75802 October 2012 PPIAF Assistance in Middle East and North Africa The Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA) is the most water scarce region in the world, and one half of MENA’s population lives under conditions of water stress . The global average water availability per person is approximately 7,000 m³/person/year, significantly higher than in the MENA region, where access is restricted to only 1,200 m³/person/year. In addition, MENA’s rapidly growing population, forecast to grow from around 300 million today to around 500 million in 2025, is expected to result in per capita availability halving by 2050. This situation requires MENA’s governments to look for solutions to increase water supply and decrease water losses in order to ensure sustainable water supply for their population. Although many countries in the MENA region have made progress in increasing access to improved water supply and sewerage services, the quality of these services can still improve significantly in terms of operational and financial performance, as well as customer satisfaction. One potential tool for the region’s governments is to leverage operational efficiencies and financing from the private sector to improve performance in the water sector. As a result, PPIAF has provided significant support regionally to disseminate knowledge and build capacity on public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the water sector to government officials across the region. Technical Assistance for MENA’s Water and Sanitation Sector Support to the Arab Water Council PPIAF’s first regional activity in the water sector provided support to the Arab Water Council. Established in 2004, the Arab Water Council is a non-profit regional organization that brings together water professionals, think tanks, politicians, and the private sector from across the Council’s 22 member countries. The Arab Water Council aims to promote efficient water resource management by disseminating knowledge and sharing lessons learned to improve sector development and strategies in the Arab region. The Arab Water Council has supported the promotion of private sector involvement in the region’s water sector with the aim of improving the coverage, quality, and sustainability of water services. To this end the Arab Water Council co-sponsored a water PPP conference in November 2007. To maintain momentum following the conference, the Arab Water Council requested PPIAF support to enable it to continue actively promoting the viability of PPPs in the water sector through facilitating the exchange of regional and world best practice guidelines and cases, and in developing a database of pipeline projects in the region for creating more business opportunities for private sector partners. PPIAF funds supported the development of a web-based PPP water portal to be hosted by the Arab Water Council website to raise awareness and build consensus among water professionals, politicians, decision makers, and water users in the MENA region regarding the opportunities for PPPs in the water sector and help build the capacity of the MENA water community for the preparation and implementation of projects that involve the private sector. The portal was designed to provide information and links to: i) relevant worldwide guidelines, toolkits, and case studies, as well as Arabic translations of the most relevant sections of these materials; ii) materials related to earlier PPP water projects in the Arab Water Council member countries as well as Arabic translations of the most relevant sections of these materials; and iii) a database on pipeline PPP water projects in the Arab Water Council member countries. The Arab Water Council PPP Water Portal was effectively launched and is fully operational. The Portal contains many case studies, reports, and guideline documents on water projects in the MENA region. It is being used by stakeholders across the region to build capacity and facilitate dissemination of case studies. It also provides a forum for discussion among stakeholders in the water sector. 1 Regional Seminar on PPP Experiences in Water and Sanitation In 2009 PPIAF provided support, through the International Finance Corporation (IFC), to develop a learning event on PPPs in the water sector to provide public and private investor views for government leaders. The program was designed to help government leaders understand the role of PPPs in managing and responding to infrastructure deficits, and allow them to analyze the appropriateness of a project for a PPP scheme. The capacity building program was intended as a catalyst for greater private sector involvement in infrastructure as one tool to mitigate ongoing infrastructure deficits, particularly in the water sector. PPIAF funding was requested in August 2009 to support the organization of a two-day workshop on PPPs in the water sector (municipal water, waste water, and desalination). The conference took place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on November 4 –5, 2009. The overall objective of the conference was to educate select public sector participants from around the world on different ways of involving the private sector in infrastructure development in the water sector. The conference was designed to meet this education and capacity-building objective through three primary means: sharing case studies, success stories, and lessons learned from PPP experiences in the region; disseminating best practices on PPP processes; and developing a network of colleagues from the donor community, private sector, and other governments. The conference was attended by 47 participants, and provided a balanced showcase of PPP best practices in the water sector. The participants were able to learn and benefit from the presentations on PPP experiences from across the world, and take on best practices and possible solutions to bottlenecks and difficulties faced in previous projects. The participants provided excellent feedback on the conference. Overall 68% of the participants believed that the seminar met expectations, and 32% responded that the conference surpassed expectations. In addition, 75% of participants agreed that they will be able to apply what they learned at the conference in their respective countries. Training Course on PPPs in the Water Sector In 2011 PPIAF supported a third regional activity in the water sector by sponsoring a four-day workshop for government officials from Iraq, Jordan, and the West Bank and Gaza to provide intensive training on the potential role of public-private partnerships in the water sector. In Iraq, access to water supply services fell from 81% in 1990 to 79% in 2008, and the decline in urban areas was even steeper, with access to water supply declining from 97% in 1990 to 91% in 2008. In Jordan, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation’s recognized the importance of obtaining efficiencies in investment in infrastructure and improving the management of water and sanitation services. In West Bank and Gaza, households cope with the lowest per capita water resource availability in MENA, with regular discontinuity of supply resulting in cripplingly low average consumptions. One of the goals of the all three governments was to engage with the private sector to improve the provision of water and sanitation services. The four-day workshop was held in January 2012 in Istanbul, and was designed to: i) provide an introduction to PPPs to government officials with a background in the financial and operational management of water utilities, from Iraq, Jordan, and the West Bank and Gaza; and ii) raise general awareness of the PPP process and its advantages and challenges as well as financing modalities available for PPP development. The objective of the training was to help these government officials to use the knowledge gained to promote future PPP interventions in the water sector in their respective countries. A set of training materials that captured the content of the PPP training was disseminated following the workshop to be used as reference material and training materials for participants. Twenty government officials attended the workshop. As a result of the training provided all participants gained improved knowledge and capacity on the role of PPP in the water sector and were able to learn and benefit from the PPP experiences presented as part of the training. It is hoped that participants will be able to use this knowledge to promote and implement PPPs. 2 Results of PPIAF’s Activities in MENA’s Water and Sanitation Sector Category Outputs Capacity and awareness building  PPP Seminar: Municipal Water, Waste Water, and Workshops/seminars Desalination, 2009  Training Workshop on PPP in the Water Sector, 2012  Arab Water Council PPP Water Portal, 2008 Knowledge products produced or disseminated  Training Materials on Public-Private Partnerships in the Water Sector, 2012 Category Outcomes Capacity and awareness building  Arab Water Council PPP Water Portal successfully launched and used by stakeholders across the MENA region to learn and discuss case studies and best practice examples of water PPPs in the MENA region, 2009 Technical capacity enhanced  Technical capacity of participants at the 2009 conference and 2012 workshop enhanced through the delivery of case studies, lessons learned and best practices from PPP experiences in the water sector 3