Gerhager, B. and Sahooly, A. (2009). Reforming the urban water supply and sanitation (UWSS) sector in Yemen. International journal of water resources development ; vol. 25, no. 1 ; p. 29-46. DOI: 10.1080/07900620802573668
Abstract
In the early 1990s, Yemen suffered from low service coverage and national tariffs that were too low to cover public expenditure, as well as an inadequate level of service provided by the centralized National Water and Sanitation Authority. In 1996, a reform study recommended that the UWSS sector should embrace a policy of decentralization, corporatization, commercialization, the separation of service delivery and regulatory functions, as well as public-private partnerships. The government approved this reform agenda as a Council of Ministers Decree in 1997. Awareness campaigns and consensus-building among stakeholders and political leaders and local demand supported the reform process. Currently, 95% of the total urban population related to utility towns is attended by independent utilities.
Contact: Team Leader: Eng. Anwer Sahooly, Technical Secretariat (TS)/ Reform of the Institutional Framework in the Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Sector, Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE), tel.: +967-1-425342/3,
mobile: +967-733212820, techsec [at] y.net.ye
A workshop entitled Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) of Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reforms was attended by around 90 participants on October 28, 2008. PSIA is the analysis of the distributional impacts of policy reforms on the well-being or welfare of different stakeholder groups, with a particular focus on the poor and vulnerable. PSIA also examines vested interests to assess and address the political economy of reform, issues of sustainability and risks of policy reform.
The mortality of children under the age of 5 years in Yemen is twice that of other countries in the Middle East and the North Africa region, and half of these deaths are due to diarrhea. The gender and educational enrolment impacts are also considerable, with women and girls spending large parts of each day fetching water.
Key decision-makers from Yemeni ministries and water sector organisations as well as donors met in Taiz from 24-26 August 2008 to discuss the draft NWSSIP update prepared by sub-sector groups on Urban and Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (UWSS and RWSS), Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), Irrigation and Institutional Development.
Regarding, IWRM it became clear that the decentralisation of water management needs to be speeded up. National Water Resources Authority (NWRA) branches need to be established and developed and Water User Associations (WUA) empowered. It was decided to address cross-cutting issues such as gender and conflict sensitivity also. Acknowledgement and registration of water rights was seen as an important precondition for an equitable rural-urban water transfer.
The Urban Water Supply and Sanitation (UWSS) discussion focused on how to involve the private sector to increase coverage and reduce operational costs.
Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS), the sector with the highest absorptive capacity, is challenged by sector coordination and planning processes. It was decided that a rural water strategy as well as clear coverage figures should be incorporated into the NWSSIP update.
[...]
It was concluded that institutional assessments need to be made in all the water sector organisations in order to identify capacity development needs.
Germany is one of the donors supporting Yemen’s water sector.
The Yemeni-German Technical Cooperation – Water Sector Program is now entering the final year of its first phase (ending in June 2009). Recently GTZ Head Office carried out an Program Progress Review (PPR) and Independent Evaluation (IE) to assess the performance of the program in terms: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and impact. In addition, harmonisation and alignment were assessed, and challenges and recommendations for the up-coming Phase II of the Yemeni-German Technical Cooperation – Water Sector Program, scheduled to start in July 2009, were highlighted.
“The program is on track and performing well. It is very likely that the objectives will be achieved,” the missions stated. [...] Water sector reform, decentralisation of urban water supply and sanitation – including targeting the poor through special tariffs and connection fees – and decentralisation of the National Water Resources Authority (NWRA) via regional NWRA branches and water basin committees are just some of the concrete outcomes of the program’s work.
Challenges still remain with regard to knowledge transfer to the Ministry of Water and Environment. In addition, gender issues will need more attention in future.
The GTZ Yemeni-German Water Sector Program and the Swiss Video-lab Jetzt.bewegte bilder have produced an animated awareness video on water scarcity for Yemen’s National Water Resources Authority (NWRA). NWRA came up with Rowyan – an cheery animated raindrop to promote public awareness seen in this clip. He also has a wife called Rowyana with curling eyelashes, handbag and full-length black robe.
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) plans to support water network management in Erbil City, the regional capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. The project will be managed by the Uppsala-based NGO Qandil, which has been working in Northern Iraq since 1992. The Sida budget for the two-year contract is about SEK 10 million. The project aims to support (managerial and technical skill development) the Directorate of Water Department of Erbil (DOWD) to provide a continuous supply of safe drinking water in one confined block of Erbil City.
This proposed World Bank-supported programme aims to improve access to water supply and sanitation services, increase returns to water use in agriculture, and strengthen sector institutions for sustainable water resources management and environmental protection. This will be achieved through a sector-wide approach (SWAP) aligned behind the National Water Sector Strategy and Investment Program (NWSSIP, 2005). NWSSIP is the approved national strategy and investment program for the water sector in Yemen and is regarded as one of the most advanced in the Arab world.
Yemen is facing major challenges: groundwater resources are rapidly dwindling, rural areas and the economy are under threat, while urban and rural water coverage have only kept pace with population growth and not with continued community expansion.
In its entirety, the programme is estimated to cost in the range of US$300 million (US$60 million/year) to be financed by IDA (US$90 million) and parallel/joint co-financing from Germany (US$163 million), DFID (US$35 million), and the Netherlands government (US$38 million).
The proposed program will have five components:
Urban Water and Sanitation
Rural Water Supply and Sanitation
Irrigation Improvements
Water Resources Management
Capacity Building
The estimated date of Board approval by the World Bank is 18 December 2008.
Mrs Sondes Kamoun has been appointed as Director General of the Tunisian Office of Planning and Hydraulic Balance. She succeed to Fethi Lebdi. Mrs Kamoun has been for several years the coordinator of EMWIS National Focal Point for Tunisia.
In the framework of the GIZ AGIRE programme, a wokshop held on 9 and 10 May brought together 35 representatives from Morocan water basin agencies, Ministry water department, consultancy companies and EMWIS. After extensive sessions dedicated to sharing of knowledge on past and ongoing developments, the participants outlined an action plan to support informat […]
