ANNUAL REPORT 2023 © 2023 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/ The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington, DC 20433 +1 202.473.1000 www.worldbank.org This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank Group with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or Wichtiger HINWEIS ! Innerhalb der Schutzzone (hellblauer Rahmen) darf the governments they represent. kein anderes Element platziert werden! Ebenso darf der Abstand zu Format- resp. Papierrand die Schutzzone nicht verletzen! The World Bank does not guar- Hellblauen Rahmen der Schutzzone nie drucken! Siehe auch Handbuch antee the accuracy of the data „Corporate Design der Schweizerischen Bundesverwaltung“ Kapitel „Grundlagen“, 1.5 / Schutzzone www. cdbund.admin.ch included in this work. The bound- aries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because The World Bank Group en- courages dissemination of its knowledge, this work may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes as About the Water Global Practice long as full attribution to this work is given. Any queries on rights Launched in 2014, the World Bank Group’s Water Global Practice brings and licenses, including subsidiary together financing, knowledge, and implementation in one platform. By rights, should be addressed to: combining the Bank’s global knowledge with country investments, this World Bank Publications, The model generates more firepower for transformational solutions to help World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, countries grow sustainably. Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522-2625; Visit us at worldbank.org/water and worldbank.org/gwsp e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org Follow us on X at @WorldBankWater and @TheGwsp Design by Sensical Design Annual Report 2023  2  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Contents Foreword: A Message from Our Director   7 Welcome: A Note from the Program Manager   9 About GWSP   10 Executive Summary   13 Abbreviations   19 Accelerated Action to Meet Global Water Challenges   21 Addressing a Renewed Urgency for Universal Access   25 Connecting Water, Climate, and the Economy   26 Encouraging Stronger Private Sector Participation in the Water Sector   28 Setting the Stage for the Global Facility for Transboundary Waters Cooperation    29 Building a Stronger and More Ambitious GWSP   30 Key Themes   33 Fragility, Conflict, and Violence   34 Water and Social Inclusion   37 Climate and the Economy   42 Water Storage   45 Knowledge Into Action   49 Climate-Resilient Irrigation   51  Making Use of Hydroinformatics in Ukraine   52  Advancing Farmer-Led Irrigation in Africa    54  Increasing Water Savings in Irrigation in Morocco   56  Improving Irrigation Performance in Kenya   58 Water Resources Management   61  Increasing Water Security in South Sudan   62  Reducing Water Scarcity and Wastewater Pollution in Türkiye   64  Enhancing Climate-Resilient Irrigation and Water Service Delivery in Indonesia    66  Strengthening Water Security and Sustainability in Nepal   68 GWSP Annual Report 2023  3  Water Supply and Sanitation   73 Strengthening Management, Responding to Climate Impacts, and Ending Gender Gaps  in the Water and Sanitation Sector in Angola    74 Shortening Project Timelines Around the World with the Operational Toolkit for WASH  in Health Care Facilities   78 Taking a Comprehensive Approach to Water and Sanitation Access in the Democratic  Republic of Congo   81  Modernizing Sanitation Services Through Public-Private Partnerships in Tunisia    84  Expanding a Wastewater Testing Pilot in Ecuador Regionally and Globally    86 Advancing Results   89 The GWSP Results Framework    90 Knowledge and Technical Assistance Supported by GWSP   94 GWSP’s Direct Influence on World Bank Water Lending   97 Reporting on Portfolio Shifts and Project Results   99 Knowledge to Go Further   107 Knowledge Management and Learning   108 GWSP Communications   114 Featured Publications   116 Appendixes   119 Appendix A: Financial Update   120 Appendix B: Results Progress   125 Boxes BOX 4.1. GWSP Results Framework’s Three Components    91 BOX 4.2. Examples of Results, FY23    94 4  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Figures FIGURE 3.1. Operational Toolkit for WASH in Health Care Settings    80 FIGURE 4.1. GWSP’s Theory of Change   92 FIGURE 4.2. Portfolio Breakdown, by Primary and Secondary Themes, FY23   95 FIGURE 4.3. Intermediate Outcomes Achieved Through Active Grants, FY23    95 FIGURE 4.4. GWSP-Influenced World Bank Lending, by Global Practice, FY23   98 FIGURE 4.5. GWSP-Influenced World Bank Lending, by Financing Source, FY23   98 FIGURE 4.6. Results Reported By World Bank Lending Operations, FY23   104 FIGURE A.1. Funding Status, FY24–30 (US$ millions)   121 FIGURE A.2. FY23 Disbursements, by Activity   121 FIGURE A.3. FY23 Disbursements, by Activity and Region   122 FIGURE A.4. GWSP Annual Disbursements, FY18–23   122 FIGURE A.5. GWSP Disbursements, by Region and by Fiscal Year    124 Tables TABLE 4.1. Block B1 Indicators: Progress and Targets Summary   101 TABLE 5.1. Examples of Just-in-Time Support, FY23    111 TABLE A.1. GWSP Donor Contributions as of June 30, 2023   120 TABLE A.2. Top 10 Trust Fund Programs Disbursing through the Water GP, FY18–FY23   124 TABLE B.1. Summaryof Results Achieved as of June 30, 2023, Reported by 165 Active GWSP-Funded Activities in FY23   125 TABLE B.2. Portfolio Influence Indicators   127 TABLE B.3. Sector Results Indicators   128 Map MAP 4.1. GWSP-Influenced Global Water-Related World Bank Lending, by Region, FY23   97 GWSP Annual Report 2023  5  6  GWSP Annual Report 2023 FOREWORD A Message from Our Director As I reflect on my first year as Global Director for the World Bank’s Water Global Practice, I am encouraged by the growing awareness of the critical role of water for human capital, food security, climate resilience, and biodiversity. However, the world is still grappling with a water crisis, exacerbated by climate change, that is threatening economies and that could ignite conflict. better results on the ground, including in fragile settings. This past year, the world has experienced record heat, Despite the challenges, in fiscal year 2023, World Bank- wildfires, floods, and extreme drought. Yet there is supported programs provided access to water or san- not enough action. To keep these effects at bay and itation to nearly 30 million people. promote water security, we must act quickly and col- GWSP’s knowledge-into-implementation model re- lectively and on a bigger scale. At the United Nations mains essential in ensuring that we help client countries 2023 Water Conference—the first UN Conference on maintain momentum toward achieving SDG 6. GWSP’s water in nearly half a century—participants emphasized global, regional, and analytical products (such as The the urgency of scaling up action to ensure equitable Hidden Wealth of Nations: Economics of Groundwater access to water for all. in Times of Climate Change and Scaling Up Finance Current trends are alarming: Despite progress, we for Water: A WBG Strategic Framework and Roadmap are behind in meeting the water-related Sustainable for Action) are changing the global narrative on water. Development Goals (SDGs). As of 2022, 2.2 billion A growing number of requests for technical assistance people lacked safely managed drinking water, 3.5 from our clients is evidence that the Partnership has billion lacked access to safely managed sanitation, established itself as a center of excellence in water- and 2 billion lacked access to basic hand hygiene related issues. facilities. These are people who lack basic human rights. Our partners remain instrumental in how we work. To Our future on a livable planet depends on investing in address the multitude of today’s challenges, we must solutions to the water crisis. work in multistakeholder partnerships that include not Scaling up water investments will result in healthier only donors, but also the private sector and youth. After people and ecosystems, climate-resilient irrigation and all, the motto for the 2023 UN Climate Change Con- drainage services for farmers, improved water storage ference (COP28) is “partnership promotes progress.” for the long term, and higher growth and better jobs. As we look to the future, we know that collaboration Today, global investment needs in the water sector ex- and leveraging of opportunities to strengthen partner- ceed $1.37 trillion. To meet SDG 6 by 2030, investments ships will be key to achieving results at full scale and must increase sixfold from the current level. to ensuring that no one lacks safe drinking water. This The World Bank is a key actor, equipped with both is a step we can take together. money and knowledge. It is the largest financier of water in developing countries, with a $30 billion portfolio. In fis- cal year 2023, new World Bank water projects achieved their highest level of funding in the past five years, secur- ing a total of $4.65 billion. The Global Water Security and Sanitation Partnership (GWSP) continues to advance Saroj Kumar Jha knowledge and impact on scale by influencing Bank op- Global Director erations. And, increased financing is yielding bigger and Water Global Practice GWSP Annual Report 2023  7  8  GWSP Annual Report 2023 WELCOME A Note from the Program Manager Amid a global water crisis, intensifying because of climate change, the World Bank Group’s Global Water Security and Sanitation Partnership (GWSP) has proven itself a critical resource for expertise and solutions that can help countries accelerate action to meet their water-related Sustainable Development Goals. Over the last six years, GWSP has invested in a ro- targeting of water sector investments by identifying bust knowledge architecture—global analytics, country where the most vulnerable populations live and which diagnostics, scientific data, and implementation tools. areas are most at risk from flooding. This architecture has positioned it as an important The stories in this year’s annual report also highlight platform to raise awareness and understanding of the how GWSP is providing integrated support to help centrality of water in the climate and economic devel- clients address how water resources are delivered, opment dialogue. This year’s annual report illustrates conserved, managed, and shared in a holistic way. how GWSP’s frontier analytical work, country-based In Türkiye, GWSP is providing technical assistance to solutions and programs, and global voice is raising a project that will provide access to safely managed the profile of water and is having real results on the sanitation services and that will reuse treated waste- ground. One example: the Partnership’s report, What water for irrigation purposes. In Angola, GWSP support the Future Has in Store: A New Paradigm for Water is increasing climate resilience by making the links Storage was showcased at the United Nations 2023 between improved water supply and strengthened Water Conference. The report reveals that while de- water resources management. mand for water storage is increasing, the volume of The progress highlighted in this year’s report reflects freshwater storage is declining, creating a global water the commitment and dedication of our country clients to storage gap. overcome challenges related to delivering water services In fiscal year 2023, the World Bank saw increased and managing water resources for the benefit of their demand from client countries for assistance in building people in a sustainable and resilient way. These activities effective and efficient institutions for delivery of water and and results would not have been possible without the sanitation services, achieving climate-resilient irrigation, generous support of our development partners and and managing worsening flood and drought risks. the tireless efforts of the Water Global Practice staff. GWSP was ready to provide support for designing and Although the challenges are large and the need implementing projects that are sustainable and resilient, to accelerate action is urgent, we are optimistic that, to offer policy advice that is inclusive so that no one is working together, we can have an even larger impact left behind, to support capacity building to strengthen in helping our clients achieve a water-secure world for institutions, and to promote an enabling environment people and the planet. to mobilize finance, including from the private sector. Over the past year, GWSP informed more than $13.5 billion of World Bank projects. Its work enabled teams to bring cutting-edge knowledge and global experience to country clients to accompany these investments, including those in some of the most water-insecure Sarah Nedolast and fragile environments. In South Sudan, for exam- Program Manager ple, GWSP-supported diagnostics helped inform the Water Global Practice GWSP Annual Report 2023  9  About GWSP influence the design and implementation of client poli- cies and programs as well as water sector investments and reforms carried out by governments with the support The Global Water Security and Sanitation Partnership of the World Bank and other partners. was launched in 2017 as an international partnership to GWSP expands the global knowledge base through support countries to meet the targets related to water its broad dissemination of knowledge and analytics. and sanitation under the Sustainable Development Dissemination includes making experts available for Goals, particularly those of Goal 6. hundreds of speaking engagements and active par- GWSP is a multidonor trust fund administered by the ticipation in water-related conferences and meetings World Bank Group’s Water Global Practice (GP) and around the globe. supported by the Australian Department of Foreign The analytical and knowledge work produced by Affairs and Trade, Austria’s Federal Ministry of Finance, GWSP is open-source and available globally to all the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Denmark’s Ministry development partners. While a strong emphasis is of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign placed on quality analytics and delivery through policy Affairs, Spain’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital dialogues with client governments and World Bank Transformation, the Swedish International Development lending operations, it is equally important that the ma- Cooperation Agency, Switzerland’s State Secretariat for terial finds a wide, global audience. Economic Affairs, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the US Agency for International Influence on World Bank Lending Development. GWSP’s unique position within the Water GP enables GWSP acts as the Water GP’s “think tank,” provid- it to influence, through knowledge and technical assis- ing client countries and other development partners tance, the design and implementation of water sector with global knowledge, innovations, and country-level reforms and infrastructure projects financed by the technical support while also leveraging World Bank World Bank. In fiscal year 2023 alone, GWSP provided resources and financial instruments. critical knowledge and analytical support to teams that GWSP-funded knowledge and technical assistance delivered $13.53 billion in World Bank lending. GWSP Entry Points GWSP supports World Bank Group task teams and clients through three distinct entry points: LONG-TERM COUNTRY KNOWLEDGE INTO JUST-IN-TIME TECHNICAL ENGAGEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ASSISTANCE • Lays the framework for coun- • Leverages the global reach of • Enhances project designs try strategies between lending the Water GP, sharing lessons with highly specialized global operations or before lending from one part of the world with knowledge. operations begin. another. • Offers a rapid response to • Strengthens institutions before • Drives investments and inno- changing circumstances. and during reforms. vation through cutting-edge • Provides an unparalleled • Provides project implementa- analyses. capacity-building model based tion support to agencies with • Supports proof-of-concept on peer-to-peer learning. lower capacity, especially in applications. fragile and conflict-affected • Shifts mindsets through situations. advocacy and outreach. 10  GWSP Annual Report 2023 PRIMARY THEMES Sustainability Inclusion Financing Institutions Resilience GWSP Donors Clients Knowledge GW Into Implementation SP L P LEVERAGES E ARNS FROM How GWSP Influences World Bank PARTNERS Lending and Works with Partners GWS Private Academia $13.53 Billion Sector FY2023 ENVIRONMENT, NATURAL RESOURCES, AND BLUE ECONOMY RESEARCH, KNOWLEDGE, ANALYSIS, CONVENING, ADVOCACY LESSONS LEARNED AND WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT URBAN, RESILIENCE, AND LAND Impact WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION EMERGING CLIMATE-RESILIENT IRRIGATION GOVERNANCE AND OTHERS ENERGY AND EXTRACTIVES TRENDS AGRICULTURE AND FOOD GWSP provides client countries with policy advice, technical assistance, and capacity building to enhance the impact of water sector OTHER GPs WATER GP investments and achieve $6.6 BILLION $6.9 BILLION measurable results on the ground—demonstrating the added value of GWSP- funded activities in achieving results not possible with World Bank funding alone. GWSP Annual Report 2023  11 12  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Executive Summary Key Themes GWSP Activities in Climate-Resilient Irrigation GWSP Activities in Water Resources Management GWSP Activities in Water Supply and Sanitation Advancing Results Knowledge to Go Further GWSP Annual Report 2023  13 Executive Summary Fiscal year (FY) 2023 was a pivotal year in which the understanding of the centrality of water in climate and world took note of the urgent need to accelerate action economic development dialogues. For example, the to address the global water crisis. This realization was GWSP-supported FY23 Bank report The Hidden Wealth in part due to dramatic floods and droughts caused by of Nations: Groundwater in Times of Climate Change a changing climate. The first United Nations conference shows how groundwater serves as nature’s multirisk on water in nearly half a century brought the international insurance and is key to poverty reduction, resilience, community together to urgently set the world back and climate adaptation. GWSP also began developing on track to achieving Sustainable Development Goal a new drought business line that will help it more sys- (SDG) 6. tematically build drought resilience in client countries. The World Bank Group, with tremendous support from the Global Water Security and Sanitation Partnership Encouraging stronger private sector participation (GWSP), assumed a leadership position in confronting in the water sector. To meet SDG 6, investment must the water crisis by providing tailored policy advice and increase sixfold from current levels by 2030. The Bank, evidence-based solutions to help countries overcome the largest investor in water in emerging markets, redou- their most critical water challenges. GWSP continued bled its efforts to illustrate how the private sector can its work of the past six years in advancing global knowl- and must invest in water. GWSP supported these efforts. edge and building the government capacity needed to One example: in Tunisia, it contributed to the design support the sustainable delivery of water services. In and implementation of public-private partnerships to FY23, the Partnership leaned into four efforts: deliver sanitation services. Addressing a renewed urgency for universal ac- Setting the stage for the Global Facility for Trans- cess to water and sanitation. GWSP helped World boundary Waters Cooperation. Given that almost Bank water and sanitation projects achieve results by half the world’s rivers span national boundaries, GWSP providing tools to enable utilities to deliver inclusive, established the global facility to bring together key resilient, and sustainable services; technical assistance partners and institutions to help countries understand to promote circular, resilient, inclusive, and water- and transboundary issues, identify solutions, promote sanitation-secure cities; and policy advice to improve agreements, and catalyze investment in support of policies, institutions, and regulations, including on pric- water security. The facility also helps countries address ing and subsidies. broader global challenges, such as conflict prevention and biodiversity preservation. Connecting water, climate, and the economy. GWSP led global efforts to increase awareness and Key Themes Fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV), poor water resources management, and climate change risk form a negative feedback loop that impede efforts to pursue inclusive and sustainable development and, therefore, In FY23, to eliminate poverty. People living in regions marked by FCV have a significantly lower probability of accessing GWSP disbursed safely managed drinking water (43 percent) than people $31.6 million in more stable areas (82 percent). In FY23, GWSP sup- ported development of the water sector in 18 countries and had an active affected by FCV. The Partnership provided analytical portfolio of 216 support to inform policy making, hosted learning and knowledge-sharing experiences, created tools and activities. protocols, and implemented innovative pilot projects. This support helped provide 3.45 million people with access to improved water sources and 2.88 million 14  GWSP Annual Report 2023 people with access to improved sanitation services offset greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by, for example, through World Bank-financed projects in FCV settings. capturing biogas and reducing methane emissions Social inclusion, diversity, and equity in the water through sanitation investments. Such activities will help sector increase ownership and impact. GWSP’s social projects approved in FY23 achieve a net reduction in inclusion program started with a focus on gender but has their expected GHG emissions of more than 700,000 broadened to include guidelines and tools that clients tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. can use to reach other marginalized groups—youth, Decreasing natural storage, deteriorating storage indigenous people, and people with disabilities—and infrastructure, and other factors have led to a significant to effectively engage all citizens. For example, to ac- gap in global water storage. In FY23, GWSP provided count for the needs of excluded and marginalized coordinated support to teams working on water storage groups in project design, the Partnership developed a across the Bank’s portfolio of projects, enabling the sector-specific screening tool using indicators, project Bank to take a more programmatic, global approach to examples, and a set of questions to measure disability closing the storage gap. A major GWSP-funded Bank inclusion. In addition, GWSP supported integration report, What the Future Has in Store: A New Paradigm of an approach and an associated online diagnostic for Water Storage, called for a new approach to water tool (the EPIC tool) for client governments to analyze storage, with solutions such as expanding natural water their capacity to engage citizens in flood and drought storage in landscapes as soil moisture. GWSP activities mitigation and to conduct inclusive participatory water also supported Bank dam safety projects that build resources management. The approach and tool were on the Bank’s history of assisting client countries with tested in nine countries in FY23. risk-based approaches to dam management. The combination of climate change and water scarcity may lead to regions losing as much as 6 percent GWSP Activities in of their gross domestic product, triggering migration Climate-Resilient Irrigation and escalating conflicts. Yet water often remains inade- Climate-resilient irrigation is a fundamental component quately valued. In FY23, GWSP provided support for 26 of agricultural water management in the context of a Bank country climate and development reports, which triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and help countries prioritize actions to meet their climate and biodiversity loss that has intensified competition for development goals. Moreover, GWSP provided technical water resources across various economic sectors. To expertise to help design projects that were expected to underscore the importance of climate adaptation and GWSP Annual Report 2023  15 Executive Summary mitigation in achieving a water-, food-, and nutrition- secure world, the World Bank's Water Global Practice (GP) changed the name of its "water in agriculture" In FY23, business line to "climate-resilient irrigation" (CRI). GWSP supports a diverse global portfolio of CRI projects, from GWSP informed low- to high-tech, government- to farmer-led, low- to $13.5 billion in newly high-cost, and small to large operations. These projects to improve existing irrigated agriculture and to support reported lending rainfed and conservation agriculture have increased projects and $37.7 irrigation efficiency and provided valuable insights to inform investments. billion in all lending GWSP-funded knowledge and technical assistance projects. for CRI projects in FY23 included efforts to boost hy- droinformatics and water accounting in Ukraine to establish the bedrock for well-informed decisions. In another initiative, farmer-led irrigation development findings of a comprehensive water security diagnostic (FLID) continued to expand operations and reach new funded by the Partnership. In Nepal, GWSP helped individuals, communities, and countries. The impacts improve the delivery of dependable water supplies to of the FLID initiative grew in countries where it already farmers and increase the capacity of local governments existed, such as Uganda. In Morocco, the CRI team to provide safely managed water and sanitation services. developed and disseminated knowledge related to a circular water economy. GWSP also supported the GWSP Activities in Water Irrigation Operator of the Future (iOF) toolkit, which Supply and Sanitation aims to improve the performance of service delivery Lack of access to safely managed water supply and san- in irrigation plans. During FY23, the iOF team engaged itation services constitutes a public health, economic, with the Perkerra Irrigation Scheme in Baringo County, and environmental emergency in low- and middle- Kenya. income countries. GWSP helps countries achieve uni- versal access to water and sanitation services through GWSP Activities in Water support for the creation of policies, institutions, and Resources Management regulations. It assists with development of innovative The combined impacts of climate change on water and scalable solutions to key challenges, such as how resources—including flooding and increased rainfall to rapidly increase access to safe water and sanitation, variability, pollution, and resource mismanagement—are ensure maintenance of existing infrastructure, and progressively diminishing water availability and secu- improve quality of services. rity. Amid this uncertainty, GWSP support addressed In FY23, GWSP-funded knowledge and technical a range of challenges, from transboundary waters assistance influenced the design and implementation management to disaster risk reduction. of water sector reforms and infrastructure projects on In South Sudan, one initiative enabled a structured various fronts—from a World Bank guarantee mobilizing program of support for the water sector, with invest- private finance in the water sector in Angola, to inter- ments in flood protection and climate resilience for sectoral work such as an operational toolkit for water vulnerable populations. In Türkiye, GWSP provided and sanitation services in health care facilities globally. technical assistance to support both the construction Other notable efforts include a $1.25 billion project of a wastewater treatment plant and reuse of treated to dramatically boost water and sanitation services wastewater for water-scarce irrigated areas. In Indonesia, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, public-private GWSP supported projects to improve climate-resilient partnerships to deliver sanitation services in Tunisia, irrigation for farmers and to bolster sustainable water and expansion of wastewater-based epidemiology from supply and sanitation services that are aligned with the Latin America to other regions. 16  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Advancing Results In FY23, GWSP supported the following achievements: The GWSP Results Framework tracks how the Partner- ship helps client countries improve and deliver water Inclusion. Eighty-nine percent of water operations services by enhancing the impact of the World Bank’s financed by the International Development Association, water portfolio and achieving measurable results on the the part of the World Bank that helps the world’s poor- ground. FY23 results capture the added value of GWSP’s est countries, included actions to create employment “knowledge into implementation” model. GWSP informed opportunities for women in medium- and high-skilled $13.5 billion in newly reported lending projects and $37.7 water sector jobs. More than half (54 percent) of the billion in all lending projects (including previously reported projects used disability-inclusive approaches in water projects). Among the newly influenced lending projects, supply, sanitation, and hygiene (compared with a target 15 were linked to 8 countries (Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, of 60 percent by FY30). Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Niger, Nigeria, and Somalia) and one economy (West Bank Resilience. All new projects incorporated resilience and Gaza) in fragile and conflict-affected situations. in the design of water-related activities, in line with About half of the lending projects influenced by performance in FY22. Furthermore, the percentage GWSP in FY23 were led by global practices outside of projects with climate change co-benefits increased the Water GP. This is consistent with the role that water from 58 percent in FY22 to 65 percent in FY23. Addi- plays in all facets of the Bank’s work, including in en- tionally, newly approved projects are supporting eight suring that clients are prepared to adapt to and mitigate countries (Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, climate change impacts. For example, GWSP informed Comoros, Haiti, Somalia, South Sudan, Mozambique, approximately $2.66 billion in the Agriculture and Food and Zimbabwe) and one economy (West Bank and GP’s lending portfolio and more than $1.84 billion in Gaza) affected by fragility and conflict—two more such the portfolio of the Environment, Natural Resources, countries than in FY22. and the Blue Economy GP. Results Reported By World Bank Lending Operations GWSP’s knowledge, analytics, and technical assistance influence how policies and projects are designed and implemented, contributing to better project outcomes: 11.34 15.87 million people with access to million people with access an improved water source to improved sanitation 2,559 5,158 schools and health centers with water user associations access to improved water and created/strengthened sanitation services 2.9 23 million hectares under sustainable Institutions with water resources land/water management practices management monitoring systems GWSP Annual Report 2023  17 Executive Summary Knowledge to Go Further GWSP enables the exchange of knowledge required to address the swiftly evolving challenges encountered by the World Bank's clients. Communication plays a vital role in ensuring that the innovative research produced by GWSP reaches key policy makers and implementers. Putting Knowledge into Use. GWSP supports a comprehensive learning program for staff as well as country counterparts and other external practitioners. It includes an online webinar series and in-person events that allow teams to share emerging developments, interesting initiatives, and impactful activity from related sectors in a timely and low-cost manner. Connecting Operational Teams with Technical Expertise. The Water GP's Knowledge Management and Learning (KML) program connects operational teams with technical expertise and knowledge through the AskWater Help Desk and the Water Expertise Facility. The AskWater Help Desk responded to more than 120 queries, many from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and East and Central Asia. The GWSP’s Financing. The percentage of projects that supported Water Expertise Facility supported 28 activities, pre- reforms/actions improving financial viability decreased dominantly in Africa. (from 89 percent in FY22 to 81 percent in FY23), as did the percentage of projects with an explicit focus Curating and Disseminating Knowledge. The KML on leveraging private finance (from 22 percent to 8 program produced more than 50 publications and percent). This was the first year that both climate-resilient translations, including several flagship reports. Online irrigation and water resources management projects learning opportunities are another cornerstone of the were being assessed under both indicators because program. The comprehensive Water Utility Creditwor- these projects typically have been publicly funded. thiness eLearning course launched in FY23 was de- veloped in collaboration with the Private Infrastructure Institutions. The percentage of projects that supported Development Group. reforms/actions that strengthen institutional capacity was slightly lower in FY23 (96 percent) than in FY22 (100 GWSP Communications. GWSP’s strategic commu- percent). Only one project approved in FY23 does not nications leaned into country-level engagements. To strengthen that capacity: the Water Emergency Relief illustrate how GWSP operations at the country level Project for Afghanistan. enrich its knowledge products and vice versa, GWSP produced an array of communications, including Sustainability. All 26 Water GP-approved projects blogs, immersive stories, feature stories, and videos. promoted sustainable and efficient water use, in line The Partnership also integrated a new customer with performance in FY22. Furthermore, the indicator relationship management system in its newsletter for rural water supply and sanitation that measures to encourage use of its online products, to provide the functionality of water points held steady at 100 a better user experience, and to improve analytics percent in FY23. and reporting. 