Water for the Poor: Setting the Rules and Finding the Money
Full Review

Reviewed by: Cinnamon Dornsife, Adjunct Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, USA
Review posted 13 June 2005
Review No. 47

CD-ROM Information

Content: This 2-set CD-ROM contains comprehensive documentation of ADB Water Week 2004, held at ADB headquarters in Manila, Philippines, 26-30 January 2004. It features keynotes from global leaders, all other conference speeches and papers, highlights and summaries, the full agenda and list of attendees by country, an action agenda, and video clips.
Publication Date: 1 April 2004
Audience: Policy makers, development officials, socially responsible bankers, field practitioners, NGOs, advocacy groups, scholars, anad political leaders including parliamentarians.

Size: CD1 - 604 MB, CD2 - 659 MB
Price: US$10
Manual needed: No
How to order:

Order by mail:
ADB Publications Unit
P.O.Box 789
0980 Manila
Philippines

E-mail: adbpub@adb.org
E-mail: water@adb.org
Tel: +632 636 2648
Fax: +632 636 2648

ADB website.*

*This link takes you outside the ADBI website. Please use the back button to return to ADBI.org.

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Full Review

This CD-ROM provides comprehensive documentation of ADB's Water Week 2004, held in Manila, Philippines, 26-30 January 2004. The conference focused on increasing access to water for the poor through a close examination of what is required to make sure the poor get access to the water they want and need, and on finding the required funding.

The two CD-ROM set features keynotes from global leaders, all other conference speeches and papers, highlights and summaries, the full agenda and list of attendees by country, an action agenda, and video clips. The first three issues of the monthly 'Water for All' e-newsletter and other useful documentation are also included.

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Content: Overview

This comprehensive set of materials is very well organized. The first theme, 'Setting the Rules', explores the role improved water management can play in poverty reduction. This section demonstrates how improved water management and sanitation can also make the livelihoods of the poor more productive and sustainable. The second theme, 'Finding the Money' looks at ways the World Panel on Water Infrastructure Financing (of which ADB is a member) can find the needed funding. The need for change is clear: achieving the goal of improving water security for the poor will require changes in the ways in which water resources are managed and water services are delivered.

The four keynote addresses stressed these points:

• the importance of substantially increasing aid and of targeting it more effectively,
• business as usual will not be effective if the goal is to make water  available to the one in three persons worldwide who lacks adequate water quality and access,
• the Millenium Development Goals must be reached,
• governance and leadership, at the political, managerial, and civil society levels, are critical drivers of change, and
• there is no magic solution to water issues and we must aim for incremental and sustained changes.

Four issues were prominent in the conference: partnership, participation, governance, and finance, all of which are keys to effective progress.

Especially interesting are the participants’ reflections that capture many key points:

• water is more than just a matter of providing safe drinking water
• there is a continuing need for effective targeting of the poor
• pursue decentralization but recognize that this means assisting local governments and NGOs gain the capacity to address water services and irrigation issues.

Many conferences aim to generate clear follow up actions, and most do not achieve this, but a clear agenda for follow up emerged from ADB’s Water Week 2004. Participants were invited to nominate what each considered to be the most important priority for water issues. Finding money was the overwhelming priority, with over 39% of the votes being cast for a financing target. Most concern was directed at providing accessible finance for the poor. The next most popular grouping was for decentralized finance, in a demand-led manner. Investing in research and development for affordable technology and backing organizations with good track records were other actions called for.

All the recommendations are well summarized in the Change Agenda that emerged from the conference, the theme of which is 'Changing Selection Criteria: Working with the Right Information, Organizations, and Leaders.' The six point change agenda is

1. change incentives and advocacy: empower civil society as a catalyst for water sector reform;

2. change regulation: from independent to credible regulator;

3. change the rules to reward efficiency: linking formal and informal providers;

4. change the focus of lending: catalyzing water investments to the rural poor;

5. change the nature of water products: investing more in non-structural interventions; and

6. change water financing partners from national to sub-sovereign.

ADB’s presentation of a water prize to its most outstanding water sector borrower during this conference, based on the criteria of leadership, vision, hard work and results, underscores the implementation of these recommendations. The winner was the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority.

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Content: Comments

The main improvements to what is an excellent set of materials would be to place ADB’s water week much more clearly in the context of the global water agenda. More explicit references to all other major global water fora and their websites could be added, including the ongoing World Water Forum series, to supplement the clear references and links to the Third World Water Forum held in Kyoto in March 2003. The broader water community has been and will continue to be involved in moving this important agenda forward. ADB has an ongoing role.

ADB’s vision and commitment to Water for All is long term. This could come through even more clearly, with the addition of one more heading in the table of contents: 'ADB’s Follow Up and Commitment', where all ADB follow up activities could be listed in one place and easily found. In addition to the current references to the ongoing ADB-NGO dialogue on water and key decisions listed in the results section, this dedicated section could also include more information on the ADB’s own Water Awareness Program, the commissioned panel that began a high level third party review of ADB water policy implementation in May 2005, based on the interim review report of February 2004.

Adding references and a link (for those with online access) and indicating ways to obtain the 'Water for All' publication series commissioned by ADB for the 3rd World Water Forum would be helpful. That forum looked at a wide range of relevant issues, such as poverty and water security, water’s relationship to meeting the MDGs, and specific actions to be taken now.

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Users

The documentation is of particular interest to policy makers and development professionals including development financial institutions and aid agencies. The audience also includes socially responsible bankers, NGOs and field practitioners, advocacy organizations, and scholars. Political leaders and politicians should also find the messages compelling.

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User Friendliness and Interactivity

The 2 CD-ROM set is easy to use, with the program and short video clips on the first CD-ROM and the full videos available on the second. The table of contents is comprehensive and well designed. The search engine works well. Note that an active connection to the internet is required to send messages to ADB's Water Team (and this is clearly noted in the CD-ROM).

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Navigability

The CD-ROMs are quite easy to navigate between nearly all items, with the exception of the video clips on CD-ROM 1. All other items may be viewed, read, or referenced in any order. Note that straightforward access to the video clips is only available on the second disc, though there are video links to short clips on Disc 1, under presentations/resources/speakers.

CD-ROM 2, which contains the entire video library of presentations, includes two sections: the first is a set of video previews (each preview clip lasts 5 minutes only), and the second section includes the entire presentation on video, including all speeches and panel discussions, some of which run for more than an hour. These lengthier clips are easily paused, and it is also easy to navigate among them.

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Distribution

The two CD set can readily ordered through ADB. Detailed contact information is provided in the How to Order section above.

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Sustainability

The messages are timeless: understanding why the poor don’t get the water they want and need, as well as understanding the changes that are needed in governance and financing for the poor.

Preparations are underway for the Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico in March 2006. This CD-ROM set could serve as valuable background information, as the theme for the fourth global forum is local actions for a global challenge, as well as concrete actions and commitments.

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