called for a sector-wide approach. The World Bank supported rural water supply and sanitation through a series of projects, including the US$72.3 million water supply 02 project (1987–1998) and the US$20 million Rural Water and Sanitation Project (2000–2007). The latter has provided 352,000 people with access to improved water services by December 2006. At the same time more than 12 percent of the 830 water-piped systems existing in the country were privately managed. The World Bank rated the project highly satisfactory in its 2008 completion report. In 2005 the European Union (EU) signed a contract with the Rwandan government for a major water project in the Bugesera Region (Kigali rural) worth 16 billion Rwandan francs (Euro 23.24 million). The water project will benefit the four districts of Kanzenze, Gashora, Bicumbi and Kanombe in the eastern part of Kigali city. The African Development Bank has recently committed US$12 million to rural water supply and sanitation. The British and Belgian governments also support water supply and sanitation projects in Rwanda. In 2009 the Government of the Netherlands has committed US$22 million