WOP4R: Water Organisation Partnerships for Resilience

The world needs water. But in the Asia-Pacific region alone, approximately 500 million people lack safe drinking water, and 1.2 billion live without adequate sanitation. Here’s how we can work together to provide more equitable access to water.

Two men from WOP4R partnership in a water plant

Project facts

Client: Asian Development Bank
Location: APAC region
Date: 2022–Present
Challenge: Delivering water infrastructure projects with greater resilience through mentoring partnerships.
Solution: The WOP4R programme delivers high-quality, resilient drinking water and sanitation services.

The challenge

Created by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 2007, the Water Operators Partnerships (WOP) programme has helped utilities in countries across the region solve complex water and sanitation challenges. As well as ensuring public safety, improved water supply and sanitation can help to boost economic growth and reduce poverty.

However, the combined impacts of climate change, urbanisation, and rapid economic growth have highlighted the critical challenge water utilities face when it comes to the sustainability and resilience of their water and sanitation services. Following WOP’s success, ADB created the next generation of the programme: Water Organization Partnerships for Resilience (WOP4R).

The solution

Launched in 2023, WOP4R is designed to “twin” a water entity with the right water industry expert organisation to help achieve greater efficiency and resilience in priority areas such as non-revenue water, performance monitoring, operation and maintenance, asset management, financial planning, stakeholder communication, and climate resiliency, among many others.

To help ensure every water partnership has the best chance of success, ADB appointed Haskoning to serve as the WOP4R programme management team.

Haskoning, with its strong commitment to enhancing society together, has successfully delivered design, engineering, and consulting services to the water industry for over 140 years. This has cemented its reputation as a trusted and highly reliable partner for clients in many sectors, including those targeted by the ADB WOP4R program:

Urban water and sanitation utilities that need to expand and improve services to satisfy a growing population, while protecting their assets from climate change and extreme weather events.
River basin management organisations that face many challenges in managing limited water resources and providing sustainable water access to multiple users and communities.
Irrigation associations that need to meet the rising demand for irrigation water to support food security by promoting more efficient and equitable use of water.

As the programme management consultant, Haskoning assists ADB in establishing and implementing these WOP4R partnerships in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

It’s rewarding to see organisations collaborate on important challenges and deliver high-quality water services to their communities. Haskoning and I are thankful to contribute towards establishing and managing these partnerships.

Henry ManguerraClimate Resilience Lead, Philippines, Haskoning

Thank you to our dedicated team of mentors and mentees! ADB is proud to be supporting peer-to-peer capacity development among water and wastewater entities under our WOP4R programme.

Allison WoodruffPrincipal Water Security Specialist, Asian Development Bank

The IWK has made great progress with our mentee partner, Baguio CEPMO. We look forward to further international engagements, fostering a regional network of water operators committed to sustainability and resilience.

Azuan Ahmad ZahdiHead of Corporate Planning, Indah Water Konsortium, Malaysia

The result: More partnerships and greater access to water

With Haskoning's leadership, the WOP4R programme already delivers impactful partnerships across the APAC region.

Additional to the below, partnerships are being planned on behalf of recipient water organisations in Tajikistan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Fiji.

The partnerships

The benefits of WOP4R mentoring

Corporate social responsibility

Mentoring for WOP4R projects that improve the region’s water resilience and access to safe water services can contribute to your organisation’s corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Learning and development experiences

As a mentor, you’ll get an exciting opportunity to learn new skills and work on projects that allow you to develop your creative, problem-solving, and collaborative abilities.

Reward and motivation

Becoming a mentor gives you first-hand experience in solving challenges for the greater good – so you feel rewarded and motivated to take on the next challenge.

Opportunities for business networking

WOP4R mentors will have instant access to an extensive network of peers and partners who are equally committed to working together to share best practices.

Calling for potential mentors

A key ingredient of a successful WOP4R partnership is finding the right mentor partner for our WOP4R recipient organisations.

So, if you work for a water or wastewater utility, a regulatory body, or a river basin organisation and are interested in participating as a mentor in WOP4R, please register your interest below.

Download the WOP4R FLYER

Download

Download the WOP4R programme brochure

Learn more about the WOP4R programme and its impact by downloading our comprehensive brochure. Find out more information on the program, its benefits for participating entities, and how it contributes to a water-secure future in Asia-Pacific.

Download the WOP4R FLYERDownload the WOP4R FLYER