18  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Abbreviations CCDR country climate development report MHH menstrual hygiene health CONAGUA National Water Commission (Mexico) ONAS Office National de l’Assainissement (Tunisia) COP21 Paris Climate Agreement PASEA Programme d’Accès aux Services COP28 2023 United Nations Climate Change d’Eau et d’Assainissement (Democratic Conference Republic of Congo) CRI climate-resilient irrigation PDISA II Second Water Sector Institutional CWIS Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (initiative) Development Project (Angola) EPAL Public Water Company of Angola PPP public-private partnership FCV fragility, conflict, and violence RECLIMA Climate Resilience and Water Security in Angola Project FLID farmer-led irrigation development (initiative) RESWAG Resilient and Sustainable Water in Agriculture (Morocco) FY fiscal year SDG Sustainable Development Goal GDP gross domestic product SIMURP Strategic Irrigation and Modernization GHG greenhouse gas and Urgent Rehabilitation Project GP global practice (Indonesia) GWSP Global Water Security and Sanitation SOE state-owned enterprise Partnership TOR terms of reference IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction UoF Utility of the Future and Development UN United Nations IDA International Development Association WASH water supply, sanitation, and hygiene IFC International Finance Corporation WBE wastewater-based epidemiology INSP Mexican National Public Health Institute WICER Water in Circular Economy and Resilience (approach) iOF Irrigation Operator of the Future (toolkit) WRM water resources management IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate WSS water supply and sanitation Change WUA water user association LMICs low- and middle-income countries Note: All dollar amounts are United States dollars unless otherwise noted. GWSP Annual Report 2023  19 20  GWSP Annual Report 2023 1 Accelerated Action to Meet Global Water Challenges Addressing a Renewed Urgency for Universal Access Connecting Water, Climate, and the Economy Encouraging Stronger Private Sector Participation in the Water Sector Setting the Stage for the Global Facility for Transboundary Waters Cooperation Building a Stronger and More Ambitious GWSP GWSP Annual Report 2023  21 Accelerated Action to Meet Global Water Challenges Water is at the center of today’s climate and develop- ment challenges. From floods and droughts to poor sanitation, there is too much or too little water, or it is too polluted. The consequences are dire. Risks of water-induced conflicts are escalating. Seventy percent of the world’s water is shared across national boundar- ies, and transboundary water resources are increasingly variable because of climate change. Progress toward SDG 6 If we continue along our present course, by 2030, some 700 million people could face the threat of —ensure availability and displacement due to drought. These challenges are sustainable management compounded by other factors: a rapidly growing pop- ulation, and therefore, higher demand for water for of water and sanitation for energy, agriculture, industry, and human consumption. all— is not fast enough Progress toward Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6—ensure availability and sustainable management of to meet SDG water targets water and sanitation for all—is not fast enough to meet by 2030. SDG water targets by 2030. What progress has been made is uneven, with inequality gaps widening both among countries and within them. Partnership’s work to raise the profile of water in both In 2023, the world took note of the urgent need to its global and country-based work. accelerate action to address the global water crisis. Over the last year, the World Bank embarked on This realization was in part due to dramatic floods an evolution roadmap that would enable it to double and droughts caused by a changing climate. The UN down on its impact by better addressing both country 2023 Water Conference—the first United Nations con- development needs and global challenges, includ- ference on water in nearly a half a century—brought ing through large-scale and replicable interventions. the international community together to urgently put Throughout its roadmap discussions, water security, the world back on track to achieving SDG 6. There is sanitation, and climate adaptation emerged as among broad awareness that doing so will require a massive the global challenges that require urgent, accelerated increase in public and private investments: more than action to achieve water-related SDGs. $6.7 trillion by 2030 alone. GWSP and the Water Global Practice (GP) are leading Moreover, there is increased recognition that the efforts to help client countries strengthen capacity and climate crisis is a water crisis and that we have little institutions; support improved operations and mainte- time to transform systems to sustainably deliver water nance; spur efficient, well-targeted arrangements for and food to 10 billion people. water resources management; and mainstream circular The World Bank Group, with tremendous support economy and inclusion principles in water programs. from the Global Water Security and Sanitation Part- With technical capacity and a robust knowledge ar- nership (GWSP), has assumed a leadership position in chitecture, the Partnership is well equipped to help confronting this crisis by using its global voice, backed countries more quickly reach their water-related climate by rigorous data and analytics, and by providing tai- and development goals. lored policy advice and evidence-based solutions to In fiscal year (FY) 2023, GWSP leaned into (1) ad- help countries overcome their most critical water chal- dressing a renewed urgency for universal access to lenges. GWSP’s growing portfolio of activities, wealth water and sanitation; (2) connecting water, economy, of tools, country-based solutions and initiatives, and and climate; (3) encouraging stronger private sector participation in global events such as the 2022 United participation in the water sector; and (4) setting the Nations Climate Change Conference, the UN 2023 stage for the Global Facility for Transboundary Waters Water Conference, and World Water Week illustrate the Cooperation. 22  GWSP Annual Report 2023 GWSP Annual Report 2023  23 Accelerated Action to Meet Global Water Challenges In FY23, World Bank projects provided access to water, sanitation, or both to nearly 30 million people. 24  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Addressing a Renewed Urgency for Universal Access Global action is needed urgently and on scale to meet the water-related SDGs. As of 2022, 2.2 billion people still lacked safely managed drinking water, 3.5 billion people still lacked safely managed sanitation, and 2 billion people still lacked basic hand hygiene facilities. The World Bank is focused on finding solutions, because universal access to water supply and sanitation will enable countries to grow and develop inclusively. In FY23, World Bank projects provided access to water, sanitation, or both to nearly 30 million peo- ple. GWSP helped these projects achieve results by providing tools to enable utilities to deliver inclusive, resilient, and sustainable services; technical assistance to promote cities that are circular, resilient, inclusive, and water- and sanitation-secure; and policy advice to improve policies, institutions, and regulations, including on pricing and subsidies. Chapter 3 highlights how GWSP support has helped increase access to water services in Angola’s capital city of Luanda and in un- derserved provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo and how GWSP capacity building for the staff of Tunisia’s national wastewater utility paved the way for public-private partnerships to deliver better-managed sanitation services. However, much more progress is needed at greater speed and larger scale to help close the water and sanitation access gap. Furthermore, with support from GWSP and under the leadership of the Eastern and Southern Africa Vice Presidency and the Water GP, the World Bank launched an initiative to scale up support to countries in the East and Southern Africa Region to accelerate universal access to safe, affordable, and sustainable water and sanitation services. During the UN 2023 Water Conference, Eastern and Southern Africa water ministers and development partners gathered to com- mit to a new way of doing business characterized by strengthened ambition through a systems approach, accelerated implementation of current and new invest- ment programs, and collective accountability through establishment of regional and national coordination platforms that allow countries to lead the way and development partners to follow by scaling up efforts in a coordinated manner. GWSP Annual Report 2023  25 Accelerated Action to Meet Global Water Challenges Connecting Water, Climate, understanding of the centrality of water in climate and and the Economy economic development dialogues. By equipping world leaders with scientific data and analytics, the Partnership can help ensure that water is correctly valued, which The latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on affects how governments, businesses, and the public Climate Change warns that every increase in the degree use, conserve, manage, and share it. of global warming is likely to intensify water-related In FY23, GWSP pushed the frontiers of global knowl- risks. Therefore, another priority is to lower the risk of edge and analytics. Its recent work has uncovered clear floods and droughts through sustainably managing links between addressing the water crisis and pursuing water supplies and lowering the risk of disasters. Also sustainable development. The Hidden Wealth of Nations: vital to lowering risk are improved irrigation service Economics of Groundwater in Times of Climate Change delivery and water productivity. shows how groundwater serves as nature’s multi-risk The more the World Bank knows about the water assurance and is key to poverty reduction, resilience, and crisis, the more it can do to help client countries em- climate adaptation. Droughts and Deficits: The Global bark on reform, close the financing gap, and direct Impact of Droughts on Economic Growth presents new funds where they can be most effectively used. GWSP estimates of the effects of dry episodes and droughts on is leading global efforts to increase awareness and gross domestic product (GDP) and highlights the need 26  GWSP Annual Report 2023 for stewardship of forests and other forms of natural inform CCDRs and shape policy recommendations. capital that affect the hydrological cycle but that are For example, CCDR analysis indicates that investing in seldom associated with the growth impacts of droughts. drought-related climate adaptation infrastructure could Given the increasing importance of these issues, GWSP reduce GDP losses by almost 60 percent in Morocco. is developing a new drought business line that will help CCDRs also reference hydrological cycle disruptions it more systematically build drought resilience in client from climate change. Along with global population countries. Chapter 2 highlights how new analytics and growth and rising incomes that are leading to shifts lessons from the report What the Future Has in Store: in food preferences and increased demand for food, A New Paradigm for Water Storage are being used in fodder, and fiber, these disruptions are exacerbating the design of new projects. irrigation challenges. The World Bank’s work on cli- Water challenges are one of the five most-mentioned mate-resilient irrigation supports a full spectrum of challenges in the World Bank’s country climate devel- climate adaptation measures, including better man- opment reports (CCDRs). The growing frequency and agement of water stored in the soil (“green water”) intensity of droughts and floods (short-term impacts) and water stored in rivers and lakes (“blue water”). The and increasing water scarcity (a long-term stressor) work also supports emissions mitigation, for example, are discussed in all 36 CCDRs completed to date. planting of rice with properties that substantially reduce GWSP supports critical country-level analysis to help methane emissions during production. GWSP Annual Report 2023  27 Accelerated Action to Meet Global Water Challenges Encouraging Stronger scalable approaches and their deployment through Private Sector Participation multisector and multistakeholder platforms. This year’s annual report highlights two ways in in the Water Sector which GWSP supported efforts to encourage private sector participation in the water sector. One is GWSP’s Globally, water sector investment needs exceed $1.37 contribution to the design and implementation of pub- trillion. To meet SDG 6, investment must increase sixfold lic-private partnerships to deliver sanitation services in from current levels by 2030. Both public and private Tunisia. The other is GWSP's technical assistance for financing and action are required. Maximizing finance a World Bank guarantee mobilizing private finance in will require making public sector water service providers the water sector in Angola. financially sustainable and creditworthy and bringing in GWSP developed several tools to support water private lenders and investors, not only to increase the utilities aiming to improve their efficiency. One tool is total pool of financing but also to transfer knowledge a comprehensive Water Utility Creditworthiness course and broaden local financial markets. co-launched with the Private Infrastructure Development The World Bank, the largest investor in water in Group in FY23. emerging markets, redoubled its efforts in FY23 to illustrate how the private sector can and must invest in water. These efforts included Scaling Up Finance for Water: A WBG Strategic Framework and Roadmap for Cont nts The Water Foreword iv Pref ce v Action, which outlines actions and priorities for national Acknowled ments vi Abbrevi tions vii List of Fi ures, T bles, nd Boxes viii Executive Summ r x 1. Introduction 1 GP set out 2. Lessons Le rned 13 governments, the World Bank, and other development 3. Str te ic Directions 17 4. WBG Ro dm p 27 5. Implement tion Arr n ements 41 Appendix A: Sub-Sector Opportunities for MFD 45 Appendix B: Dem nd nd Suppl Side Assessments nd Fin ncin Solutions 51 partners to improve the planning and mobilization of Appendix C: Countr -Level C se Studies 57 Appendix D: Experience with the Multi-St keholder Pl tform Model 67 © 2023 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank a strategic 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 Appendix E: IFC’s En ements in W ter 70 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org Endnotes 71 7KLVZRUNLVDSURGXFWRIWKHVWDIIRI7KH:RUOG%DQNZLWKH[WHUQDOFRQWULEXWLRQV7KH¿QGLQJVLQWHUSUHWDWLRQVDQGFRQFOXVLRQV References 73 H[SUHVVHG LQ WKLV ZRUN GR QRW QHFHVVDULO\ UHÀHFW WKH YLHZV RI 7KH :RUOG %DQN LWV %RDUG RI ([HFXWLYH 'LUHFWRUV RU WKH governments they represent. funding and financing for water sector investments and The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Rights and Permissions The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because The World Bank encourages dissemination of its knowledge, this work may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes as long as full attribution to this work is given. Please cite the work as follows: Khemka, Rochi, Patricia Lopez, and Olivia Jensen. 2023. Scaling up Finance for Water: A framework and WBG Strategic Framework and Roadmap for Action. Washington, DC: World Bank Group. to promote efficiency in spending. Two imperatives: Any queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522-2625; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. Editing and design: Clarity Global Strategic Communications optimizing the contributions of the public and private sectors and facilitating greater engagement of the private roadmap for action sector in providing capital, innovation, and expertise. GWSP and the 2030 Water Resources Group will play for Scaling Up Finance a fundamental role in fostering the development of for Water. 28  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Setting the Stage for the Global the facility helps countries understand the issues, Facility for Transboundary identify solutions, promote agreements, and catalyze investment in support of water security. The facility also Waters Cooperation helps countries address broader global challenges such as conflict prevention and biodiversity preservation. In Given that almost half the world’s rivers span national addition, the facility provides a platform for partners, on boundaries, transboundary cooperation is a neces- the basis of existing regional programs and practical sary and powerful instrument for building resilience to experience, to share expertise and to identify gaps in climate risks, improving water security, and achieving and opportunities for support. peace and stability. In the context of enormous global At the country level, GWSP’s Water Expertise Facility challenges, the World Bank is taking determined steps has been a source of support for transboundary water to become nimbler and more innovative, including in cooperation. In FY23, the facility funded a diagnos- how it helps countries manage their mutual reliance tic that helped five countries in Africa’s Lake Victoria on shared waters. Basin understand the climate rationale for lake-wide In FY23, building on the Bank’s long engagement sanitation projects. The diagnostic outlined the global in the transboundary space, GWSP established the (multilateral, bilateral, foundation, and private sector) Global Facility for Transboundary Waters Cooperation climate finance landscape for sanitation, identifying to advance sustainable water management and climate finance options available for the basin and its individual action. By convening key partners and institutions, riparian countries. GWSP Annual Report 2023  29 Accelerated Action to Meet Global Water Challenges Building a Stronger and More Ambitious GWSP In FY23, the GWSP Over the past six years, GWSP has established a solid foundation of analytics, tools, data, and expertise— Council approved and a reputation as a center for excellence for the administrative changes water sector. It is well positioned to provide support to countries as they accelerate efforts to achieve that will enable it to their water-related SDGs. In FY23, the GWSP Council grow and increase its approved administrative changes to the Partnership that will enable it to grow and increase its reach and reach and impact. impact. These changes will allow GWSP to provide grant resources to World Bank clients to cofinance projects to accelerate progress and to create incentives for investment in global and regional public goods, such as those related to climate change, pandemics, scaling up of wastewater-based epidemiology research and fragility. The changes also will allow GWSP to take on diseases and illicit drug use as a cost-effective more risks to pilot new technologies and alternative alternative to individual and clinical testing (see story delivery models. One example is the adaptation and in chapter 3). 30  GWSP Annual Report 2023 This Year’s Annual Report Chapter 2: Key Themes This chapter provides an in-depth look at pressing issues that GWSP actively addressed. This year, it looks at how GWSP worked to close a sig- nificant gap in global water storage, and it describes how the Partnership’s expertise helped countries prioritize actions to improve their water-related resilience to meet their climate and development goals. As in past years, this chapter also examines GWSP’s activities related to social inclusion and to countries affected by fragility, conflict, and violence. Chapter 3: Knowledge Into Action This chapter describes highlights of GWSP’s support to World Bank Group activities at the country, regional, and global levels, and it shows how the Partnership contributed to progress underway in the Bank’s client coun- tries. This chapter is organized around GWSP’s three business lines— climate-resilient irrigation, water resources management, and water supply and sanitation. Chapter 4: Advancing Results This chapter gives an overview of results that GWSP achieved in FY23. These accomplishments capture the added value of GWSP’s “knowledge into implementation” model. Notably, the GWSP Council in FY23 estab- lished new performance indicators related to GWSP’s inclusion and resil- ience themes. The Council also approved new targets for FY23–30. Chapter 5: Knowledge to Go Further The report concludes by detailing GWSP’s support for knowledge and learning products and their curation and dissemination. Appendixes These appendixes include a financial update and an updated results framework. GWSP Annual Report 2023  31 32  GWSP Annual Report 2023 2 Key Themes Fragility, Conflict, and Violence Water and Social Inclusion Climate and the Economy Water Storage GWSP Annual Report 2023  33 Key Themes Fragility, Conflict, and Violence Fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV) impede efforts In fiscal year (FY) 2023, GWSP supported the devel- to pursue inclusive and sustainable development and, opment of the water sector in 18 countries affected by therefore, to eliminate poverty. People living in regions FCV. Operating within the framework of the World Bank marked by FCV have a significantly lower probability of Group’s FCV 2020–2025 Strategy, GWSP provided ana- accessing safely managed drinking water (43 percent) lytical support to inform policy making, hosted learning than people in more stable areas (82 percent). FCV, and knowledge-sharing experiences, created tools and poor water resources management, and climate change protocols, and implemented innovative pilot projects. risk form a negative feedback loop. The GWSP report Because successful initiatives in FCV contexts require Ebb and Flow: Water, Migration, and Development finds more time and resources than in other contexts, GWSP that access to water sources used for drinking and expertise was invaluable in helping the Bank reach these irrigation can trigger or heighten conflict. The report areas and people. That expertise included building highlights links between water and migration and shows institutions’ implementation capacity, conducting project how fluctuations in water availability influence internal monitoring using technologies such as remote sensing, migration and, hence, regional development. In 2022, and working in partnership with United Nations agencies the world experienced a staggering 60.9 million internal and nongovernmental organizations. The Partnership’s displacements primarily driven by conflicts, extreme support in FCV settings helped provide 3.45 million weather occurrences, and natural disasters. This figure people with access to improved water sources and is 60 percent higher than in 2021 and the highest 2.88 million people with access to improved sanitation such figure ever reported. Of these displacements, services through Bank-financed projects in FY23. 53 percent were triggered by disasters. Furthermore, GWSP contributed critical support to several countries the number of displacements caused by disasters in affected by fragility and conflict in FY23. 2022 was 41 percent higher than the annual average It provided analytical support to Iraq through its con- for the past 10 years, according to Global Report on tribution to the Iraq Country Climate and Development Internal Displacement 2023 by the Internal Displace- Report, which offers comprehensive insights into the ment Monitoring Center. links among water, climate change, development, and policy. The report highlights the huge impact of water reduction on unskilled labor and on the agriculture sector, the main source of employment in Iraq’s rural areas and the second-largest source of employment at the national level. GWSP's support In Timor Leste, GWSP supported a water assess- in FCV settings ment and water utility analysis using its Utility of the Future tool, and it continues to support the government helped provide with its Policies, Institutions, and Regulation tool. 3.45 million people In FY23, GWSP funding improved the design of a comprehensive initiative to address major gaps in with access to improved access to water supply and sanitation services in the water sources and 2.88 Democratic Republic of Congo. In June 2023, the Bank approved financing of $400 million for the first million people with access to of four phases of Programme d’Accès aux Services improved sanitation services d’Eau et d’Assainissement (PASEA), a program for which the Bank will provide $1.25 billion in financing through Bank-financed over 11 years. GWSP supported a study of options for projects in FY23. financing quality latrines for use in peri-urban areas that lack both access to sewerage services and treatment 34  GWSP Annual Report 2023 of fecal sludge. For more details, see the story on the Approach: Achieving Sustainable Provision of Water study in chapter 3. Services to Refugees in Uganda—outline the approach In Uganda, in cooperation with the United Nations of the multiyear project, disseminate key issues and High Commissioner for Refugees and the Office of lessons, and chart the path to sustainable success. At the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Water, GWSP the end of FY23, the project had given 35,350 people continued supporting the Integrated Water Management access to improved water sources. By 2024, the project and Development Project on a series of sector reforms aims to provide 1.2 million people (including 98,000 and infrastructure improvements. These activities con- refugees) with access to these sources and 294,000 nect humanitarianism with the development nexus in people (including 21,000 refugees) with access to water service provisions in refugee-hosting areas. Two improved sanitation services. publications developed and released in FY23— From In the Republic of Yemen, GWSP supported the a Humanitarian to Development Approach: Uganda’s Rapid Water Security Diagnostic as part of the Yemen Ground-Breaking Journey to Achieve Sustainable Water Security and Resilient Services initiative. This Provision of Water Services to Refugees and Host diagnostic elevates water security as an issue criti- Communities and From a Humanitarian to Development cal for national development. It explores the complex GWSP Annual Report 2023  35 Key Themes nexus of water scarcity, conflict, climate change, and In Haiti, GWSP’s expertise has helped expand resil- development, and it answers key questions: Why does ient water and sanitation services in rural areas in an water security matter for the Republic of Yemen? How extremely fragile and violent context. In FY23, GWSP does it contribute to and how is it affected by conflict? assisted the Government of Haiti’s National Directorate What are the compounding risks imposed by climate of Water and Sanitation in formulating its 2022–2030 change? How do conflict and climate change conspire strategic plan for achieving SDG 6. The Partnership to constrain the performance of the water sector? What also assisted with discussions about tariff reform pro- measures can overcome these challenges? cesses and tools, emphasizing that delivery of water Although the Bank does not maintain an active lend- sector services should be affordable and sustainable. ing portfolio in Zimbabwe, it remains actively involved These activities contributed to the development and in the country. Water resources management plays a implementation of the Bank’s $80 million Decentralized pivotal role in ensuring a consistent and reliable water Sustainable and Resilient Rural Water and Sanitation supply for agricultural activities, which is critical for Project, approved in FY23. This project aims to increase the country’s food security. GWSP continued helping access to basic water and sanitation services in rural build, test, and expand a framework to assess existing areas, while considering cholera mitigation, climate- multipurpose water storage systems, an effort requiring related vulnerabilities, and the development of critical multiple grants over several years. In addition, GWSP water supply infrastructure. By 2029, the project aims developed and helped refine an evidence-based mul- to provide basic drinking water services to 250,000 ticriteria methodology to identify and prioritize invest- people in drought-prone areas, extend basic sanitation ments to rehabilitate water storage. This methodology services to 125,000 people, and increase from zero to serves the dual purpose of prioritizing investments that 150 the number of sustainably managed rural piped safeguard public safety and optimizing water invest- water supply systems that can withstand droughts, ments to bolster national food security. floods, and cyclones. 36  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Water and Social Inclusion Social inclusion, diversity, and equity are necessary (GP) projects, providing a channel for translating knowl- in the water sector for ownership and impact. GWSP edge into concrete operations to improve the quality supports efforts to help people who are disadvan- and depth of inclusion. taged because of their identity or place of residence Every new FY23 project included actions to address in accessing water services and influencing water a specific gender gap that is tracked in the project’s decision-making spaces. GWSP’s social inclusion results framework during implementation, and 73 per- program started with a focus on gender but has since cent of new projects included specific actions to target broadened to include guidelines and tools that clients marginalized people or communities. This attention can use to reach other marginalized groups—youth, to project design is translating into more inclusive indigenous people, and people with disabilities—and outcomes. A recent portfolio review found that, as of to effectively engage all citizens. FY22, 38 percent of FY17–19 projects achieved their In recent years, GWSP has sought more trans- gender indicator targets in part or in full. As of the formative approaches to inclusion, for example, by end of FY23, 71 percent of FY17–20 projects did so. making institutions more diverse, explicitly addressing One example: the Ferghana Valley Water Resources social norms, and better aligning results-based and Management project in Uzbekistan reported that the performance-based systems with the business case number of female farmers adopting improved agricul- for pursuing more inclusive approaches. tural technology to increase the quality of irrigation rose from 150 to 800. Another example: water connections Designing More Inclusive Projects made possible through the India Uttarakhand Water In FY23, the Social Inclusion team advised and sup- Supply Program for Peri Urban Areas saved women ported 45 pipeline and existing Water Global Practice 2.8 hours per day—five times the original target. GWSP Annual Report 2023  37 Key Themes Closing the Gender Gap in Irrigation associations and other community-level irrigation institu- Although women represent a significant share of the tions. In addition, numerous Bank operations embedded agricultural workforce in some low-income regions more holistic approaches to enhancing women’s voices. (and a growing force in regions where agriculture has For example, the operations changed eligibility rules for become increasingly feminized), they often have little water user associations so that women without land titles or no voice in water user associations, lack the same could join, and they started to track extension services access as men to extension and productivity services, for and target these services to female farmers. and have both smaller and less irrigated land plots One example of the continuation of this work is than men have. The aggregate impact of these gaps reflected in the Georgia Resilient Agriculture, Irrigation, is evidenced in crop yields, nutrition, and income. and Land Project, which was approved in FY23 and The Bank is taking an evidence-based approach to which targets smallholder farmers. To address several close these gaps. In FY23, Bank projects contributed gender gaps, the project provides matching grants for to adoption of improved agricultural technology by 2.79 women landowners to pay for irrigation technology, million farmers, of whom 1.13 million are female. A recent supplies irrigation technology preferred by women, portfolio analysis of Bank irrigation projects revealed and supports demonstration activities that target the that 69 percent of projects approved between FY12 land plots of women farmers. The project conducts and FY21 had gender indicators and that of these proj- gender-disaggregated tracking to monitor whether ects, 10 percent included gender indicators focused on female farmers are reached through these various women’s leadership and decision-making in water user efforts and whether their land plot sizes are increasing. 