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Introduction
A water operators’ partnership (WOP) is any kindo association between water or sanitation operatorsconducted on a non‑prot basis with the aim o developingcapacity. These partnerships are being promoted as a wayo helping the world’s public water and sanitation operatorsto sustainably deliver adequate water and sanitation or all.This report presents three interesting Case Studies on water operators’ partnerships in Asia. The aim is toprovide readable and accessible reports on WOPs inpractice – how they work, and what kind o dierence theymake. The authors have looked at how the partnerships were set up, implemented and monitored; the changes andimprovements they brought about in the partner utilities;and their impact – both achieved and anticipated – onservice delivery, uture investment, and replication.These studies were conducted or the Global WaterOperators’ Partnerships Alliance (GWOPA), hosted byUN‑HABITAT, under our obligation as the United Nationscity agency to help the world meet the water and sanitationtarget o the Millennium Development Goals. As part o our World Urban Campaign or better cities, weconsider the partners doing this excellent and vital work ascity changers making a real dierence on the ground ormany, many households and in many countries.It also orms part o our remit to share and promoteknowledge and understanding o water operatorpartnerships. Together with GWOPA’s growing onlinedatabase o WOP proles, the case studies help llthe huge knowledge gap around this important andhigh‑potential practice. They aim to shed light on how thepartnerships are currently carried out, what works, what doesn’t, and how they can be improved or greater impact and wider adoption.Indeed, the WOPs (including what some reer to as public‑public partnerships) are being implemented by a growingnumber o organizations around the world, and they varygreatly in their scope, orm and content.Those presented here are not meant to be taken asprototypes or best practices, but as a sampling o thediversity o not‑or‑prot partnerships possible between water and sanitation operators.It is our ervent hope that the excellent partnershipspresented here will inspire more operators to take upthe practice, learn some lessons, and also help nancialsupporters and acilitators build more eective partnerships.
Acknowledgements
The main author, Cesar E. Yñiguez, and the supportingconsultant, Digby Davies, could not have produced thestudy without the goodwill, help and cooperation o manypeople and they wish to express their gratitude to all o them. They include Ms. Lim Pek Boon, Shahrul NizamSulaiman, Ir. Moh’d Adnan Md Dom, Ir. Sohaimi Kling(Indah Water Konsortium, Malaysia); Ir. H. Delviyandri,Lokot Parlindungan Siregar, Heri Batangari Nasution,Khairudi Hazn Siregar (PDAM Tirtanadi, Medan), and Arie Istandar and Mohamad Yagi (USAID ECO‑Asia).Special thanks are also due to Advisory Panel membersNancy Barnes, Arthur McIntosh, David Milnes, DarrenSaywell and Siemen Veenstra or their valuable expert inputs and comments on drats. Jared Farrell and Anke van Lenteren are to be thanked or their collaborationand creative design.Faraj El‑Awar, PhDProgramme ManagerGlobal Water Operators Partnerships AllianceUN‑Habitat, Nairobi, Kenya