Supporting ACWUA’s Utilities Management and Utilities Reform Technical Working Groups (TWGs))

Overview of the Action

The overall aim of the project is the activation and successful operation of the Utilities Management (UM) and Utilities Reform (UR) TWGs according to ACWUA’s mandate and objectives which is to improve the performance and service provision by water and sanitation utilities to end users in the Arab region. The mandate and objectives of the TWGs were developed to include the following:

• Knowledge Centre: to share information on specific utilities Operation and Maintenance (O&M) topics, technology development, new approaches for management of utilities, utility reform approaches, regional and international best practices, and experiences, develop and adapt guidelines and standards etc.
• Advisory Capacity: to provide advice and best practices on a wide range of utilities management and utilities reform topics including but not limited to cost recovery, Non-Revenue Water (NRW), water for the poor, tariff structures, decentralization, private sector participation and public private partnerships, commercialization, affordable technologies, energy efficiency, asset management and building the capacity of the regional utilities.
• Forum for Agreement on Frameworks and Guiding Principles: to have a regional focus, and at the core of this represents a forum for developing regional frameworks and guiding principles that incorporate into national policies and programs and adopted at utility level.
• Opportunities for Twinning and Water Operators Partnerships (WOPs) in the Region; to explore the opportunities of exchanging regional experience in utilities management and utilities reform and organizing twinning opportunities between water utilities in the region.

Objectives of the action

• Pave the way for sustainable implementation of the TWG activities with a goal of supporting the management and reform of the utilities with the following:
• Developing training modules and capacity building programs to serve as the next stage of utilizing the outcomes and recommendations of the TWGs.
• Designing pilot projects based on best practices developed by the TWG in the water utilities whereby recommendations are implemented and tracked to establish impact.
• Twinning program for utilities that enable the exchange of knowledge and experience and best practices.
• Designing monitoring and evaluation plan that tracks the performance of the TWG and study the outcomes of the program and its resulting impact, paving the way for any possible modifications that are considered necessary to further improve the performance and effectiveness of the TWGs.

Results of the action (Outcomes & outputs)

• 4 reports produced from the TWG are:
- Water Utilities Reform in The Arab Region (Lessons Learned and Guiding Principles) English & Arabic
- Water Utilities Management in The Arab Region (Lessons Learned and Guiding Principles) English & Arabic
- Water Utilities Reform in The Arab Region (Case Studies from The Arab Region)
- Water Utilities Management in The Arab Region (Case Studies from The Arab Region)