The World Bank provided Guinea with a US$30-million grant to bring water and sanitation services to the Greater Conakry area, while the Kyrgyz Republic received US$36 million to provide individual households in 52 villages access to piped water.
The World Bank’s Water Scarce Cities Initiative (WSC) organized a workshop in Casablanca, Morocco.
The UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) launched a project, 'H2O Maghreb,' to improve water management practices in the Maghreb region.
July 2017: The World Bank is providing financing for water-scarce cities to share their management knowledge, while the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has set up a public-private partnership to improve industrial and municipal water management practices. Target 6.4 of the Sustainable Development Goal on clean water and sanitation (SDG 6) calls for, by 2030, substantially reducing the number of people suffering from water scarcity.
The World Bank is providing financing assistance for countries to improve their water services utilities. Guinea has received a US$30 million grant to provide water and sanitation services to the people in the Greater Conakry area, and to improve operational efficiency. The Kyrgyz Republic has received a total of US$36 million to provide access to piped water services to individual households in 52 villages currently relying on communal standpipes. For this project, US$19.8 million is a loan and US$16.2 million a grant.
Also in May, the World Bank’s Water Scarce Cities Initiative (WSC) organized a workshop in Casablanca, Morocco, for approximately 40 participants from the Western Mediterranean region. The initiative seeks to connect water-scarce cities so they can share their knowledge and effective strategies for water management. Network members include the US city of Las Vegas, Marrakech and Casablanca in Morocco, and the country of Malta. Some of the strategies applied so far include water trading, creating a ‘water services corporation’ to manage water demand and water resources together, and engaging youth in planning for water scarcity.
On 7 July, the Bank published a policy research working paper titled, ‘Regulating Water and Sanitation Network Services Accounting for Institutional and Informational Constraints.’ It recommends that rather than importing standardized regulatory tools, governments should adopt a more tailored approach to developing their own regulatory processes and instruments, taking into account institutional and informational weaknesses particular to their situations.
On 11 July, UNIDO launched a public-private partnership between its State Secretariat for Water, its National Office for Water and Electricity, and several companies in Morocco. The project, H2O Maghreb, is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to improve water management practices in the Maghreb region. Among its activities, the project will instruct trainers and youth, and establish a demonstration and training hub. [World Bank Project Note on Guinea Grant] [World Bank Press Release on Kyrgyz Republic] [World Bank Blog Post on Water-Scarce Cities Initiative] [World Bank Research Paper on ‘Regulating Water and Sanitation Network Services Accounting for Institutional and Informational Constraints’] [UNIDO Press Release] [WSSCC Press Release on Senegal]