 | Module on Attributes of Well-Performing Utilities. The module addresses the training needs of mid to senior level staff of both public and privately managed water utilities, regional and central government, as well as their advisors, who are engaged in working towards improving the performance of water utilities. NGO, advocacy groups and donor representatives may also find it useful. Participants should have prior knowledge of the water sector. |
 | Private Participation in Water: Toward a New Generation of Projects(1.10mb pdf). September 2006. In the water sector of developing countries the investment boom of the late 1990s has been followed by declining investment flows and the cancellation or distress of several high-profile projects. However, recent data suggest that private participation in the water sector is entering a new phase. For example, contractual arrangements involving utilities are combining private operation with public financing. |
 | Characteristics of Well Performing Public Water Utilities(1043k pdf). May 2006. Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Board Working Note, Paper No. 9. This report focuses on attributes of well run public utilities and identifies important factors that influence their performance. It proposes a framework of assessing public utility governance: accountability, autonomy, customer orientation and market orientation. The report aims to provide a better understanding of how the external environment influences the performance of public sector utilities in developing countries. |
 | Approaches to Private Participation in Water Services: A Toolkit. (1.54mb pdf). 2006. This toolkit is addressed to governments—municipal, provincial, and central—whose strategy for improving water services includes using the private sector, and aims to help them design arrangements that lead to better services and greater access. It sets out the big issues they must grapple with, describes their main options, and offers a view on the advantages and disadvantages of those options. |
 | Service Delivery and Local Empowerment:Turnaround of Public Utilities(Session from the Fourth World Water Forum). This session features a few of champions of public utility reform. The local turnaround stories from Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, Uganda and Zambia that are presented in this session are proof that it can be done. The questions that are emphasized comprise: i) What are the obstacles or opportunities utility managers face from that environment when they try to improve the performance of their own organizations? ii) What can policy makers – at a local or central level – do to incentivize utilities to do better? |
| Consumer Cooperatives: An Alternative Institutional Model for Delivery of Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Services? (265k pdf). January 2006. This paper describes the essential characteristics of consumer cooperatives engaged in the provision of basic services and discusses their applicability as a model for water supply and sanitation service provision in urban areas. The paper reviews the case of SAGUAPAC, a successful urban WSS cooperative in Bolivia, from which it draws some conclusions in the form of a preliminary assessment of cooperatives as a model for delivery of urban water supply and sanitation (WSS) services. |
| | Joint World Bank-WaterAid Workshop: Modes of Engagement with the Public Sector Water Supply Providers in Developing Countries.August 2004. Thirty-five academic and other researchers, water and sanitation practitioners from international NGOs, World Bank staff, donors, and managers of public utilities attended this event. The workshop focused on the interim results of BNWP Project #033 Modes of Engagement with Public Sector WSS in Developing Countries. The event was co-organized by the World Bank and WaterAid to disseminate, discuss, and provide inputs into the draft document. |
| New Designs for Water and Sanitation Transactions: Making Private Sector Participation Work for the Poor (892K pdf). May 2002. The report argues that there is need for further specific thinking about sanitation, and also a need to ensure that governments, when embarking on reform, make a conscious effort to decide how sanitation will be dealt with and whether it is appropriate to use the same reform instrument for sanitation as for water or whether alternative approaches will be needed to ensure that vital investments are made and services improved. |
| The Manila Water Concession: A Key Government Official's Diary of the World's Largest Water Privatization (6000k pdf). July 2000. In 1997, twin concession contracts were awarded for water and sanitation services in Manila, the Philippines. This paper focuses on decisions leading to the privatization of MWSS, the required reduction in the labor force, and financing the cost of advisers. This paper presents a unique government view of the details and challenges of the concession process, and identifies best practices, such as sustained high-level political commitment. |
| | Toolkit for Private Participation in Water and Sanitation. This Toolkit (1997) assembles experience gained in introducing private participation in water and sanitation and the lessons on what can make or break the process. The toolkit consists of three parts: (1) Selecting an Option for Private Sector Participation, (2) Toolkit 2: Designing and Implementing an Option for Private Sector Participation, (3) Toolkit 3: What a Private Sector Arrangement Should Cover. The toolkit is also available in Arabicand Portuguese. |
| | More papers and links on private sector participation in water supply and sanitation are available from the Private Sector Development webpage of the World Bank. |
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