Water

ADB Approves Bridge Fund for WOPs 21 Jul 2011 ADB has recently approved bridge financing from the Water Financing Partnership Facility to support the continuation of the WOPs Program, particularly twinning activities in selected countries in the region. These twinning arrangements are: Tonga Water Board (Tonga) and Manukau Water (New Zealand) Eda Ranu in Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea) and City West Water (Australia) PNG Water Board (Papua New Guinea) and Hunter Valley Water (Australia) Zheng Zhou Water Supply Corporation (China, People’s Republic of) and City West Water (Australia) Nampapa Nakhone Luang (Lao PDR) and Phnom Pehn Water Supply Authority (Cambodia) Davao City Water District (Philippines) and Vitens Evides International (Netherlands) Two utilities in the People’s Republic of China, the Baotou Water Supply and the Chongqing Sanxia Water Utility Company are awaiting potential mentor utilities. Multiple recipient twinning partnerships will also be established in Cambodia with Phnom Pehn Water Supply Authority PPWSA as mentor Lao PDR with the Provincial Waterworks Authority of Thailand as mentor ADB in partnership with regional and national associations such as Southeast Asia Water Utilities Network (SEAWUN), Pacific Water and Wastes Association (PWWA), and China Urban Water Association (CUWA) have been jointly promoting and supporting twinning partnerships and other capacity building initiatives for water operators in the Asia-Pacific region. Bridge financing has also been approved for continuing the operations of the WOPs Secretariat.

Exemplary water utilities are being tapped to help the region’s developing utilities enhance their operational efficiency. ADB’s Water Operators Partnerships (WOPs) Program matches a stronger water and sanitation utility (expert) with a developing utility (recipient) to enable the latter to improve service coverage and delivery, financial sustainability, and other aspects of performance. There is no commercial motive in WOPs’ twinning; it is essentially a case of one utility helping out another.

Read the brochure: Power of Two—Boosting Performance Through Twinning

Under the WOPs Program, ADB proposes to support 10 twins.  As of 31 December 2009, there are 9 twins that have signed agreements and carried out work programs, while 2 have yet to conduct diagnostic assessments. The twins are:

Most twins have completed their diagnostic visit and agreed immediate areas of concern and settled on a work program. Substantial work has occurred including visits between twins. Most twin programs have concluded in December 2009, but a number will continue to engage in twinning beyond 2009.

ADB’s approach to twinning covers the following steps

• Identify “experts”
• Identify expertise offered
• Canvas recipients and their needs
• Seek compatibility in size, culture, and language
• Observe experts and recipient candidates in workshop conditions
• Offer possible candidates to the “expert” before approaching the recipient
• Once a recipient twin agrees, conduct onsite brief diagnostic study by “expert” and ADB facilitators
• Agree on priorities with recipient twin and expert, based on the diagnostic study
• Use the diagnostics to test the “chemistry” of the twinning relationship
• Conclude diagnostic with a signed agreement, including work plan, committed resources, and ADB budget support

Standard operating procedures (Twinning Guidelines) has been developed to offer further guidance to both expert and recipient twins. Examples of twinning workplans are available though these are dynamic and are constantly adjusted in the light of on-site experiences.

Overall, the twinning approach to improving utilities has delivered excellent and encouraging results. NRW has been reduced, better customer service is in place and training methods have improved as well as a host of other operating practices. Improvements continue to flow, with attention given to employee competencies, strategic planning, use of key performance indicators and specific operational services.

Twinning has produced many spinoffs. The network of twins enables any twin to contact others direct or through the ADB facilitator team to resolve a problem or obtain some information.

Twinning, however, is not a 100% success activity. There have been some disappointments as could be expected. Twinning is only one activity within a utility and often other priorities may edge it out. Several recipient twins were unable to capitalize on their access to an expert partly due to other priorities, changing key staff members and operating culture. In other cases workloads and access to funding has caused delays in completing the agreed work program.

• South Asian Water Utilities Network (SAWUN)
• South East Asian Water Utilities Network (SEAWUN)
• Central Asian and Southern Caucasus Water Utilities Association (CASCWUA)
• WaterLinks
• International Water Association (IWA)
• Australian Water Association (AWA)*
• Pacific Water and WasteWater Association (PWWA)