MediterraneanFinance

Tunisia: Conclusion of the Policy Dialogue and launch of the Report on Governance Challenges to Water PSP

The national Water Policy Dialogue, having engaged more than 100 Tunisian stakeholders within the past year (2013-2014), concluded with the launch of the National Report “Water Governance in Tunisia: Overcoming the Challenges to Private Sector Participation” held on 9 June 2014, in Tunis. The Report is the outcome of the multi-stakeholder Policy Dialogue and includes a diagnostic analysis of the key governance bottlenecks to private sector participation (PSP) in water supply and sanitation services as well as concrete policy recommendations for overcoming them.

Participants welcomed the conclusions and recommendations developed in the Report and considered the findings as reflecting a broad consensus on the governance challenges faced in the Tunisian water sector and on the steps needed to deepen and sustain the current reform process. More specifically, the findings concern three particular areas:

  • Identifying the appropriate form of private sector participation
  • Improving financial sustainability of the water service sector
  • Strengthening stakeholders’ engagement and improving transparency mechanisms

The recommendations were considered timely as they can feed into on-going water reforms and initiatives led by national authorities and donors. Moreover, the added value of the inclusive policy dialogue was widely acknowledged for building consensus among stakeholders and for serving as a useful coordination tool for water initiatives.

A wide range of key stakeholders attended the launch including the Ministries of Agriculture, Equipment, Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development, Economy and Finance, water operators, Civil Society, donors, universities and experts.

The Water Policy Dialogue was conducted jointly by GWP-Med and the OECD in the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) labelled project Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector, with the support of the FEMIP Trust Fund of the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the GEF UNEP/MAP MedPartnership and the Mediterranean Component of the EU Water Initiative (MED EUWI).

Please find below all relevant documents:

The Report “Water Governance in Tunisia: Overcoming the Challenges to Private Sector Participation” is available in French on the OECD i-library.

 

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Read more about the first and the second Consultation Workshops in Tunisia.