Arab Countries Water Utilities Association (ACWUA)

The Arab Countries Water Utilities Association (ACWUA) is a global centre of excellence that partners with water supply and wastewater utilities in the Arab Countries on building capacities within the utilities and on instituting best practices in order for the utilities to achieve their objectives. Since its official launching in 2009 in Amman, ACWUA has expanded its membership network to reach to more than 100 water utility members from 18 Arab countries, in addition to private sector companies, NGO’s & academic institutions and individual members. ACWUA has developed sustainable partnerships with several international organizations, which opened wide opportunities to ACWUA and consequently to its members. ACWUA is now working on implementing different projects in the region in different research areas as well as in capacity building and training in cooperation with various partners and international organizations, such as: the German International Cooperation (GIZ), the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the European Union (EU), European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD), in addition to two projects funded by the USAID about regional certification program with USAID-ME for 2 Million USD over the coming 2 years (Certification, Twining and ACWUA strengthening), in addition to a Research project on Developing diagnosis and strategies to reduce NRW in the MENA region funded by USAID-FABRI project and in association with AFWA – Kindly find ACWUA Projects attached. ACWUA was also elected by the Arab Ministerial Water Council to implement the MDG+ Project (Establishing a Regional Mechanism for Improved Monitoring and Reporting on Access to Water Supply and Sanitation Services in the Arab Region) in cooperation with UN-ESCWA and funded by SIDA. ACWUA is building a solid, professional platform for water professionals from all over the world; it is now considered the centre point where regional and international experts would meet to exchange their knowledge and expertise, get introduced to latest water technologies through the exceptional events and activities ACWUA is organizing different events, such as the Arab Water Week, best practice conferences, training programs with professional certifications, seminars and workshops; to raise our members’ efficiency and level of performance. ACWUA succeeded in realizing its vision for the years 2010 – 2014, where it became a center of excellence and a representative of the region in international fora in the area of water and sanitation. ACWUA has developed in cooperation with USAID-IWSMR the new five-years business plan 2015-2019 which focuses on the development of its services and expanding its scope of work and the level of awareness of its activities, in order to be able to better support its members in facing the various challenges that are mostly common within the Arab region, such as water scarcity within a growing population and expanding urbanization and economic development activities, and a politically volatile region that has been impacted by the “Arab Spring”, the centralized approach to utility management—especially in what is related to planning and tariff setting and regulations, the shift of qualified resources from public to private sector, the limited utility resources dedicated to capacity building and technology transfer, the lacking financial resources that are needed to fund capital investments and infrastructure development, the difficulty in accessing funds—especially with utilities reaching the ceiling of available funds, and the refrainment of the private sector to fund large scale strategic projects.