{"id":3730,"date":"2016-09-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/news\/strengthening-water-governance-through-integrity-and-sustainable-financing\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T15:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T14:37:11","slug":"strengthening-water-governance-through-integrity-and-sustainable-financing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/news\/strengthening-water-governance-through-integrity-and-sustainable-financing\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cStrengthening Water Governance through Integrity and Sustainable Financing\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 2nd<\/sup> \u201cMENA Focus\u201d<\/strong> session was co-convened by GWP-Med<\/strong> and the United Nations Development Programme \u2013 Stockholm International Water Institute Water Governance Facility (UNDP-SIWI WGF).<\/strong><\/p>\n

It focused on the crucial role of water governance and how it can be reinforced through integrity and sustainable financing, benefitting from the work of two Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)-supported, Union for the Mediterranean (UfM)-labelled regional projects: \u201c<\/a>Governance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector\u201d<\/a><\/em><\/strong> and \u201cWater Integrity Capacity Building for the MENA Region\u201d<\/em><\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Mr.<\/p>\n

Mr. Anders Frankenberg<\/strong>, Head of MENA Department at Sida, and Mr. Almotaz Abadi<\/strong>, Managing Director, Water and Environment Division, at the Union for the Mediterranean, opened the event, representing the institutional partners of the two regional projects. The facilitator of the opening segment, Mr. Vangelis Constantianos<\/strong>, GWP-Med Executive Secretary, highlighted the value of the partnership established bringing together towards common goals the beneficiary countries, the enabling regional institutions, the stakeholders, and the donors. \u201dThere is no other way forward, than through a functional partnership\u201d,<\/em> he noted.<\/p>\n

The panel discussion that followed was facilitated by Ms. Anthi Brouma<\/strong>, Head of the MENA Region at GWP-Med, and Mr. James Leten<\/strong>, Programme Manager, Water Integrity Capacity Building Programme at the UNDP-SIWI WGF.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ms. Rawan Isseed,<\/strong> Head of Project Implementation Unit, Reform Programme (Palestine), identified the occupation of Palestine and the destruction of infrastructure as principal reasons for water insufficiency and obstacles to development.<\/p>\n

Mr. Ali Subah<\/strong>, Secretary General Assistant for Strategic Planning, at the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation, said that \u201cpublic participation, especially through the involvement of farmers and other users in decision making, is characteristic of the Jordanian approach\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Mr. Ridha Gabouj<\/strong>, General Director of Rural Engineering and Water Management, at the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, noted that \u201cthe private sector has an important role to play and that beyond political willingness, the field needs to be prepared through the formulation of strategies and the engagement of stakeholders\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ms. Anja Taarup<\/strong> Nordlund, Gender Expert, <\/em>noted that \u201calthough good papers and guidelines exist, strategies do not take into account gender perspectives and needs\u201d<\/em>. She called for ministries to hear women\u2019s voices and companies to involve women in decision making, something that has been demonstrated to lead to better overall performance.<\/p>\n

Mr. Mufleh Al Abbadi<\/strong>, Programme Manager, Water & Climate Change Programme, at the International Union for Conservation of Nature \u2013 Regional Office for West Asia (IUCN ROWA) stressed that \u201cintegrity is an issue further to technical ones and that there is a need to build stakeholders\u2019 capacities to participate beyond consultations\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Mr. Christian Severin<\/strong>, Senior Environmental Specialist at the Global Environment Facility (GEF), stressed that \u201cdata and strong implementing partners are required for successful interventions\u201d<\/em> and reconfirmed the commitment of GEF to continue funding much-needed investments at global and regional scale.<\/p>\n

Following discussion of the panel members with the audience, the two panel facilitators then offered insights from ongoing work, sharing key findings from the two Sida-supported, UfM-labelled regional projects, \u201cGovernance & Financing for the Mediterranean Water Sector<\/em>\u201d implemented by GWP-Med and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and \u201cWater Integrity for the MENA<\/em>\u201d implemented by the UNDP-SIWI WGF. Sida supported the event through the two projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article is part of a wider coverage of the \u201cMENA Focus\u201d events, a set of four regional sessions dedicated to the Middle East & North Africa, officially launched at the Stockholm World Water Week 2016, alongside the Regional Days for Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Global Water Partnership \u2013 Mediterranean (GWP-Med) had been selected and serves as the overall coordinator for these \u201cMENA Focus\u201d events. The sessions were organized in partnership with a number of international regional institutions and organisations. \u201cStrengthening Water Governance through Integrity and Sustainable Financing\u201d was the second out of the four sessions, held on the 30th of August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","category-news"],"acf":[],"spectra_custom_meta":{"_sidebar_content":["field_69d4d421acab1"],"sidebar_content":["

