Written evidence submitted by the Global
Water Partnership
DFID'S SUPPORT TO GLOBAL WATER PARTNERSHIP
FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A CHINA REGIONAL WATER PARTNERSHIP
THE GLOBAL
WATER PARTNERSHIP
The Global Water Partnership (GWP) is a dynamic
not-for-profit action network with over 1,800 committed Partner
organizations around the world. Since its founding in 1996, the
chief focus has been to support developing countries in social
and economic change processes that further the sustainable management
and development of their water resources. GWP Partners are grouped
in 13 Regional Water Partnerships and some 70 Country Water Partnerships
that form a neutral and inclusive platform for dialogue and to
facilitate change processes. The Regional and Country Partnerships
are locally managed and governed and convene stakeholders to address
their own specific problems with solutions that are both locally
tailored and informed by experiences and good practices shared
across the network. The Partnership enjoys multi-donor support,
contributions by governments and voluntary contributions from
many partners to ensure a coordinated approach to development.
THE DFID PROJECT
2000-05
In 2000 Global Water Partnership agreed with
the Chinese Government in the Ministry of Water Resources to set
up a regional node in China. Since then the GWP China Regional
Water Partnership has developed into an active and recognised
facilitator of IWRM with five established sub-national partnerships
reaching out to a large part of the country.
In 2001 DFID started to support the GWP China
first three-year work programme with a grant of £1,404,503.
The project was extended to cover a period of five years (2001-05)[10]
at no extra cost.
The DFID Project Memorandum stated that: The
overall development goal of the China Water Partnership[11]
is better health and well being for poor people. The purpose is
to improve water security in China. The project rationale describes
GWP as a strong organization at regional level and gives the prospect
of GWP being best placed to achieve its strategic target which
was in line with the DFID strategic plans to support the adoption
and implementation of comprehensive national water polices. In
this process GWP China was expected to contribute by:
— establishing partnerships and mobilising
political will;
— building strategic alliances for
action;
— promoting good practices in IWRM;
and
— developing and facilitating regional
actions.
During these first five years of development,
with DFID support, GWP China established itself as a key facilitator
for introducing IWRM in the country. Thanks to committed support
of the Ministry of Water Resources, the partnership was able to
start by assisting in the process that led to amending the China
Water Law which in its revised form substantially included IWRM
as the way forward. The new China Water Law was adopted in late
2002.
BENEFITS TO
CHINA FROM
THE DFID SUPPORT
In an External Review 2006[12]
of the DFID support to GWP China, its achievements and the long-term
sustainability was examined. It was found that: The overall purpose
of the DFID-funded support to GWP has been largely achieved. GWP
China has established a solid base for discussion with and influencing
of the responsible authorities in regard to IWRM and advocating
for the role of IWRM in sustained poverty alleviation. GWP China
has developed strong links with the government, which is essential
for it to play a role in the improvement of water security in
China| GWP China has played a significant role in raising awareness
of IWRM and in translating this into active partnerships at the
international, national, river basin and provincial levels. A
significant part of this success has been to provide channels
for information sharing and to make information available to others
in China. GWP China has been particularly successful where it
has foreseen key developments in the sector and timed project
outputs to feed into these, especially into policy development
and key events. (pp 16-17). This external review thus provided
strong endorsement of the activities of GWP China, and at the
same time it also gave very useful suggestions for further raising
the effectiveness of the program.
In conclusion, the DFID support to GWP China
has had a significant influence on the development of the China
Water Law in 2002 which is leading to sustainable development
of the water resources of the country.
WATER RESOURCES
AT THE
CORE OF
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
IN CHINA
Early on GWP China with its senior leadership
of Chinese high-level politicians and experts developed a long-term
strategy based on the China Water Vision,[13]
that focused on sustainable management of China's water resources
by establishing neutral stakeholder platforms to discuss key water
issues, such as: water pricing and water markets, water and poverty,
water for food, water resources scarcity in NW China, etc. In
this way GWP China facilitated various concerned ministries to
meet at national level together with NGOs and international organisations
at six High-Level Round Tables. The themes for these round tables
were:.
1. Water Governance, February 2003.
2. Sustainable Development of Soil and Water
Conservation, November 2004.
3. Comprehensive Planning of Water Resources
and IWRM, April 2005.
4. Drinking Water Safety, June 2006.
5. Protection of Water Resources and Water
Environment of China, November 2007.
6. Water and Sanitation of China, April
2008.
Four Provincial Water Partnerships (PWPs) have
also been established with their respective agendas in Fujian,
Hebei, Hunan and Shaanxi. In the Yellow River Basin consisting
of nine riparian provinces GWP China with the support of Yellow
River Conservancy Commission (YRCC) set up in 2005 the first ever
River Basin Water Partnership in GWP network, after consultations
by the Commission with 70 important stakeholder organisations
in the basin. The Yellow River Partnership helps the YRCC to organise
consultations between the provinces and sectors such as agriculture,
environment, industry and urban planning, to explore and agree
on ways for restoring the health of the Yellow River. In this
process, among other activities, it has so far assisted in the
new river basin law and its regulations when they were being formulated/or
revised.
The PWPs are actively involved in the implementation
of current polices on The Water Saving Society and The
New Countryside Development vision, starting at grass-root
level with farmers organizing themselves vide Water Users Associations.
In this way the water users themselves begin to own and manage
the rural development process around water resources, where supply
of safe drinking water, water for irrigation, sanitation, environment
and energy supply are at core with prospects of making the countryside
economically sustainable, and in the process also build a Chinese
rural market from where a new large middle class could emerge.
CURRENT LINKS
TO GWP CHINA
GWP China's mission is to assist in the implementation
of China's Water Law; facilitate exchange and cooperation between
sectors, organizations and societies involved in water resources
management; promote broad public participation and dialogues;
enhance international exchange and collaboration; and raise awareness
on integrated water resources management (IWRM) in China.
GWP China provides a neutral platform for sectors
and disciplines for dialogues and cooperation, in an effort to
promote the sustainable development of water resources, ensure
the sustainable economic growth and provide service to the society
as a whole.
The GWP China new strategy 2009-13 also focuses
on achieving the Millennium Development Goals through active IWRM
engagement across a broad spectrum ranging from grass-roots to
high policy levels.
DFID currently provides core support to the
operation of GWP and its regional networks and is one of GWP's
biggest donors. GWP China benefits from annual allocations from
the GWP core budget as well as from locally raised funding. DFID's
support to GWP is thus very much in line with DFID's recently
launched Policy[14]
on water and sanitation.
For more information: www.gwpchina.org and www.gwpforum.org
17 November 2008
10 Financial details are given in a separate report. Back
11
Named GWP China. Back
12
Joanna Smith and Dr Cathy Hu. May 2006. External Review; Role
of Global Water Partnership China and its Long Term Sustainability.
66 pp. (available from GWP and DFID China. Back
13
Wang Rusong, Ren Hongzun and Ouyang Zhiyun. 2000. China Water
Vision-The Eco-sphere of Water, Life, Environment and Development.
178 pp. China meteorological Press, Foreign Language Book No 120. Back
14
DFID Policy Document Water: An increasingly precious resource:
Sanitation: A matter of Dignity launched 28 October 2008. Back
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