Executives Leaders of Water Utilities from 13 Asian Countries Discuss Sustainable Water Service

On August 1–4, 2017, JICA held the 4th Executive Forum for Enhancing Sustainability of Urban Water Service in Asian Region in partnership with the City of Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, which is considered the birthplace of Japan's modern waterworks. The theme of the forum was "Take action toward the next step". Thirty-two executives from water utilities and water-related government agencies in thirteen Asian countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, East Timor, and Vietnam) were invited to the forum, which had a total of about 280 participants including Japan's municipal governments, related agencies, universities, private corporations, and other organizations.

Many Asian nations are experiencing ongoing population growth and urbanization as a result of rapid development, which in turn has led to a need to increase the supplied population and continue to improve water quality, water supply hours, and other service standards in the process of working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More than a few water utilities are still struggling, however, with issues like policy, securing funds, organizational structuring, human resource development, and operations and management. Fostering leadership and fresh awareness among water utility executives and key government authorities is essential to improving water services, which is why JICA has been holding the 4th Executive Forum for Enhancing Sustainability of Urban Water Service in Asian Region since 2010. The event offers participants a chance to create synergy by sharing best practices, lessons learned, and other regional strategies across national borders while strengthening networks of key players within Japan and across water utilities in participating countries. These activities are critical to achieving the forum goal of increasing the number of utilities able to sustainably manage water service in various Asian countries.

The theme of the first forum, held in Yokohama in January 2010, was "Vicious Cycle to Virtuous Cycle". The second forum was held in October 2011 in Tokyo under the theme "Dialogue and Collaboration". The theme of the third forum, held in July 2014 in Yokohama, was "Sustainable management of water utilities". The third forum consisted of five sessions, which were titled "Raising Revenue", "Maintenance of Water Supply Facilities and Procurement of Equipment and Materials", "Human Resources Development", "Partnerships", and "Disaster Preparedness and Mission of Water Utilities". Over the course of these sessions, invited participants from Japan and various other Asian nations presented a variety of initiatives being carried out at their respective organizations so that everyone could learn from the shared insights. In addition, the networks built during the forum continued to function after the event was over, and there were even reports of water utility representatives actually going to visit organizations in other countries to learn about their initiatives in more detail. The program of the latest forum was put together in January 2017 at a Pre-Forum in Cambodia, where some scheduled forum participants exchanged opinions and feedback.

Among the proposals made during the Wrap-up Session were that (1) long-term missions and action plans are necessary for achieving Goal 6 of the SDGs; (2) in order to secure a safe, stable and sustainable water supply, water utilities must formulate and execute Water Safety Plans; (3) appropriate water tariff collection is essential to achieving sustainable management; (4) to secure resources, water utilities must analyze their current status, put forth the required resource plans, and procure funding from external institutions while reducing costs through reduction of energy consumption, reduction of non-revenue water, and improvement of operation and staff efficiency; and that (5) good governance demands transparency, integrity and accountability as well as the effective use of performance indicators (PIs).

Following these declarations, invited participants reconfirmed the importance of working together to improve water utility operations through the insights and discoveries made during the forum and of further strengthening their collaborative and cooperative efforts. The Yokohama Forum Statement 2017 was then adopted. The forum ended with closing remarks by Mr. Kunihiro Yamauchi, Director General of the Global Environment Department of JICA.