DEVELOPING CAPACITIES AND AWARENESS IN FINANCING

Report on the Outcomes of a Programme of Workshops in

West and East Africa and Central Asia & Caucasus Regions

Activities carried out

Three MS regional workshops: West Africa – Ougadougou East Africa – Nairobi C. Asia & Caucasus - Tbilisi

Each region followed up with activities at country level. Ghana Uganda 8 countries in Caucasus and C Asia

Some Identified Needs

Studies to identify in more detail the bottlenecks to the release of funds and the reforms needed to streamline financial flows.

Capacity Development programmes on financing in particular for those with devolved responsibilities.

Better targeted Advocacy for higher fund allocations for water, e.g. through the IWRM planning process.

More interaction between water experts and finance officials.

Reforms to governance systems to attract investment. Engagement with others to make water a priority in key

national strategy documents.

Some Specific Outcomes

Political momentum in Africa: Ministerial Statement agreed by AMCOW ministers at their Brazzaville meeting in May 2007.

Increased awareness and understanding of financing issues across a broad range of water stakeholders.

Links made between water and finance officials. Understanding of the importance of IWRM for

leveraging finance and using it better. GWP-E Africa: follow up planned for country level

roundtable in Eritrea. GWP-Central Asia and Caucasus: training workshops

planned with link to the newly formed Water Utilities Network.

Ghana roundtable

Development of a programme for the Densu River Basin and financing of basin management entities.

Explore the use of innovative mechanisms for financing, e.g. ‘ecological tax’ for local governments for water resources and ecosystem protection.

Proposal to set up a Depreciation Fund for replacement of fixed assets.

Address water financing issues as part of the decentralisation process. Removing blockages in the flow of funds to local entities responsible for water services/projects and creating micro-finance credit schemes.

Uganda roundtable

Water a low priority for government and the focus on budget support reduces access to funds.

Important to make better use of NGOs and local private sector to fill gap left by govt and donors.

Need to tackle escalating cost of infrastructure and services: avoid corruption, introduce benchmarking to monitor costs.

How can we Help?

Support to AMCOW to keep financing water on the political agenda.

design capacity development programmes on financing matters to capitalise on the awareness raised and political interest. Further develop training material building on that of CapNet and the EUWI-FWG.

Ensure IWRM plans address financing, and are included in National Development Plans (eg Mali).

Carry out a similar programme of workshops in Southern Africa and Caribbean (with CDB).