Water

Comments on the Interim Review of ADB's Water Policy Implementation

I would like to commend ADB for the open and wide consultation process during the Interim Review of ADB's Water Policy Implementation. The comments proposed below are personal and cannot engage the organization that employs me.

1. The draft Interim Review Report is not a stand-alone document but should be read with the ADB Water Policy and with references to several other documents. I tried to do this work.



2. The Interim Review gives us the opportunity to get a clearer picture on procedurals implications regarding approving, supporting and financing of water projects. That is very positive.



3. The three topics under assessment are adequate but is ADB also assessing the effectiveness of the water policy itself by looking at approaches and lessons learned to allow adjustment to an always evolving environment?



4. The challenge of an interim review is to allow an organization to make progress and not achieve perfection (an impossible objective), and the recommendations made for improvement in project design and implementation are very relevant. It is very true that countries better positioned for water sector projects are those with comprehensive national water policies and ongoing water sector reforms. Unfortunately, there are not many. The recommendation chapter stressed the need to develop Guidelines and Checklists for project design. I guess that these instruments should entail elements that address country specificities and therefore proposed adjusted water policy actions...In addition they should be practical, implemental, sequenced and define priority actions. Demanding but a fundamental task…