Water Operator Partnerships:Why use partnership approaches?
Business as usual is not enough
Today, almost 1 billion people live without access to improved drinking water sources and 2.5 billion lack access to improved sanitation. In order to reach Millennium Development Goal 7 (MDG7), access to sanitation has to be given to at least 1.5 billion and a safe water supply to 500 million before2015.
Although the situation is better for water supply than for sanitation, the business as usual scenario will be insufficient in achieving these targets.
Although each case differs in its complexity, common problems cut across many public water operators and municipal service providers, such as poor strategic management, weak financial and operational management, low funding priority, lack of a sound human resources policy, poor staff skills, absent or weak customer service orientation, political interference, and little or no independent regulation or oversight.
In the 1980s and 1990s, high expectations were raised by the involvement of the private sector in the provision of water and sanitation services. However, as it became clear that this involvement would not be enough to reach theMDG7 the WOPs was introduced as a useful mechanism for providing support for capacity building of public water operators and thereby help improve services to all consumers at a broader scale and at a higher speed.
As over 90% of the world’s water operators are public the role of public operators can not be denied. Several public operators have undergone substantial improvements in performance in partnership with others. They highlight the potential of public operators themselves to break the vicious cycle of performance decline.
The potential of WOPs multiplier effect
Although partnerships between water operators have existed for decades, the WOPs initiative provides a major and systematic approach to face the challenge of the water and sanitation sector, based on a mutual support approach between water operators and the belief that a well performing operator can act as template for other public operators to improve their performance.
Peer support has been the catalyst for transforming water operators from underperformers to champions. Many such operators, having received partner assistance, are then able to pass on their new knowledge to other partners, thereby generating a strong multiplier effect.
Mentoring and receiving operators may have different motives to enter into a WOP (see section 2.2) but there are at least six fundamental advantages to joining the WOPs initiative:
1. The right fit – WOPs are demand driven and tailor-made to meet the specific needs of the partners
2. Value for money – WOPs are an effective way of building know-how where and when needed
3. Inspirational support – WOPs help provide the inspiration to perform better
4. Public utilities and pro-poor – WOPs focus clearly on support between operators on a not-for-profit basis, rooted in a culture of solidarity
5. Anchoring capacity – WOPs aim to develop the resident human resource capacity within an operator, highlighting the key role that workers, as well as managers, play in the delivery of safe and accessible water and sanitation services
6. WOPs as a catalyst for reform – Improving services to the poor requires political commitment, financial support and a sound institutional network. WOPs may by help catalyze further improvements and build the momentum for upstream reforms.
A WOP can be defined as any form of simple or structured partnership between two (or more) water operators that:
• provides professional support for capacity building based on mutual trust,
• is based on not-for-profit principles (though costs should be recovered, partly or in full; see section 2.2),
• is results-oriented according to agreed terms, and
• is based on good governance principles (integrity, transparency and accountability).
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