38  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Building More Diverse Local Water mitigation and to conduct inclusive participatory water Institutions resources management. The approach and tool were GWSP activities contribute to policies and strategies that tested in nine countries in FY23. enhance the social inclusion of women by allowing them to access jobs, markets, services, or decision-making roles in organizations that handle water resources and water and sanitation services. In FY23, 10 percent of GWSP activities reported results under this indicator. For example, the Morocco Water Security and Re- silience Program developed an approach to motivate river basin agencies to meet existing quotas for gender representation, which often were neither observed in practice nor accompanied by sensitization to ensure that women would be heard. GWSP helped integrate concrete targets for female representation in leader- ship into a performance maturity index for river basin agencies—and linked improvement according to the index to a financial incentive. A similar effort, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is the PASEA project, which is further described in chapter 3. Strengthening Citizen-Centric Approaches to Sustainable Water Resources Management In FY23, 100 percent of Bank investment operations integrated results indicators for citizen engagement. The need for such engagement to manage water resources more sustainably is broadly recognized, but examples in practice are lacking. During FY23, the Social Inclusion team assembled a database of more than 80 engagement examples—including some innovations developed outside the Bank. The team translated these examples into recommendations by project component for several operations and shared the results with clients. As a result, the new Eastern and Southern Africa Climate Resilience Project will In FY23, enhance the systems, capacity, and tools for bottom-up 100 percent of community engagement in flood planning, investment prioritization, monitoring, and maintenance. The initia- Bank investment tives include peer exchanges to train citizens to report operations flood early-warning signs and to help dam maintenance and community-based disaster preparedness groups integrated results to enhance resilience. indicators for citizen In addition, GWSP supported the integration of an approach—and an associated online diagnostic tool engagement. (the EPIC tool) for use by client governments—to ana- lyze capacity to engage citizens in flood and drought GWSP Annual Report 2023  39 Key Themes Addressing the Needs of Excluded inclusion. In FY23, it began to share this tool and other and Marginalized Groups guidance with pipeline projects and to deploy the tool GWSP provides technical assistance, capacity building, at the country level. In addition, GWSP supported a and guidance to help ensure that the needs of excluded partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund and marginalized groups are taken into consideration in (UNICEF) and WaterAid to develop “Taking Action to project design. For example, the Partnership developed Achieve Inclusive WASH,” an introductory, self-paced a sector-specific screening tool using indicators, project online training course on disability inclusion in water examples, and a set of questions to measure disability supply, sanitation, and hygiene. More than 2,000 internal and external participants have enrolled. A portfolio review of citizen engagement in water resources management operations highlighted the gap between intentions to adopt approaches inclusive of marginalized groups and implementation of those approaches. Therefore, the Water GP initiated case studies and gathered indigenous leaders from four continents to reflect on how to address this gap. In addition, it partnered with youth organizations to carry out a similar exercise. GWSP is supporting a series of capacity-building engagements in Cambodia, Nigeria, Tanzania, and other countries. In FY23, 54 percent of projects with water and sanitation components addressed disability inclusion (of 13 projects with water supply, sanitation, and hy- giene components, 7 included actions for people with disabilities). The Water GP had the highest rate of disability-inclusive operations among all Bank GPs. One of these operations is the Tanzania Sustainable Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Program, which supports disability-accessible facilities in 1,500 schools and 2,500 health care centers. The accessibility challenges in Tanzania stemmed from lack of local capacity to follow appropriate construction designs for these facilities and the difficulty of large-scale quality monitoring in rural areas. In partnership with the local nongovernmental organization for people with disabilities, Water Aid, and UNICEF, GWSP supported the piloting of solutions and helped strengthen the capacity of government and Bank staff to make infrastructure and services more inclusive. Lessons from this experience reveal the importance of conducting hands-on accessibility and safety audits. Such participatory audits, if integrated into the design of water and sanitation programs, can help identify inclusion gaps in construction designs and can strengthen local ownership of built infrastructure. In addition, these audits can improve the capacity of local governments and construction companies by allowing them to take the perspective of users. 40  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Expanding the Equal Aqua Platform and its Lessons The Equal Aqua platform has become a global bench- marking mechanism for promoting opportunities for women in leadership and technical positions in water sector utilities. For the 37 utilities that have completed two rounds of benchmarking, the share of total women The Equal Aqua platform has employees increased by 7 percent; the share of women become a global mechanism managers, by 28 percent; and the share of engineers, by 54 percent. In all cases, the utilities benefited from for promoting opportunities Bank-supported projects and Equal Aqua approaches for women in leadership and (either through the projects or directly through engage- ment with the platform). technical positions in water GWSP promotes gender diversity in water employ- sector utilities. ment by facilitating the exchange of relevant research, knowledge, and tools among a growing number of partner organizations (22 as of the end of FY23). A in professional and technical capacities in water new development in FY23 was Equal Aqua leadership resources management and river basin (including training programs for women in Peru and El Salvador regional/transboundary) organizations. Institutions that attracted more than 135 trainees. Another new such as the Women in Water Diplomacy Network, development: Equal Aqua began to expand beyond Association of Hydrogeologists, and Community water utilities to address the need for women to work of Women in Water joined the platform. GWSP Annual Report 2023  41 Key Themes Climate and the Economy Water resources sustainability and security are both threatened by climate change, and they are crucial in efforts to adapt to that change. Global warming disrupts hydrological systems and intensifies extreme weather phenomena, leading to increased water scarcity. The combination of climate change and water scarcity may lead to regions losing as much as 6 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP), triggering migration and escalating conflicts. At the same time, water often remains inadequately valued and investments to improve its quality are lacking. Hence, capacity to effectively adapt to climate change largely depends on enhanced management of water resources. GWSP supports core analytics and analysis to help countries diagnose and prioritize actions to meet their climate and development goals. Improving water-related resilience is among the top five issues in recommenda- tions from the Bank’s country climate and development reports (CCDRs). In FY23, GWSP provided support for 26 CCDRs. Its analysis considered the aggregate impact of water-related risks on growth and livelihoods. One finding: without adaptation, by 2050, annual GDP under pessimistic climate scenarios compared with annual GDP in a medium-growth baseline would be reduced by between 6.8 percent (Burkina Faso) and 11.9 percent (Niger). That decrease could be large enough to wipe out most or all annual growth in real GDP and real GDP per capita. GWSP provides advice and expertise to help teams design projects that address climate change issues. As of July 1, 2023, all new lending projects for water emissions associated with irrigated rice cultivation, sector investments must be aligned with the Bank’s reducing the burning of charcoal and other fuels, and commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement sequestering carbon in landscapes. Such activities will (COP21). GWSP crafted a sector note laying out the help projects approved in FY23 achieve a net reduction climate change mitigation and adaptation requirements in their expected GHG emissions of more than 700,000 that projects must meet to be consistent with these tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. commitments. Three projects approved in FY23 exemplify design More generally, the Water GP evolved its approach features such as climate indicator targets and climate to project design during FY23 to meet the challenges of co-benefits. climate change. GWSP provided technical expertise to help design projects that were expected to offset green- Regional Climate Resilience Program for Eastern house gas (GHG) emissions by, for example, pursuing and Southern Africa. The first-of-its-kind program lays energy efficiency and renewable energy investments, the groundwork for the next generation of investments capturing biogas and reducing methane emissions in climate resilience in the region with 94 percent of through sanitation investments, reducing the methane its lending commitments having climate co-benefits. It 42  GWSP Annual Report 2023 enhances regional cooperation and adaptation through activities such as improving flood resilience, increas- ing the sustainability of water storage, and enhancing livelihood opportunities. A collaborative effort of the Bank’s Water GP, Urban, Resilience, and Land GP, and Social Protection and Jobs GP, the program establishes a regional platform that evaluates and scales repro- ducible best practices emerging in various countries and sectors. Among the program’s climate-related indicator targets are increasing flood protection for 500,000 hectares of land (all in transboundary basins) and increasing protection against climate shocks for 1 million people. Methane-Reducing and Water-Saving Paddy Rice Program for Results (China). This $255 million Bank program helps China, the world’s the largest rice pro- ducer and consumer and the world’s largest methane emitter, reduce the methane footprint of its rice produc- tion by training and supporting farmers to co-manage water crops and straw fertilizers. In China and other rice-growing countries, the program is expected to mitigate climate change with its replicable, scalable, and sustainable rice-growing model that reduces water needs and methane emissions. Eighty-five percent of the program’s lending commitments have climate co-benefits. The program’s climate-related indicator targets include supporting three counties’ pilot carbon trading and developing provincial-level standards for water-saving and low-methane rice production. Climate-Resilient Infrastructure for Urban Flood GWSP activities Risk Management Project (Argentina). This GWSP-supported Bank project aims to change how will help projects approved Argentinian cities manage floods, a growing and major in FY23 achieve a net threat to Argentina’s economic and human development. The project seeks to increase the number of people in reduction in their expected Argentina who benefit from improved and integrated GHG emissions of more flood risk management. To achieve this objective, the program will support the government in implementing than 700,000 tons of medium- and long-term plans for the water sector over carbon dioxide equivalent 10 years. Eighty-six percent of the project’s lending commitments have climate co-benefits. Among the per year. project’s climate-related indicator targets are reducing the exposure of 123,000 people to floods and helping 10 cities adopt improved and integrated practices for managing the risk of floods. GWSP Annual Report 2023  43 Key Themes 44  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Water Storage The fundamental role of water storage in shaping our col- lective water-secure future cannot be overstated. Storage increases the availability of water for irrigation, reduces the impacts of floods, and provides other services that underpin the vitality of communities worldwide. However, decreasing natural storage, challenges in maintaining built storage infrastructure, and other factors have led to a significant water storage gap. In FY23, GWSP knowledge and support—including a major report and coordinated support to teams working on water storage across the Bank’s portfolio of projects— enabled the Bank to take a more programmatic, global approach to meeting water storage needs. A GWSP-funded Bank report, What the Future Has in Store: A New Paradigm for Water Storage, calls for a new approach to water storage, one that considers the planning and management of storage systems (natural, built, and hybrid) as an integrated whole and that reflects various investments and policies to create robust and resilient storage. Solutions to increase water storage include maximizing natural storage and reop- erating, rehabilitating, or retrofitting existing storage. These solutions were discussed at a high-profile report launch event at Bank headquarters as well as at the COP27 session on Sustainable Water Storage and River Basin Management for Resilience, the United Nations Conference on Water, and SIWI (Stockholm International Water Institute) World Water Week. The report findings were incorporated into more than 30 water-storage-related Bank projects, and they served as the foundation for training materials for Bank staff. The report provided guiding principles for a team of Bank experts that gave specialized support to projects involving groundwater and built water storage facilities to help create robust storage solutions, including solutions that stemmed from report recommendations. GWSP-supported activities, aligned with lessons from the water storage report, helped some countries close the water storage gap. In Cambodia, GWSP funded the development of several assessments. The first of these, a water source assessment, used a water resources modeling tool that generated climate change scenario projections, including risks of water shortages. The as- sessment results informed coordination between the country’s water resources sector and water supply sector, GWSP Annual Report 2023  45 Key Themes contributing to the design of two IDA-financed projects: the Cambodia Water Security Improvement Project and the Water Supply and Sanitation Acceleration Project. More than Furthermore, GWSP supported assessments of two subriver basins that were identified as investment options 99 percent of for a project that will improve water security and boost freshwater storage agricultural productivity within selected basins. This proj- ect includes rehabilitating and upgrading multipurpose on Earth is in nature, storage to mitigate the impact of floods and droughts, yet it is largely taken thereby helping local farmers weather climate variations. In Somalia, the Water for Rural Resilience Project, for granted. approved in FY23, aims to scale up rural water provision in fragile contexts. Building on past GWSP support, including a GWSP-funded water security diagnostic, the project expands support to the government for proven techniques, such as sand dams, to improve model. Intermediate reports that incorporate initial water security and resilience. Natural storage solutions findings from the model application have helped the and catchment management are methods endorsed implementing team create riverside development sce- by the new water storage report. GWSP funded expert narios, including construction of infills, dredging for review of the new project. navigation, and extraction of sand for construction purposes. The project aims to improve urban living Expanding Nature-Based conditions for 2,400 people and to increase resilience Water Storage Solutions in selected areas along the riverfront of the capital Nature is a major part of the solution to the global water city. Ongoing work is helping teams better understand storage gap, according to the water storage report. sediment and river flow dynamics, which will help them More than 99 percent of freshwater storage on Earth is manage the river and preserve nearby wetlands that in nature, yet it is largely taken for granted. The Bank’s are home to migratory bird populations. Espírito Santo Water Security Management Project in Brazil shows how GWSP-funded peer review and Increasing Dam Safety advice from a global team encouraged effective water The safety of dams is another major challenge due to storage practices. The project aims to expand natural a combination of aging infrastructure and risk that is water storage in landscapes as soil moisture, and it elevated by growing demand for water storage. GWSP supports monitoring of the retention capacity of built activities support Bank dam safety projects that build multipurpose reservoirs. on the Bank’s history of assisting client countries with Key obstacles to the sustainability and scale-up of risk-based approaches to dam management. One water storage are outlined in the water storage report. notable example is the Viet Nam Dam Rehabilitation Sedimentation is one such obstacle; it can reduce and Safety Improvement Project, which was successfully storage capacity and impair water quality. For that completed in FY23. This project included the rehabilita- reason, 21 GWSP-supported projects are integrating tion of 436 dams, substantially improving dam safety for sediment dynamics and management opportunities approximately 2.9 million people as direct beneficiaries within broader Bank initiatives and policy discussions. and 5.1 million people in downstream communities The Asunción Waterfront Project in Paraguay, ap- as indirect beneficiaries (exceeding the targets of 2.7 proved in FY23, is one example. GWSP supported the million direct beneficiaries and 4.1 million indirect ones project design by funding the collection of information envisaged at appraisal). The project played a pivotal role to build a model that will simulate erosion and sedimen- in developing 122 emergency preparedness plans and tation processes in the Paraguay River and by hosting extended protection against dam failure to more than a stakeholder coordination workshop to validate the 200,000 hectares of irrigated land, ensuring the safety 46  GWSP Annual Report 2023 of agricultural resources and livelihoods. In addition risk of potential failure, and provide water for human to financing physical rehabilitation of many irrigation and economic needs. dams, the project supported the government’s efforts Valuable insights gained from the Viet Nam Dam to implement a sustainable management framework Safety Project and similar Bank work—such as the for ensuring safety conditions across its portfolio of India Dam Renewal and Improvement Project—were dams. This framework included establishing technical applied to the design of new Bank projects. In the Lao guidelines and regulatory standards to be applied People’s Democratic Republic (PDR), GWSP funding across all types of dams so that overall dam safety in FY23 supported the preparation of a dam safety study, would be more standardized, transparent, and ac- which provided inputs into the Bank's work on dam countable. In its final phase, the dam safety project management and safety in Lao PDR's irrigation sector. benefited from GWSP-funded knowledge about dam The study reviewed legal and institutional frameworks safety risk management. The project team worked relevant to building the government’s capacity to take a with the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet risk-based approach to dam safety. The study formulated Nam to embed international practices that ensure safe recommendations for future operations, with the goal operations and dam development planning, reduce the of bolstering dam safety measures. GWSP Annual Report 2023  47 48  GWSP Annual Report 2023 3 Knowledge Into Action Climate-Resilient Irrigation Water Resources Management Water Supply and Sanitation GWSP Annual Report 2023  49 Knowledge Into Action 50  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Climate-Resilient Irrigation A triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss has intensified competition for water resources across various economic sectors. In this context, climate-resilient irrigation is a fundamental component of agricultural water management. To underscore the importance of climate adaptation and mitigation in achieving a water-, food-, and nutrition-secure world, the Water Global Practice (GP) has changed the name of its “water in agriculture” business line to “climate-resilient irrigation” (CRI). This business line encompasses a range of strategies to support adaptation: improved management of water stored in the soil (known as green water), efficient irrigation practices using blue water, and mitigation measures, such as the cultivation of low-methane rice varieties. As climate change disrupts the hydrological cycle, the global population grows and urbanizes, and income changes drive shifts in food preferences, the imperative is clear: produce more high-quality food with fewer resources to sustain a livable planet. The world must enhance agricultural productivity, optimize food systems, implement reforms, rehabilitate existing and build new infrastructure for water production, and redirect subsidies. Failing to do so could exacerbate crises. The goal is to secure food for a projected 10.4 billion people by 2050. GWSP supports a diverse global portfolio of CRI projects, from low- to high-tech, government- to farmer-led, low- to high-cost, and small to large operations. These operations to improve existing irri- gated agriculture and to support rainfed and conservation agriculture have increased irrigation efficiency and provided valuable insights to inform investments (see Methane-Reducing and Water-Saving Paddy Rice Program for Results in China on page 43). GWSP-funded knowledge and technical assistance supported various CRI projects in FY23. GWSP supported efforts in Ukraine to boost hydroinformatics and water accounting to establish the bedrock for well-informed decisions. In another initiative, farmer-led irrigation development (FLID) continued to expand operations and reach new individuals, communities, and countries throughout FY23. The impacts of the FLID initiative grew in countries where it already existed, such as Uganda. In Morocco, the CRI team developed and disseminated knowledge related to a circular water economy. GWSP also supported the Irrigation Operator of the Future (iOF) toolkit, which aims to improve the performance of service delivery in irrigation plans. During FY23, the iOF engaged with the Perkerra Irrigation Scheme in Baringo County, Kenya. GWSP Annual Report 2023  51 Knowledge Into Action Making Use of Hydroinformatics in Ukraine Challenge In 2021, a mere 1.64 percent of Ukraine’s agricultural land, equivalent to 0.354 million hectares, was being irrigated, leaving the remaining 25 million hectares of cropland entirely reliant on rainfall. This underuti- lization of irrigation systems can be attributed to a variety of factors, including inadequate maintenance and widespread dysfunctionality, insufficient drainage infrastructure, and the confluence of rising energy costs and diminishing state funding. Inadequate technical capabilities and a lack of funding for individual farms also have contributed to the deterioration of irrigation systems nationwide.  Moreover, Russia’s invasion in 2022 significantly dam- aged the irrigation, drainage, and flood control sector in 15 of 25 Ukrainian oblasts (an administrative division or region), amounting to a staggering cost of $380.5 million; 90 percent of the damage was concentrated in just six oblasts. The most significant reductions in irrigated areas have been observed in regions either temporarily outside government control or experiencing ongoing hostilities.  There is a lack of comprehensive knowledge about how war and climate change affect irrigated agricul- ture, the extent of resulting damage, and the long-term consequences for Ukraine’s agricultural industry. This information deficit hampers the decision-making pro- cess for developing strategies to adapt agriculture to the challenges posed by global warming. The knowledge gap also impedes the government’s ability to make investments aimed at post–conflict reconstruction and strengthening of water resources and the agriculture sector. Approach  Ukraine. The analysis considered the consequences In FY23, GWSP supported the development and imple- of weather-related risks on irrigation zones, water use for mentation of cutting-edge analytics to evaluate the state irrigation, biomass production, crop yields, and dams. of Ukraine’s irrigated agriculture sector. The CRI team It provided a better understanding of factors such as conducted the analysis using remote sensing, earth cropping intensity, crop water productivity, incremental systems modeling, and census data. This approach yield, and irrigation efficiency. In addition, the analysis aimed to deepen understanding of weather-related developed knowledge about the impacts of climate risks, particularly drought risks, and their effect on change, particularly those related to water and heat agricultural systems, both rainfed and irrigated, in stress on agricultural productivity. All these results 52  GWSP Annual Report 2023 UKRAINE RESULTS INDICATORS BLOCK A SUSTAINABILITY • Tools and monitoring systems supported to strengthen (1) sustainable manage- ment of water resources at the national, basin, and aquifer levels; (2) built infra- structure assets; or (3) both INSTITUTIONS • Fragility, conflict, and violence–affected states supported to develop and imple- ment a water sector transition strategy RESILIENCE • Diagnostics conducted or implementa- tion undertaken to promote principles of freshwater-resilience building management decisions and provided guidance for future investments in dam and irrigation infrastructure through increased understanding of current and projected irrigation performance. For example, the work identified regions in Ukraine that would benefit from enhanced irrigation systems, expanded irrigation systems, or both through innovative water management investments to promote resilient and sustainable agriculture. Quantification of the impacts of conflict and climate change on the irrigation sector established a robust analytical foundation for the second Ukraine Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment. Produced by the World Bank Group in coordination with will help Ukraine’s irrigation sector “build back better” the European Union and the Government of Ukraine, the through well-informed policies and decision making. assessment covers the period from February 24, 2022, to February 24, 2023. The assessment shows that the Additionality priority needs of Ukraine include modernizing the energy Government officials, irrigation engineers, local com- sector, improving housing conditions, and fostering private munities in war-affected zones, and communities sector growth. Furthermore, GWSP provided technical connected to relevant global supply chains benefited advice related to additional water storage development, from technical assistance supported by GWSP. That crop selection, land reform, private investments, and other assistance helped shape national-level water resources aspects of the irrigation sector’s rebuilding. GWSP Annual Report 2023  53 Knowledge Into Action Advancing Farmer-Led Nigeria, Somalia, Uganda, and Zambia. These interven- Irrigation in Africa tions were expected to boost the impact of $77 million of farmers’ money spent on irrigation technology for their own high-value crops. The result: by 2030, more than 83,000 African farmers should be able to access Challenge irrigation for more than 50,000 hectares. Today’s threats to water and food security range from extreme weather conditions to disruptions in supply Additionality chains. Escalating food and energy prices resulting from In partnership with the Government of the Democratic the war in Ukraine have caused additional, significant Republic of Congo, GWSP funded a rapid irrigation challenges. In West Africa, for example, the costs of diagnostic to determine the constraints facing and the essential imports such as rice, wheat, and sugar have potential for irrigation development. This analysis, of surged by 20 percent to 50 percent. The increase in a sample of existing irrigation plans in four provinces, food and fuel prices also has driven up inflation rates identified bottlenecks related to farmer-led expansion throughout East Africa, disproportionately affecting and intensification of irrigated production. The analysis households, especially those already in vulnerable economic situations. One essential component of efforts to ensure both AFRICA food and water security is sustainable irrigation prac- RESULTS INDICATORS tices. Many countries across Africa have set ambitious targets for expanding irrigation. Although public-led BLOCK A irrigation initiatives are crucial, they alone cannot achieve these targets. Farmers who are developing new irriga- tion sources require assistance. Moreover, support is INSTITUTIONS needed to create an environment more conducive to interactions between farmers and the private sector. • Policies/strategies/regulatory frame- works informed to strengthen the insti- tutional environment for improved water Approach  ​ resources management, improved water Since 2017, GWSP has supported the design, devel- service delivery, or both opment, and implementation of the Bank's farmer-led irrigation development (FLID) initiative, which helps FINANCING smallholder farmers take the lead in establishing, improving, or expanding irrigation sources. FLID is • Policies/strategies/regulatory frame- works developed to improve financial a bottom-up approach to developing irrigation. The viability private sector provides expertise and funding, and farmers drive irrigation investment and management. BLOCK B The result is increased food production, resilience to climate shocks, and inclusive economic growth. Throughout FY23, FLID support included facilitating SUSTAINABILITY innovative financing models for smallholder farmers, in- cluding pay-as-you-go, matching grant plans, dedicated • New projects that promote sustainable and efficient water use micro-irrigation funds (in Tanzania), and results-based financing (in Nigeria and Zambia). During the fiscal CLIMATE-RESILIENT IRRIGATION year, the FLID initiative completed diagnostics in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe and • Farmers adopting improved agricultural technology supported other FLID-aligned activities in Angola, Comoros, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritania, 54  GWSP Annual Report 2023 streamlined. In addition, there was a change in the timing of farmer copayments for the new equipment to prevent potential delays in farmers receiving the equipment.​ The changes produced positive results. As of FY23, 45,000 smallholder farmers had expressed interest in the program, 13,000 farm visits were completed by government staff, and 3,300 tenders were advertised for procurement of irrigation equipment. During the farm visits, government representatives confirmed technical eligibility, allowing farmers to choose their preferred irrigation equipment and reducing transaction costs for equipment suppliers. These visits and other activities helped more than 1,000 farmers obtain irrigation equip- ment and led to installation of equipment at more than 110 irrigation demonstration sites (with an additional 260 installations underway as of the writing of this report). In Kenya, the National Agricultural Value-Chain Proj- ect, launched in 2022, saw achievements such as the rehabilitation or construction of approximately 500 water storage structures to enable micro-irrigation. In addition, also involved modeling irrigation scenarios, which re- the FLID initiative connected interested farmers with vealed the potential impacts of water scarcity and crop suppliers of irrigation equipment that was eligible for production on various irrigation development scenarios purchase using pay-as-you-go financing. During FY23, by 2050. Government partners used the diagnostic to FLID helped establish 79 micro-irrigation demonstration uncover opportunities for the public sector to stimulate farms, and 246 groups and 5,149 farmers purchased the development of irrigation at scale. their irrigation equipment from private sector entities. In Uganda, GWSP has supported implementation of ​ he Government of Mauritania established a partial T the Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers Program subsidy in FY23 to help farmers access finance for for Results Additional Financing ($50 million) since irrigation equipment. This subsidy was part of the Bank’s FY21. This project contributes to the Government of $197 million Sahel Irrigation Initiative Support Project, a Uganda’s Micro-scale Irrigation Program, which helps regional initiative that aims to improve stakeholders’ ca- farmers with partial subsidies for irrigation equipment, pacity to develop and manage irrigation and to increase facilitated access to credit, awareness-raising events, irrigated areas in six participating Sahel countries demonstration sites, and farmer field schools. The (in addition to Mauritania, they are Burkina Faso, Chad, government program incorporates all aspects of the Mali, Niger, and Senegal). Five hundred farmers in FLID approach. In FY23, GWSP funded a program Mauritania expressed interest in the partial subsidy reflection exercise that included interviewing farmers, after a nationwide radio marketing campaign. Of the conducting field visits, and facilitating knowledge ex- 500, 69 smallholder farmers (on 65 hectares) and 13 changes between government officials from Uganda farmers with medium-sized operations (on 81 hectares) and Ghana. These activities produced adjustments benefited from financial support. Once completed in to Uganda’s Micro-scale Irrigation Program, with the FY24, installation and implementation of the irrigation government updating both the irrigation equipment equipment should result in greater crop diversification; selection process and copayments from farmers. In further introduction of high-value horticultural crops such the equipment selection process, for example, there as onions, tomatoes, and carrots; and improved farmer were changes to the way suppliers were engaged to livelihoods. This project serves as proof-of-concept for reduce excessive bid-preparation costs. The subsidy private irrigation development not only in Mauritania, application and procurement process was simplified and but also across the Sahel.  