Water

Central Asia and South Caucasus Water Utilities Association- CASCWUA
About CASCWUA

The Central Asia and South Caucasus Water Utilities Association (CASCWUA) is a new organization of water utilities committed to improving the water services of its members. Background Establishment of CASCWUA Vision and Mission Key Strategies Governing Body Related Links Contacts

MORE ABOUT CASCWUA • Main page • About CASCWUA • CASCWUA Program of Activities • Continuous Improvement and Benchmarking • CASCWUA in Motion • Members' Corner

The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) reflect the global community's commitment to reduce poverty over the next decade. MDG 7, which calls for environmental sustainability, lists as targets the halving of the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation by 2015.

The North and Central Asia region plays a key role in meeting the MDG commitment. Asia Water Watch 2015 indicates that of the subregion’s 216 million people, 19 million still lack access to water supply and 44 million are still without adequate sanitation facilities in 2002.

Unfortunately, progress in the water sector has been slow, and many countries in the subregion have shown little or no improvement over the years. Other countries have even declined in terms of coverage. This declining coverage is characteristic of the overall economic decline and disruption of many service institutions in the former Soviet Union countries during the early years of independence. Not one country is projected to meet the sanitation target.

Bringing together water utilities and associations of utilities under a formal structure dedicated to building their capacity, expanding their knowledge base, and fostering performance improvement can help countries in the subregion meet the MDG targets on water supply and sanitation. With this in mind, ADB and the Global Water Partnership embarked on a partnership to establish such a network in the Central Asia region. ADB has already established 2 similar networks for Southeast and South Asia.

Water utilities from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan agreed to form the Central Asian and South Caucasus Water Utilities Association (CASCWUA). In an Almaty conference last 12-13 November, the utilities agreed on the objectives and activities of the network, including performance benchmarking, twinning, and capacity development.

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Participants to the Almaty conference signed the Almaty Declaration [ENG] [RUS], which laid the grounds for establishing this new water utilities network.

Participants to the workshop

• elected members to the Steering Committee
• discussed financing mechanisms for sustaining the network
• discussed a program of action for 2007-2008
• appointed an acting Executive Director
• agreed to formally organize and register the Steering Committee in Kazakhstan

CASCWUA will realize its mission through the following key strategies:

• Establishment and maintenance of a small permanent office with a part time Executive Director and two full time program assistants
• Development and implementation of an annual and long-term action plan that covers, among others, the key issues to be addressed, regional and cross-border projects, and resource generation activities to sustain the network
• Development and maintenance of a shared information database, including a website
• Development and oversight of the Water Operators Partnerships (WOPs) twinning program
• Conduct of knowledge development and dissemination activities
• Establishment of cooperation with bodies holding similar objectives, e.g. national water and wastewater associations, South and Southeast Asian Water Utilities Networks, etc
• Monitoring of program performance and achievement of mission and vision

The CASCWUA will be governed by the following entities:

• Almaty Declaration [ENGLISH] [RUSSIAN]
• CASCWUA Concept [ENGLISH] [RUSSIAN]
• CASCWUA Terms and Conditions [ENGLISH] [RUSSIAN]
• CASCWUA Program of Activities [ENGLISH] [RUSSIAN]

Paul van Klaveren
Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist, ADB
E-mail: pvanklaveren@adb.org

Mai Flor
Water Governance Specialist, ADB
Email: mflor@adb.org