Worldwide Overview of Agency-Wide Water Activities
by: Richard Volk and Meg Findley
USAID
and the global community have come to understand that effective water
resources management requires a participatory approach involving users,
planners, managers, and policy-makers at all levels. By first assessing
a country's overall water supply and demand, and through building capacity
and a coordinated response at local, national, and international levels,
effective water resources management is achievable. The Water Team,
within USAID's Global Environment Center, works with USAID missions
and Regional Bureaus worldwide towards that goal. The fundamental role
of the Agency's Water Team is to promote the use of integrated water
resources management worldwide by providing technical and managerial
assistance, education and outreach opportunities, and international
leadership through both USAID and other donor programs.
In order to improve
the impact of USAID's water portfolio, the Water Team has undertaken
an analysis to examine how and where the Agency invests in water-related
activities, and to assess the potential for improved effectiveness and
efficiency across its portfolio. This analysis estimated that USAID
obligated a total of $406 million on water-related activities in FY
2000. Approximately 75% of these obligations were allocated to ANE Missions
($306 million), with lesser amounts obligated for LAC Missions ($51
million or 13%), EE Missions ($22 million or 6%), AFR Missions ($11
million or 3%), and Central operating units ($14 million or 3%). This
last figure also includes nearly $2 million invested by the Water Team
across all regions.
Major obligations
were allocated to four categories across all Bureaus and operating units:
Water Supply, Sanitation, and Wastewater Management (WSSWM) ($221 million);
Natural Resources Management ($96 million); Economic Development/Food
Security ($73 million); and Disaster Preparedness ($17 million). More
obligations ($221 million or 54% of the total) were allocated to WSSWM
activities than any other major category.
Seven SOs totaling
$237 million (58% of all water-related obligations) were found to be
"Water SOs," for which all activities and obligations are
allocated to some aspect of water resources management. None of the
seven water SOs addressed Disaster Preparedness.
In addition to Agency-wide
analysis, this report separately examines the obligations directed to
three operating units that account for nearly 66% ($268) million) of
USAID's investment in water-related activities in FY 2000: Egypt ($129
million), Jordan ($83) million), and West Bank/Gaza ($56 million). Within
the Agency, obligations are somewhat more evenly distributed across
activity categories after removing Egypt, Jordan and West Bank/Gaza
from the analysis. WSSWM receives 43% ($60 million) of remaining obligations,
Natural Resources Management receives 28% ($39 million), Economic Development/Food
Security receives 16% ($22 million), and Disaster Preparedness accounts
for 13% (nearly $17 million).
Within regions,
different patterns are apparent. In some places, WSSWM obligations predominate.
For example, 89% ($20 million) of the total EE water-related portfolio
is dedicated to this area. In other regions, different activities emerge
as priorities, as in the 44% ($5 million) of AFR obligations allocated
to Natural Resources Management, or the 30% ($15 million) of investment
in Disaster Preparedness in the LAC region devoted almost entirely to
post-reconstruction activities of one extreme event in 1998, Hurricane
Mitch.
Worldwide demand
for water tripled during the past century and is presently doubling
every 21 years (Green Cross International, 2000). Of the 31 countries
(with a combined population of 458 million) that faced water scarcity
or water stress in 1995, USAID is currently engaged in water-related
activities in only 11. Looking towards the future, of the 48 countries
(with a combined population of more than 2.8 billion) expected to face
water scarcity or water stress in 2025, USAID is currently engaged in
water-related activities in only 16 of these countries. This represents
$280 million in USAID water-related assistance to countries with a combined
population of 1.8 billion expected in 2025 (66% of the population projected
to face water scarcity or stress). Worldwide, as this report describes,
USAID invested approximately $406 million in water-related activities
during FY 2000.
The USAID obligation
figures compare with World Water Council estimates that $70-80 billion
(excluding direct investment by industry) is currently invested each
year to provide water services. The largest investors by far are governments
at $50 billion per year, followed by the private sector at around $15
billion (dominated by small vendors servicing municipal utilities).
International donors invest roughly $9 billion annually (Cosgrove and
Rijsberman, 2000).
The analysis reveals
that activities at all stages of the IWRM planning and implementation
cycle are being undertaken by USAID around the world, through the promotion
of sound information and analysis, participatory governance, and effective
site-based practices. As USAID proceeds into the new Millennium, the
Water Team will work with operating units in the field and in Washington
to advance USAID's collective understanding about the most effective
approaches to integrated water resources management at all scales. It
is our hope that the present analysis of Agency activities, along with
the detailed highlights and thematic discussions provided in the accompanying
report "Towards a Water Secure Future: USAID's Obligations in Water
Resources Management for FY 2000," will serve as important inputs
to future strategic planning and program design related to water resources
for all USAID operating units.
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