A/HRC/5/3 page 20 Small Town Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project, and Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Development Board, focus on a demand-driven, participatory cost-sharing approach.39 The projects are implemented by NGOs and community-based organizations (CBOs), and have resulted in 77.5 per cent of the population having access to drinking water in 2004/2005.40 42. Bangladesh has also made major achievements in this area, with 99 per cent of the urban population, 97 per cent of rural population and 97.4 per cent of overall population in 2003 having access to safe drinking water. Moreover, the success of the Grameen Bank shows the importance placed on community participation. 43. Monitoring and accountability however, still remain the weakest aspects of the implementation of a rights-based approach to development. The existence, in most countries of the region, of democratic political systems makes possible the setting up of the monitoring and accountability procedures that are an essential ingredient of the rights-based approach to development. However, electoral democracy on its own is seldom enough to guarantee accountability. An extensive institutional framework needs to be in place, including a well functioning parliament and parliamentary committees, semi-judicial institutions such as a human rights commission and ombudsmen, and an effective system of decentralization. An example of a step in the right direction has been the setting up, by the Government of Nepal, of a Participatory Poverty Monitoring (PPM) mechanism for institutionalizing participatory monitoring whereby tools such as citizens’ report cards, social audits, budget reviews by civil society groups and parliamentary reviews of programme and policy performance complement information generated by PMAS (Poverty Monitoring and Analysis System). C. Poverty reduction in the European Union through social protection and social inclusion 44. Despite the overall image that prosperity and well-being prevail in the European Union (EU), nearly 16 per cent of the EU population is living at risk-of-poverty.41 The “at risk-of-poverty rate” is defined as the “share of persons with an equivalized disposable income, before social transfers below the risk-of-poverty threshold, which is set at 60 per cent of the national median equivalized disposable income (after social transfers)”. Twenty per cent of children (under 16 years) in the EU are at risk of poverty.42 Poverty reduction is one of the top 39 Nepal: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, IMF Country Report No. 03/305, September 2003. 40 Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP), 2005. 41 At risk of poverty after social transfers in percentage of Eurostat, at http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1996,39140985&_dad=portal&_schema=P ORTAL&screen=detailref&language=en&product=sdi_ps&root=sdi_ps/sdi_ps/sdi_ps1000. 42 At risk of poverty rate after social transfers, by age group percentage, at http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1996,39140985&_dad=portal&_schema=P ORTAL&screen=detailref&language=en&product=sdi_ps&root=sdi_ps/sdi_ps/sdi_ps_mon/sdi_ ps1112.