GWSP Annual Report 2023  55 Knowledge Into Action Increasing Water Savings MOROCCO in Irrigation in Morocco RESULTS INDICATORS BLOCK A Challenge Among the world's most water-stressed countries, Morocco is experiencing considerable fluctuations in SUSTAINABILITY water availability over space and time. This predica- ment is exacerbated by the impacts of climate change, • Sustainability-focused knowledge products generated resulting in declining rainfall and reduced runoff, and escalating demand, resulting in groundwater depletion INSTITUTIONS and alarming degradation of water resources. Notably, a substantial portion of the country's water resources • Water-related institutions supported to strengthen capacity for managing water is consumed by irrigated agriculture. resources or service delivery To combat water scarcity in agriculture, Morocco has instituted the National Program of Water Savings RESILIENCE in Irrigation. This program aims to enhance the efficient use of water in irrigation, primarily by modernizing • Policies/strategies/regulatory frameworks developed or implemented to strengthen irrigation on approximately 550,000 hectares, 220,000 the resilience of freshwater basins, the of which are covered by large-scale irrigation plans. delivery of services for communities The overarching goal is to provide a water service that dependent on these basins, or both aligns with the standards of drip irrigation and other more efficient irrigation technologies. BLOCK B Approach GWSP financed a study to evaluate water consumption SUSTAINABILITY and water productivity, as well as the effects on water conservation and groundwater use of the conversion • New projects that promote sustainable and efficient water use of collective projects to drip irrigation, within the mod- ernized irrigated regions of the El Haouz perimeter. This RESILIENCE irrigation plan fell within the scope of areas designated for improvement under the $150 million World Bank- • Projects incorporating resilience in design of water-related initiatives financed Large-Scale Irrigation Modernization Project, an integral component of the broader National Program CLIMATE-RESILIENT IRRIGATION of Water Savings in Irrigation. The GWSP-funded study used remote sensing and satellite technologies to suc- • Farmers adopting improved agricultural technology cessfully gather and analyze data related to changes in biomass (as a proxy for productivity) and overall water consumption in the study area. In so doing, the CRI team established the correlation between evapotranspiration Additionality and biomass on the one hand and water use in agricul- This GWSP-funded study strengthened dialogue with ture on the other. Later, the initiative evaluated the volume the Government of Morocco on the importance of of groundwater used for irrigation and its correlation with water conservation policies. With GWSP’s support, surface water allocated by the irrigation operator, thus the CRI team held a high-level policy dialogue on building the country’s capacity to sustainably manage water use in Moroccan agriculture and developed a water resources and service delivery. technical note to support policy engagement related 56  GWSP Annual Report 2023 to resilient and inclusive agrifood systems in the Water in Agriculture (RESWAG) project, approved in Maghreb. The key Moroccan counterparts, the Re- FY22 on the basis of an analysis of water conservation gional Office for Irrigation of El Haouz (operating technologies’ capacity to alleviate water scarcity in under the Ministry of Agriculture) and the River Basin agriculture. This analysis provided a strong foundation Agency of Tensift (under the Ministry of Equipment for the establishment of observatories such as those and Water), greatly benefited from adoption of the proposed in the RESWAG project to measure the im- innovative monitoring technologies used in the study. pacts of water conservation technologies in the long The data, knowledge, and dialogues supported by term. The project aims to enhance the governance of GWSP also informed the development of water quo- water in agriculture, improve the quality of irrigation tas, which the government will implement in tandem services, and modernize on-farm irrigation technologies with technology upgrades. in areas suffering onerous water restrictions or served by Furthermore, the study and dialogue informed two overexploited aquifers. By 2027, the project expects to World Bank-financed projects. By December 2022, provide 51,485 hectares with new or improved irrigation the Large-Scale Irrigation Modernization Project had or drainage services and to reach more than 23,000 benefited more than 9,000 farmers with improved water farmers with agricultural assets or services. services and access to improved irrigation technolo- Combined, these activities will help Moroccan water gies covering an area of 20,700 hectares. The World authorities and irrigator operators maintain water with- Bank–Morocco collaboration also provided significant drawals at a sustainable level and cope with interannual insights for the $182 million Resilient and Sustainable variability. GWSP Annual Report 2023  57 Knowledge Into Action Improving Irrigation Performance in Kenya Challenge From urbanization and population growth to changing consumption patterns and demographic shocks, farmers around the world face unprecedented obstacles. These obstacles are compounded by dramatic shifts in global rainfall patterns and increasing water requirements from multiple sectors. Escalating demands for water-intensive food production—such as select crops, meat, and dairy products—further strain already-scarce water resources. It is critical to develop and implement innovative and advanced irrigation and drainage practices to enhance the security and productivity of water use. Increasing the performance of service delivery is one key opportunity to respond to changing realities. However, improvements in delivery of irrigation and drainage services conventionally focus on upgrades to infrastructure, without integrating corresponding KENYA RESULTS INDICATORS BLOCK A INSTITUTIONS advances in institutional and organizational perfor- • Water-related institutions supported to mance. This approach often results in rigid, substandard, strengthen capacity for managing water inequitable, and unsustainable delivery of irrigation resources or service delivery services. Additionally, existing technical assessment FINANCING tools often rely on external experts to analyze perfor- mance improvements and develop action plans. As a • Institutions supported to improve their result, governments and plan operational teams, though financial viability and creditworthiness thorough in their work, generally don’t use these tools. BLOCK B Approach The Irrigation Operator of the Future toolkit, developed in CLIMATE-RESILIENT IRRIGATION 2021 with GWSP support, takes a holistic approach to improving irrigation and service delivery by accounting • Water user associations created/ for the entire operational and financial ecosystem. strengthened The toolkit provides tools, guidance, and support to irrigation and drainage service providers to develop 58  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Tajikistan (as reported in GWSP’s FY22 annual report). It was then applied in Kenya in FY23. Improvement of irrigation and drainage services is a priority for the Government of Kenya. GWSP supported the National Irrigation Authority in using the iOF toolkit to complement Kenya’s existing performance management approaches and to enhance irrigation performance across the country at multiple levels. The iOF engage- ment process became a central component of a new national investment plan. To prepare for use of the iOF toolkit, the CRI team first built the capacity of in-country operational teams at multiple levels through both tech- nical and operational training and knowledge sharing. Operational teams included diverse stakeholders such as engineers, agricultural economists, financial officers, Irrigation Water User Association/farmer representatives, and government planners and managers. The trainees were 34 professionals (including 15 women) from the 7 major government-operated irrigation plans. The goal is to use the iOF toolkit in the areas covered by these plans, which affect 23,600 irrigation farmers on 20,250 hectares. Additionality The iOF toolkit was initially applied in the Rift Valley to the Perkerra Irrigation Scheme that is operated by Kenya’s National Irrigation Authority. The smallest of Kenya’s seven major irrigation plans, the scheme affects 1,600 farmers (30 percent of them women) on 1,100 hectares. The iOF engagement process draws heavily on local experience to ensure full ownership and implementable and take ownership of plans to rapidly improve the plans. The process is facilitated by specialist consultants operational status quo. It enables providers to assess supported by the CRI team. It includes significant infor- their performance and identify roadblocks to better mation exchange between the CRI team and in-country performance. It ensures that action plans are practi- operational teams, which include engineers, financial cally implemented and owned by the government and officers, farmer representatives, and government per- operational teams. The iOF engagement process is sonnel. The CRI team, in collaboration with all partners, a participatory sequence for assessing performance, selected priority performance indicators, including identifying problems and analyzing their root causes, reliability, affordability, financial sustainability, and crop and developing solutions. yield. When the performance improvement action plans The iOF toolkit is highly adaptable to different country are fully implemented, increases of 33 percent to 50 contexts. The irrigation operator starts by selecting key percent in the anchor crop of seed-maize are expected. performance indicators that will be monitored during an The action plans will enable the government to increase intervention. Once the operator identifies key challenges, the irrigation service fee by 2.5 times the current fee—an it develops an action plan that is tailored to address amount considered affordable for producers—which in specific requirements, with insights from iOF guidance. turn will make the Perkerra Irrigation Scheme financially The iOF toolkit was piloted in Albania, Georgia, and sustainable. GWSP Annual Report 2023  59 Knowledge Into Action 60  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Water Resources Management GWSP has long supported much-needed efforts to bolster equi- table, inclusive, and sustainable water resources management. Countries, regions, and communities around the world constantly grapple with water-related challenges. Half of the global popula- tion, or 4 billion people, face severe water scarcity for at least one month annually. Approximately half a billion individuals endure year-round water scarcity. The combined impacts of climate change on water resources—including flooding and increased rainfall variability, pollution, and resource mismanagement—are progressively diminishing water availability and security.  Amid the uncertainty about the future of the world’s water supplies, two things are clear. First, collaboration and dialogue across sectors and borders are critical. Second, improving water management to ensure that no one, especially in marginalized or disadvantaged communities, is left behind can help safeguard public health and reduce child mortality. It also can protect biodiversity.  GWSP supports water resources management initiatives that address both the demand and supply sides. Such initiatives build capacity and knowledge and develop systems that are sustainable. The approaches and tools used by Bank teams draw on a wealth of global knowledge and experiences to create adaptable and transferable solutions tailored to specific on-the- ground realities. GWSP-funded knowledge and technical assistance address a range of challenges related to water resources management, from transboundary waters management to disaster risk reduction. In South Sudan, one initiative enabled a structured program of support for the water sector, with investments in flood protection and climate resilience for vulnerable populations. In Türkiye, GWSP provided technical assistance to support both the construction of a wastewater treatment plant and reuse of treated wastewater for water-scarce irrigated areas. In Indonesia, GWSP supported projects to improve climate-resilient irrigation for farmers and to bolster sustainable water supply and sanitation services, aligned with the findings of a comprehensive water security diagnostic funded by the Partnership. In Nepal, GWSP helped improve the delivery of dependable water supplies to farmers and increase the capacity of local governments to provide safely managed water and sanitation services. GWSP Annual Report 2023  61 Knowledge Into Action Increasing Water Security of pastoralists and farmers. Many South Sudanese in South Sudan have fled to floodplains and wetlands because these areas may provide a defensive shield against armed conflict. However, these areas also are more exposed to life-threating floods, placing forcibly displaced pop- Challenge ulations at higher risk of death by water. Water security is crucial to respond to South Sudan’s humanitarian emergencies and to advance the country’s Approach longer-term development aspirations. A significant pro- GWSP-supported activities in FY23 helped strengthen portion of the population is exposed to flood hazards. the capacity of the Government of South Sudan, raised At the same time, droughts are a common phenomenon the visibility of the water security agenda in the country, in both the southern and northeastern regions. Climate and identified priorities for water sector investment. change is expected to cause more water-related di- GWSP technical assistance enabled the government, sasters, with the unprecedented floods of 2020, 2021, in March 2023, to convene a high-level policy dialogue and 2022 serving as examples. Alterations in river flow about water security for all South Sudanese and to patterns, diminished water quality, and reduced ground- conduct two technical workshops with development water availability also are expected. These challenges partners to identify water sector investment priorities. are greatly compounded by political instability, marked GWSP financing resulted in a March 2023 report, by prolonged armed conflict, fragile institutions, and a Rising from the Depths: Water Security and Fragility in humanitarian crisis of forced displacement. South Sudan, that explores opportunities for aligning The majority of South Sudan’s population is heavily South Sudan’s water sector investments and policies reliant on stable and secure access to usable water for with the country’s ambition for peace, stability, and a variety of livelihoods. Recurrent droughts in certain sustainable solutions. For example, the report high- regions have disrupted the mobility and livelihoods lights the potential to use South Sudan’s plentiful water 62  GWSP Annual Report 2023 resources to advance national development and ensure stability. The annual occurrence of seasonal flooding SOUTH SUDAN plays a vital role in sustaining the lives of more than RESULTS INDICATORS 6 million people who live along the Nile and Sobat rivers and across the eastern and western floodplains. BLOCK A Innovative irrigation techniques and enhanced land and water supervision could optimize the use of this water resource during the primary crop cultivation periods, SUSTAINABILITY which would allow the nation to substantially enhance its agricultural output and improve its food security. • Policies/strategies/regulatory frameworks informed to strengthen (1) sustainable Furthermore, GWSP support allowed the Bank to en- management of water resources, (2) built gage successfully with the Ministry of Water Resources infrastructure assets, or (3) both and Irrigation to identify priorities to be addressed through project financing. INSTITUTIONS Additionality • Fragility, conflict, and violence–affected states supported to develop and imple- Strengthened government capacity. GWSP funded ment a water sector transition strategy a pioneering diagnostic at the national level to assess and identify key challenges and opportunities for • Water-related institutions supported to several water-related issues. The diagnostic presents strengthen capacity for managing water a long-term approach, identifying the institutions that resources or service delivery should be responsible for implementing corrective actions. The diagnostic demonstrated the need for BLOCK B a comprehensive portfolio of water management in- frastructure solutions that reflect careful attention to INCLUSION the social and environmental impacts of investments. Furthermore, the GWSP-supported water security • New projects with other social inclusion policy dialogue and two technical workshops fostered aspects local knowledge about managing water resources, RESILIENCE reducing water-related risks, and building resilience to climate change. Together, the diagnostic, dialogue, • Number of fragile and conflict-affected and workshops enabled the government to recognize states supported with a resilience lens and acknowledge that water security contributes to peace and stability, thereby ensuring a long-term focus • Projects incorporating resilience in design of water-related initiatives on water-secure development. WATER SECURITY AND INTEGRATED Better designed and targeted investment. The WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT GWSP-funded initiative led to a structured program of Bank support for the South Sudanese water sec- • People in areas covered by water-risk mitigation measures (flooding/drought) tor. The program represents a total of $215 million in investments in projects for providing flood protection to and enhancing the climate resilience of vulnerable populations, including refugees and their host commu- live and which areas are most at risk from flooding. nities, and for developing national water frameworks, The spatial data generated with GWSP support helped including a water resources master plan. The project inform strategic decisions about where to target project design benefited from the GWSP-funded diagnostics interventions and provided the basis for development of that identify where the most vulnerable populations countrywide maps showing flood and drought hazards. GWSP Annual Report 2023  63 Knowledge Into Action Reducing Water Scarcity and Wastewater Pollution in Türkiye Challenge Water-stressed Türkiye faces significant barriers to achieving sustainable water security. More than 66 percent of the nation’s 25 river basins are experiencing water scarcity, while demand for water continues to rise. Climate change is anticipated to produce further negative consequences for water scarcity, particularly related to agricultural productivity, rural livelihoods, employment opportunities, and the overall security of food supplies. Water quality is another concern. Türkiye has extensive water pollution resulting from the release of untreated industrial and residential wastewater and from the application of fertilizers and pesticides. In this context, the Government of Türkiye set out to strengthen the resilience of its water resources to both climate and non-climate-related risks by prioritizing a circular water economy in its 11th National Development Plan. However, the country’s water sector had limited exposure to the circular approach, including key prin- ciples, technologies, and implementation. Approach To address this gap, GWSP supported a visit to the western United States by water experts from Türkiye and the World Bank to study wastewater reuse and resource recovery issues. The visit, cofinanced by the Government of Türkiye’s State Hydraulic Works, included discussions with professionals from the American Water Works Association and water utilities and agencies in the states of California and Nevada in May–June 2023. The exchange allowed Turkish water professionals from the Turkish water sector professionals, counterparts in the State Hydraulic Works, the Municipal Development Bank western United States, and the American Water Works of Türkiye, and the Strategy and Budget Office of the Association. Presidency to learn about circular economy principles, including the reuse of treated wastewater for agriculture. Additionality Participants also learned that rather than a one-time Many lessons from the GWSP-financed study visit use of water, a circular approach allows proactive informed both Türkiye’s new water reuse policies and management of water as a recyclable resource, which the Bank’s $435 million Türkiye Water Circularity and Ef- helps stabilize the volume of supply. The experiences ficiency Improvement Project, approved in May 2023. As laid the groundwork for long-term collaboration and a result, Türkiye’s Ministry of Environment, Urbanization, an international community of practice made up of and Climate Change aimed to augment scarce water 64  GWSP Annual Report 2023 TÜRKIYE RESULTS INDICATORS BLOCK A SUSTAINABILITY/INSTITUTIONS/ RESILIENCE • Water-related institutions supported to sustain water resources, built infrastruc- ture assets, or both • Strengthen capacity for managing water resources or service delivery • Build resilience in water resources management or service delivery BLOCK B SUSTAINABILITY • New projects that promote sustainable and efficient water use • Projects incorporating resilience in design of water-related initiatives • World Bank lending commitments with climate change co-benefits WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION • People with access to improved sanita- tion (safely managed level) • Biochemical oxygen demand pollution loads removed by treatment plants per year supplies by combining freshwater with treated waste- water to use for irrigation of municipal green spaces and in agriculture, and the Bank’s project adopted two GWSP-supported approaches—Utilities of the Future also will support the State Hydraulic Works in reusing and Water in a Circular Economy and Resilience. The treated wastewater for irrigation purposes nationwide. project will create links between utility efficiency and By 2030, this project is expected to double the current resilience to climate change by supporting wastewater volume of treated wastewater, thereby giving more than resource recovery for the regional Konya Water and 1 million people access to safely managed sanitation Wastewater Administration utility in central Türkiye. services, and to provide nearly 5,000 farmers with new The utility will use sludge digestion to produce biogas or improved irrigation and drainage services, which will that will help meet its energy needs. The Bank project boost their incomes. GWSP Annual Report 2023  65 Knowledge Into Action Enhancing Climate-Resilient situation continues, projections call for approximately Irrigation and Water Service two-thirds of the country’s GDP to be generated in highly or severely stressed basins by 2045. To compound the Delivery in Indonesia challenge, more than 50 percent of Indonesia’s rivers are polluted. Climate change forecasts indicate that the country will experience rising sea levels, changing Indonesia faces a multitude of water-related challenges rainfall patterns, and increasingly frequent droughts and in both rural and urban areas. They include rapid ur- floods, further diminishing water availability and quality. banization and changing consumption patterns, both To help address these issues, GWSP supports a of which present a significant obstacle to ensuring comprehensive and holistic portfolio of water-related adequate and safe water supply and sanitation services. projects in Indonesia—one that builds on the findings of Escalating demand for these services exacerbates water a GWSP-funded report, Indonesia Vision 2045: Toward stress, particularly because untreated wastewater is Water Security (mentioned in GWSP’s FY21 annual frequently discharged directly into rivers and coastal report). This comprehensive water security diagnostic waters. provides the foundation for GWSP-supported projects Additionally, half of the country’s gross domestic to increase climate-resilient irrigation and to bolster product (GDP) is produced in river basins that suffer sustainable water supply and sanitation services. high or severe water stress during the dry season. If this New Research on “Contractualized Irrigation Management” INDONESIA To address climate-resilient irrigation, in FY23, GWSP funded new research for Indonesia’s Ministry of Public RESULTS INDICATORS Works and Housing, which is responsible for water resources, on contractual agreements between irrigation BLOCK A service providers and water user associations. GWSP supported a report that analyzed global experiences SUSTAINABILITY with this “contractualized irrigation management,” in- cluding experiences with finances and monitoring and • Water-related institutions supported to compliance. The report’s findings influenced imple- sustain water resources, built infrastruc- mentation of the World Bank’s $250 million Strategic ture assets, or both Irrigation and Modernization and Urgent Rehabilitation INSTITUTIONS Project (SIMURP). SIMURP uses contractual agreements between irrigation service providers and water user as- • Institution-focused knowledge products sociations to improve the overall quality, accountability, generated and dependability of irrigation services. By highlighting international best practices in irrigation system manage- BLOCK B ment, the report and SIMURP helped strengthen the financial sustainability of Indonesian irrigation service FINANCE providers, which makes them more climate resilient. As of FY23, the project had helped provide new and • Projects that support reforms/actions for improved irrigation and drainage services for 118,483 improving financial viability hectares, benefiting nearly 400 farmer households. CLIMATE-RESILIENT IRRIGATION Enhanced Preparedness for Infrastructure • Area with new/improved irrigation Investments services On the water and sanitation front, in FY23, GWSP helped strengthen the capacity of water sector institutions to 66  GWSP Annual Report 2023 deliver services. GWSP funded discussions among and clients to incorporate CWIS principles in the design representatives of two ministries (the Ministry of Public and rollout of infrastructure projects. Works and Housing and the Ministry of National De- In Indonesia, the Bank team, with funding from velopment Planning) and two donors (US Agency for GWSP, ensured that CWIS principles and approaches International Development and Australia’s Department were incorporated in a feasibility study for building a of Foreign Affairs and Trade). The discussions included new wastewater treatment, sewerage, and septic tank site visits to wastewater treatment plants, allowing waste treatment plant in the city of Bogor. The initia- participants to learn directly from operators. The groups tive was undertaken in collaboration with the Korean provided inputs for a knowledge product, Guidelines Environmental Industrial and Technology Institute. on Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) Design and Overall, GWSP support improved the local govern- Implementation for Indonesian Cities, as well as for ment’s ability to craft quality planning documents the CWIS City Assessment toolkit. CWIS, a GWSP-sup- and make infrastructure investments. This enhanced ported initiative, takes a systems-based approach to capacity is expected to smooth the way for such delivery of sanitation to everyone in a city, rather than investments within the framework of the Government the traditional approach of increasing coverage incre- of Indonesia’s efforts to provide universal access to mentally. The CWIS team works with operations teams safe water and sanitation. GWSP Annual Report 2023  67 Knowledge Into Action Strengthening Water Security and Sustainability in Nepal Nepal, a landlocked country of about 29 million people, confronts formidable challenges in managing water resources. Climate change exacerbates uneven distri- bution of these resources across seasons. The country grapples with excessive water during the wet season, which often produces flooding due to insufficient storage infrastructure, and water scarcity during the dry season. Adding to these concerns are diminishing surface water resources. Approximately 70 percent of these resources have dwindled over the past decade, further straining Nepal’s water security. The lack of year-round water availability affects not only water supply and sanitation, but also decreases agricultural output and, therefore, dampens Nepal’s economy. Nepal’s agriculture sector, involving some two-thirds of the population and con- tributing 32 percent to GDP, has untapped potential. Due to the lack of a reliable formal water supply system, both urban and rural residents must rely on personal water storage. Only 19 percent of households nationwide (13 percent in rural areas) have access to safe drinking water. Additionally, there is no comprehensive sanitation system. Sixteen million households lack proper sanitation facilities, and only 7 percent of the population is connected to a private sewer network. This lack of sanitation infrastructure compromises the quality of both drinking water and groundwater. In 2019, Nepal’s Central Bureau of Statistics and the United Nations Children’s Fund reported that 85 percent of household tap water in the country is contaminated with E. coli. GWSP-supported projects in Nepal are part of a holistic approach to strengthen the country’s water security and sustainability. GWSP has funded a series of water sector studies covering policies, institutions, and regulations; urban water and sanitation; water quality management; and water expenditures. These studies are the basis of the Nepal Water Platform, a joint World Bank–Nepal Ministry of Water Supply initiative to coordinate management of water resources and water services delivery to all economic sectors and stakeholders. Additionally, GWSP has supported a water sector assessment and a strategic document to guide the government’s approach to sustainable water resources management. 68  GWSP Annual Report 2023 NEPAL RESULTS INDICATORS BLOCK A SUSTAINABILITY • Water-related institutions supported to sustain water resources, built infrastruc- ture assets, or both • Sustainability-focused knowledge prod- ucts generated INSTITUTIONS • Water-related institutions supported to strengthen capacity for managing water resources or service delivery INCLUSION • Policies/strategies generated or refined to enhance social inclusion of other excluded groups in accessing jobs, mar- kets, services, or decision-making roles in the management of water resources or in WSS or other water-related service delivery BLOCK B WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION • People with access to improved water sources (at safely managed level) CLIMATE-RESILIENT IRRIGATION • Area with new/improved irrigation services • Water user associations created/ strengthened GWSP Annual Report 2023  69 Knowledge Into Action Increasing Dependable Water Supplies to purchase and effectively manage modern irrigation for Farmers technologies, such as power tillers, threshers, reapers, In FY23, GWSP built on these activities, directing ef- rice planters, and drip irrigation systems. These technol- forts toward two main objectives. First, it prioritized the ogies reduced the cost of agricultural production and provision of dependable water supplies to farmers by alleviated manual labor shortages. As of FY23, more supporting the implementation of the Nepal Moderniza- than 900 WUAs had been trained in operations and tion of Rani Jamara Kulariya Irrigation Scheme – Phase infrastructure maintenance and nearly 3,000 farmers 2 project, a $61 million operation financed by IDA. The (850 of them female) had adopted improved agricultural project aims to improve irrigation services and promote technologies. improved farming practices for local farmers. In another effort to benefit farmers, GWSP funded Increasing Dependable Water and Sanitation capacity building and training of representatives from Services for Urban and Rural Residents water user associations (WUAs) to help the associations GWSP's second FY23 objective was to increase the assume responsibility for management, operation, and capacity of local governments to efficiently manage maintenance of modernized irrigation systems. This water resources. Here, GWSP support took several support also improved the WUAs’ ability to collect and forms. manage irrigation service fees. The result: the WUAs Partnership funding improved the design and early increased their fees, which generated more money implementation of the $80 million World Bank Water for them to spend on operations and maintenance Sector Governance and Infrastructure Support Proj- of irrigation canals. Furthermore, the GWSP-funded ect, which aims to strengthen institutional capacity support enabled WUAs and water user committees to deliver services and to increase access to safely 70  GWSP Annual Report 2023 managed water and sanitation services in six munic- training program included a study tour to Telangana, ipalities (two urban and four rural) in two of Nepal’s India, to demonstrate practical applications of CWIS poorest provinces. principles. CWIS aims to deliver services to everyone GWSP funding also provided technical advice and in a city, especially the poor, rather than increasing training regarding engineering, institutional, and pro- coverage incrementally. curement issues to staff of the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage Management. This support Improving Water Storage strengthened the department’s capacity to manage GWSP’s FY23 support included a series of efforts to a $35 million government infrastructure improvement, fortify Nepal’s water storage infrastructure. In partnership the Bheri Pumping Project. Trained staff were able to with Nepal’s Ministry of Energy, Water Resources, and review the project design report and engage in the Irrigation, GWSP supported a rapid assessment of water design of bidding documents. storage, which was conducted by the Bank in February Further GWSP-funded training was provided to rep- 2023. The assessment served as the cornerstone for resentatives from local municipalities and water supply a technical discussion by the Bank, ministry officials, and sanitation engineers on leadership development and development partners about government policy for CWIS, a GWSP-supported World Bank initiative. and investments. This discussion was followed by a The Bank courses, conducted in partnership with the Bank–government policy dialogue about water storage Administrative Staff College of India and the Asian in select rural and urban areas and a related Bank study Development Bank Institute, taught participants how to about sediment. GWSP complemented this support plan and implement innovative solutions for treatment with a sediment management study expected to be of wastewater, fecal sludge, and septic tank waste. The completed in FY24. GWSP Annual Report 2023  71 Knowledge Into Action 72  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Water Supply and Sanitation Lack of access to safely managed water supply and Another key solution is circular economy approaches, sanitation services constitutes a public health, economic, which minimize waste, maximize water use efficiency, and environmental emergency in low- and middle-income and recover, reuse, and restore water resources. Tran- countries. Furthermore, the forces of climate change, sitioning from a traditionally linear approach—in which population growth, and rapid urbanization are exacer- freshwater is extracted, used, treated, and disposed bating the problem. In 2022, 27 percent of the global of—to circular economy approaches can substantially population lacked access to safely managed drinking build water security. water, 43 percent lacked safely managed sanitation, To strengthen utilities and other water service provid- and 25 percent lacked handwashing facilities with soap ers and to hasten implementation of circular economy and water at home. Therefore, the world is not on track approaches, GWSP financed the development of the to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.1 Water GP’s CWIS initiative, Utility of the Future tool, and (drinking water) and SDG 6.2 (sanitation and hygiene), Water in Circular Economy and Resilience (WICER) which threatens overall sustainable development. approach. A new program, developed by the Water GWSP helps countries achieve universal access to GP Africa Eastern and Southern team in FY23, aims water and sanitation services through support for the to foster "systems change" to accelerate the closing creation of policies, institutions, and regulations needed of water and sanitation gaps. to