Water Operator Partnership Workshop:

1

Water Operator Partnership Workshop Welcome
and Introductory Thoughts
Paul Reiter IWA
Executive Director

2
Welcome Introduction

• IWA welcomes you on its 60th birthday
• Special thanks to Vitens for sponsoring
• IWAs history built on a basic concept
  Utilities want to work together and utility
  self-help networks are very valuable
• Utilities have demonstrated and UNSGAB has
  acknowledged Utility partnerships can be
  successful in a development context under the
  right circumstances
• Challenge today Can we successfully stimulate
  and broker demanding S-S and N-S utility
  partnerships at scale, that sustain themselves
  over time? If so, how?

3
The Need

• Scope of unmet and underserved urban water and
  sanitation needs is huge
• Urban water systems are complex, expensive not
  suited to innoculation-style interventions
• Purely market-based solutions are not feasible in
  lower income countries
• Any strategy for sustainably advancing urban
  MDGs must have a core component
  ofutility-to-utility support mechansims

4
The Challenge

• Utilities are fundamentally self-absorbed with
  their own service area
• Significant legal, political and financial
  obstacles to providing support to others
• Successful twinning experiences require a decade
  of commitment
• Can utility-to-utility partnerships work without
  an enabling national framework and some form of
  fiscal support?

5
The Debate

• Is altruism a sufficient motivator for a decade
  long commitment?
• Can basic costs be offset?
• How and by whom?
• What kinds of enabling frameworks and financing
  mechanisms are best?
• Are there viable non-profit business models that
  provide the right all-around incentives?
• Is there a way to involve the expertise of fully
  commercial enterprises?

6
The Resolution

• Better understanding of both the demand and
  supply sides of the picture
• Development of potentially successful models
  suited to different circumstances
• Ongoing deployment and evaluation
• Sustained commitments