(v. November 2005)
The Mediterranean Component of the EU Water Initiative
The Mediterranean Component of the EU Water Initiative (MED EUWI) aims:
- to assist design of better, demand driven and result oriented programmes,
- to facilitate better coordination of water programmes and projects, aiming at a more effective use of existing funds, and the mobilization of new financial resources, where this is required, based on an analysis of gaps, and,
- to enhance cooperation for the proper implementation of these programmes and projects, based on peer review and strategic assessment.
MED EUWI, is giving particular emphasis to Mediterranean and Southeastern Europe priorities and focuses on the following themes:
- Water supply and sanitation, with emphasis on the poorest part of the societies
- Integrated water resources management, with emphasis on management of transboundary water bodies
- Water, food and environment interaction, with emphasis on fragile ecosystems
- Non-conventional water resources and
- Cross cutting issues such as transfer of technology, transfer of know how, capacity building and training and education.
The following partner countries are involved in MED EUWI:
- In the Mediterranean - Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Turkey, Tunisia.
- In the South East Europe - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Romania, Serbia and Montenegro.
Therefore, the Component encompasses overall 18 countries.
MED EUWI aims to serve as a platform for promoting strategic partnerships between the EU and the Mediterranean and Southeastern European countries as well as between government, civil society and the private sector. Non-EU donors and international organizations (including the UN family and the IFIs) are also contributing to the component through the promotion of synergies and development of activities at sub-regional level. MED EUWI is led by Greece that chairs a multi-stakeholder Working Group. MED EUWI Secretariat is facilitated by the Global Water Partnership - Mediterranean (GWP-Med).
1. Content
Though progress has been made in the Mediterranean, many countries in the region still suffer from lack of effective operational strategies; fragmentation of responsibilities between authorities; weak policy implementation; weak monitoring and assessment at the national and local level; limited technical, management and enforcement capabilities to address water resource issues; and financial constraints and lack of financial resources at affordable levels.
It is vitally important that vision and planning in the water sector are based on a good understanding of the costs of achieving the targets set and that are supported by feasible financing strategies that would mobilise adequate resources where and when needed. It is evident that the cost of achieving the water related MDGs/WSSD targets in the Mediterranean far exceeds current levels of financing. Financing will not materialise without enabling legal and institutional reforms. National and local programs must be ambitious in order to focus attention on the scale of the problem and the urgent need for action. At the same time, the overwhelming scale of the challenge should not induce apathy and a mentality of subsidy dependence.
Though in some countries of the region there is advancement in preparing assessments of needs and financial strategies for water-related MDGs/WSSD targets, in the majority of cases progress is slow. MED EUWI aims to facilitate coordinated action and effective synergies between competent partners at country and regional level, assisting in effectively mobilizing ODA, in order to meet WSS and IWRM targets in the Mediterranean in the coming years.
To assist meeting the targets, MED EUWI aims to facilitate Country Dialogues
- to identify the priority actions to be undertaken,
- to assist in estimating the related costs and
- to facilitate reinforced EU donors' coordination, attracting new financial resources where needed.
MED EUWI Country Dialogues focus at national level on the following:
o Analysis of needs and gaps for achieving MDGs and WSSD targets at the country level,
o Identification of priority actions to achieve the targets
o Elaboration of financial assessment on cost for achieving targets and potential sources of finance as well as enhancement of donors' coordination
o Elaboration, discussion and agreement among a multi-stakeholder forum on a roadmap for achieving the targets at the country level
Through these, MED EUWI seeks to develop operational links and contribute, among others, to the European Neighbourhood Policy, the Joint Process of the EU Water Framework Directive with MED EUWI and the MEDA Water Programme.
2. Main Outputs
Main outputs foreseen through the Country Dialogues include:
Output 1. Structured country dialogues processes implemented through national multi-stakeholder workshops and bilateral consultations with key stakeholders.
Output 2. Country status assessments, including key water policies and status of water reform, basic country WSS and IWRM profile, governance and institutional capacities, gaps, emerging deficiencies and bottlenecks, major on-going water programmes, mapping of stakeholders and information on national investment and bilateral / multilateral water aid and identification of MED EUWI intervention.
Output 3. Estimates of the expenditure needed to achieve the MDG/WSSD targets for WSS and IWRM and adequately maintain existing infrastructure
Output 4 Estimates of already available finance and realistic forecasts of the future supply of finance under different conditions (policy measures) and assessment of country readiness to meet MDGs/WSSD targets for WSS and IWRM.
Output 5. Financing strategies to meet MDGs/WSSD targets for WSS and IWRM, including simulations of financial leverage effects of different policy measures and recommendations on specific legal and institutional reforms needed to achieve the targets.
Output 6. Country Roadmap to achieve MDGs / WSSD targets, including: targets and indicators, types of interventions and national framework programmes, roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders, modalities of a coordination, monitoring and reporting system.
3. Main Tasks
To deliver Outputs, the following Tasks are foreseen:
Task 1. Organise Country Dialogues Processes
MED EUWI Country Dialogues will be organised in selected countries in the Mediterranean aiming to:
- identify gaps and emerging deficiencies in current national priorities and implementation process to achieve MDGs/WSSD targets on WSS and IWRM,
- identify insufficiencies and bottlenecks in key prerequisites posed by donors for national investments on the water sector,
- identify types of interventions and concrete national framework programmes to meet targets,
- elaborate, discuss and agree on a roadmap for achieving targets at country level,
- assist the establishment of a permanent platform for cooperation between key involved partners at the national level including donor agencies.
