The Water Facility is part of the international aid programme of the European Union (EU). It is intended to help African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries provide water and sanitation to the poor, and to improve governance in the sector.
In 2010 the EU earmarked €40 million of the Water Facility to support not-for-profit water partnership projects. These are intended to: “develop capacity in the ACP water & sanitation sector, leading to better water and sanitation governance and management, and to the sustainable development and maintenance of infrastructureâ€.
The European Commission (EC) is awarding grants to partnerships selected through a restricted call procedure. A partnership must last for a minimum of 2 years and a maximum of 5 years. Each grant awarded to a partnership must be between a minimum of €250,000 and a maximum of €1,000,000. An EC grant can cover up to 75% of the costs of a partnership, the rest must be financed from other sources.
Each partnership must have: a) an applicant partner, responsible for submitting the application and receiving the grant, who will provide training and/or capacity development to the beneficiary partner(s); b) at least one beneficiary partner, who receives training and/or capacity development. Partnerships may also include: c) other implementing partners who are involved in delivering the action; and, d) supporting partners, engaging in supporting activities
such as awareness raising and institution building. Partners may participate in more than one proposal.
The applicant partner must be a water and sanitation utility or a local authority or another water sector organisation from either an EU or an ACP country. The beneficiary partner(s) must be a utility or public authority or water organisation from an ACP country. Implementing partners must also be a water and sanitation utility or a local authority or another water sector organisation from either an EU or an ACP country. Supporting partners can be non-state actors (NSAs), such as civil society organisations or trade unions, and water ministries of ACP national governments.The EC encourages partnership projects which actively involve local NSAs.