Democracy & Governance: Illustrative projects

Innovative financing for water resources previously funded by governments is essential to maintain quality of water at a reasonable price for the public.

A recent project in Rwanda focused on what would appear to be a straightforward privatization activity in the economic growth and energy area. Booz Allen advised the Ministry of Energy, Water, and Natural Resources on how to privatize Electrogaz, the state water and electricity company. To accomplish the privatization of Electrogaz, Booz Allen realized that both technical and financial issues would need to be analyzed. They engaged the services of a water company to perform an analysis of Electrogaz' water operations. This company did an extensive review of all aspects of the operations, developed an analysis for the need for technical investments. This assisted Booz Allen in performing the financial analysis to identify the nature and extent of the financial investments needed. As part of a rapid assessment of the situation in Rwanda , Booz Allen determined that the poor, in fact, paid more for water (purchased in bottles off of trucks) than they would at even significantly higher tariff structures needed to support the suggested changes. They also performed regional benchmarking of water tariffs and prices in similar African countries to compare overall costs to users. Upon approval of the technical and financial plans, Booz Allen and their partner began an extensive organizational development activity focused on increasing customer focus and better operation of their commercial units. The final report included discussions of issues that included democracy and governance, specifically the need for new regulations to manage the new company and environment, specifically in the area of water and technical resource management.

As countries have come to realize that water is not inexhaustible, they are developing policies and implementing laws to equitably share this resource. In some cases, national water utilities are beginning to recover the true cost of providing water while in turn tracking down system-wide losses. In doing this, the utilities have come to realize that their infrastructure, management, operations, and indeed their client communication, are often deficient. There are also instances where countries are no longer turning a blind eye to illegal clear-cutting now that they understand that such practices have much wider-ranging impacts. These impacts include loss of the ability to recharge aquifers, increased flooding and less overall water availability. Institutional, technical, and social solutions are needed to address these issues.

As West African nations begin to understand the need to more effectively manage their entire water portfolio, democracy and government issues will have potential for playing a greater role. Governments in the region are likely to request assistance in areas ranging from guidance on decentralizing water management to building capacity by gathering, managing and acting on water resource data.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Integrated Water Resources Management

Integrated Coastal Management

Environment

Economic Growth & Energy

Agriculture & Food Security

Global Health

Democracy & Governance