\n
\n

The session's background and approach<\/h1>\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n \n

Water is key to sustainable growth, as acknowledged in the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs). Ensuring good governance at all levels is essential for the implementation of impartial, pro-poor, gender- and youth-sensitive policies. Governance bottlenecks and unethical practices jeopardize the human right for access to water and sanitation and hamper the financial sustainability of the water sector and the creation of \u2018green\/blue jobs\u2019.<\/p>\n

There are efforts towards a professional and impartial implementation of integrity-focused institutional and regulatory frameworks and approaches in the MENA Region. This represents a solid way towards efficiency, optimization of resources and investments, as well as sector sustainability, and will deliver concrete benefits for the citizens, the environment, the regional peace and stability.<\/p>\n

-----------------------------------------------------------------<\/p>\n

The session aimed to exchange experiences, present best practices and lessons learnt, discuss failures, policy messages and ways forward, as well as recommend approaches with regards to promoting integrity and good governance.<\/p>\n

Moreover, it aimed to elaborate on the role of the private sector in sustainable growth, as well as highlight the governance-enabling environment needed for private sector\u2019s involvement and inclusive, pro-poor sustainable development.<\/p>\n

Finally, it aimed to explore synergies, strengthen cooperation and enhance partnerships among countries and stakeholders to address common challenges.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/article><\/div>

\n
\n

Additional Information<\/h1>\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n \n

\n Additional Information on the session's background, programme, resources and conclusions is available here<\/a>.<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/article><\/div><\/div>"],"_old_url":["field_69d4d472acab2"],"old_url":["https:\/\/www.gwp.org\/en\/GWP-Mediterranean\/WE-ACT\/News-List-Page\/Strengthening-Water-Governance-through-Integrity-and-Sustainable-Financing\/"],"_last_date":["field_69d4d498acab3"],"last_date":["9\/9\/2016"],"_event_start":["field_69d4d4c4acab4"],"event_start":[""],"_event_end":["field_69d4d4dcacab5"],"event_end":[""],"_scrape_id":["field_69d4d4ebacab6"],"scrape_id":["01-GWP-English"],"_wp_page_template":["default"],"_thumbnail_id":["6219"],"_edit_last":["1"],"_uag_page_assets":["a:9:{s:3:\"css\";s:0:\"\";s:2:\"js\";s:0:\"\";s:18:\"current_block_list\";a:14:{i:0;s:13:\"core\/freeform\";i:1;s:11:\"core\/search\";i:2;s:10:\"core\/group\";i:3;s:12:\"core\/heading\";i:4;s:20:\"core\/latest-comments\";i:5;s:9:\"core\/list\";i:6;s:14:\"core\/list-item\";i:7;s:19:\"rank-math\/toc-block\";i:8;s:14:\"core\/accordion\";i:9;s:19:\"core\/accordion-item\";i:10;s:22:\"core\/accordion-heading\";i:11;s:20:\"core\/accordion-panel\";i:12;s:14:\"core\/paragraph\";i:13;s:10:\"core\/image\";}s:8:\"uag_flag\";b:0;s:11:\"uag_version\";s:10:\"1779116804\";s:6:\"gfonts\";a:0:{}s:10:\"gfonts_url\";s:0:\"\";s:12:\"gfonts_files\";a:0:{}s:14:\"uag_faq_layout\";b:0;}"]},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2026\/04\/29405628435_fb9db72961_o.jpg",394,263,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2026\/04\/29405628435_fb9db72961_o-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2026\/04\/29405628435_fb9db72961_o-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2026\/04\/29405628435_fb9db72961_o.jpg",394,263,false],"large":["https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2026\/04\/29405628435_fb9db72961_o.jpg",394,263,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2026\/04\/29405628435_fb9db72961_o.jpg",394,263,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2026\/04\/29405628435_fb9db72961_o.jpg",394,263,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"satsiriwinberg@gmail.com","author_link":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/author\/satsiriwinberggmail-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"This article is part of a wider coverage of the \u201cMENA Focus\u201d events, a set of four regional sessions dedicated to the Middle East & North Africa, officially launched at the Stockholm World Water Week 2016, alongside the Regional Days for Africa, Asia and Latin America. The Global Water Partnership \u2013 Mediterranean (GWP-Med) had been…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3730"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5931,"href":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3730\/revisions\/5931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/mediterranean\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}