The Country Dialogues involve water stakeholders including government authorities and agencies, local authorities, water users associations, civil society, academia, the private sector as well as international and national donors.
A set of criteria for selecting countries for detailed analysis and country dialogues may include physical conditions, socio-economic status, state of water policies and infrastructure, current level of water investment and aid, data availability, expression of interest and of willingness to cooperate by the host country and to provide local support etc.
Country Dialogues involve the following main steps:
- Inaugural Workshop,
- Country visits for bilateral and multilateral consultations,
- Workshop to present and endorse the Roadmap (see Task 5),
- Follow up visits.
Country Inaugural Workshops will launch the Country Dialogues. The purpose of the Inaugural Workshops would be to:
- inform on MED EUWI and the process of the Country Dialogue,
- elaborate on key actions taken in the country to meet water challenges,
- inform on achievements and orientation of bilateral and multilateral aid in the water sector in the country,
- inform on priority EU processes like the European Neighbourhood Policy, the MEDA Water Programme, the Joint Process of WFD/MED EUWI and their possible contribution to efforts to achieve water targets,
- discuss a process for establishing a strategic collaboration among water stakeholders and with donor agencies.
Country visits will be linked with data collection activities. Consultations would take place in bilateral with government and key stakeholders as well as with small groups of stakeholders per theme or linked with specific products.
Workshops to present, discuss and hopefully endorse the Roadmap and monitoring indicators will be conducted at the end phase of Country Dialogues. The country's government will be expected to act as convenor for the inaugural and final workshop and to ensure an anchorage of the process within their national institutional structure. Effort will be made to promote and eventually establish a system through which the multi-stakeholder fora would be repeated annually to monitor progress, review and update the Roadmap.
Task 2. Country status assessment on WSS and IWRM
Status assessments will be conducted in the countries of the region where Dialogues will be facilitated. Giving emphasis on issues pertaining to MDGs / WSSD Targets on WSS and IWRM, the status assessments will present a country profile and an overview on:
- status of water sector reform, with an emphasis on WSS and IWRM,
- governance and institutional capacities,
- mechanisms of coordination (within government institutions, with stakeholders, with and within donors)
- major on-going activities
- key financing mechanisms
- mapping of stakeholders
- gaps and deficiencies on the above
- identification of possible EUWI intervention.
The reviews will be conducted in close collaboration with the EU Delegations in the MEDA countries and the competent national authorities. The status assessments will provide background for Country Dialogues (see Task 1).
Task 3. Detailed case studies on current expenditure and needed financing to meet MDG/WSSD targets for WSS and IWRM
Collection, verification and analysis of data on existing financing for WSS and IWRM will be undertaken in the countries where a Dialogue is taking place. Financing sources that would be analysed include public budgets, public environmental and other special funds, user charges, private sector investments, foreign grants, foreign debt, etc. This may include data consistency check and expert judgements if some data is not available. It is expected that national authorities (ministries of water, economy, finance, agriculture, public health, urban development, environment, etc. as well as statistical agency) will assist providing available data on WSS and IWRM economic parameters, as well as all available necessary socio-economic and financial data. Based on these, readiness of country to meet MDG/WSSDs targets for WSS and IWRM will be assessed.
Based on data collected, expenditure needs and financial deficits or surpluses to meet MDG/WSSD targets will be calculated applying transparent and tested modelling tools developed by OECD. The cost estimates would be divided by expenditure needs (O&M, capital investments, etc) and sector (water supply, sanitation, IWRM)
Task 4. Financing strategies for achieving MDG/WSSD targets for IWRM and WSS
Based on results of Task 3, scenarios of achieving targets and bridging financial deficits will be developed. Recommended policy measures and enabling legal and regulatory reforms to bridge gaps will be specified including those which can increase efficiency of the use of available resources, and those which could attract additional funds. Affordability analysis of alternative financing measures will be also provided. Feasible package(s) of policy measures will be presented and discussed through the Country Dialogue process.
Specific opportunities and targets for international partnerships in the selected MEDA countries to promote these financing strategies will be identified. Potential roles of different national stakeholders as well as the role of donors will be analysed. Quantitative estimates of the level of effort that would be required from various stakeholders to make partnerships effective in reaching specified targets would be conducted.
Task 5. Country Roadmap to achieve MDGs / WSSD targets on WSS and IWRM
A Roadmap by country to achieve the water related MDGs/WSSD targets will be elaborated based on deliverables of Tasks 2, 3 and 4. The Roadmap should also assist in guiding further donor planning. The Roadmap will describe:
- targets and indicators,
- identify roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders including donors,
- types of interventions to be undertaken and related national framework programmes to be developed and
- modalities of a coordination, monitoring and reporting system.
Roadmaps should achieve as wide as possible ownership and buy-in national water policies. Roadmaps will be discussed and agreed through the Country Dialogue process.
4. Duration
Depending on data availability, political will, progress already achieved on MDGs/WSSD target, stakeholders involvement available resources to support the progress, etc., the time needed for the implementation of the steps described above could be from 8 to 14 months. Nevertheless, the process of a National Dialogue goes beyond the finalization of studies and organisation of meetings foreseen in this process. The National Dialogues should be able to provide a set of critical tools and assist in establishing for a long term process that will carry on, at the national level involving national and international partners, until targets will be achieved.
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