EU and UN Habitat launch second phase of Water Operators’ Partnerships Programme

On the 5th of November, at the 12th session of the World Urban Forum held in Cairo, Egypt, the European Commission, in partnership with UN-Habitat, announced the launch of the second phase of the European Union’s Water Operators’ Partnerships Programme (EU-WOP). The second phase of this programme will be implemented from 2025 to 2030 with an additional € 14 million in funding – representing a significant expansion relative to the first phase, which had a budget of € 9 million. 

The EU-WOP programme responds to current global challenges in providing access to water and sanitation services through utilities’ peer-to-peer partnerships for capacity-building and performance improvements. Water is seen as central to the EU’s partnerships around the world: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has previously stressed the importance of operators in the realisation of Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water and sanitation, as well as in the achievement of the Paris climate goals.

More specifically, the EU-WOP initiative aims to increase access to water and sanitation services, improve operators’ capacity and performance, and mobilise financial resources for utilities. Given the significant financial resources that are required to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 on water and sanitation, the EU-WOP Programme aims to strengthen utilities’ financial sustainability and facilitate access to finance for service improvements or extensions. The programme also aims to strengthen WOP know-how such that more operators can enter into productive partnerships. 

“This new phase the EU-WOP will build on the successes of Phase I by establishing new partnerships and enhancing existing ones, focusing on strengthening the linking of partnerships with investments, improving digitalisation, and advancing the human rights to water and sanitation”, said Sergio Oliete Josa, Head of Unit Sustainable Transport and Urban Development of the European Commission Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA), at the programme launch press conference of the 12th World Urban Forum. The call for proposals under this programme is expected to be launched in the second quarter of 2025.

The EU-WOP programme will be implemented by the Global Water Operators’ Partnerships Alliance (GWOPA) hosted by UN Habitat.  

Current Trends in Water Operators’ Partnerships 

A Water Operators’ Partnership (WOP) can be described as long term, not-for-profit peer support partnership between water operators. The WOP concept emerged in 2006 within the Hashimoto Action Plan drafted by the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB). This plan recognised that publicly owned water operators provide more than 90% of the world’s piped water, and proposed capacity building support through peer-to-peer partnerships. 

Currently, the GWOPA database has registered at least 475 WOPs which are in operation around the world. Essentially, in a WOP, peer to peer knowledge and experience is provided and exchanged between water and sanitation operators in order to improve peer utilities’ operations and extend their service. Although the general objective is usually to improve performance, the way in which this is achieved tends to vary quite a lot from one project to the next. 

Starting with the budgets and timeframes, the project costs can vary from several thousand USD to several million USD and can typically last between one and five years (in the case of the EU-WOPs, there is a commitment to longer term partnerships lasting between 3 to 5 years). In many countries, the options available to water operators to mobilise economic resources for international cooperation projects can be limited by law, which means that alternative options to mobilise resources towards the improvement of utility performance need to be explored. In this sense, it is very important to mobilise supplementary funding from for public institutions such as the European Union.

In addition, WOP budgets are not purely financial in nature: typically, they feature a combination between direct financial support – or the leveraging of financial support – with indirect, in-kind support. Usually, because of the peer-to-peer nature of a WOP, the value of the in-kind support is greater than the value of the direct financial support. In the case of the EU-WOPs, the project budget during the first phase varied between USD 109,000 and 703,000, whereby the in-kind contribution that is leveraged typically accounts for some 75% of the budget.   

Secondly, within a WOP, the areas in which expertise is shared also varies quite considerably from one project to the next. Projects may involve the provision of technical expertise, such as approaches for the maintenance of water distribution systems and reduction of internal water losses. They may also involve efforts to achieve organisational improvements, e.g. in the areas of leadership and management, financial planning, human resources, and professional customer communication. 

The Results from Phase I of the EU-WOPs

In the first phase of the EU Water Operators’ Partnerships programme, which has been running since 2020, providing funding and technical support to 22 Water Operators’ Partnerships supporting 35 utilities in developing countries aimed at improving the capacity and performance of partner utilities. These partnerships -each of them between two or more utilities – operate usually for a period of 36 months.

The projects were selected from a total of 140 proposals received under the EU-WOP programme call, and they were launched at the 4th Global WOPs Congress in October 2021. In Phase I, of the 22 WOPs within the EU-WOP programme, 14 were on the African continent, 4 were in South Asia, 2 in Latin America, 1 in Oceania and 1 in the Middle East. 