tackle the huge challenges facing the water sector. In FY23, GWSP-funded knowledge and technical It assists with development of innovative and scalable assistance influenced the design and implementation solutions to key challenges, such as how to rapidly of water sector reforms and infrastructure projects on increase access to safe water and sanitation, ensure various fronts—from a World Bank guarantee mobilizing maintenance of existing infrastructure, and improve private finance in the water sector in Angola, to intersec- quality of services. toral work such as an operational toolkit for water and A critical component of this effort is strengthening sanitation services in health care facilities globally. Other utilities and other water service providers, which increas- notable efforts in FY23 include a $1.25 billion project ingly face public health crises due to urbanization and to dramatically boost water and sanitation services climate change. Many utilities operate in challenging in the Democratic Republic of Congo, public-private governing environments characterized by poor policies, partnerships to deliver sanitation services in Tunisia, institutions, and regulations. As a result, utilities struggle and expansion of wastewater-based epidemiology from with operational and financial performance, leading to Latin America to other regions. low supply or high rates of nonrevenue water (water Historically siloed approaches to water supply and lost en route to users or otherwise unpaid for). With sanitation services are being challenged by growing GWSP help, the Water GP works with clients to break recognition of the interconnectedness of those ser- the cycle of poor enabling environments, no revenue, vices and other development— health, environmental, low staff pay, and poor service delivery, which leave social, and economic—priorities. New technologies them with little to no capacity to absorb shocks or and innovations can help the water and sanitation to serve growing peri-urban areas. GWSP supports sector step out of these silos. GWSP supports efforts government reforms in the water sector and exposes to achieve the vision of universal access to safe, utilities to innovation and technology that enables them resilient, and sustainable water supply and sanitation to increase capacity. services. GWSP Annual Report 2023  73 Knowledge Into Action Strengthening Management, lacks access to safe drinking water, and only 42 percent Responding to Climate of the population has access to a handwashing facility. Furthermore, gender inequalities in Angola’s water and Impacts, and Ending Gender sanitation sectors are significant, and women in rural Gaps in the Water and areas are usually the most disadvantaged. Among households not connected to piped water, 74 percent Sanitation Sector in Angola of those who fetch water in rural areas are female, compared with 69 percent in urban areas. Top-down governance, inadequate funding, and Angola faces an array of water-related challenges that scarce water resources are a few of the issues impeding demand a multifaceted and interconnected approach. advancement of the water sector. Despite ongoing One of the largest countries in Africa by area, Angola is reforms, institutional frailty persists, hindering readiness experiencing declining access to water and sanitation for droughts and floods. services, even in urban areas. This trend is due to multiple factors: rapid population growth coupled with Taking an Integrated Approach to Water changing consumption patterns, ongoing migration to Resources Management the capital city of Luanda, high levels of poverty and GWSP support to Angola since 2019 has pointed to inequality, and a high degree of exposure to extreme the need to better manage water resources to improve climate events. More than 30 percent of the population access to water and sanitation services. This support 74  GWSP Annual Report 2023 ANGOLA RESULTS INDICATORS BLOCK A BLOCK B INSTITUTIONS INSTITUTIONS • Water-related institutions supported to • Projects that support reforms/actions that strengthen capacity for managing water strengthen institutional capacity resources or service delivery FINANCE FINANCING • Projects with explicit focus on leveraging • Institutions supported to improve their private finance financial viability and creditworthiness RESILIENCE RESILIENCE • Projects incorporating resilience in design • Diagnostics conducted or implementation of water-related initiatives undertaken to promote principles of fresh- WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION water-resilience building • Water-related institutions supported to build • People with access to improved water sources resilience in water resources management or service delivery • Utilities with improved working ratio INCLUSION • Water-related institutions trained in gender issues, HR practices related to diversity and inclusion, or both has helped the World Bank and the Angolan government a $1.1 billion project to finance an investment that develop an integrated approach to the water sector that intends to improve water infrastructure for 2 million simultaneously supports the government’s efforts to people and more than double Luanda’s water sup- strengthen its institutions, to invest in climate-resilient ply. Commercial banks provide the financing, and water storage and management, and to create a healthy the Bank provides a guarantee in case the Angolan and safe future for its people. government defaults. The debt package is a major This integrated approach has been evident in GWSP step toward mobilizing private finance in the sector. support for efforts by the Public Water Company of The 2021 project agreement required EPAL, which is Angola (EPAL), the country’s largest water utility, to responsible for implementing the project, first to satisfy increase access to potable water services and improve five objectives related to commercial, financial, and its institutional capacity and service delivery. GWSP- operational performance. GWSP support helped EPAL funded technical assistance for EPAL set the stage develop detailed action plans to meet each of the for the design and implementation of the Luanda loan’s five conditions of effectiveness, and it ensured Bita Water Supply Guarantee Project . As men- the utility’s careful legal review of the process so that tioned in the FY21 annual report, the Bita project is it followed applicable laws. EPAL met the effectiveness GWSP Annual Report 2023  75 Knowledge Into Action conditions in September 2022 and in March 2023, to finance both physical investments in urban and rural the participating banks made the first down payments areas and institutional development activities, with to the contractors responsible for building the new the goal of managing climate extremes and, thereby, catchment system, treatment plant, and main pipes. increasing water security. The GWSP-funded study was GWSP's comprehensive approach to water security instrumental for RECLIMA, helping the Angolan govern- and sanitation also includes funding the development ment understand the gaps and institutional challenges of Angola's first water supply, sanitation, and hygiene involved in scaling up water and sanitation services in (WASH) diagnostic, in partnership with Angola’s Ministry both urban and rural areas. of Energy and Water and other stakeholders. Data and In further work at the national level, GWSP assistance recommendations from the diagnostic played a key role increased the capacity of Angola’s National Institute for in the success of the Second Water Sector Institu- Water Resources to conduct basic-level planning, water tional Development Project (PDISA II), which seeks resources management, and participatory planning pro- to strengthen the institutional capacity of selected water cesses through municipal water plans. GWSP support sector agencies and increase water service coverage in harnessed remote sensing data and drought indexes target cities. For example, the diagnostic recommended to monitor physical drought and water balances. This that Angola establish a WASH sector monitoring and initiative contributed to creation of a robust national evaluation program and a comprehensive national water resources information system and a dam safety WASH strategy. Through an institutional assessment and program. political economy analysis, the diagnostic identified key On the municipal level, GWSP supported the design service delivery problems in the water and sanitation of two citizen/local water resources monitoring programs sector and its enabling environment. To date, PDISA II in the south. These programs, with the collaboration of project activities have resulted in the establishment of a provincial universities, provide the basis for municipali- regulatory framework for water and sanitation services, ties’ water service plans and strategy for implementing improved sector monitoring, and increased access the plans and mobilizing stakeholders. to improved water sources for more than 250,000 people in urban areas. By 2025, the project expects Ending Sectoral Gender Gaps to have benefited more than 950,000 people in target Aiming to bridge some of the gender divides in water areas. Furthermore, while the Bita Guarantee project and sanitation, PDISA II seeks to engage women in finances hard infrastructure, PDISA II includes support the decision-making processes for preparing sanitation for EPAL aimed at improving utility management and master plans in service provider agencies. As of October performance. 2022, at PDISA II project sites, there was a significant increase in the percentage of water network expansion Responding to the Impacts of contracts that had been negotiated in consultation a Changing Climate with women. In addition, as part of PDISA II, GWSP Angola’s goals for water and sanitation access cannot supported the design of a development program for be achieved without addressing the impacts of a chang- young professionals—one built on experiences in other ing climate on management of water resources. GWSP regions and aimed at injecting new and diverse talent funded a pilot study of drought vulnerability that revealed into the sector as part of longer-term sustainability the causes of vulnerability for human populations in the efforts. As a result, 29 young professional and technical center and south of Angola. Chief among the causes staff members, 16 of them women, had been hired for were insufficient investments in water infrastructure at jobs in water utilities as of 2023. GWSP funding helped the community level, a lack of efficient mechanisms produce a concept note for and a promotional video to repair and maintain that infrastructure, and a lack about the program, which was publicized in the capital of drought preparedness and contingency planning and in provincial cities and rural areas. This outreach before scarcity occurred. These findings informed the was especially critical because the country’s 27-year Climate Resilience and Water Security in Angola civil war had resulted in a previous generation that Project (RECLIMA), a $300 million Bank loan in 2022 lacked skilled professionals. 76  GWSP Annual Report 2023 GWSP Annual Report 2023  77 Knowledge Into Action Shortening Project Timelines 625,000 deaths globally each year from malaria. The Around the World with the financial costs totaled $4 billion annually, an average of just less than 1 percent of GDP for the nine countries. Operational Toolkit for WASH Approach in Health Care Facilities As GWSP reported in its FY21 annual report, the Bank’s response to the water supply, sanitation, and hygiene challenge has been to increase the reach of Challenge the Bank’s WASH investments in health care facilities The lack of basic water and sanitation services in health and to improve the quality of WASH project design care facilities affects 2 billion people around the world. and implementation. Just after the 2015 adoption of Globally, 857 million people use health care facilities the SDGs by the United Nations General Assembly, the with no continuous clean water supply, and 780 million number of Bank water projects with WASH activities people use facilities with no safe sanitation. Furthermore, in health care facilities averaged just 0.2 per year. 3.85 billion people use health care facilities with no hand By FY23, the number of such projects averaged two hygiene for prevention of health care-associated infections. per year. As of December 2022, there were 48 active The lack of water supply, sanitation, and hygiene in Bank-financed programs with WASH activities, seven health care facilities can be deadly—and costly. In FY23, of which were approved in 2022. the Bank analyzed the consequences of this lack in nine To address the project quality issue, GWSP supported countries in Eastern and Southern Africa (eight of them development of the Operational Toolkit for WASH in low income) and found that it contributes to 300,000 Health Care Facilities in FY21 (see figure 3.1). It consists deaths annually in those countries, compared with of template terms of reference (TORs) and procurement guidance to enable client ministries of health and water to ensure that WASH services in health care settings GLOBAL are complete, sustainable, resilient, inclusive, and safe. In FY23, the toolkit assisted Bank client countries and RESULTS INDICATORS project implementing units in 10 countries, 5 of them for the first time: Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, BLOCK A Republic of Congo, Togo, and Zambia. INCLUSION Additionality The GWSP-financed Operational Toolkit for WASH • Inclusion-focused knowledge products in Health Care Facilities has proved useful for client generated countries in several regards. INSTITUTIONS Project timelines. The toolkit enabled Bank teams • Water-related institutions supported to to provide timely advice to governments that are de- strengthen capacity for managing water signing standards and infrastructure in health care resources or service delivery facilities because the standardized TORs require only modest adaptation to each project and country context. BLOCK B Two projects highlight how the toolkit shortens project timelines: WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION • Schools and health centers with access • The $220 million Madagascar National Water Project used the toolkit to help collect data on to improved water and sanitation services existing WASH infrastructure in 765 health care facilities in four regions and to provide guidance 78  GWSP Annual Report 2023 on the design and supervision of WASH and waste key behaviors related to water use: sustainability, infrastructure for 70 of those facilities. The outcome: hygiene, adequate menstrual hygiene health (MHH) within eight months of the project start date, the as- management, cleaning, and waste management. sessment was conducted and the TORs for design and supervision were finalized. By 2027, the project • The $100 million Togo Urban Water Security is expected to provide 100 health centers with Project combined operational toolkit packages for access to improved, upgraded, and accessible in- assessment, operation and maintenance, manage- frastructure and to train health practitioners to apply ment models, and training to create one set of TORs GWSP Annual Report 2023  79 Knowledge Into Action FIGURE 3.1. Operational Toolkit for WASH in Health Care Settings Health Care WASH Toolkit Supports quality and effectiveness of investments in WASH in health care institutions Safely managed water supply services Modular Structure of the Toolkit of adequate quality and quantity for required consumptive and 2. Standards non-consumptive uses Setting 3. Enabling Safely managed sanitation services 1. Assessment Environment including toilet facilities at all necessary areas and services 9. Procurement 4. Design Safely managed hygiene services WASH Toolkit Safely managed waste management 8. Training 5. Management including collection/emptying, transport, Models and treatment of solid and fecal wastes and drainage 7. M & E 6. Advocacy & Behavior Safely managed environmental cleaning services INCLUSION CLIMATE CHANGE Cross-Cutting Considerations COVID-19 & OTHER DISEASE OUTBREAKS Safely managed MHH services FRAGILITY, CONFLICT & VIOLENCE including facilities for adolescent girls for WASH in health care facilities. The outcome: Children’s Fund in Jordan in June 2023. The delegations the TORs were developed in two months and the shared their experiences in accelerating access to tender was launched in June 2023. By 2029, the WASH through Bank-supported operations. A highlight project is expected to provide 70 schools and health of the summit was a Bank team presentation of the center facilities with MHH-friendly WASH services. compelling recent study of the cost of inaction on WASH in health care facilities—information that partic- Capacity building and knowledge sharing. At the ipating client countries can use to advocate for local request of client countries, the Water GP team developed investments and to inform their policies. a training workshop on WASH services in health care facilities, including a deep dive on the toolkit modules. Fragility, conflict, and violence settings. GWSP Two workshops were conducted in FY23: in Nigeria in support enabled adaptation of the toolkit to fragility, August 2022 and in Madagascar in December 2022. conflict, and violence (FCV) settings with low institutional Project funds supported client delegations from the capacity (such as Republic of Congo and Kiribati). Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Management models for WASH in health clinics in these and Republic of Congo to attend the Global Summit on settings may use third-party-implementing agencies to WASH and Waste in Health Care Facilities, hosted by supervise, operate, and maintain WASH facilities, rather the World Health Organization and the United Nations than use models that rely on government oversight. 80  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Taking a Comprehensive These deficiencies have high human capital costs. Approach to Water and Water collection duties and open defecation increase women’s physical burden and increase their risk of Sanitation Access in the gender-based violence. Additionally, 58 percent of Democratic Republic of Congo primary schools lack access to water services and 35 percent have no sanitation facilities—key factors in dropout rates for menstruating girls. Challenge The Democratic Republic of Congo is the largest country Approach in Sub-Saharan Africa, and it has vast natural resources A comprehensive effort to address these issues launched that include more than half of all fresh water in that in June 2023, when the Bank approved financing of region. Nonetheless, almost two-thirds of its 99 million $400 million for the first of four phases of a program people are poor, and violence over the past decade has that is projected at $1.25 billion in Bank financing and affected nearly 40 million Congolese and contributed 11 years of operations. Programme d’Accès aux Ser- to persistent fragility and instability. vices d’Eau et d’Assainissement (PASEA) targets nine Little access to basic infrastructure services has provinces that have high numbers of unserved people been a major constraint to sustainable and inclusive and high levels of open defecation. Phase 1, which growth. Decades of conflict, underinvestment, and addresses four of those provinces, aims to provide 2.9 lack of connectivity resulted in 65 percent of the million people with basic drinking water services and population lacking basic water access and 84 percent 2 million with basic sanitation. Another key goal is to lacking basic sanitation as of 2022. The gaps are establish adequate toilet and handwashing facilities in worse in rural areas, where slightly more than half the schools to increase girls’ ability to manage their peri- population lives: overwhelming numbers of people ods and thus stay in school. The project plans to use lack access to basic water supply (86 percent) and solar-powered water services and to strengthen both basic sanitation (89 percent), and 19 percent practice provincial capacities and private sector engagement open defecation. in the sector. GWSP Annual Report 2023  81 Knowledge Into Action Additionality placement component and a third-party maintenance GWSP funding has been used to increase the quality of contract with local providers to support the sustainability the project design, allowing specific innovations that will of solar-pumped systems. be introduced under PASEA. During FY22–23, GWSP funded the following: Financial incentives for durable sanitation. Peri- urban areas lack access to sewerage services and Sustainable solar-powered rural water systems. A treatment of fecal sludge, and most homes there have field review of technical design, operations and mainte- poor-quality latrines. More durable and hygienic solu- nance, and sustainability challenges with solar-powered tions aren’t affordable. Through the GWSP-supported water systems was conducted. As a result, PASEA CWIS initiative, a study of latrine financing options was includes an extensive professional education and job conducted, including a review of incentives and subsidy delivery mechanisms in other countries. As a result, PASEA will provide peri-urban households with an e-voucher, through a mobile app, to buy a quality latrine at a reduced cost. PASEA also will provide support and DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC training to private sanitation enterprises—latrine builders, OF CONGO installers, and emptiers—so they can start operations. RESULTS INDICATORS Menstrual hygiene education for girls. Through the Water Expertise Facility, GWSP supported a series of BLOCK A meetings with staff from the ministries of environment, education, and health about the importance of menstrual SUSTAINABILITY health education. The outcome was a decision to adapt to the Democratic Republic of Congo context a set of • Sustainability-focused knowledge prod- internationally recognized tools from WASH United’s ucts generated Menstrual Hygiene Management Education Guide. INCLUSION The plan is for a girl-centered education package to be implemented in 700 schools by the end of PASEA • Policies/strategies generated or refined in 2029. to enhance social inclusion of women and other excluded groups in access- Advocacy for WASH financing. A GWSP-funded ing jobs, markets, services, or deci- budget analysis showed that over the last four to five sion-making roles in the management years, the government spent only $10 million of its of water resources or in WSS or other domestic budget annually on the water and sanitation water-related service delivery sector, the equivalent of $1 per person (90 cents for water, 10 cents for sanitation). This sum is a fraction BLOCK B of the requirement in the government’s national WASH plan. The analysis further showed that budget execution SUSTAINABILITY at the provincial level is negligible. Hence, PASEA plans to build fiduciary and implementation capacity at the • New projects that promote sustainable provincial level. At the national level, PASEA plans to and efficient water use support a national WASH platform to raise the sector’s FINANCE profile and to improve sector planning, expenditures, and results analysis. The goal is to mobilize resources • Projects that support reforms/actions for from domestic funds, development partners, and— improving financial viability ultimately—private finance. 82  GWSP Annual Report 2023 GWSP Annual Report 2023  83 Knowledge Into Action Modernizing Sanitation TUNISIA Services Through Public- RESULTS INDICATORS Private Partnerships in Tunisia BLOCK A Challenge The COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the FINANCE resulting increase in commodity prices have deteriorated Tunisia’s macroeconomic outlook and increased its fis- • Policies/strategies/regulatory frameworks developed to improve financial viability cal deficit, putting pressure on state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that rely on government subsidies—including in • Institutions supported to improve their the energy and water and sanitation sectors. The national financial viability and creditworthiness wastewater utility, Office National de l’Assainissement INCLUSION (ONAS), provides wastewater collection and treatment services to 63 percent of the population, but only 62 • Policies/strategies generated or refined percent of its operating costs are covered by user fees. to enhance social inclusion of women The utility’s infrastructure is aging and overburdened, in accessing jobs, markets, services, and the utility’s financial constraints have reduced staff or decision-making roles in water re- and limited service-delivery capacity. Almost 20 percent sources/water supply and sanitation or of wastewater and fecal sludge generated by Tunisian other water-related service delivery households is neither treated nor safely disposed of, and most of the population is without access to sewerage BLOCK B lines in rural areas, 2019 data show. One bright spot is that water-scarce Tunisia treats FINANCE about 20 percent of its wastewater for irrigation on state-owned farms and golf courses and parks. How- • Projects with explicit focus on leveraging ever, users pay only a minimal fee that doesn’t cover private finance production costs. Approach Improving the performance of Tunisia’s SOEs is key to by exposing it to private sector management practices. the country’s economic growth and deficit control. In the As part of this effort, ONAS has established a new PPP context of wider reforms, a Bank project was signed by unit to manage concessions. The International Finance Tunisia’s government and the Bank in June 2023. The Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group has provided loan partially finances 10-year contracts under which support to structure the new unit as well as technical private operators will manage two wastewater collection support and training to help the unit become functional. and treatment systems: one for northern sections of the The Tunisia Sanitation PPP Support Project will indirectly capital, Tunis, and another for the southeast region of help offset the cost of wastewater reuse. Under the project, the country. Under the Tunisia Sanitation PPP Support sanitation tariffs for nonvulnerable consumers were raised Project, the World Bank will provide a $113 million loan, by 30 percent in 2023, following a four-year freeze during the government and user fees will fund $410 million, which costs rose considerably. This increase, coupled and the private contractors will finance $19 million. with commitments to annual tariff increases, will gradually The aim is for ONAS to deliver improved services to help offset ONAS’s operating costs, including the cost of more than 2 million beneficiaries (one-third of its custom- wastewater reuse. The increases will protect the poor by ers) by 2030 through these public-private partnerships not affecting the lowest level of consumption, represented (PPPs). Another key objective is to modernize ONAS by 37 percent of consumers. 84  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Additionality Employment and gender impacts. The project will Before the Tunisia Sanitation PPP Support Project produce an estimated 1,083 jobs: 383 full-time po- was approved, GWSP funding in 2020 supported sitions under the concessionaires and another 700 reforms that ONAS and Tunisia’s national water utility, jobs for construction and other services. Employment Société Nationale d’Exploitation et de Distribution and incomes in the agriculture and fisheries sectors des Eaux, were expected to adopt and implement to will benefit through treated wastewater for irrigation of improve their financial and operational performance. 4,200 hectares and less polluted waters for fishing. At the Tunisian government’s request, GWSP funded Regarding gender, the share of female employees the drafting of a detailed report on SOE reforms to in managerial positions at ONAS (16.1 percent) was assist Tunisia in discussions with the International lower in 2019 than in other utilities of the region (21 Monetary Fund and to help it finalize preparations percent). The PPP project aims to increase represen- for the PPP project. tation of women in the PPP unit’s supervisory and For the PPP project, GWSP funding, in combination decision-making positions to 30 percent. with support from IFC, provided capacity building for staff of ONAS and its new PPP unit. This capacity One World Bank collaboration. The PPP project is an building included instruction in the basic concepts example of this collaboration, drawing on staff resources and structures of PPPs. It also included training and of the Bank, technical assistance from the IFC, and technical support for utility staff to set up the con- invaluable support from GWSP and other trust funds. cession contracts for wastewater services, including The project aligns with the support of other development creating a procurement strategy to hire the necessary partners in the region: the African Development Bank, services and to train staff to supervise and manage French Development Agency, Islamic Development the contracts. Bank, and the governments of Germany and Japan. GWSP Annual Report 2023  85 Knowledge Into Action Expanding a Wastewater Support to the Mexican National Public Health Testing Pilot in Ecuador Institute (INSP) regarding WBE on a national scale. GWSP and the Health GP jointly financed a Regionally and Globally study of expanding WBE to a national scale to survey polio and use of fentanyl. Currently, small WBE pilots are scattered around the country and funded by na- Challenge tional public entities and other donors. Bank staff and Before the COVID-19 pandemic, high-income countries consultants walked the Mexican government through tested wastewater to detect intestinal diseases, starting the process of how to scale up WBE and helped the with polio, then use of illicit drugs and pharmaceutical government design a national monitoring strategy drugs. The pandemic highlighted the usefulness of this based on wastewater. Under the strategy, INSP would technique—which can monitor more than 70 pathogens— establish protocols and manage a network of labs, and prompted experts to innovate its application as a and universities would continue to research the best cost-effective alternative to individual and clinical testing, protocols and emerging viruses and to share this especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). information with the government. Approach Additionality As reported in GWSP’s FY21 annual report, GWSP pro- In the case of Mexico, the results of the pilot study and vided funds in 2020 for wastewater-based epidemiology potential scale-up exercise encouraged the National (WBE) research in Ecuador. That research included a Water Commission (CONAGUA) to support the new pilot project to measure the level of genetic material national WBE strategy. CONAGUA, a regulatory body from the SARS-CoV-2 virus in sewage in the city of for water and sanitation, could help persuade utilities Guayaquil. The pilot project’s success convinced the to cooperate in the strategy. If so, the strategy could city to continue the project and to track other viruses such as Hepatitis A, Rotavirus, and Adenovirus. Fur- thermore, there were discussions in FY23 to expand GLOBAL WBE nationally, allowing the central government to track biomarkers related to malnutrition. RESULTS INDICATORS Another outcome, with the support of GWSP and the Bank’s Health GP, was the development of guidance, BLOCK A published in January 2023, to assist other countries in adopting and scaling up WBE, for which protocols SUSTAINABILITY must be followed to get accurate results. This guid- ance helped authorities in Uruguay and Mexico better • Sustainability-focused knowledge prod- understand WBE. ucts generated During FY23, GWSP funded two WBE activities: • Water-related institutions supported to sustain water resources, built infrastruc- Global survey of the costs of monitoring for the ture assets, or both SARS-CoV-2 virus in LMICs. The online survey, developed by the Bank and the research and data INSTITUTIONS analytics consultancy Mathematica, collected data from wastewater surveillance programs in LMICs. Mathemat- • Policies/strategies/regulatory frameworks informed to strengthen the institutional ica prepared The Costs of Wastewater Monitoring in environment for improved water re- Low- and Middle-Income Countries, a results brief. The sources management, improved water bottom line: the cost of a typical sample in the countries service delivery, or both surveyed is less than $200. Most samples would be taken from sewerage treatment plants for an entire city. 86  GWSP Annual Report 2023 become a promising case study of national water and pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. health agencies joining forces to analyze a cross- Building on these experiences in Latin America, sectoral challenge. the Water GP team is finalizing a note for task team The next step could be a request by Mexico for leads in other client countries to build awareness of financing for its national wastewater monitoring strategy the benefits and costs associated with WBE and to from the Pandemic Fund, a multiactor fund estab- offer clear guidelines for incorporating WBE in various lished in 2022 and hosted by the Bank to strengthen stages of project development. GWSP Annual Report 2023  87 88  GWSP Annual Report 2023 4 Advancing Results The GWSP Results Framework Knowledge and Technical Assistance Supported by GWSP GWSP’s Direct Influence on World Bank Water Lending Reporting on Portfolio Shifts and Project Results GWSP Annual Report 2023  89 Advancing Results GWSP’s mission is to advance a water-secure world for all by sustaining water resources, delivering water services, and building resilience. In pursuit of this mis- sion, GWSP assists client governments in attaining water-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by harnessing global knowledge, providing on-the-ground support, influencing World Bank Group financing tools, and fostering global dialogue and advocacy with key partners and clients to expand its reach and impact. This chapter provides an overview of accomplishments in fiscal year (FY) 2023. A comprehensive set of tables, in appendix B, details the indicators, targets, and initial progress measures for both Block A and Block B of the GWSP Results Framework. GWSP’s theory of change is illustrated in figure 4.1. The GWSP Results Framework The GWSP Results Framework streamlines the tracking and reporting of results using standardized indica- tors across five priority themes: inclusion, resilience, financing, institutions, and sustainability. Indicators are grouped into three blocks (see box 4.1). Block A focuses on the multiyear knowledge and techni- cal assistance activities supported by GWSP. Block B considers how GWSP-supported knowledge and technical assistance has influenced newly approved and active World Bank lending operations in terms of design and outcome. Block C includes qualitative and quantitative assessments, based on agreed-upon indicators, of the influence and impact of knowledge and technical assistance on lending operations of The GWSP Results the Water Global Practice in nine priority countries at Framework streamlines intervals over the life of the Partnership.1 In FY23, the GWSP Council made several important the tracking and decisions. First, on the basis of recommendations from reporting of results a program evaluation conducted in FY21, it established new performance indicators related to the inclusion using standardized and resilience themes. Second, the Council approved indicators across new targets for the period from FY23 to FY30. This report represents the inaugural assessment of progress five priority themes. toward these newly set targets. 