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Benn’s support for public water sector aid welcomed
21 March 2007
Commenting on today’s statement by the secretary for international development Hilary Benn, the director of the World Development Movement Benedict Southworth said:
“Today’s announcement by the Department for International Development that it will support the development of public-public partnerships in the water sector is a real step forward.
“Public-public partnerships build on the solidarity found within the public sector and enable utilities to work together to share good practice and expertise in a targeted and low-cost way.
“The World Development Movement - alongside campaigners in Britain and overseas - has long been calling for strong donor support for public-public partnerships. DFID is to be congratulated for recognising their potential.
“The expertise found within public water utilities in developing countries like Brazil, Cambodia, India and Uganda is a massive untapped source of expertise which could help tackle the global water crisis.
“We hope that today’s announcement, on the eve of World Water Day, marks a decisive shift in water aid policy – moving away from using aid to fund advice from privatisation consultants and instead using aid to disseminate the expertise found within successful public water providers in the global south.”
Information for editors
[1] On 22 March, WDM will launch Going Public: Southern solutions to the global water crisis.
The press release to launch the report is here: http://www.wdm.org.uk/news/goingpublic19032007.htm
The report is available at: www.wdm.org.uk/goingpublic
The report features a chapter on the potential of public-public partnerships, as well as separate chapters on successful public water provision from Brazil, Cambodia, India and Uganda. The report is intended as a contribution to the debate about how to tackle the global water crisis and each chapter has been written by an in-country public water expert.
[2] As part of its Dirty Aid, Dirty Water campaign, WDM has worked with UNISON and Water Aid on public-public partnerships. WDM supporters, working in partnership with members of UNISON, have also been campaigning for DFID to support public sector reform processes, and public-public partnerships, as a means to develop the water and sanitation sector to tackle the global water crisis.
[3] Hilary Benn today announced, at the DFID water forum, support for UN organised workshops in Africa and Asia to develop water operator partnerships (WOPs) and committed to taking the outcomes of these workshops forward. WOPs are a UN-backed proposal to enable utilities to share good practice and experience on a not-for-profit basis in the water and sanitation sector. Hilary Benn also announced that DFID would fund research to identify the lessons learned from public utility reform.
[4] The World Development Movement was founded in 1970. It campaigns to tackle the root causes of poverty. WDM believes that charity is not enough and aims to change the policies that keep the developing world poor. It is a democratic and politically independent organisation with 16,500 supporters and a strong role for its 70 local groups across the UK.
ENDS
For comment or interview please contact:
Kate Blagojevic
Press officer, World Development Movement
0207 820 4900/4913, 07711 875 345, Email:
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