ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK: WATER OPERATOR PARTNERSHIPS - DRIVING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE

Speaker: Alan Baird, Senior Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist

Regional and Sustainable Development Department Asian Development Bank

DESCRIPTION:

There are many twinning programs of varying sorts. ADB Water Operator Partnerships are different. They strictly adhere to the principal of peer-to-peer learning, driven by 3 or 4 water professionals from the mentor utility and up to 5 to 6 water professionals from the beneficiary utility. The process is delivered in flexible ways allowing each mentor and beneficiary to work in ways that suit them. ADB facilitators develop the relationship, but very quickly back-off to allow the partners to drive the process themselves - and they make as much or as little of the partnership as they wish. It is not-for-profit – parties commit on a voluntary basis, and this should be remembered during the process. While it is demand-driven, ADB seeks to build a partnership which can have some linkage to separate ADB investments in water operations, e.g. technical assistance, loan. For ADB, the most promising WOP is that with a clear linkage to wider water operations. There are some key elements to building successful relationships, and ADB has demonstrated this in over 50 partnerships. The Webinar will allow a discussion around what works and what does not in terms of facilitating partnerships. The discussion will allow participants to explore how ADB creates and executes its partnerships both one-by-one, and at program level. This will include understanding how to develop a relaxed, "familiar" feeling between operators which generates openness and trust (as opposed to more formal structures which constrain relationship-building, and diminish the value of outcomes). Participants will be invited to consider why such water operator partnerships are not being delivered at scale by other development partners, professional associations, and governments.

Wednesday, January 21st, 2015 (live webinar)

19:00hrs Mexico City | 20:00hrs Bogota/Washington DC | 21:00hrs La Paz | 22:00hrs Santiago| 23:00hrs Rio de Janeiro/Sao Paulo | 03:00 Pretoria/Istanbul | 04:00hrs Nairobi | 06:30hrs New Delhi | 09:00hrs Shanghai/Manila | 10:00hrs Seoul/Tokyo

CLICK HERE ON THE DAY OF THE WEBINAR TO PARTICIPATE.

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