Principles of Effective Twinning

  • Counterpart Exchange: Direct practitioner to-practitioner exchange on best practices is the foundation of twinning.
  • Reciprocal Benefits: Benefits from the twinning partnerships are mutual, but not necessarily equal.
  • Demand Driven: Twinning partnerships are demand-driven, in line with partner strategies, plans, and interests.
  • Results: Twinning partnerships are results-oriented, ensuring the adoption of best practices and the implementation of activities that result in real improvements and tangible outcomes.
  • Replication: Twinning partnerships aim to replicate effective policies, best practices and proven technologies throughout Asia.
  • Cost Sharing: Partners support programs on a cost-share basis, providing in-kind and funding support for each activity.
  • Not-for-Profit: All partnerships operate on a non-profit basis, but could result in a commercial relationship.
     

Twinning Benefits
In facilitating twinning partnerships, WaterLinks works to match recipient priorities with corresponding “mentor” capabilities and interests.

Benefits for Recipient Partners

  • Improved or expanded service delivery
  • Increased human and institutional capacity
  • Exposure to new policies, practices and technologies
  • Networking with peers

Benefits for Mentor Partners

  • Greater understanding for the utility and individuals of conditions and challenges in partner countries
  • Achievement of corporate social responsibility goals
  • Opportunities to expand potential commercial interests
  • Networking with peers water operators


Utility-to-Utility Twinning

WaterLinks facilitates partnerships between water and wastewater utilities, on issues such as water quality, non-revenue water, continuous water supply, hygiene promotion, and sustainable sanitation. Examples of these partnerships include:

  • Ranhill Utilities Berhad, a successful Malaysian utility, is helping Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP) in India convert to continuous water supply. MJP is applying Ranhill's best practices to implement system operations that will allow continuous water supply in selected service areas, affecting nearly 25,000 city residents.
     
  • Thailand's Wastewater Management Authority (WMA) and the City of Krabi are twinning with King County in the U.S. State of Washington to share experiences and develop appropriate guidelines to improve facility operations. WMA will replicate this experience in upgrading facilities throughout Thailand.

City-to-City Twinning
WaterLinks also facilitates city-to-city twinning arrangements to assist cities in addressing priority sanitation and hygiene challenges. For instance, WaterLinks linked Phnom Penh, Cambodia with Iloilo, Philippines in community-based sanitation and health initiative. Based on a stakeholder-driven strategy for improving sanitation and promoting hygiene in one municipal district, Iloilo worked with Phnom Penh to raise citizen awareness of key sanitation and health challenges.