Because WOPs tend to differ from one another in terms of important aspects such as their project objectives, scale, and duration, it is difficult to draw simplified conclusions about their impact. Nevertheless, some general observations can be made. Thus, in the first phase many WOPs reported contributing to the improvement of their key performance indicators, most notably the expansion of active water and sanitation connections in their service areas as well as the reduction of non-revenue water (i.e. reduced commercial and physical losses). Many utilities also experienced improved efficiency in the collection of service bills, improved customer relations and improved gender balance in decision making. All utilities also experienced improved organisational capacities because of the partnerships, with more than 400 staff members having received training during the first phase. 

It should be mentioned also that the improvements that are or can be achieved by a WOP are dependent on the state of the infrastructure that is being managed. Although a lot of WOP projects involve peer to peer learning and are focused on capacity development, whether improvements are achieved in the existing infrastructure depends to a large extent on whether the funds can be mobilised to achieve this.  

Example: Strengthening Capacity of Luapula Utility in Zambia

In Zambia, the Luapula Water Supply and Sanitation Company (LpWSSC) identified capacity gaps that affect its performance in service provision. As a project in the first phase of the EU-WOPs, the LpWSSC entered into a WOP with the Märkischer Abwasser- und Wasserzweckverband (MAWV), a German utility in Königs Wusterhausen, with the support of a second German utility, the Dahme- Nuthe Wasser- und Abwasserbetriebsgesellschaft. MAWV was later replaced by the Stadtentwässerung Dresden GmbH (SEDD), and an agreement between LpWSSCC and SEDD was signed in August 2023, effective until December 2024. 

The aims of the WOP were to support the implementation of an infrastructure improvement programme by strengthening the institution and building staff capacities both in terms of technical know-how and in terms of managerial skills. The key focal areas of the WOP were the reduction of non-revenue water, attention for operation and maintenance processes, the management of company assets, customer relations and organisational development. The expected outcomes of the partnership included the improved financial viability of the LpWSSC, improved cost recovery, and improved provision of safe drinking water services to low-income communities in urban and peri-urban areas of Luapula Province.

The project had a total budget of USD 349,911 USD, with an additional 87,786 USD which is provided in the form of in-kind support.  In the area of water production, a new laboratory has been established and staff has been trained on testing procedures to ensure adequate water quality. In the area of water distribution, work has been done to ensure systematic leakage detection and pressure management to reduce network losses. In the area of human resources development, the staff has been trained in areas such as operations, maintenance, and customer relations. 

Currently, one key area in which results have been achieved through the partnership include improved water production and quality. LpWSC has increased the number of active water connections from 9,000 in 2021 to 20,000 by 2024, thereby improving access to reliable and safely managed water for the beneficiary communities. In addition, the quality of water has significantly improved, with 93% of required checks for E.Coli being successfully carried out.

In the area of leakage management, systematic leak detection has been implemented, resulting in the reduction of physical water losses and contributing to a more solid understanding of commercial losses. In the area of infrastructure development, the LpWSSC has a new wastewater treatment plant which has become operational, enabling biological treatment of wastewater. Currently the connection of households to the wastewater treatment facility is ongoing. 

Example: Pro-Poor WASH Access in Kenya 

In another EU-WOP project during Phase I, Kisumu Water and Sanitation Co. Ltd (KIWASCO), located in Kisumu, Kenya, partnered with five beneficiary utilities in Kenya: KACUWASCO in Kakamega County, MOWASCO in Mombasa City, Amatsi Water Water and Sewerage Co. in Vihiga County, Kiambu Water and Sewerage Co. in Kiambu County, and Oloolaiser Water and Sewerage Services Co. in Kajiado County. The central aim of this partnership was to ensure the realisation of the right to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene by extending services to some 250,000 people in lo-income areas in the various Counties.  

This required a focus on water distribution and the management of water services in low-income areas, with attention for other issues such as gender mainstreaming and social inclusion. Amongst others, this included governance issues such as the representation on the board of representatives from low-income areas as well, the embedding of pro-poor structures within the organogram of the WOP, and joint monitoring of service delivery through community consultations and the establishment of feedback mechanisms.

The costs of connections to lower income areas were reduced by introducing a social connection policy that included a revolving fund to support connections in low-income areas. For the mentee utilities, benchmarking and inclusion of pro-poor indicators were included in their operations, including a pro-poor business model, a well-resourced budget for poorer areas, and the incorporation of lower income area investment plans into corporate planning. 

This WOP had a total project budget of USD 752,676, of which USD 355,049 was provided by the counterpart and USD 397,627 was provided through an EU grant. This WOP has provided instrumental support to investments which extended services to an additional 239,925 people to be reached with WASH services since the commencement of the project. 

 

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}