UfM project on water governance in the Mediterranean receives financial contribution from Sida

The project is about to formally take off with the aim to address the challenging governance-financing nexus with regard to the Mediterranean water sector. The financial contribution of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) accounts for about 40% of the project and will finance primarily the project’s regional component, consisting of regional consultation meetings and dialogue events as well as the regional coordination, administration and communication of the project.

The UfM labelled project “Overcoming Governance challenges to the mobilization of financing for the Mediterranean water sector”, promoted by the Global Water Partnership Mediterranean (GWP-Med) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), has received support and funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) for a total amount of 908,000€.  Sida will finance the regional components of the project.

This project of regional scope, labelled by the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) in July 2012, closely aligns with the strategic cooperation priorities of Sida in the Middle East and North Africa for 2010-2015, which aims at supporting regional processes that promote integrated water resources management including water governance.

The project will be conducted over a period of three years (2013-2015). It aims at finding realistic solutions to governance challenges, focusing on the institutional and regulatory challenges arising from public-private partnerships in water infrastructure, the capacity building bottlenecks impeding the efficient use and mobilization of financing and the mechanisms to overcome them. It will develop through a number of national assessments, utilising tested OECD methodology as well as the policy dialogue approach. Through the comparative exchange of experiences and lessons learnt it will disseminate a set of guidelines and best practices tailored to the region.

Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Albania and Palestine are already involved in the first phase of the UfM project, while an additional 4 countries are expected to be involved during the overall three years. The project will be implemented through a co-financing mechanism with support provided also by the GEF MedPartnership, while a financial agreement with EIB is currently under finalisation.

The significant contribution of Sida will allow the project to be launched through a regional workshop, which will be organized in Barcelona at the end of the first quarter of 2013, and will bring together all stakeholders involved in issues of governance and financing of the Mediterranean water sector.