February 2014: The Water Financing Partnership Facility (WFPF) has released its 2013 Annual Report, which describes the Facility’s performance and financial status, and highlights key achievements, lessons and constraints over the past year. The WFPF aims to provide additional financial and knowledge resources from development partners to support the implementation of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Water Financing Program.

The report indicates that the WFPF’s US$31 million in funding for 58 projects in 2013 far exceeded the $14 million in funding targeted in its 2013 annual work programme. The number of projects and number of people who benefited from this funding also surpassed the 2013 targets. Other notable achievements include the addition of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the partnership, and continued allocation of 20% of the Facility’s resources to sanitation projects, such as Bangladesh’s Coastal Towns Improvement Investment Program for septage management.

The report also presents WFPF’s revised Design and Monitoring Framework (DMF). It indicates that out of the 304 million people expected to benefit from approved water investments from 2006-2013, 43 million are attributable to WFPF.

Key lessons and constraints documented in the report include the need to: manage demands on WFPF resources to ensure timely submission and processing of applications, and accelerate the allocation of disbursements to approved projects. [ADB Press Release] [Publication: WFPF 2013 Annual Report]