EuropeAid Internal E.C. Session : reflection on AIDCO E/7 – DELEGATIONS RELATIONS René BOSMAN (E7) Water seminar Nairobi - October 2010

EuropeAid In the domain of Operational Guidance, past and current support from E7 : - concept note « Complementarities and synergies between SWAP and IWRM» - support to program formulation - regional seminars on SWAP/IWRM - national seminars on demand (initializing SWAP process – national dialog) - horizontal studies ongoing : CoC/MoU Water : best practices SWAP experiences capitalization

EuropeAid Capacity4Dev Platform : (AIDCO E) first step - trial : starts with the T.C. reform, also used by the Public Finance Management experts, open to outside public (worldwide or restricted groups) 1500 users but not many actives Too complex ! Has been fully redesigned and simplified NEW VERSION LAUNCHED on 15 October 2010 ! Functionalities (within groups) : X document library (doc management) X blog for discussions and info exchanges X event/news announcement

EuropeAid Introduction to the new Capacity4dev

EuropeAid

Capacity4Dev : orientations proposed for our Water sector 2 groups : - one open to external members (free consultation but membership required to contribute) - one restricted to internal staff (Del + HQ) Focus on : - library : recover and improve the current WaterNet content - discussions / forum (to avoid multiples exchanges and chat under Outlook as today)

EuropeAid Collaboration between HQ (E7) / Delegations Continue with W&S regional seminars: Fr/EN separately ? Frequency ? Which thematics ? (importance of the countries contributions) Thematic studies ? How to network you ? Headquarter role ? What do you need ? What are you ready to pay ?

EuropeAid Points mentioned in discussion Q Why so many water web sites – what is the comparative advantage – incomplete (aquaknow / euwinet/cap4 dev)? Q it can easily remain unused – can it become a working tool? But how? Is easily outdated. Q -We are meant to upload project information in CRIS (only internal) with the project number we can look at more detailed information on CRIS Q -How to find best practice in CRIS? Perhaps C4D is the tool for best practice? Newsflash etc R – they each have a different role R – there must be an incentive e.g. information will only be available on the capcity4 dev ? R – model TOR are potentially very useful

EuropeAid More points,2 Q time is limited – will be get a message when documents are there (like WSP) – just a short message R – yes that feature will be there, you can define what mails you get or dont get – we will check it Q – we attend such seminars to hear about success stories that we can learn from – can you have frequently made mistakes or stories of success? – that would be useful e.g. in Burundi we are rehabilitating/reforming after the war, we want to avoid the classic mistakes. How to filter ? To get what you are interested in? R – we have to avoid too much information – we can organise sub-topics

EuropeAid More points, 3 Q – we are project focussed – ex post independent evaluations are talked about but rarely done or accessible. We need more such analysis – it helps to learn. Tendency to always declare projects successful. Q – is Brussels thinking of a thematic evaluation of water and sanitation sector (beyond the project) Q – could ex-post ROM be used as a source of information for such deeper analysis Q - the thematic studies could focus on evaluation of successes Q – sharing of good practice will reduce the mistakes and costs of other countries R – there is a thematic ROM evaluation already done !!

EuropeAid More points, 4 Q – it is people that initiate processes – appreciate the seminars like this one – it is motivating and avoids the overload of information problem. It increases our productivity. Q – innovative approaches can be used to exchange information between delegations e.g. Q – find a way to wake us up – makes us belong to the water group (and not just the seminars, build on them) – a picture and person is worth a 1000 words. Q – we should publish more, like the example of Chad – we need to make links with universities and others

EuropeAid More points, Q -Seminars are good – but HQ based seminar allows connection with HQs, that is very useful (might lose the field trip but other advantages) R- we already do that, we have seminars in Brussels each year – june/july. We invite others e.g. OECD, EIB, AFD etc This year we had a 3 days Finance (EIB)/ Sanitation (aidco) / x cutting topics e.g. human rights (DGDev). R -The regional ones have the value of the field trip and practionaires from the region. R – both are good, we should not replace one with the other

EuropeAid More points, Q - We get huge text reports, we cannot absorb the material / we need to do like Benin did with Google Earth – why do we not have the capacity to do this in delegations? E.g. we cannot print A3 in colour. Our (IT) tools are pathetic. Q – good communication can help – remote assistance is possible Q – Water facility project template does not have an executive summary – ask them for this + readable graphs and summary. Lets be more specific on the template and encourage quality rather than volume. Q – report dumping from Brussels …. Please give us a summary not 100+ pages.

EuropeAid More points: Q say it in one page – lets campaign for that Q – the seminars should be supported by the HQ not just delegations, in case they do not have enough budget – this year we had cancellations due to budget Q – this seminar in Kenya was very useful Q – Organise more joint seminars at delegation level – we are bombarded by slogans on alignment, harmonisation, gender etc it is lip service… we need to get in touch with reality Q – there is also a yearly regional infrastructure seminar (only delegation) good but a bit road focussed. Should we keep the water and wider infrastructure separate R – we organised a joint water and infrastructure in Liberville – it did not work

EuropeAid More points, R – big value in having external participants – we cannot have that in a joint seminar with infrastructure. R – our water programs are very policy and institutional development related – water is also related to rural development Q – in Namibia we found keeping roads and water separate was best Q – for small delegations, the separtion of water and roads is not an issue, it is for larger delegations R – could organise one after the other Q – one after the other has merit Q – hoD< HOA, all have conference – perhaps we need an operations conference?

EuropeAid More points, Q – do we an francophone example of successful reforms? R – yes at a recent seminar in Burkina Faso, a series of reforms was outlined Q – we had two sub-sectors here: water and sanitation. We discussed SBS and pooled and projects. For me the modalities as well as the sector was important – aid effectiveness was an important topic Q – why are the road people boring? They are not they are very nice!

EuropeAid More points Q/R -What thematic studies? o Technologies in sanitation o Information management by water ministries, role of information in the sector (data management, indicators) o Innovative projects and initiatives (WSTF, CLTS, Ecotac) R – what frequency for this type of seminar o Q Each year (we already agreed this in Pretoria) R – what topic would you suggest for next year? o Q - Low cost – urban sanitation…innovations o R - Water framework directive of EU – compare with water policy… WRM o Q -Mobile to web application for water systems o Q - One day on dry sanitation (vs water borne)