Bonn, 10 November 2020. The experts from the municipal utlities in Germany, Ukraine, Jordan, Morocco and Zambia that are participating in the project were delighted to attend the first network meeting, which was held online due to the coronavirus pandemic. At the meeting, they discussed the work in the international partnerships with their colleagues.

In his welcome address, Felix Reifschneider from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) assured the participants that both the Ministry and Federal Minister Dr. Gerd Müller were committed to the project. He emphasised that the utility platform was not only a financial support instrument for their partnership work, but also offered opportunities for high-grade exchanges between specialists, for promoting networking between experts and partnerships, and for training.

The potentials of the project were also highlighted in the opening addresses by the representatives of the organisations cooperating in the project: the Service Agency Communities in One World, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the German Water Partnership (GWP) and the German Association of Local Utilities (VKU).

Silvia Boehmsdorff (Service Agency) and Heiko Heidemann (GIZ) reported on developments over the previous 12 months and presented the outlook for the projects in the coming years.

Partnerships soon to start the implementation phase

The participants were especially keen to hear the reports from the four partnerships. Each partnership had the opportunity to present their projects and objectives up to 2023.

The afternoon was all about networking and dialogue. In small groups within the partnerships, the municipal utilities first worked on their project plans or used the time to review their cooperation to date and to optimise their work and communication structures. Afterwards, the participants met for discussions with experts from other partnerships in workshops on the following themes: intercultural communication, monitoring and evaluation, gender-responsive project planning and coping with COVID-19 in municipal enterprises.

Motivated by the personal exchanges and optimistic about the relaxation of the international travel restrictions, the four partnerships are now moving on to the implementation phase of their projects.