10 April 2014: UN-Water has released a report, titled ‘Coordination of Water Actions at the Country Level: A Report of the UN-Water Task Force on Country Level Coordination,’ which examines challenges within the UN system coordinating country-level projects and programmes within the water sector. The report identifies the multi-sectoral aspects of water, lack of country-level water expertise and absence of funding to scale-up succesful approaches as challenges.

The report includes sections on: methodology; UN-Water sector programmes and coordination at country level; government and other coordination systems for water at country level; incentives and constraints to good coordination; and observations and recommendations for UN-Water. The report examines: internal mechanisms for UN coordination at the country level; lessons learned from Delivering as One (DaO) and the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Achievement Fund (MGD-F); coordination with governments, donors and international development banks; and external support for a coordinated approach to UN Country Teams (UNCT) water programmes.

As challenges, the report identifies that: water is spread over priority areas of the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), which negatively impacts on coordination and means UN coordination is weaker on the development side than on the humanitarian side; there is a divide between humanitarian and development water projects, which works against sustainable development solutions in the water sector; DaO countries receive funds for UN coordination and joint programming, while others under the Resident Coordinator (RC) system have few funds for coordination; coordination mechanisms have proliferated in a number of countries and might now be too expensive in terms of time needed and measured against overall results; positive results from MDG-F projects have not been replicated or scaled-up due to lack of funding; reporting is fragmentary; and knowledge of possible sources of regional and global UN expertise in the water sector is patchy and not always drawn upon when key decisions are being made.

The report recommends that UN-Water: explore with the UN Development Group (UNDG) the development of a guidance note to address water in the UNDAF and the inclusion of water as an element in UNCT annual reporting; develop a dynamic roster of experts, particularly on water governance, to assist UNCT engagement with national governments; assist in the development of country-level skills on water governance by facilitating experience sharing between countries and supporting UN teams in target countries; act as a portal for better information sharing; and dialogue with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and other humanitarian response agencies on early planning of sustainable water solutions within emergency response. [UN-Water Press Release] [Publication: Coordination of Water Actions at the Country Level: A Report of the UN-Water Task Force on Country Level Coordination] [IISD RS Sources]