The Multi Stakeholder Forum of the European Union Water Initiative (EUWI) was held during the 2007 Stockholm World Water Week. The Forum adopted the proposals for reform of the EUWI as presented earlier in an independent review [1], jointly funded by Germany and the UK, and published in March 2007. The review had been commissioned amidst growing concerns about EUWI’s effectiveness and “an increasing belief that the EUWI was constrained by a lack of clarity surrounding its objectives as well as cumbersome governance arrangements”. Earlier in 2005, the NGOs WaterAid and Tearfund had launched a campaign calling for reform of EUWI [2].

Key elements for the reform include:

• making the four regional components (Africa; Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA); Mediterranean (Med) and Latin America) the engines of the EUWI by giving them more autonomy
• enhancing the EU identity through the (revised role of the) coordinating group and creating greater EUWI commitment
• adopting a strategic and demand-driven approach to national government lead multi-stakeholder policy dialogue in partner-countries
• enhancing the accountability of the EUWI to its regional partners, its stakeholders and to the EU.

[1] EUWI Review

[2] EU Water Initiative: a failure so far, reform needed, say WaterAid and Tearfund, Source Weekly, 6 Jan 2006

Contact: Secretariat of the EUWI, European Commission, Belgium, env-euwi@cec.eu.int, http://www.euwi.net

Source: EUWI, Aug 2007

Tags: policies & legislation