Kick-off training Palestinian water managers to improve water governance

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Palestinian and Dutch water experts have already built long-standing relationships as part of the Blue Deal and WaterworX partnerships (photo: World Waternet)

Significant water problems

In the Palestinian territories more than 300 water service companies supply water and manage wastewater. The vast majority face significant problems resulting from weak institutional capacity, insufficient water availability combined with poor infrastructure and high water losses, as well as insufficient revenue generation. 

As a result, services are not meeting the needs of the citizens, leading to a lack in their willingness to pay water bills, which further affects the sustainability of service delivery. 

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In addition to the many day-to-day running problems, PWA now faces a 10 percent increase of the water demand as a result of the Corona pandemic. (photo: PWA)

Practical skills

To help combat these issues, the Dutch and Palestinian organisations joined forces in a programme titled ‘Improving Local Water Governance and Water Cycle Management’, funded by Nuffic Orange Knowledge Programme.

The programme will provide practical skills and focuses on training local water governance and water cycle management to staff members from the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) and Water Service Companies.  In addition, a training-of-trainers is offered to ensure that participants gain the necessary skills to facilitate training themselves and deliver the gained knowledge to colleagues, partners and clients in the Palestinian water sector. 

Two long-term partnerships

This training initiative is a fitting complement to the long-term partnerships between Palestinian and Dutch water experts that are established within the Dutch governmental programmes Blue Deal (2019 – 2030) and WaterWorX (2020 – 2030). 

The Blue Deal partnership between the PWA and Dutch Water Authorities (DWA) focuses on water allocation, water quality control and wastewater treatment - with World Waternet as lead partner and regional water authorities Vechtstromen and Rivierenland as the executive operating agencies.

The WaterWorX partnership between the PWA and World Waternet focuses on drinking water, also within local municipalities, and intends to ensure drinking water security in the West Bank, as well as improving strategic planning, water treatment capacity, Non-Revenue Water and pro-poor WASH connections.