90  GWSP Annual Report 2023 BOX 4.1 GWSP Results Framework’s Three Components BLOCK A Knowledge, Analytics, and Technical Assistance • Institutions, policies, or both strengthened in support of the five priority themes • Amount (in US dollars) of World Bank Group lending influenced by GWSP- supported knowledge and technical assistance BLOCK B Influence on World Bank Lending • Design features of the World Bank’s Water Global Practice lending that address GWSP’s five priority themes (sustainability, inclusion, finance, institutions, and resilience) • Access/availability of services and number of strengthened institutions across all water subsectors, as reported by the active World Bank lending portfolio in the water sector BLOCK C Combined Results • Results from technical assistance, knowledge work, and lending operations in nine priority countries (Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Arab Republic of Egypt, Ethiopia, Haiti, Pakistan, Uganda, and Socialist Republic of Viet Nam) • Baseline data reported in FY18 and results reported at midterm (FY20 and FY22) and end of term GWSP Annual Report 2023  91 Advancing Results FIGURE 4.1. GWSP’s Theory of Change PROBLEM ANALYSIS INTERVENTIONS KEY PROBLEMS & EFFECTS GWSP ENTRY POINTS LACK OF ACCESS Lack of access to water supply, sanitation, and hygiene underlies public health, economic, and environmental challenges across the developing world. WATER SHOCKS LONG-TERM GWSP’s “Knowledge COUNTRY Increasing demand, variable supply, widespread ENGAGEMENT Into Implementation” pollution, and water-related disasters are resulting Brings About Results in water stress and scarcity. Across All Water Subsectors FOOD INSECURITY Growing demand for food and fiber, unsustainable The GWSP Results resource use, and vulnerability of smallholder farmers Framework tracks how the are affecting agricultural productivity. KNOWLEDGE Partnership helps client MOBILIZATION countries improve and deliver water services by working to enhance the impact of the UNDERLYING CHALLENGES World Bank’s water portfolio POLICY, INSTITUTIONAL, & REGULATORY DRIVERS and achieve measurable • Weak planning processes and water sector management results on the ground. • Conflicting policies and misaligned incentives • Weak institutional capacity and collaboration on In particular, the Results JUST-IN-TIME sector goals Framework demonstrates • Low participation and inclusion of stakeholders and SUPPORT the additionality of GWSP land users support—the added value that could not be achieved with TECHNICAL DRIVERS World Bank lending alone. • Lack of knowledge and data • Insufficient sharing of best practices • Knowledge gaps in sustainable water supply and resource management CROSS-CUTTING • Fragmented and poorly targeted financing THEMES • Poorly planned infrastructure/resilience/sustainability Inclusion, Sustainability, Financing, Institutions, and Resilience CONTEXTUAL FACTORS Climate change; fragility, conflict, and violence; weak governance; biodiversity loss; etc. 92  GWSP Annual Report 2023 RESULTS GOALS & IMPACTS KEY OUTPUTS INTERMEDIATE LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE OUTCOMES OUTCOMES To achieve a water-secure • Water sector Institutions Influenced world for all by sustaining stakeholders engaged strengthened and development finance water resources, delivering (including platforms) country policies, investments in the water • Water-related legal, and regulatory services, and building sector institutions supported frameworks in place, resilience • Policy, strategies, and Strengthened contributing to regulatory frameworks in-country water sector sustainable, resilient, developed, informed dialogue and inclusive water GOAL 1 • Proof-of-concept pilots management and SDG 6 Enhanced capacity undertaken service delivery and other of service delivery institutions to design water-related Infrastructure and implement SDGs • Plans, strategies, policy investment programs sustainable, inclusive, implemented, notes, handbooks, and resilient water manuals, and contributing to sector reforms and sustainable, resilient, approaches drafted investment programs and inclusive water GOAL 2 and disseminated management and service World Bank • Tools and monitoring Enhanced capacity delivery Group Twin systems developed and of service delivery Goals supported institutions to raise Water sector • Global knowledge and commercial finance End extreme investment programs advocacy campaigns poverty and implemented through delivered promote a broad range of shared growth financing options • Capacity building and training delivered • Policy and technical ENHANCING advice provided ACTIVITIES • Diagnostics and BUSINESS INTERNAL analytics conducted LINES Training, project quality • Innovative approaches assurance, fit-for-purpose • Climate-Resilient Irrigation piloted lending instruments, etc. • Water Resources Management • Water Supply and Sanitation EXTERNAL Advocacy, knowledge dissemination, dialogue and communication, etc. BLOCK A BLOCK B1 BLOCK A BLOCK B1 BLOCK B2 BLOCK C validates the knowledge-into-implementation model across the results chain BLOCK C in select priority countries. Supported by our clients, partners, and World Bank staff GWSP Annual Report 2023  93 Advancing Results Knowledge and Technical assigned a primary theme to which it was expected Assistance Supported by to contribute results. Given the cross-cutting nature of the themes, most activities contribute results to GWSP BLOCK A the primary theme and to other themes, which are recorded as secondary themes. Activities are expected to deliver results under all applicable themes (primary Block A comprises intermediate outcomes that are and secondary). directly achieved by GWSP’s analytical and advisory Regarding primary themes (figure 4.2 panel a), the activities. As seen in the various stories presented in portfolio’s contribution in FY23 was heavily focused chapter 3, these activities include engaging stakehold- on sustainability, resilience, and institutions. Regarding ers (e.g., Improving Irrigation Performance in Kenya), secondary themes, the portfolio’s overall contribution informing sector policies and strategies (e.g., Strenthen- to the five priority themes was more balanced (figure ing Water Security and Sustainability in Nepal), provid- 4.2 panel b). ing technical assistance (e.g., Modernizing Sanitation Block A includes 23 indicators that measure expected Services Through Public-Private Partnerships in Tunisia), results at the intermediate outcome level across the five publishing and disseminating knowledge products, priority themes. Of the 165 active grants this year, 96 developing tools (e.g., Making Use of Hydroinformatics percent were reported to have achieved one or more in Ukraine), and piloting innovative approaches (e.g., intermediate outcomes according to Block A indicators Expanding a Wastewater Testing Pilot in Ecuador Re- (figure 4.3). The remaining 4 percent were expected to gionally and Globally). Through these activities, GWSP start achieving results by the end of the grant period influences investments in the water sector, both within (FY24–25). and outside the World Bank. Box 4.2 summarizes some grants results. A detailed In FY23, the GWSP portfolio contributed results breakdown of Block A-related results is included in across all five priority themes. Each GWSP activity was appendix B, table B.1. BOX 4.2. Examples of Results, FY23 BLOCK A 26 countries 28 countries 49 countries (compared with 19 in FY22) (compared with 16 in FY22) were (compared with 34 in FY22) were were supported to develop supported to strengthen the supported to develop policies policies and strategies that capacity of their water-related and strategies that strengthen strengthen the sustainable institutions for managing water resilience of freshwater basins, management of water resources resources or service delivery. the delivery of services for and built infrastructure assets. communities dependent on them, 15 or both. 11 countries grants (compared with 13 in FY22) reported development of (compared with 9 in FY22) were knowledge products related to supported to improve the finan- issues in gender, inclusion, and cial viability and creditworthiness diversity. of their water sector institutions. 94  GWSP Annual Report 2023 FIGURE 4.2. Portfolio Breakdown, by Primary and Secondary Themes, FY23 a. Primary themes b. Secondary themes Financing 4% Inclusion 3% Financing 18% Institutions 24% Sustainability 20% Sustainability 42% Resilience 21% Inclusion 17% Resilience 27% Institutions 24% FIGURE 4.3. Intermediate Outcomes Achieved Through Active Grants, FY23 Sustainability 76 Inclusion 69 Institutions 75 Financing 76 Resilience 74 0 20 40 60 80 100 Percentage of active grants Results achieved in FY23 Results expected to be achieved by end of grant GWSP Annual Report 2023  95 Advancing Results Refining Social Inclusion Results in Grant Reporting In FY23, GWSP introduced new indicators that An example of a grant promoting the social allow it to capture detailed results concerning the inclusion of women: In El Salvador and Peru, social inclusion of various demographic groups, GWSP provided support for the development and including women, persons with disabilities, and implementation of a training program that aimed other marginalized groups. to promote gender inclusion and improve human Twenty-nine grants support policies and resources management in water utilities, thereby strategies aimed at enhancing social inclusion creating a more inclusive work environment. Ses- of different groups in accessing jobs, markets, sions included discussions on addressing uncon- services, or decision-making roles in water scious bias, which is crucial for recognizing and resources, water supply and sanitation, or other challenging preconceived notions and stereotypes water-related service delivery. Reporting on grant that may hinder gender equality. In recognition results revealed that 16 of the grants promoted of the importance of engaging men in promoting the social inclusion of women, 2 promoted the gender equality and empowering women in the social inclusion of persons with disabilities, and workplace, the program cultivated male champions 1 promoted the social inclusion of other marginal- for gender inclusion. ized or excluded groups. Strategies to enhance women’s attraction, selec- tion, retention, and promotion were also a key part of the training. These strategies involved identifying and implementing measures to overcome barriers that women may face in accessing water utility ca- reers and advancing in them. The program empha- sized using human resources data to identify areas for improvement and to track progress in gender inclusion. With respect to performance manage- ment, it reinforced the importance of ensuring that performance evaluations and promotions are conducted in a fair and unbiased manner, provid- ing equal opportunities for both men and women. Overall, the program helped the water utilities in El Salvador and Peru create a more inclusive and gender-responsive work environment. By address- ing unconscious bias, cultivating male champions, implementing strategies for women’s advancement, using data, and reinforcing policies, the program aimed to promote gender equality and improve human resources management in the water sector. An example of a grant promoting the social inclusion of marginalized workers: A GWSP grant provided technical expertise for the preparation of a report that highlights the need for improved working conditions for sanitation workers in Nigeria. The grant is supporting implementation of local government activities under the $700 million Nigeria Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Program-for-Results. 96  GWSP Annual Report 2023 GWSP’s Direct Influence on 4.1 shows that more than half of the newly influenced World Bank Water Lending lending projects were in Africa (53 percent), followed by South Asia (18 percent). GWSP’s influence extends beyond the Water Global GWSP’s unique value proposition enables the Part- Practice (GP). In FY23, nearly half (approximately 49 nership to influence, through knowledge and technical percent) of the lending projects shaped by GWSP were assistance, the design and implementation of water led by global practices outside the Water GP. This finding sector reforms and infrastructure projects financed by is consistent with the role that water plays in all facets the World Bank. of the Bank’s work, including in ensuring that clients In FY23, GWSP informed lending projects totaling are prepared to adapt to and mitigate climate change $37.7 billion; of this amount, $13.5 billion was for newly impacts. For example, and as displayed in figure 4.4, reported projects, reflecting the multiyear nature of GWSP GWSP informed approximately $2.66 billion in the Agri- activities, which may influence any one project at different culture and Food GP's FY22 lending portfolio, and more points in the project’s lifetime.2 than $1.84 billion in the portfolio of the Environment, Among the newly influenced lending projects, which Natural Resources, and the Blue Economy GP. Figure represent commitments of more than $3.4 billion, 15 4.5 shows sources of financing for GWSP-influenced were linked to 8 countries (Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, World Bank lending. The largest source, representing Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Niger, 61 percent of financing ($8.2 billion), is the International Nigeria, and Somalia) and one economy (West Bank Development Association (IDA), the part of the World and Gaza) in fragile and conflict-affected situations. Map Bank that helps the world’s poorest countries. MAP 4.1. GWSP-Influenced Global Water-Related World Bank Lending, by Region, FY23 Europe and Central Asia $1.52B in lending 7 projects 11% of total Middle East and North Africa East Asia and $0.72B in lending Pacific 5 projects $0.44B in lending 5% of total 3 projects 3% of total South Asia $2.49B in lending 11 projects 18% of total Latin America and the Caribbean Sub-Saharan Africa $1.21B in lending $7.16B in lending 11 projects 28 projects 9% of total 53% of total GWSP Annual Report 2023  97 Advancing Results FIGURE 4.4. GWSP-Influenced World Bank Lending, by Global Practice, FY23 US$ billions/percentage of total Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy 1.84/14% Urban, Resilience and Land 0.60/4% Energy and Extractives 0.53/4% Agriculture and Food 2.66/20% Governance 0.50/4% Macroeconomics, Trade Total: 13.53 and Investment 0.25/2% Social Protection and Jobs 0.20/1% Water 6.90/51% Transport 0.06/0% FIGURE 4.5. GWSP-Influenced World Bank Lending, by Financing Source, FY23 US$ billions 61 percent of IDA 8.24 GWSP-influenced World Bank lending Blend 0.25 was financed by Grant financing 0.21 IDA, the part of the World Bank that IBRD 4.84 helps the world’s poorest countries. 98  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Reporting on Portfolio Shifts to improve the design of new lending projects in the and Project Results BLOCK B water sector. In FY23, total approved financing for water, led by the Water GP, was $4.56 billion, or $1.46 billion more than in FY22. This increased financing As illustrated in the GWSP theory of change, GWSP’s corresponded to 26 projects spanning GWSP’s three knowledge, analytics, and technical assistance in- main business lines: water supply and sanitation (12 fluence how policies and projects are designed and projects), water resources management (9 projects), implemented so that they are positioned to deliver and climate-resilient irrigation (5 projects). better outcomes. Progress along this results chain is In FY23, the GWSP Results Framework included two reported through Block B indicators. new indicators under the theme of social inclusion and One set of indicators (Block B1) is used to document two under the theme of resilience. The new indicators both the performance of new Water GP lending across track the percentage of new projects financed by IDA GWSP’s five priority themes and the ways that thematic that include actions to create employment opportunities priorities are reflected in projects’ design and monitoring for women in medium- and high-skilled jobs in the (appendix B, table B.2). A second set of indicators water sector, the percentage of new water projects with (Block B2) is used to document the results of all active disability-inclusive approaches in water supply, sanita- World Bank water-related lending operations, most of tion, and hygiene (WASH), the percentage of projects which were influenced by activities funded by GWSP that have at least one climate-related indicator in their or its predecessors—the Water Sanitation Program and results framework, and the net greenhouse gas (GHG) the Water Partnership Program (appendix B, table B.3). emissions that were prevented from entering the atmo- sphere by projects' climate-change mitigation features. Newly Approved Water GP Lending Projects Incorporation of these new indicators will allow closer Clients’ World Bank financing requests continued to rise monitoring of the influence of GWSP-funded technical in FY23—and so did the demand for GWSP support assistance, knowledge, and analytics in the design of GWSP Annual Report 2023  99 Advancing Results more inclusive and climate-resilient investment projects. In FY23, projects improved their performance against Projects improved their 8 of 14 Block B1 indicators tracking GWSP’s influence performance against in the design of new water lending (table 4.1). Under the theme of sustainability, all 26 projects approved in FY23 8 of 14 Block B1 scored positively against the indicator documenting the indicators tracking inclusion of measures that promote sustainable and efficient water use. One of these projects is the Türkiye GWSP’s influence Water Circularity and Efficiency Improvement Project in the design of new highlighted in chapter 3. The project aims to improve wastewater services and reuse, increase irrigation water lending. services and efficiency, and strengthen institutional capacity and coordination for managing water circu- on leveraging private finance; the target is 20 percent. larity and point-source pollution reduction in selected Additional efforts are especially needed in the water water-stressed areas in Türkiye. The project promotes resources management (WRM) and climate-resilient sustainable and efficient water use by assisting the Gov- irrigation (CRI) subsectors. ernment of Türkiye in reducing wastewater pollution in Under the first finance indicator related to improving water-stressed areas and in transforming open-channel financial viability, both water supply and sanitation irrigation systems into more water-efficient pressurized (WSS) projects (83 percent) and CRI projects (100 per- irrigation systems, which helps reduce nonbeneficial cent) scored above the sectorwide target (85 percent). water losses and conserve energy. However, WRM projects (67 percent) scored below this Projects have not met FY30 targets under the inclu- target. Under the second indicator related to leveraging sion, institutions, finance, and resilience themes. Under private finance, WSS projects (17 percent), CRI projects the theme of finance, 81 percent of newly approved (0 percent), and WRM projects (0 percent) scored projects supported reforms/actions for improving finan- below the sectorwide target (20 percent). Historically, cial viability; the target is 85 percent. Additionally, only 8 mobilizing financing has been more common in the percent of newly approved projects had an explicit focus WSS subsector than in the WRM and CRI subsectors. 100  GWSP Annual Report 2023 TABLE 4.1. Block B1 Indicators: Progress and Targets Summary BLOCK B Baseline Progress Target Indicator FY22 FY23 FY30 Number of new projects approved 24 26 — Sustainability % of projects that promote sustainable and efficient 100 100 95 water use % of rural WSS lending projects that measure 100 100 90 functionality of water points Inclusion % of projects that are gender tagged* 100 100 85 % of projects with other social inclusion aspects** 88 73 75 % of IDA-financed infrastructure operations in water, — 89 65 including actions to create employment opportunities for women in medium- and high-skilled jobs in this sector† % of water projects with disability-inclusive approaches — 54 60 in WASH† Institutions % of projects that support reforms/actions that 100 96 100 strengthen institutional capacity Finance % of projects that support reforms/actions for improving 89 81 85 financial viability % of projects with an explicit focus on leveraging private 22 8 20 finance Resilience % of projects incorporating resilience in the design of 100 100 100 water-related initiatives Number of fragile and conflict-affected states supported 7§ 9¶ 20 with a resilience lens‡ % of new World Bank lending commitments with climate 58 65 60 change co-benefits % of projects that have at least one climate-related — 100 100 indicator in their results framework† Net GHG emissions (tCO2eq/year)† — -732,508 -900,000 Source: Analysis of the FY23 Water Global Practice portfolio approved by the GWSP Monitoring and Evaluation team. Note: WSS = water supply and sanitation; — = not available. * Measures the percentage of projects that demonstrate a results chain by linking gender gaps identified in the analysis to specific actions tracked in the results framework. ** Projects that target poor, vulnerable, or underserved communities or areas. Excludes citizen engagement, which is included under corporate monitoring. † Indicator added in FY23. ‡ In FY23, 36 countries and 1 economy were classified as having fragile and conflict-affected situations, per corporate guidelines. Target is cumulative for the period FY23–30. § 20 cumulative FY18–22. ¶ 8 countries and the economy of West Bank and Gaza. GWSP Annual Report 2023  101 Advancing Results However, most projects are supporting reforms/actions for improving financial viability—an important step in enabling private finance in the long run. In FY23, GWSP supported the following achievements: Inclusion: In FY23, 100 percent of projects were gender tagged, meaning that, during implementation, they demonstrated a results chain by linking gender gaps identified in the design phase analysis to specific actions tracked in the GWSP Results Framework. In addition, 89 percent of IDA-financed operations in water included actions to create employment oppor- tunities for women in medium- and high-skilled water sector jobs. More than half (54 percent) of the projects in FY23 included disability-inclusive approaches in WASH (compared with a target of 60 percent by FY30). Resilience: All new projects incorporated resilience in the design of water-related activities, in line with the FY22 target. Furthermore, the percentage of projects with climate change co-benefits increased from 58 percent in FY22 to 65 percent in FY23. Additionally, newly approved projects are supporting eight countries (Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Haiti, Mozambique, Somalia, South Sudan, and Zimba- bwe) and one economy (West Bank and Gaza) affected by fragility and conflict—two more such countries than in FY22. These projects have incorporated a resilience lens in their design. Financing: The percentage of projects that supported reforms/actions improving financial viability decreased (from 89 percent in FY22 to 81 percent in FY23), as did the percentage of projects with an explicit focus on leveraging private finance (from 22 percent to 8 percent). This was the first year that both CRI and WRM projects were assessed under both indicators; the reason is that these projects typically have been publicly funded. However, given the substantial financing needs in both subsectors, GWSP will further consider how it can make WRM and CRI project design changes that will lead to increased private financing. Institutions: The percentage of projects that supported reforms/actions that strengthen institutional capacity was slightly lower in FY23 (96 percent) than in FY22 (100 percent). Only one project approved in FY23 does not 102  GWSP Annual Report 2023 All 26 projects approved in FY23 promoted sustainable and efficient water use. strengthen that capacity: the Water Emergency Relief Project for Afghanistan. This project, funded through the Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund administered by the World Bank, aims to improve water access for 1.2 million people and provide irrigation services in selected rural areas. The project will be implemented jointly by the Aga Khan Foundation and the United Nations Office for Project Services. It will leverage existing community-led institutions to restore vital drinking water and surface water irrigation services in rural communities severely impacted by a 2021 drought. Sustainability: In FY23, all 26 Water GP-approved projects promoted sustainable and efficient water use, in line with performance in FY22. Furthermore, the indicator for rural water supply and sanitation that measures the functionality of water points held steady at 100 percent in FY23. Of the 12 WSS projects approved in FY23, all included activities, results indicators, or both covering different dimensions of the safely managed level of service in the water or sanitation service ladders. Five projects (in Afghanistan, Dominican Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, and West Bank and Gaza) included results indicators aligned with SDG 6.1, SDG 6.2, or both. Three projects included results indicators compliant with SDG objectives on WASH in schools and health care facilities. For example, the Togo Urban Water Security project addresses the reliability, availability, and quality of water services. It includes a subcomponent that will support the formulation and implementation of a Citywide Inclusive Sanitation strategy as well as a results indicator tracking the number of schools and health center facilities supplied with basic WASH services. GWSP Annual Report 2023  103 Advancing Results FIGURE 4.6. Results Reported by World Bank Lending Operations, FY23 = Yearly indicative target Millions of people with Millions of people with access to an improved access to improved sanitation water source 5 10 15 5 10 15 11.34 15.87 Female: Female: 5.65 12.9–14.9 7.96 8.42–9.7 Schools and health centers Water user associations with access to improved water created/strengthened and sanitation services 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 2,000 4,000 6,000 2,559 5,158 1,377–1,875 3,171–7,000 Millions of hectares under Institutions with water sustainable land/water resources management management practices monitoring systems 1.0 2.0 3.0 5 10 15 20 2.9 23 1.0–1.2 22–24 104  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Active World Bank Lending Projects in the Water Sector Better-designed projects and enhanced technical assis- tance during implementation are expected to result in better project outcomes. A total of 161 ongoing lending operations in the World Bank’s water-related portfolio reported their results in FY23. Most of these operations were influenced by activities funded by GWSP and its predecessors, the Water Sanitation Program and the Water Partnership Program. Figure 4.6 highlights some of the results achieved in FY23. In terms of performance, three of five indicator targets for water supply and sanitation met or exceeded the yearly target range. The number of people provided Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, with access to improved sanitation in FY23 was 15.87 Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Iraq, million, 63 percent above the upper bound of the yearly Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Republic target range. This overperformance was mainly due to of Yemen, Somalia, and Zimbabwe). results reported by the Third Water Supply and Sanitation Of the indicator targets focused on water in agriculture for Low-Income Communities/Community Based Water and on water resources management, more than half Supply Project in Indonesia, which provided access to performed within or above the target range. In FY23, 9.6 million more people in FY23. Ninety-three percent 2.79 million farmers adopted improved agricultural tech- of the people provided with access to sanitation in nology; of these farmers, 94 percent were in IDA-eligible FY23 through World Bank projects were in IDA-eligible countries and 21 percent, in countries affected by fragility countries.3 Eighteen percent were in countries affected and conflict (Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central by fragility and conflict (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Haiti, African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Lebanon, Mozambique, Nigeria, Republic of Ye- Ethiopia, Haiti, Kosovo, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, men, and Zimbabwe). Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South On the other hand, the total number of people gaining Sudan, Timor-Leste, Ukraine, and Republic of Yemen). access to improved water sources in FY23 (11.34 million) To make substantial progress toward a more water- was below the lower bound of the yearly target range secure world, countries must navigate global disrup- (12.9 million). Nearly half of the people who gained tions, overcome implementation constraints, diversify access, 4.54 million, did so through projects in Indonesia, financing sources, and strengthen their institutions. The Nigeria, and Tanzania. Seventy-two percent of the people technical assistance provided by GWSP to improve the provided with access to improved water sources were in design and implementation of infrastructure investments IDA-eligible countries, while 34 percent were in countries and reforms in the water sector is now more critical affected by fragility and conflict (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, than ever. Notes 1 In FY23, the GWSP Council discussed the results of the midterm progress assessments conducted in five of the nine priority countries (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Haiti, Pakistan, and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam). A summary of the assessments is included in appendix C. 2 Influenced lending is calculated on the basis of (1) approved and pipeline lending projects that were informed in a given fiscal year by active grants for the first time and (2) all active lending projects in a given fiscal year that were informed by active grants (including those that had been previously reported). This figure is based on information collected through the annual monitoring process and the dollar value of World Bank projects that were influenced. If GWSP-supported knowledge was used in the design or implementation of a World Bank operation, the value of that operation is counted in its totality. 3 To access IDA resources, a country must lack creditworthiness for borrowing from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, have a per capita income below the IDA operational cutoff ($1,315 in FY24), or both. IDA funds are allocated to the recipient countries on the basis of their income levels and record of success in managing their economies and their ongoing IDA projects. IDA credits carry no or low interest charges. GWSP Annual Report 2023  105 106  GWSP Annual Report 2023 5 Knowledge to Go Further Knowledge Management and Learning GWSP Communications Featured Publications GWSP Annual Report 2023  107 Knowledge to Go Further GWSP enables the exchange of knowledge required to address the swiftly evolving challenges encountered by World Bank Group clients. Communication plays a vital role in ensuring that the innovative research produced by GWSP reaches key policy makers and implementers. Knowledge Management and Learning Putting Knowledge into Use GWSP has a robust knowledge management and learn- ing program that ensures that global lessons drawn from projects and analytical work are transmitted to those who can readily apply them on the ground. At the same time, lessons from activities at the country level are transmitted to GWSP to inform its global priorities, analytics, and diagnostics. GWSP supports a comprehensive learning program that reaches World Bank staff as well as country coun- terparts and other external practitioners. It includes an online webinar series and in-person events that allow teams to share emerging developments, interesting initiatives, and impactful activity from related sectors (e.g., energy, climate change, and digital development) in a timely and low-cost manner. The webinar series is supplemented by more substantive hybrid (face-to- face plus online) events, delivered in collaboration with other global practices (GPs), external partners, and academia, and ranging from technical workshops to flagship report launches. The Water GP’s annual flagship event, Water Week 2023, hosted more than 400 participants from head- quarters, country offices, and partner institutions in February and March 2023. The event welcomed high- level speakers and ministers from the Arab Republic of Egypt, Ghana, India, Morocco, Mozambique, and Pakistan as well as major donor partners. It was the first Water Week since 2019 in which all staff members were able to gather in one location. During Water Week and the subsequent Learning Week, participants heard about cutting-edge developments across regions and sectors and had access to 9 plenary events, 20 tech- nical and peer-to-peer workshops, and more than 20 technical courses. 