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DEVELOPING CAPACITIES AND AWARENESS IN FINANCING. Report on the Outcomes of a Programme of Workshops in West and East Africa and Central Asia & Caucasus Regions. Activities carried out. Three MS regional workshops: West Africa – Ougadougou East Africa – Nairobi C. Asia & Caucasus - Tbilisi
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DEVELOPING CAPACITIES AND AWARENESS IN FINANCING Report on the Outcomes of a Programme of Workshops in West and East Africa and Central Asia & Caucasus Regions
Activities carried out • Three MS regional workshops: • West Africa – Ougadougou • East Africa – Nairobi • C. Asia & Caucasus - Tbilisi • Each region followed up with activities at country level. • Ghana • Uganda • 8 countries in Caucasus and C Asia
Some Identified Needs • Studies to identify in more detail the bottlenecks to the release of funds and the reforms needed to streamline financial flows. • Capacity Development programmes on financing in particular for those with devolved responsibilities. • Better targeted Advocacy for higher fund allocations for water, e.g. through the IWRM planning process. • More interaction between water experts and finance officials. • Reforms to governance systems to attract investment. • Engagement with others to make water a priority in key national strategy documents.
Some Specific Outcomes • Political momentum in Africa: Ministerial Statement agreed by AMCOW ministers at their Brazzaville meeting in May 2007. • Increased awareness and understanding of financing issues across a broad range of water stakeholders. • Links made between water and finance officials. • Understanding of the importance of IWRM for leveraging finance and using it better. • GWP-E Africa: follow up planned for country level roundtable in Eritrea. • GWP-Central Asia and Caucasus: training workshops planned with link to the newly formed Water Utilities Network.
Ghana roundtable • Development of a programme for the Densu River Basin and financing of basin management entities. • Explore the use of innovative mechanisms for financing, e.g. ‘ecological tax’ for local governments for water resources and ecosystem protection. • Proposal to set up a Depreciation Fund for replacement of fixed assets. • Address water financing issues as part of the decentralisation process. Removing blockages in the flow of funds to local entities responsible for water services/projects and creating micro-finance credit schemes.
Uganda roundtable • Water a low priority for government and the focus on budget support reduces access to funds. • Important to make better use of NGOs and local private sector to fill gap left by govt and donors. • Need to tackle escalating cost of infrastructure and services: avoid corruption, introduce benchmarking to monitor costs.
How can we Help? • Support to AMCOW to keep financing water on the political agenda. • design capacity development programmes on financing matters to capitalise on the awareness raised and political interest. Further develop training material building on that of CapNet and the EUWI-FWG. • Ensure IWRM plans address financing, and are included in National Development Plans (eg Mali). • Carry out a similar programme of workshops in Southern Africa and Caribbean (with CDB).