Catalog

	Table of Contents
p. 11 of 13 BACK | NEXT I. The Context II. The Need For a Comprehensive Water Policy III. The Policy A. An Overview B. National Policies and Reforms C. Water Resource Management D. Improving Water Services E. Conserving Water F. Promoting Regional Cooperation G. Fostering Participation H. Improving Governance IV. The Policy and ADB's Poverty Reduction Strategy V. Getting the Policy to Work

Water For All: The Water Policy of the Asian Development Bank : III. The Policy

---

H. Improving Governance

55. Core Concepts. The finite nature of water requires ADB to promote the governance of its conservation and management to the highest possible standards. Legal and regulatory systems in the DMCs need to ensure that water service providers and resource managers are held accountable by law for their performance relative to prescribed standards. The allocation of water to high-value uses is a matter of economic accountability and ADB will support the DMCs in developing appropriate methodologies for improved allocative efficiencies. Externalities, especially social and environmental, will be taken into account in the allocation. The promotion of participation involving public, private, community, and NGO stakeholders is a key element of this policy. The quality of predictability will depend on the existence of laws, regulations, and policies to regulate water sector activities, and their fair and consistent application. Likewise, transparency will be most effective when governments ensure the timely availability of information about water policies and projects to the general public, and provide clarity about government rules, regulations, and decisions in the sector. ADB will work to establish appropriate standards of predictability and transparency in line with its anticorruption policy.²¹ It will dialogue with governments to modify their roles and increasingly adopt functions of a regulatory nature.

56. Building Capacity. Sector capacities require strengthening in a variety of ways. The policy environment, the sector institutions, and the development of human resources working in the sector, all need upgrading. Public, private, NGO, and community organizations active in the sector need help with institutional development and analysis, water policy formulation, legislation, water resource planning, real-time management of basin operations, data management and interpretation, simulation modeling and other analytical techniques, socioeconomic analysis and skills, community skills, and monitoring and evaluation. ADB will help determine priorities in capacity building and selectively assist its partners through a process of monitoring, training, research, and feedback. Good practices will be cross-fertilized and agencies encouraged to adopt systems of incentives that create the demand for improved capacity.

57. Capacities in the private sector to manage water services efficiently are relatively stronger than in the public sector. Much of the required capacity-building effort will be focused on the national approach and the need for integrated water resource management. Resources will need to be invested cost effectively in the public sector. ADB will promote the development of sustainable plans for capacity building; these will include the establishment of indigenous institutional arrangements for skills development at basic and advanced levels. The plans will incorporate processes that allow the sharing of subregional or regional experiences.

58. Developing Synergy. Knowledge and skills are essential to improved governance and the water sector is no exception. To optimize the work of knowledge and skills development institutions, and to promote regional self-help, a regional research and capacity-building network among these institutions provides a cost-effective approach. The network could offer a comprehensive program of short- and long-term courses in member institutions throughout the region, combined with case study research, on-the-job training scholarships in resource management agencies and service providers, and short executive seminars for high-level decision makers. In practical terms, a regional network such as this will enable (i) improved and dedicated research on key water management subjects, (ii) sharing of research capacities and research results, (iii) broadening of the pool of skilled personnel in the region, (iv) opportunities for the region to relate with the experiences and skills in other regions, and (v) promotion of a stronger sense of awareness of water management problems and prospects in the region. Countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations have already recognized the merits of such a network. ADB will dialogue with its development partners to jointly establish the network as a complementary capacity building ingredient in the water sector.

____________________

Back G. Fostering Participation	Next IV. The Policy and ADB's Poverty Reduction Strategy