108  GWSP Annual Report 2023 The 2023 fiscal year (FY) was pivotal for the water agenda, and GWSP used both knowledge management and communications to leverage high-level, international events as instruments for raising awareness of new work, sharing experiences and stories, networking, and exchanging best practices on water-related products and services. At the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York City in March, GWSP and Water GP teams launched The Hidden Wealth of Nations: Groundwater in Times of Climate Change with a discussion that presented for the first time, findings on the economics of ground- water. In addition, the Knowledge Management and Learning (KML) team managed an off-site program that included two roundtables—one on empowering women, youth, and indigenous persons to accelerate global water security and one on the role of supplementary urban water service providers in meeting Sustainable Development Goals—along with a consultation on the Global Facility for Transboundary Waters Cooperation and a technical session on the International Bench- marking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities platform that helps water utilities track and manage their operations. These events forged consensus on a way forward in several pivotal areas and identified key stakeholders that could work with the Bank to effect change. GWSP’s knowledge and analytical products were also showcased at the Innovation Pavilion fea- turing the Utility of the Future program and the World Bank Water Data Portal. At the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Con- ference (COP27), in the Arab Republic of Egypt in November 2022, GWSP showcased its analytical and knowledge work on climate adaptation. The Water GP convened events on sustainable water storage and river basin management, modernization of irrigation and water resources management, and water sector policies and institutions for effective climate adaptation and resilience. At the Water and WASH Future Conference in Brisbane, Australia, in February 2023, GWSP and Water GP staff convened and co-convened seven sessions, including one on how regulators and service providers can work together to respond to climate change. The opening plenary included Water GP Global Director Saroj Kumar Jha speaking about climate change and global water security. GWSP Annual Report 2023  109 Knowledge to Go Further Connecting Operational Teams The GWSP’s Water Expertise Facility supported 28 with Technical Expertise activities, predominantly in Africa, in FY23 (table 5.1). For The KML program connects operational teams with instance, in Botswana, as part of the Botswana Emer- technical expertise and knowledge through the AskWater gency and Water Security and Efficiency Project, Water Help Desk and the Water Expertise Facility. The AskWater Expertise Facility funding was used to help develop a Help Desk responded to more than 120 queries, many national and transboundary water resilience strategy. from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and East In Kiribati, the facility provided funding to work with and Central Asia. Demand for terms of reference, refer- the Ministry of Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy rals to experts, and good practice examples is typical, and its Public Utilities Board to develop a roadmap for but teams increasingly sought help in accessing data and institutional strengthening and policy development ac- producing infographics and other data outputs. During tivities. This initiative focuses on enhancing the financial the fiscal year, the AskWater Case Management System sustainability of the Public Utilities Board. In Botswana, was significantly upgraded, the database of curriculum as part of the Botswana Emergency and Water Security vitae of experts was refreshed to reflect the Bank’s data and Efficiency Project, Water Expertise Facility funding privacy policy, and additional resources were added, was used to help develop a national and transboundary including databases of case studies, midterm reviews, water resilience strategy. and water security diagnostics. 110  GWSP Annual Report 2023 TABLE 5.1. Examples of Just-in-Time Support, FY23 Country/ Supported Project/ Region Initiative Expertise Provided Africa, Eastern and Southern Angola Climate Resilience Hydrology, hydrogeology, and geomorphology advice to improve and Water Security in planned water resources studies in Southern Angola. A review of soil Angola-RECLIMA and water conservation nature-based solutions for upgrading resilience and ecosystem services in the area. Botswana Botswana Emergency Technical support to assess the climate change risks of water and Water Security and resources management and development alternatives vis-à-vis other Efficiency Project identified risks, to identify investments to increase resilience of the Botswana water resources system, and to evaluate trade-offs among in-country water management and services investments. Ethiopia Ethiopia: Second Urban A roadmap for enhancing existing and developing new institutional- Water Supply and strengthening activities and policy development activities. Sanitation Project Kenya Promoting Livable and Support for a diagnostic to better define the climate rationale for Tanzania Productive Lake Victoria sanitation interventions specific to Lake Victoria Basin. Review of the Uganda Basin Communities global climate finance landscape for sanitation to identify options Rwanda through Lake Wide available for the basin and its individual riparian countries. Burundi Inclusive Sanitation Mozambique Mozambique Sanitation Analysis of the impact of the Water GP-spearheaded Field Level Project Leadership program on customers’ satisfaction with sanitation services in Beira and on customers’ willingness to pay for those services. South Sudan South Sudan Climate Technical expertise to review a feasibility study for Kinyeti Multipurpose Resilient Flood Dam and to provide advice during project preparation. Management Project Democratic Democratic Republic of Policy recommendations on irrigation development based on Republic Congo: Climate Change identification of hurdles that farmers face in making their enterprises of Congo Development Report more profitable and assessment of how the public sector can accelerate the process of farmer-led irrigation development in a more inclusive and sustainable way. East Asia and Pacific Fiji Proposed Water Sector Mobilization of expert knowledge on nonrevenue water best practices, Programmatic Advisory energy efficiency in water utilities, and nature-based solutions in the Services and Analytics context of the Pacific Water and Wastewater Association’s ministerial conference. Kiribati Kiribati South Tarawa Support to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy and Water Supply Project, the Kiribati Public Utilities Board to develop a roadmap for prioritized Kiribati South Tarawa institutional-strengthening and policy development activities through a Sanitation Project, political economy analysis; stocktaking of past, current, and planned Kiribati First Resilient strengthening efforts; and a root cause analysis of the success or Growth Development failure of these efforts. Policy Operation (table continues next page) GWSP Annual Report 2023  111 Knowledge to Go Further TABLE 5.1 continued Country/ Supported Project/ Region Initiative Expertise Provided Lao PDR Scaling Up Water Support for a dam safety study in Lao PDR reviewing legal and Supply, Sanitation and institutional frameworks for dam safety assurance options and Hygiene Project developing recommendations for future operations. Middle East and North Africa Morocco Morocco: Large Support to (1) assess the impact of project-financed conversion from Scale Irrigation and surface irrigation to drip irrigation, (2) establish water use and biomass Modernization Project production before and after implementation of the project, and (3) correlate volumes of groundwater used in irrigation with volumes of surface water allocated by the irrigation office. South Asia India Resilient Kerala Program Support to advance rainfall monitoring and prediction with satellite remote sensing and reservoir inflow prediction for optimized reservoir operation in small and steep basins in Kerala. India National Hydrology Facilitation of data-driven decision making in water resources Project management in India through a gathering of global water experts and key stakeholders to explore analytical tools and information services as well as collaborations to enhance national institutions’ capacity to manage river basins and finance services. Pakistan Balochistan Integrated Guidance to (1) support the design and implementation of a post– Water Resources disaster needs assessment for irrigation infrastructure, (2) use remote- Management and sensing techniques to assess damage outside the project area, (3) Development Project calibrate and validate the remote-sensing information based on a ground-truthing exercise, (4) develop a response plan for recovery and reconstruction, and (5) develop a project concept note to implement the response plan activities. Sri Lanka Sri Lanka and Maldives Support to (1) obtain expertise for analysis of water supply and Maldives Water Platform sanitation sector challenges and solutions in the Maldives, (2) help government counterparts internalize findings, and (3) assess the appetite and the institutional landscape for implementing recommendations. Latin America and the Caribbean Colombia Colombia: Rio Support for an ex-post cost-benefit analysis of the impacts of the Bogotá Environmental Bogotá River Restoration Project to collect economic data on river Recuperation and Flood restoration projects and to serve as an example for similar endeavors Control Project elsewhere. 112  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Zambians Participate in Creditworthiness Course Recognizing the importance of the issues ad- dressed in the Water Utility Creditworthiness course, the United Nations Children’s Fund Water Supply and Sanitation Desk Officer based in Zambia invited representatives from water utilities to collectively complete the five modules. More than 70 participants joined a WhatsApp group and are moving through the course, sharing experiences and lessons, and celebrating completions. Group members have held periodic “happy hours” and have highlighted their achievements, most recently at the Zambia Water Forum and Exhibition held in June 2023. Curating and Disseminating Knowledge In FY23, the KML program produced more than 50 publications and translations, including several major flagship reports (please see Featured Publications at the end of this chapter). These publications are compiled in UNCHARTED WATERS the seventh edition of Knowledge Highlights from the UNCHARTED WATERS The New Economics of Water Scarcity and Variability Richard Damania, Sébastien Desbureaux, Marie Hyland, Asif Islam, Scott Moore, Aude-Sophie Rodella, Jason Russ, Esha Zaveri Water Global Practice and GWSP. GWSP maximizes Ebb and Flow: Water, Migration, and Development Ebb and Flow: Water in the Shadow of Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa ......................................................... Borgomeo, Jägerskog, Zaveri, Quality Unknown: The Invisible Water Crisis ......................................................... Uncharted Waters: The New Economics of Water Scarcity and Variability ........................................................ Damania, Desbureaux, Hyland, Islam, Moore, Rodella, awareness of and access to these publications through ......................................................... Russ, Khan, Damania Russ, Zaveri Damania, Desbureaux, Zaveri, Russ, Khan, Damania, Rodella, Russ, Zaveri Additional Languages Additional Languages Borgomeo, Jägerskog Arabic, French Arabic, French Additional Languages This volume provides the first Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish This volume provides unique New evidence advances our ever global assessment of how regional insights into water and understanding of how rainfall Water and fluctuations in water availability, New evidence and new data call migration dynamics. It focuses shocks, coupled with water as induced by rainfall shocks, urgent attention to the hidden on the world’s most water scarce scarcity, affect farms, firms, and influence internal migration, and dangers lying beneath water’s launch or learning events, communications packages, region where already high levels families. A key message is that hence regional development. The surface. This Water Global of intraregional and international water has multiple economic new analyses therein highlight Practice and GWSP flagship migration have met with attributes that entail distinct important nuances that are critical report shows that poor water unprecedented levels of conflict- policy responses at each stage in for policy design and building quality stalls economic progress, the Economy induced forced displacement. its cycle of use. resilience within communities. stymies human potential, and reduces food production. and summary briefs. A recent analysis suggests that 12 Knowledge Highlights from the Water Global Practice and GWSP | 2016-2022 13 more than 50,000 copies of flagship reports have been downloaded from the Bank’s online repositories since GWSP’s inception. The KML program produced Online learning opportunities are another cornerstone of the KML program. A comprehensive Water Utility more than 50 publications Creditworthiness eLearning course launched in FY23 and translations, compiled in was developed in collaboration with the Private Infrastruc- ture Development Group. Its aim is to encourage water Knowledge Highlights from utilities, water regulators, and other water sector actors in the Water GP and GWSP. client countries to improve their efficiency and operational effectiveness. The course is delivered through a “guided cohort”—a facilitator convenes participants, leads them engagements, and 236 video views. The KML team is through the course’s five modules, and then encourages aligning the course rollout with Bank-supported and a discussion among them. The promotional package for other water utility reform processes in Ethiopia, Ghana, this course included a launch blog, a video, and a social Indonesia, Kenya, the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, media campaign that generated 4,759 impressions, 687 and Zambia. GWSP Annual Report 2023  113 Knowledge to Go Further GWSP Communications Telling GWSP’s Story Effective country-level engagement involves collabora- tion, directly and indirectly with partner governments Communication is one of the major conduits through and other country-level stakeholders, to influence which GWSP informs, educates, and engages its part- policies. To illustrate how GWSP operations at the ners globally and locally. A tenant of GWSP’s com- country level enrich its knowledge products and vice munication model is spurring critical thinking among versa, GWSP produced an array of communications, stakeholders and promoting discussions that influence including blogs, immersive stories, feature stories, and effective policy making. In FY23, GWSP’s strategic com- videos. Advancing Access to Water and Sanitation in munications leaned into country-level engagements, with the East Asia and Pacific Region explains how, with an increase in communications products showcasing GWSP support, the World Bank has substantially grown work at the country level. Among these products were its water program in the Pacific region over the last blog posts on ending sectoral gender gaps in Angola; five years. As a result, people in remote rural areas GWSP’s impact in Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, and the are gaining access to water and sanitation services. Solomon Islands; and sanitation work in Mozambique, They include Monica, a mother in Papua New Guinea Malawi, and Zambia. GWSP expanded the reach of who can now wash clothes for her children. The Water select flagship reports by translating them into Arabic, GP’s first immersive story, Water Security and Fra- French, and Spanish. gility: Insights from South Sudan, details the impact GWSP demonstrates its value proposition by show- of flooding, offers recommendations to address this casing, through targeted engagements and communi- climate challenge, and highlights a GWSP-supported cations materials, its commitment to water for people publication, Rising from the Depths: Water Security and the planet. and Fragility in South Sudan. Virtual reality is one of the channels GWSP uses to en- gage audiences. The GWSP Annual Virtual Showcase transports users into an alternate reality that connects them with GWSP’s work in client countries. It includes a video on how GWSP is helping more than 5,000 people in Bialla, Papua New Guinea, thrive through a water system that is resilient in a changing climate. Turning Moments into Movements Good menstrual hygiene management enables women GWSP’s digital efforts and girls to reach their full potential. GWSP supports the Water GP’s multisectoral, holistic approach to improve engage audiences menstrual hygiene in its operations across the world. while promoting the To commemorate this year’s Menstrual Hygiene Day, GWSP participated in a global World Bank-WASH United Partnership’s global and campaign that included a joint blog authored by Water local work and reinforcing GP Global Director Saroj Kumar Jha, World Bank Direc- tor of Human Development for Latin America and the its position as a thought Caribbean Jaime Saavedra, World Bank Global Director leader and center for for Gender Hana Brixi, and WASH United Founder and CEO Thorsten Kiefer. The campaign attracted 1,003 excellence in water- global partners, 222,000 social media engagements, related issues. and 17,828 media mentions, and it reached 705 million people. Top audiences were from some of GWSP’s client countries, including India, Kenya, and Nigeria. 114  GWSP Annual Report 2023 For World Water Day, the GWSP communications Engaging Audiences with team produced Accelerating Change to Solve the Digital Integration Water Crisis, an immersive story about water’s impor- GWSP’s digital efforts engage audiences while pro- tance to economic growth and ecosystems. The story moting the Partnership’s global and local work and explores stories from India, the Republic of Yemen, and reinforcing its position as a thought leader and center Tanzania, and it describes how the Bank works with for excellence in water-related issues. In FY23, GWSP partners to provide affordable, accessible, and safe integrated a new customer relationship management water for all. The team also produced an animation to system in its newsletter to encourage use of GWSP’s inspire change to address the water crisis. online products, to provide a better user experience and For World Toilet Day, GWSP supported the production to improve analytics and reporting. The result was an of a blog detailing the Indian city of Chennai’s journey increase in new email subscribers. Additionally, GWSP toward water security. It explains how the city’s water maintained its social media efforts by sharing regular utility plans to build indirect potable water reuse plants updates on X (formerly Twitter) and interacting with and to diversify its water supply sources to satisfy the partners. This engagement has resulted in a steady city’s demand for water. growth in followers. GWSP Annual Report 2023  115 Knowledge to Go Further Featured Publications GWSP’s support has allowed the Water GP to develop an extensive body of knowledge for policy makers, development specialists, and other partners working at the global, regional, national, and subnational levels. Highlighted here are a few GWSP-supported, global FY23 publications. Like all GWSP’s analytical work, these publications will contribute to the transformation of government policy and implementation and will influence World Bank lending—impacts sustained over multiple years. Laying the Foundations Decision Support Tool to Inform and Assess Regulatory Frameworks for Dam Safety Assurance 20 LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS A DECISION SUPPORT TOOL FOR DAM SAFETY ASSURANCE 21 Dam design, construction, and operation require a • Instrumentation. The level of instrumentation should be proportionate to the size and risk/hazard. FIGURE 5 Considerations for privately owned dams Thus, for large, high-risk/high-hazard dams, instrumentation should be comprehensive, sophis- ticated, and reliable. An effective management system should also be in place, including data Ownership Private monitoring and interpretation. • EPP. The level of detail in the EPP should be commensurate with the downstream hazard/potential Portfolio size Large Small fit-for-purpose regulatory framework. This decision consequence in case of dam failure. For large, high-risk/high-hazard dams, an EPP should be required for operational issues as well as for dam-break scenarios. The EPP must be highly sophisticated, including detailed dam-break analyses and well-planned coordination among all Dam size Large Small Large Small relevant parties, including disaster risk management authorities and the military, as appropriate. The EPP must also include the installation of warning systems and should include the implementation of mock drills. For high-risk/high-hazard dams, EPPs should be elaborated based on dam-break Risk/ High Low High Low High Low High Low hazard analysis and flooding simulation/mapping and include notification and coordination procedures support tool guides countries and jurisdictions through for emergency actions, including evacuation of the downstream population. The EPP should also Section 4.8 4.7 4.6 4.5 4.4 4.3 4.2 4.1 include a compilation of all the persons who should be contacted in the case of dam failure. For example, in South Africa, category 3 dams require comprehensive plans with detailed flood maps, Maximum Assurance Minimum whereas a category 2 dam requires only a summary of intended actions by relevant parties, a listing of telephone contacts, and a basic map with approximate dam-break flood lines. Dam safety assurance regulatory continuum • Public safety. Public safety during dam operation must be given serious consideration, with reference to various considerations in designing and updating their guidelines from reputable institutions,8 including all the necessary safety measures, including down- stream warning system, public awareness and education, incident reporting procedures, and so forth. Source: Original figure for this publication. Financial Considerations • Require private entities to confirm the design, construction plan, and dam safety requirements with Adequate funding and capacity for the oversight body are required. An independent body can be finan- their owner’s engineers and an independent panel of experts. regulatory environment for dam safety assurance. It cially autonomous through collection of fees (intragovernmental transfers) for dam safety surveillance services. A base budgetary line item may be provided, either from the central government budget, grants, These should be proportionate to the size and type of portfolio of dams, as explained in the subse- or funds earmarked from revenue from related services, such as water supply or hydropower genera- quent sections. tion. Cross-subsidization is also possible by way of government transfers from dams with strong revenue streams (that is, with a tariff structure providing full cost recovery) to dams with weaker revenue streams. 4.1 Privately Owned, Small Portfolio of Small Dams That Are Largely Low Risk/Hazard The oversight body may choose to immediately build its internal capacity or to outsource certain func- aggregates information derived from a comprehen- tions to outside expertise initially. Regardless, the relevant line ministry or government authority should Private Small Small Low risk/ allocate enough resources to maintain the inventory of dams and sufficiently perform mandated O&M ownership portfolio dams hazard provisions for dam safety. The relevant line ministry or authority should also allocate resources for train- ing of authority staff and for dam operators. In this scenario, given the small portfolio size and the low-risk/low-hazard profile of small dams, it is appropriate to simplify legal, institutional, and technical requirements with their clear essentials in 4. COUNTRIES WITH MAINLY PRIVATE DAM OWNERSHIP order to reduce unnecessarily high transaction costs in the system. As a result, the elements of this sive review and comparative analysis of regulatory scenario are positioned near the minimum assurance end of the continuum. Figure 5 shows the portfolio characteristics that can help policy makers determine appropriate features of a regulatory regime for contexts with mostly privately owned dams. The following sections explore in Legal Underpinnings more detail different portfolio scenarios and corresponding elements of the dam safety assurance system. There is little need for dedicated legislation or reference to dam safety provisions in enabling legisla- Overall, in the case of privately owned dams, it is important to give due consideration to the following: tion, but dam safety responsibility and liability for dam failure should be clearly defined. In common • Establish clear dam safety standards and requirements that private entities are required to abide by law systems, this definition may come from existing case law or precedent, including whether it is frameworks in 51 countries and presents a typology when preparing project and/or concession agreements. based on negligence or strict liability. In civil law systems, dam safety responsibility and liability for dam failure should be clearly defined in existing law, or they may need to be prescribed in a new law. • Establish and maintain sufficient capacity of governmental regulators for reviewing and approving design documents, concession agreements, and so forth to be submitted by private entities. Institutional Arrangements • Ensure that all critical dam safety requirements are covered, including inspection and instrumen- A dedicated government unit or authority is not necessary, but there should be a unit designated to tation, required remedies, public safety, emergency preparedness, and so forth in the concession oversee the dam safety of private dams, including maintaining an inventory of dams. It should be of situations that correlate with regulatory framework agreements and other legally binding documents. ensured that the dam owners have appropriate staff and training related to dams and their safety. options along a continuum from minimum to maximum safety assurance. The Hidden Wealth of Nations The Economics of Groundwater in Times of Climate Change This report offers new data and evidence that advance Groundwater’s Groundwater’s understanding of the value of groundwater, the costs of economic attributes economic are area attributes ablessing blessing —and a —and a curse curse its mismanagement, and the opportunities to leverage its potential. It considers aquifer characteristics that U ntapped or overdrawn, groundwater is a critical asset for poverty reduction, resilient growth, and climate adaptation. It was valued by ancient civilizations, which relied G G across across stone stone Saharan roundwater roundwater ranging ranging regions. of of Saharan regions. Africa, Africa, the In In agriculture, agriculture, where from from the where Middle up is is overexploited up key less key toto water water overexploited Middle toto less 55 55 than East Eastand percent than and percent 55 supply supply to of percent underused, to South South of percent and underused,the irrigated irrigated ofof and Asia, Asia, agricultureand, agriculture where landsuse lands agricultural thelevel whereirrigation agriculturalland and,thus, levelof ofits thus, to itsuse irrigationhas groundwater. In usegroundwater. landis to food food security: use varies been a corner- has been isirrigated, varies greatly In Sub- irrigated, this this gure on groundwater for their water supplies, as the Romans did, matter for resilient development and poverty reduc- comes comes down down toto less lessthan than 7 percent 7 percent of irrigated of irrigated lands landsusingusinggroundwater groundwater (( gure 1.1). even when building cities close to rivers.1 Groundwater today, Groundwater Groundwater abstraction abstraction hashasplayed played aa major major role role ininaccelerating acceleratingfood food production production and more so in the future, will be a foundation for adapting and food and foodsecurity security globally globally since sincethe the1960s. 1960s. Of 44 Of morethan more than500500of the world’s ofthe world’s largest cities, more cities, more than than half have half have groundwater groundwater asaspart part of of their theirwater waterportfolio. portfolio.55 More More than to climate change. It provides 49 percent of the volume of 8080percent percent large of of largecities citiesininthetheMiddle Middle East, East, South SouthAsia, andCentral Asia,and Central Asia Asia rely rely on water withdrawn for domestic use by the global population2 groundwater groundwater asas their theirmain main source. source.In Sub-Saharan In Sub-SaharanAfrica, around44 Africa,around 44 percent percent of the population population relies relies on ongroundwater groundwater for fordrinking. drinking. And Andon onaverage, average,a aquarter quarter of of the urban and around 43 percent of all water withdrawn for irrigation, tion—including the sustainability of groundwater, the population population the in in theregion region relies reliesonongroundwater. groundwater. In In countrieslike countries Nigeria, this likeNigeria, this reliance watering 38 percent of the world’s irrigated land. 3 Its unique rises close to to rises toto close 60 percent 60 percent ( (gure gure1.2). Such 1.2). Such reliancehighlights reliance highlightshow how groundwater groundwater is critical for critical water for water supplies—and supplies—and how how important important is itit istotoprotect protectits itsquality. quality. economic attributes, including its common-pool nature, are a blessing—and a curse. And its characteristics determine its present and long-term uses and possible negative spillovers. These need to be brought out of the shadows for the resource economic accessibility of groundwater resources to to yield its potential and be managed adequately. )LJXUHb Ȱ Groundwater share of irrigated areas SAR Total irrigated area EAP ECA MNA LAC SSA individual farmers, and the capacity of aquifers to act 45% % of surface water irrigated area 77% 76% 51% 75% 94% as buffers to seasonal variations and climate shocks. 6% 55% 23% 24% 49% 25% % of groundwater irrigated area Along with other data sources, the report enables novel 2 The hidden wealth of nations 9DOXLQJKLGGHQZHDOWK 3 global economic analysis. The report reflects on the issues policy makers confront when attempting to align the private and the social costs of groundwater use. 116  GWSP Annual Report 2023 What the Future Has in Store A New Paradigm for Water Storage 1 INTRODUCTION: Insufficient water storage increasingly threatens wa- THE IMPORTANCE OF WATER STORAGE development. Poor water quality impacts econom- ic growth; for example, the release of pollution up- stream lowers economic growth in downstream ar- eas, reducing gross domestic product (GDP) growth in downstream regions by up to a third (Damania et water across continents, countries, and basins varies WMKRMƼGERXP]MRUYERXMX]UYEPMX]ERHWIEWSREPMX]1ET summarizes the distribution of global freshwater resourc- IWF]GSRXMRIRXHIQSRWXVEXMRKWMKRMƼGERXHMJJIVIRGIW-R addition, water courses do not follow political boundaries, ter security. This report sets forth a new integrated al. 2019). Access to groundwater—especially in deep with nearly half of the rivers in the world spanning at least aquifers and as aquifers are depleted, lowering water two countries, adding complications to managing water quality—can be costly and require large amount of resources. energy for pumping. Water is also distributed unevenly within countries. 1.1 DEVELOPMENT AND CLIMATE Freshwater ecosystems keep wildlife and vegetation alive; Water is distributed unevenly around the world. The Rainfall, surface, and groundwater can all vary consider- 7*8.1.*3(*࣢࣢ provide economically and commercially valuable services, planning framework to guide water managers through vast majority of the world’s water is found in the world’s ably within countries. In the United States, for example, MRGPYHMRK FMPPMSRW SJ HSPPEVW MR [EXIV TYVMƼGEXMSR ERH ƼWL oceans—only around 2.5 percent of water is fresh (USGS the wettest areas can receive roughly 100 times the rain- 1.1.1 Vital Social, Environmental, and Economic capture (EEA 2021; Funge-Smith 2018), and play an im- n.d., based on Shiklomanov 1993). The distribution of fall that the driest areas receive. Huge variations in rainfall Resource portant role in regulating the global climate, sequestering about 25–30 percent of the carbon contained in soils and Freshwater sustains life and livelihoods. As it cours- terrestrial vegetation globally (Russi et al. 2013). MAP 1.1 Quantity and Distribution of Global Freshwater Resources, by Region es through our bodies, the environment, and our econ- a problem-driven and systems-oriented process to omies, water brings life, removes impurities, and Water challenges are also economic challenges. Water transports everything from nutrients to commerce is not only vital to human and ecosystem health but also to the health of our economies. There are several ways Glaciers and permanent ice caps (km3) Wetlands, large lakes, reservoirs, and rivers (km3) from place to place. The central challenges of water— too much, too little, too variable, and too neglected— MR[LMGL[EXIVUYERXMX]LEWWMKRMƼGERXIGSRSQMGMQTEGX Greenland are central challenges of our time. North America 2,600,000 90,000 Europe Asia » Too little: Water is a vital input to most economic 18,216 60,984 Asia Europe understand how different forms of water storage can North America 30,622 Water crises are growing. The combination of growing TVSHYGXMSR W]WXIQW -RWYƾGMIRX [EXIV GSYPH TYX E 27,003 2,529 demand and climate change are making water crises WMKRMƼGERX FVEOI SR IGSRSQMG KVS[XL EVSYRH XLI Africa 0.2 QSVI GSQQSR ERH QSVI I\XVIQI (VSYKLXW ERH ƽSSHW world; as a result of water scarcity, some countries South America could experience up to a 6 percent reduction in Africa compete for headlines, and the everyday lives of farmers, 900 Australia 31,776 communities, cities, and countries become more com- KVS[XL8LMWMRXYVRXVERWPEXIWMRXSEWMKRMƼGERXMQ- 180 South America 3,431 Australia plex and uncertain. Water and water-related disasters are pact on jobs and livelihoods (World Bank 2016a). 221 Antarctica » Too much: Floods are the most frequent hydro-cli- be used to meet their water security goals. The report often rated among the greatest risks facing modern soci- 30,109,800 eties (WEF 2022). matic hazard, representing nearly half of all natural disasters between the years 2000 and 2019; during km3 The poorest are often most vulnerable to water chal- this period, 1.65 billion people were affected, with 30,000,000 lenges. Poor people are often the least connected to re- $651 billion in recorded losses (CRED and UNDRR liable water supply and sanitation services and therefore 2020). Groundwater (km3) EVI SJXIR XLI ƼVWX EJJIGXIH F] WLMJXW MR [EXIV EZEMPEFMPMX] » Too variable: The relationship between rainfall and lays out necessary conceptual shifts and presents case Asia economic growth is particularly clear in agricultural North America 7,800,000 8LITSSVEVIEPWSSJXIRWIZIVIP]EJJIGXIHF]ƽSSHWPMZMRK 4,300,000 Europe 1,600,000 in areas that lack adequate protection and drainage, in- areas where the link between the two is intuitive, but it 8,000,000 cluding in degraded landscapes. Finally, to the extent that has also been demonstrated to impact the manufac- 4,000,000 the rural poor rely on rainfed agriculture, their livelihoods turing and services sectors (Damania, Desbureaux, 3,000,000 1,000,000 EVI XLI ƼVWX EJJIGXIH F] VEMRJEPP ZEVMEFMPMX] ERH HVSYKLXW and Zaveri 2019; Kotz, Levermann, and Wenz 2022). 