Overview

How can utility partnerships make a difference in achieving the sustainability goals of the 2030 Agenda? What was achieved in the pilot phase of the Utility Platform? What will the follow-up phase look like? These questions were the focus of the seventh networking event of the Utility Platform and were answered impressively.

Almost 100 participants from 16 utility partnerships and eight countries (Albania, Germany, Jordan, Moldova, Zambia, South Africa, Tanzania, Ukraine) as well as associations, NGOs and the implementing organisations SKEW and GIZ followed the invitation of the Utility Platform to Dresden for the seventh networking event on 25 and 26 April 2024. The atmosphere was very lively: professionally very focussed, humanly warm and relaxed.

Heiko Heidemann (GIZ), project manager of the Utility Platform, summarised the following highlights in his review of the last five years:

• With a slight delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, four partnerships were launched in 2021; today there are 28.
• While the majority of partnerships are between municipal water companies, the 28 partnerships now also include three partnerships between waste management companies.
• Despite, or perhaps because of, the escalation of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the number of (solidarity) utility partnerships with Ukrainian companies has grown from one to 16.
• All participating companies report visible effects from the cooperation: improved management processes and operating procedures, more efficient use of resources, reduction of water losses, cost savings and improvements in drinking water quality and wastewater treatment processes.
• The Ukrainian water suppliers received important technical equipment to maintain the water supply through the solidarity utility partnerships. Almost 60 German companies were able to donate urgently needed goods for the Ukrainian water sector via the logistics and donation hub coordinated by GIZ and VKU.
• The German water suppliers gained an understanding of how a lot can be achieved with much more limited resources and that planning processes can also be uncomplicated, unbureaucratic and experimental.

All participants emphasised the good personal relationship that has grown over the years. This was also reflected in the hashtags such as #hospitality, #trust, #colleaguestofriends, #sharingandcaring and #waternations, which they gave to their partnerships

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Insights

Anne Le Strat, former deputy mayor of Paris and chairwoman of the Parisian water supplier Eau de Paris as well as co-founder of Aqua Publica Europea, the association of public water suppliers in Europe, emphasised three key points in her presentation on the role of water suppliers and their partnerships:

• Approaches should not be too technically orientated, but the legal as well as institutional framework is often more crucial, she said. This includes leadership responsibility in the context of a clear vision, the involvement of the civilian population through a multi-stakeholder approach and the formation of alliances and partnerships for the exchange of experience as well as for influencing the political framework conditions.
• The Global Water Operators' Partnership Alliance (GWOPA) is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year and has achieved a great deal in this time: over 400 partnerships with more than 500 water suppliers from over 70 countries are involved and are improving the living conditions of over 50 million people. Operator partnerships have developed into a successful global instrument. The German Utility Platform fits in very well with this global community.
• Nevertheless, the challenges are immense: 2.2 billion people have no access to safe drinking water, 3.5 billion have no access to safely managed sanitation and 2 billion lack the most basic hygiene products. As national governments have failed in many countries, the time has come for local institutions and governments to take the lead.

Gerlinde Sauer, senior officer in the ‘Federal States and Municipalities’ division at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), referred back to the beginnings. At the beginning of the pilot phase, it was not certain whether it would be possible to promote utility partnerships via the Utility Platform in a strategic manner. ‘In the meantime, this mission has been fulfilled in an excellent way and expectations have even been exceeded,’ Gerlinde Sauer said enthusiastically.

Results

All participants confirmed that the operator partnerships have contributed to significant improvements in their companies. They are all willing to continue their partnership. The trust and solidarity that has grown between them forms a crucial basis for effective cooperation.

The networking events are very important for cross-partnership dialogue in order to work together on solutions and learn from other experts.

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) confirmed that there will be a further support phase for the Utility Platform from July 2024. The aim will then be to integrate partnerships into bilateral GIZ development cooperation projects in the partner countries and more intensive cooperation with GWOPA is planned.