Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) believes German municipal enterprises have an important role to play in supporting the capacity development of water utilities in partner countries. They possess the knowledge, skills and experience needed on the ground. The utility platform developed since 2019 is designed firstly to promote partnerships between German municipal enterprises and water utilities in the partner countries, and secondly to establish long-term structures that in future will underpin the provision of support to partnerships between municipal enterprises worldwide. The pilot project is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Service Agency Communities in One World are responsible for implementing the utility platform. They advise on and support the initiation and implementation of the partnerships, finance partnership activities via grant agreements, organise network meetings and offer the partners diverse training measures. The utility platform is being implemented and further developed in cooperation with the German Water Partnership and the German Association of Local Utilities. Municipal water utilities from Germany, Jordan, South Africa, Tanzania, Ukraine and Zambia are working together in these innovative pilot partnerships and will present their experience in this session.