300,000 The effects of water scarcity on the poor can last for gen- *EVQIVWƼVQWERHWIVZMGITVSZMHIVWEPPRIIHWSQI 50,000 studies of different countries’ successful approaches erations—studies show that drought conditions during a degree of predictability to invest. Unreliable water Africa woman’s early childhood can have a measurable effect on supply also results in disruptions to economic activi- South America 5,500,000 Australia 3,000,000 1,200,000 her children a generation later (Damania et al. 2017). ty, including in the informal sector (Islam 2019; Islam and Hyland 2019). The environment is both a provider and user of water. » Too neglected. Poor management of water resourc- Global and local water cycles are shaped by the environment. es hinders, and can even set backward, economic Source: GRID-Arendal 2009 (Cartographer: Philippe Rekacewicz). Licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0. to planning and operating water storage investments. 2 INTRODUCTION: THE IMPORTANCE OF WATER STORAGE 3 Droughts and Deficits Summary Evidence of the Global Impact on Economic Growth This paper presents new estimates of the effects of dry episodes (rainfall shocks) and droughts on gross The paper concludes with an atlas of growth losses caused by dry shocks over the sample Introduction domestic product per capita growth rates using state- period at a fine level of spatial disaggregation. These estimates provide a starting point for identifying the risks and vulnerability to drought in and between countries. They also signal the magnitude of losses from the often hidden economic costs that dry shocks and droughts bring, and can help policy makers to target interventions to areas of greatest impact. The findings have several implications for development practitioners. They highlight the Water deficits will soon become the new normal through much of the world. With rising of-the-art empirical methods. The findings emphasize need for stewardship of forests and other natural capital that a ect the hydrological cycle human populations and growing prosperity, water demand is growing exponentially, while but are seldom associated with the growth impacts of droughts. They also highlight the damaging human activities are degrading and diminishing water supplies (watersheds, need for proactive investment to address vulnerabilities through upgrades in information rivers, lakes). The result is a water deficit, with stresses that will spread to new regions of the systems, institutions, and infrastructure that build drought resilience. Global experience world and worsen in areas where water is already scarce. Around 60 percent of humanity supports the following interventions: live in a water basin that encounters water stress for at least part of the year (Mekonnen and Hoekstra 2016). Map 1 overlays projected population growth with the availability of water the need for stewardship of forests and other natural • Development, implementation, and integration of early warning systems where they in 2050. It starkly illustrates that even without further degradation of water resources, it is are lacking or insu cient. the poorest and the driest regions of the world that would face the most severe scarcity • Infrastructure investments, including storage, nature-based solutions, groundwater and water related challenges. It is notable too that many of these countries are classified as and managed aquifer recharge, desalination, water reuse and recycling, nonrevenue “fragile,” and some are in conflict. water reduction, irrigation schemes, and rainwater harvesting. • Institutional strengthening such as through drought policy, legislation to codify roles Climate change compounds these challenges by making rainfall more variable. Though capital that affect the hydrological cycle but that are and responsibilities, and standing drought committees. future rainfall projections are highly uncertain, there is unanimity across climate change • Risk financing mechanisms tailored to vulnerable groups in each country. models that rainfall will become more erratic and extreme with rising temperatures. There • Coordinated planning at multiple levels for short-term emergency planning and long- are already clear signs that rainfall variability has increased significantly over the past five term planning across utility, city or town, river basin, province, and national levels. decades. Figure 1 shows a distinct drying trend over the past half-century. The proportion of land encountering dry shocks has increased, and areas with above average rainfall are There is considerably more work to do on this agenda, and the World Bank can help structure a more cogent program around drought resilience building through its upcoming engagement, which can be offered to clients across the World Bank regions. Map 1 Global per Capita Water Availability and Future Population Growth, 2050 seldom associated with the growth impacts of droughts. They also highlight the need for proactive investments to address vulnerabilities through upgrades in informa- Compounded Fertility and Water Stress: Low–No Risk Medium–Low Risk High Risk Very High Risk N/A DROUGHTS AND DEFICITS: SUMMARY EVIDENCE OF THE GLOBAL IMPACT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH 2 Source: World Bank. DROUGHTS AND DEFICITS: SUMMARY EVIDENCE OF THE GLOBAL IMPACT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH 3 tion systems, institutions, and infrastructure that build drought resilience. The Impacts of Irrigation A Review of Published Evidence This report assesses empirical evidence of irrigation impacts and provides insights and lessons to guide policy and future investment. It provides a general • • Irrigation is linked to a wide range of other impacts, including ones associated with the nutrition, health, and environment sectors. Studies that measured irrigation impacts beyond the farm or system scales have often found indirect secondary e ects of similar or greater magnitude than direct primary e ects. Secondary e ects could be positive (e.g., multiplier e ects to the overall economy) or 2. Typology of Irrigation Impacts typology for considering the wide range of mechanisms negative (e.g., o -site environmental e ects that o set the gains in production or poverty reduction). • e range and magnitude of irrigation impacts, particularly those beyond production e ects, were highly dependent on the location and circumstances in which irrigation occurred. In addition, impacts changed over time in magnitude and sometimes sign. e impacts of irrigation range from direct increases in agricultural output to indirect e ects on • Irrigation impacts—positive and negative—were unequally distributed socially, spatially, and gender relations, employment, and even government structures. We build on the existing literature through which irrigation affects humans directly and temporally. Virtually every study that measured di erential impacts has found them to be to provide an indicative typology to assist in conceptualizing irrigation impacts. e impacts of signi cant. irrigation are varied and overlapping; therefore, no de nitive typology suits all needs. Our analysis of published impact assessments highlights the interconnected and sometimes counterintuitive ese conclusions and our analysis of the state of irrigation impact assessment led to these relationships between irrigation and a wide range of impacts. interrelated considerations for future investment: indirectly. It finds differential impacts to be significant. • Expanded attention to irrigation bene ts and costs is needed in irrigation planning. 2.1 Direct Impacts on Production, Farming Systems, and Risk • During planning, the potential range of positive and negative impacts should generally be expanded. e primary direct impact of irrigation is usually increased crop output through yield and area • Continued, explicit focus on distribution e ects are needed if poverty reduction and equity increases. Yield increases because of additional plant water availability and the linear relationship goals of investments are to have the greatest likelihood of success. between transpiration and yield (Chang 1968). Irrigation makes control of the quantity and timing • Increased planning to reduce negative environmental impacts of irrigation and a better of water availability more precise, supporting crop establishment, growth, and yield. It can make Furthermore, it finds that irrigation is strongly associated case for potential environmental bene ts would improve investment outcomes and public crop production possible in places where rainfall and soil moisture are insu cient or intensify appreciation for irrigation. production through second and sometimes third croppings. • Investment planning should consider that the purpose of irrigation and values toward the environment will change over time. Water availability through irrigation reduces the risk of crop failure. is in turn increases the expected return on complementary investments, such as seeds and fertilizer (Gebregziabher, While there is no shortage of irrigation impact assessments, new, improved research on priority with decreases in poverty, particularly among direct Namara, and Holden 2012; Namara, Upadhyay, and Nagar 2005), further increasing yields areas could help investment planning. ese areas include: and incentives for investment ( gure 1). Traditional varieties provide returns even when water supplies are limited, while high yield varieties (HYVs) provide no return. However, once water • Design for impact assessment—not just monitoring and evaluation—for select projects. supplies reach a critical level, HYV yields are higher as is the marginal response to additional However, mechanisms for impact assessment will likely need longer time horizons than those water. In addition, the absolute and marginal responses of complementary inputs are higher for for typical project cycles. HYVs. us, farmers with assured supplies of su cient water are more likely to invest in HYVs • Additional investment in long-term assessments of irrigation’s dynamic nature. beneficiaries and urban consumers, and that it is linked and complementary inputs. In contrast, farmers who experience or perceive a risk in the volume • Renewed focus on the impact of large-scale irrigation, particularly on maintenance and or timing of irrigation supplies are more likely to invest in seeds with low yield potential but high institutions. probability of some return, no matter the water outcome. Under such conditions, the incentive • New analysis of national- and global-scale irrigation impacts and processes. for investment in other inputs declines. e risks associated with assured surface irrigation supply • Support of quantitative and complementary qualitative work on the nature and scale of and timing help to explain why farmer-initiated groundwater use is common even in surface irrigation impacts. irrigation systems. to many other impacts in the nutrition, health, and ese ndings and recommendations are discussed in detail in the main body of the paper and in the conclusion. Irrigation can bring new risks beyond the farm scale, such as crop disease and reduced crop diversity as demand for traditional varieties decline (Hazell 1982; Mehra 1981; Pinstrup‐Andersen and Hazell 1985). Adopting more uniform varieties may bring new price risks as cropping decisions become more uniform across large regions (Pinstrup-Anderson and Hazell 1985), an outcome potentially environment sectors. THE IMPACTS OF IRRIGATION 2 THE IMPACTS OF IRRIGATION 3 GWSP Annual Report 2023  117 118  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Appendixes Financial Update Results Progress GWSP Annual Report 2023  119 Appendixes Appendix A: Financial Update Cooperation Agency, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Swiss State Secretariat for Eco- nomic Affairs, the United States Agency for International GWSP Donor Contributions Development, and Spain’s Ministry of Economic Affairs From inception through June 30, 2023, total signed and Digital Transformation. contributions to GWSP were $264.3 million (table A.1), The last 12 months saw increasing interest from of which $256.4 million is new funding, complementing development partners in GWSP in terms of fundraising. $7.9 million rolled over from the Water and Sanitation In FY23, GWSP signed new contributions totaling Program and the Water Partnership Program.1 GWSP $52.1 million. These contributions indicate endorse- met its initial six-year funding target of $240 million. ment of GWSP’s independent evaluation and its new Through the end of fiscal year (FY) 2023, 10 active strategy, which will take the Partnership through 2030. GWSP donors contributed to GWSP. Spain became the New contributions included $20.0 million from the Bill newest donor and joined the GWSP family in September and Melinda Gates Foundation, $10.9 million from 2022. The 10 active donors are Australia’s Department the Swedish International Development Cooperation of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Austria’s Federal Ministry Agency, $8.5 million from Spain’s Ministry of Economic of Finance, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Affairs and Digital Transformation, $6.7 million from Denmark’s Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nether- Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, land’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development and $6.0 million from the Swiss State Secretariat for Cooperation, the Swedish International Development Economic Affairs. 2 TABLE A.1. GWSP Donor Contributions as of June 30, 2023 Donor Name US$ millions Share (%) Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) 72.5 27.4 Netherlands—Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation* 48.3 18.3 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 41.0 15.5 Australia—Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 25.9 9.8 Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) 18.4 6.9 Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) 16.7 6.3 Denmark—Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs 10.6 4.0 Spain—Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation 8.5 3.2 United States Agency for International Development (USAID) 8.3 3.1 Austria—Federal Ministry of Finance 6.8 2.6 United Kingdom—Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office 3.5 1.3 Norway—Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2.4 0.9 Rockefeller Foundation 1.6 0.6 Ireland—Minister for Foreign Affairs/Irish Aid 0.02 0.01 Total Commitments 264.3 100.0 * The Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation falls under the Netherland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 120  GWSP Annual Report 2023 The GWSP Council–endorsed FIGURE A.1. Funding Status, FY24–30 (US$ millions) 2022 GWSP Strategy Update in- cludes a target budget of $280 Target 51.0 30.8 198.3 280.0 million for the FY24–30 period. Fundraising efforts were stepped up Available Signed Funds to be following endorsement of the strat- resources as of contributions to raised egy, and existing and new partners June 30, 2023 be received have continued them. At the end of FY23, GWSP had $51.0 million available for allocation.3 In addition, $30.8 million in signed contributions FIGURE A.2. FY23 Disbursements, by Activity were scheduled for payment in FY24 and beyond. A gap in funding of Knowledge and $198.3 million is to be raised in the Analytics 81% FY24–30 period (see figure A.1). FY23 Disbursements In FY23, GWSP disbursed $31.6 Knowledge Sharing and million to support its work program Dissemination 11% activities and had an active portfolio Program Management of 216 activities in 51 countries and and Administration 6% regions. Of the total 216 activities, 79 Communications 2% were newly activated in FY23, and 137 were from previous fiscal years. GWSP continues to support in- novative technical assistance and analytical work for sustainable delivery of water services. In FY23, 81 percent of dis- and analytics categorized as global. These activities bursements went to knowledge and analytics that are include developing and refining tools for use by country global, regional, or country based (see figure A.2). teams as well as curating and expanding cutting-edge More than half (53 percent) of the disbursements for research, such as the World Bank Group report What the knowledge and analytics were in regional units, while Future Has in Store: A New Paradigm for Water Storage, the remaining disbursements (47 percent) were global. that is directly applicable to the current challenges our Much of that global work was rooted in country-based clients are facing. The disbursements to activities were analysis that was then translated into overarching sum- managed globally and again drew heavily on expertise maries, findings, and recommendations. GWSP’s global at the regional and country levels. analytical work provides direct expertise and advice To maximize the use of the analytical work by cli- to regional teams in addressing complex design and ents and other key development partners, $4 million, implementation issues. accounting for 13 percent of the total, was disbursed More than $13.5 million was disbursed by regional to comprehensive communications and knowledge units in FY23. The funds supported both lending ac- dissemination. tivities and advisory services and analytics. These Communications, partnerships, learning, and knowl- activities include country-level knowledge and technical edge dissemination activities all drive the knowledge- assistance that influence policy dialogue and project into-implementation agenda and are what makes the design. The Africa region accounted for the largest GWSP model unique. These critical inputs into the percentage of regional disbursements in FY23 (see program help get cutting-edge research and analytics figure A.3). GWSP disbursed $12.2 million to knowledge into the hands of staff, clients, and partners to influence GWSP Annual Report 2023  121 Appendixes policy, improve implementation, and FIGURE A.3. FY23 Disbursements, by Activity and Region build capacity. In addition, these inputs enhance GWSP’s critical interventions through lending from Global Knowledge the Bank and other international and Analytics 38% finance institutions. The inputs also include services delivered through the AskWater Advisory Service (Help Knowledge Sharing and Desk) and Water Expertise Facility, Dissemination 11% which connects task teams with technical experts on a just-in-time Program Management and Administration 6% basis. Chapter 5 highlights some of the activities delivered through Communications 2% these entities. Regional Knowledge The program management and and Analytics 43% administration (PM&A) functions ensure the Partnership’s smooth, efficient, and effective management. These functions include day-to-day South Asia 10% program management and admin- Middle East and North Africa 4% istration, program monitoring and Latin America and the Caribbean 5% evaluation, and council engagement. Europe and Central Asia 4% GWSP’s lean program management team plays an important role in ad- East Asia and Pacific 6% ministering trust fund operations and Sub-Saharan Africa 15% monitoring and reporting results. In FY23, the GWSP Council approved a restructuring of GWSP to enable the association of other trust funds under the GWSP umbrella structure and ex- panded use of recipients’ executed activities. The restructuring included FIGURE A.4. GWSP Annual Disbursements, FY18–23 an updating of the results framework and targets and completion of the 40 Block C midterm assessments for 35.6 32.9 Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Haiti, Paki- 31.6 stan, and the Socialist Republic 30 28.0 of Viet Nam. Approximately $1.9 24.4 24.6 US$ millions million, about 6 percent of the total program disbursements in FY23, 20 corresponded to PM&A activities. 10 Financial Trends Disbursements over the past six fiscal years trended upward, though with 0 a slight decrease in FY22 and FY23 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 (see figure A.4). Disbursements in 122  GWSP Annual Report 2023 FY23 decreased by 4.0 percent due to prudent consider- funds: the Central Asia Energy Water Development ation of the Ukraine crisis and possible negative impacts Program, the Cooperation in International Waters in on the fundraising of GWSP for FY23 and beyond. Africa, and the Danube Region Water Security. These Although disbursements in FY23 contracted slightly funds are managed by staff in the Water GP, and the due to the pandemic and geopolitical instability, future overall approaches and strategies in support of trans- disbursements and demand from the Water Global boundary water are coordinated globally. Practice (GP) for GWSP resources, both analytical work Collaboration with other trust fund programs outside and lending, are expected to grow. At the country level, the Water GP offers an avenue for expanding the Water the Water GP is committed to expanding its collaboration GP’s reach and influence in other sectors. From FY18 with other global practices to expand delivery of water to FY23, $8.8 million was disbursed by the Water GP with and through partners. At the global level, recognition from the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facil- of the centrality of water to climate change adaptation ity. One beneficiary: the water sector public-private and mitigation is increasing. partnership development program under the Angola Second Water Sector Institutional Development Project Collaboration with Other (as seen in chapter 3). In the Dominican Republic, Trust Fund Programs the Quality Infrastructure Investment Partnership is GWSP coordinates closely with the following transbound- providing support to develop more resilient and finan- ary, water-focused, multidonor, regionally managed trust cially sustainable water and sanitation infrastructure GWSP Annual Report 2023  123 Appendixes FIGURE A.5.  WSP Disbursements, by Region and by G ser vices in the province of Fiscal Year Espaillat. Another example of collaboration is the Supporting FY18 24.4 the Storage Agenda for a More Resilient Development project 24.6 under the Transforming Irrigation FY19 Management Program in Nigeria. This joint program of the Water FY20 28.0 GP and the Global Facility for Di- saster Reduction and Recovery FY21 35.6 trust fund focuses on improving access to irrigation and drainage FY22 32.9 services and on strengthening institutional arrangements for FY23 31.6 integrated water resources man- agement and agriculture service 0 10 20 30 40 US$ millions delivery in selected large-scale public schemes in Northern Ni- Sub-Saharan Africa East Asia and Pacific geria. GWSP plays a coordinating Europe and Central Asia Latin America and the Caribbean role to help facilitate collaboration and ensure strategic alignment Middle East and North Africa South Asia Global and resource use. Table A.2 lists the largest collaborating trust funds based on disbursements between FY18 and FY23. Top 10 Trust Fund Programs Disbursing TABLE A.2. through the Water GP, FY18–FY23 Notes Program 1 Funding from the United Kingdom, Norway, the Rockefeller Foundation, 1 Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) and Ireland was rolled over from 2 Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) the two preceding programs. These donors have since exited the GWSP 3 Quality Infrastructure Investment Partnership (QII) trust fund. 2 The Swiss State Secretariat for 4 South Asia Water Initiative (SAWI)* Economic Affairs also provided an additional Sw F 10 million (about 5 Korea Green Growth Trust Fund (KGGTF) US$ 11.2 million) to support the Utility of the Future Center of 6 Global Partnership for Results-Based Approaches (GPRBA) Excellence trust fund. Although this trust fund is currently mapped to the 7 Western Balkans Investment Framework Program Europe and Central Asia region, it will also support global coordination 8 Australian Trust Fund for Indonesia Infrastructure Support for GWSP’s Utility of the Future initiative. 9 Global Environment Facility (GEF) 3 This sum includes the FY24 10 Energy Sector Management Assistance Program allocation of $35 million, which was allocated to projects in early FY24. * The SAWI multidonor trust fund closed in June 2021, after more than a decade of work to increase regional cooperation in managing major Himalayan river systems and building climate resilience. 124  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Appendix B: Results Progress BLOCK A GWSP-Funded Knowledge and Analytics Activities of Results Achieved as of June 30, 2023, Reported by 165 Active TABLE B.1. Summary GWSP-Funded Activities in FY23 % of Projects with Indicator Results to be achieved by FY23 results Indicator end of grant achieved Sustainability Policies/strategies/regulatory frameworks informed to 52 35 strengthen (1) sustainable management of water resources, (2) built infrastructure assets, or (3) both Tools and monitoring systems supported to strengthen (1) 32 26 sustainable management of water resources at the national, basin, and aquifer levels; (2) built infrastructure assets; or (3) both Water-related institutions supported to sustain water 44 33 resources, built infrastructure assets, or both Sustainability-focused knowledge products generated 34 22 Inclusion Policies/strategies generated or refined to enhance social 18 inclusion in the management of water resources or service delivery* Policies/strategies generated or refined to enhance SOCIAL 10 INCLUSION OF WOMEN in accessing jobs, markets, services, or decision-making roles in water resources/water supply and sanitation or other water-related service delivery Policies/strategies generated or refined to enhance SOCIAL 1 INCLUSION OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES in accessing jobs, markets, services, or decision-making roles in the management of water resources or in WSS or other water- related service delivery Policies/strategies generated or refined to enhance SOCIAL 1 INCLUSION OF OTHER EXCLUDED GROUPS* in accessing jobs, markets, services, or decision-making roles in the management of water resources or in WSS or other water- related service delivery Integrated cross-sectoral approaches or other approaches 20 15 developed, where relevant, to address water, sanitation, and nutrition issues Water-related institutions trained in gender and inclusion 14 issues, human resources practices related to diversity and inclusion, or both* (table continues next page) GWSP Annual Report 2023  125 Appendixes TABLE B.1 continued % of Projects with Indicator Results to be achieved by FY23 results Indicator end of grant achieved Inclusion Water-related institutions trained in GENDER ISSUES, 8 (continued) HR practices related to diversity and inclusion, or both Water-related institutions trained in issues and practices 3 related to PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES Water-related institutions trained in issues related to OTHER 3 EXCLUDED GROUPS** Inclusion-focused knowledge products generated 13 9 Institutions Policies/strategies/regulatory frameworks informed to 44 32 strengthen the institutional environment for improved water resources management, improved water service delivery, or both Fragility, conflict, and violence–affected states supported to 2 2 develop and implement a water sector transition strategy Water-related institutions supported to strengthen capacity 42 31 for managing water resources or service delivery Institution-focused knowledge products generated 39 23 Financing Policies/strategies/regulatory frameworks developed to 21 15 improve financial viability Institutions supported to improve their financial viability and 13 12 creditworthiness Finance-focused knowledge products generated 19 12 Resilience Policies/strategies/regulatory frameworks developed or 49 28 implemented to strengthen the resilience of freshwater basins, the delivery of services for communities dependent on these basins, or both Diagnostics conducted or implementation undertaken to 29 17 promote principles of freshwater-resilience building Water-related institutions supported to build resilience in 38 27 water resources management or service delivery Resilience-focused knowledge products generated 39 27 * In FY23, GWSP replaced the original indicator with three new indicators to provide a more detailed breakdown of our results. Because this is the first year in which grants are reported using the new indicators, we have retained the original indicator for the purpose of comparing grants that aimed to achieve results based on that indicator with grants that are reporting results achieved in FY23 using the new indicators. ** These groups refer to people excluded on bases other than gender and disability. 126  GWSP Annual Report 2023 BLOCK B Water GP Outcomes TABLE B.2. Portfolio Influence Indicators Baseline Progress Target Indicator FY22 FY23 FY30 Number of new projects approved 24 26 — Sustainability % of new projects that promote sustainable and efficient 100 100 95 water use % of new rural WSS lending projects that measure 100 100 90 functionality of water points Inclusion % of new projects that are gender tagged* 100 100 85 % of new projects with other social inclusion aspects** 88 73 75 % of IDA-financed infrastructure operations in water, — 89 65 including actions to create employment opportunities for women in medium- and high-skilled jobs in this sector† % of new water projects with disability-inclusive — 54 60 approaches in WASH† Institutions % of projects that support reforms/actions that 100 96 100 strengthen institutional capacity Finance % of projects that support reforms/actions for improving 89 81 85 financial viability % of projects with explicit focus on leveraging private 22 8 20 finance Resilience % of projects incorporating resilience in design of water- 100 100 100 related initiatives Number of fragile and conflict-affected states supported 7§ 9 20 with a resilience lens‡ % of new World Bank Group lending commitments with 58 65 60 climate change co-benefits % of projects that have at least one climate-related — 100 100 indicator in their results framework† Net GHG emissions (tCO2eq/year)† — –732,508 –900,000 Source: Analysis of the FY23 Water Global Practice portfolio approved by the GWSP Monitoring and Evaluation team. Note: WSS = water supply and sanitation; — = not applicable. * Measures the percentage of projects that demonstrate a results chain by linking gender gaps identified in the analysis to specific actions tracked in the results framework. ** Projects that target the poor, vulnerable, or underserved communities or areas. Excludes citizen engagement, which is included under corporate monitoring. † Indicator introduced for the first time in FY23. ‡ In FY23, 36 countries and 1 territory were classified as having fragile and conflict-affected situations, as per corporate guidelines. Target is cumulative for the FY23–30 period. § 20 cumulative FY18–22. GWSP Annual Report 2023  127 Appendixes TABLE B.3. Sector Results Indicators Baseline Progress Indicative Targets FY Yearly FY FY Yearly 18–22 avg 23 23–30 avg Water Supply and Sanitation 1.1 People with access to improved water 64.3 12.86 11.34 103.2–119.1 12.9–14.9 sources (million) of whom female: 5.65 1.2 People with access to improved sanitation 201.11 40.22 15.87 67.38–77.6 8.42–9.7 (million) of whom female: 7.96 1.3 Biochemical oxygen demand pollution 86,891 17,378 8,136 139,000– 17,400– loads removed by treatment plants (tons/ 164,000 20,500 year) 1.4 Schools and health centers with access — — 2,559 11,000– 1,375– to improved water and sanitation services 15,000 1,875 (number)* 1.5 Utilities with improved working ratio 118 23.6 25 192–240 24–30 Climate-Resilient Irrigation 2.1 Area with new/improved irrigation services 3.66 0.73 0.53 5.84–7.62 0.73–0.95 (million hectares) 2.2 Farmers adopting improved agricultural 11.84 2.37 2.79 19.2–19.94 2.37–2.4 technology (million) of whom female: 1.13 2.3 Water User Associations created/ 15,854 3,170 5,158 25,368– 3,171– strengthened 56,000 7,000 Water Security and Integrated Water Resources Management 3.1 People in areas covered by water-risk 21.77 4.35 2.15 33.1–40 4.1–5 mitigation measures (flooding/drought) (million) 3.2 Basins with management plans/ 91 18 35 144–160 18–20 stakeholder engagement mechanisms 3.3 Institutions with WRM monitoring systems 109 21.8 23 176–192 22–24 3.4 Area under sustainable land/water 4.82 0.96 2.9 8–9.4 1–1.2 management practices (million hectares) 3.5 Hydropower generation capacity 2,100 420 375 11,088– 1,386– constructed/rehabilitated (megawatts) 13,600 1,700 Note: WRM = water resources management. * Indicator introduced for the first time in FY23. 128  GWSP Annual Report 2023 Photo Credits Front cover Mulugeta Ayene/WLE 62 Antonio Rodrigues Serrano/World Bank 2 Wbkincaid1/Wikimedia Commons 64–65 aquatarkus/Adobe Stock 6 SmartEdge/World Bank 67 USAID IUWASH PLUS 8 Antonio Rodrigues Serrano/World Bank 68–69 Anne Shrestha/World Bank 12–13 SmartEdge/World Bank 70 Rubika Shrestha/World Bank 15 SmartEdge/World Bank 71 Rubika Shrestha/World Bank 18 Ollivier Girard/World Bank 72 llucky78/Shutterstock 20–21 World Bank 74 Marcus Wishart/World Bank 23 Shynar Jetpissova/World Bank 77 Marcus Wishart/World Bank 24–25 World Bank 79 Henitsoa Rafalia/World Bank 26–27 iStock Photo 81 Susanna Smets/World Bank 28 Flore de Preneuf/World Bank 83 Susanna Smets/World Bank 29 Adobe Stock 85 Alain Willy Aeschlimann/World Bank 30 John Hogg/World Bank 87 Adobe Stock 32–33 Vincent Tremeau/World Bank 88–89 SmartEdge/World Bank 35 Alexander Danilenko/World Bank 90–91 World Bank 36 Adobe Stock 96 Fundacíon Natura Bolivia 37 World Bank 99 Seema Johnson/USAID 38 Jeffrey M Walcott/IMWI 100 Adobe Stock 39 Vincent Tremeau/World Bank 102–103 World Bank 40 Matilda James Kivelege/World Bank 105 Shutterstock 41 Adobe Stock 106–107 World Bank 42–43 Milind Ruparel/Unsplash 108–109 Sarah Farhat/World Bank, Tozé Canaveira/World Bank, Alida Pham/World Bank, Erika Hernandez/ 44–45 Vladyslav/Adobe Stock World Bank 47 Trung Son Hydropower Company Limited 110 Tozé Canaveira/World Bank 48–49 Victor Mugarura/Feed the Future via USAID 113 World Bank 50–51 Adobe Stock 115 Alida Pham/World Bank 52–53 Владимир Смирнов/Adobe Stock 118–119 Diego Rinaldi via USAID 55 Ruyi Li/World Bank 123 World Bank 57 Jean-Yves Jamin Back cover Abdullah Shakoor from Pixabay 58–59 Florence Deram Malerbe/World Bank 60–61 Alexander Annenkov