Challenge
Widespread urbanization in Asia is placing tremendous stress on urban water supplies and sanitation services, with a disproportionate impact on the poor and women.  Lack of access to clean water and basic sanitation has led to high rates of child mortality from preventable waterborne illnesses, and to lost economic productivity.  To address this challenge, governments in Asia are working to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) targets of reducing by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.

While some water and wastewater utilities in Asia cities provide quality service to their customers, many operate inefficiently, which often leads to poor service in terms of both water quality and quantity, resulting in customer dissatisfaction and low willingness to pay, as well as public health risks.  Reduced revenues mean that many utilities lack the financial resources necessary to upgrade infrastructure, train staff, cover operations requirements, and service debt.  For these service providers, expanding to poorer communities remains a significant challenge.

Focused and sustained exchange, or “twinning”, between water and wastewater service providers promotes the adoption of improved policies and practices, as well as human and institutional capacity building.  In 2006, the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation recommended promoting twinning partnerships through WOPs.  The Secretary General has mandated that UN-Habitat promote and coordinate global activities related to WOPs while other development partners undertake regional initiatives.

Please click here to read more about development of WOPs worldwide

WaterLinks
WaterLinks is a regional network that supports Water Operator Partnerships (WOPs) between water and wastewater utilities in Asia to promote improved access to safe water and basic sanitation in Asia. WaterLinks develops and implements three principal activities, each of which draws on a range of partner resources and capabilities to achieve tangible results in terms of expanded or improved access to safe water and sanitation and increased capacity.

• Twinning Activities: Twinning activities include peer review, technical assistance in developing and implementing improved policies and practices, specialized on-the-job training, technology demonstrations and information exchange. Twinning partners develop memoranda of understanding and work plans that identify specific commitments, activities, resources, timelines and outcomes. WaterLinks development partners facilitate and co-fund twinning activities.
   
• Regional Capacity Building: WaterLinks supports regional capacity building of Asian water and wastewater operators through the development and implementation of training programs and toolkits and applied research. As part of its capacity building efforts, WaterLinks highlights the results of twinning partnerships through its training programs and toolkits.
   
• Information Sharing and Networking: WaterLinks disseminates best practices via publications and this website. It also organizes regional networking events to share twinning partnership results and broker new partnerships.

Implementing Partners
WaterLinks is supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Water Association (IWA) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Under WaterLinks, the ADB develops regional capacity building initiatives, and facilitates twinning partnerships. IWA promotes and strengthens twinning partnerships through knowledge sharing and networking. USAID, through the Environmental Cooperation-Asia (ECO-Asia) project, facilitates twinning partnerships, maintains the WaterLinks website, and develops regional capacity building initiatives.

Regional Partners
WaterLinks works with its regional partners on knowledge sharing, training, and networking activities that strengthen regional platforms and identify opportunities for new twinning arrangements. Partner networks include the Southeast Asian Water Utilities Network (SEAWUN), South Asia Water Utilities Network (SAWUN), ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable Cities Initiative and the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP). WaterLinks welcomes cooperation with additional partners interested in supporting WOPs in Asia.