Effective water governance capacity is the foundation of efficient management of water resources. Water governance reform processes must work towards building capacity in a cohesive and articulated approach that links national policies, laws and institutions, within an enabling environment that allows for their implementation. This guide shows how national water reform processes can deliver good water governance, by focussing on the principles and practice of reform. RULE guides managers and decision makers on a journey which provides an overview of what makes good law, policy and institutions, and the steps needed to build a coherent and fully operational water governance structure.

This book demonstrates that, when reforming the water sector, policymakers should arrange social policies that mitigate the negative impact of reforms. It presents a detailed analysis of the current issues, and uses country studies to show how social policies are vital in ensuring affordable access to water supply.

Economical, Political, and Social Issues in Water Resources provides a fully comprehensive and interdisciplinary overview of all three factors in their relation to water resources. Economic issues consist of Water accounting, Water economy, Water pricing, Water market, Water bank and bourse. Political issues consist of Water power and hydrogemistry, Water diplomacy and hydropolitics, Water rights and water laws, Water governance and policy, Shared water resources management, Water management systems, and social issues consist of Water and culture, civilization and history, Water quality, hygiene, and health, Water and society. This book familiarizes researchers with all aspects of the field, which can lead to optimized and multidimensional water resources management. Some of abovementioned issues are new, so the other aim of this book is to identify them in order to researchers can easily find them and use them in their studies. - Includes diverse case studies from around the world - Presents contributions from global and diverse contributors with interdisciplinary backgrounds, including water engineers, scientists, planners the economic, political and social issues surrounding water - Contains in-depth definitions and concepts of each topic

Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) is an approach used increasingly by governments, civil society organizations, the World Bank, and other development partners to examine the distributional impacts of policy reforms on the well-being of different stakeholders groups, particularly the poor and vulnerable. PSIA has an important role in the elaboration and implementation of poverty reduction strategies in developing countries because it promotes evidence-based policy choices and fosters debate on policy reform options. 'Poverty and Social Impact Analysis of Reforms' presents a collection of case studies that illustrate the spectrum of sectors and policy reforms to which PSIA can be applied; it also elaborates on the broad range of analytical tools and techniques that can be used for PSIA. The case studies provide examples of the impact that PSIA can have on the design of policy reforms and draw operational lessons for PSIA implementation. The case studies deal largely with policy reforms in a single sector, such as agriculture (crop marketing boards in Malawi and Tanzania and cotton privatization in Tajikistan); energy (mining sector in Romania and oil subsidies in Ghana); utilities (power sector reform in Ghana, Rwanda, and transition economies, and water sector reform in Albania); social sectors (education reform in Mozambique and social welfare reform in Sri Lanka); taxation reform (Nicaragua); as well as macroeconomic modeling (Burkina Faso).

This publication examines issues of water sector reform and performance from the perspectives of institutional economics and political economic studies. The authors develop an alternative quantitative assessment methodology based on the principle of 'institutional ecology', as well as data collected from 127 water experts from 43 countries and regions around the world using a cross-country review of recent water sector reforms within an institutional transaction cost framework.

The water sector reform in Malaysia, initiated in 2004, intended to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the water sector in the long term. This book explains the overall policy process of the reform and assesses the extent to which the reform has met its objectives and the means through which it has done so. The conclusions point to a weak correlation between the reform outputs on the one hand and the operational efficiency and environmental effectiveness gains of water utilities on the other. They also offer valuable insights into the policy arrangement that successfully shaped the water reform process. The policy process of the Malaysian water sector reform reflects the current global trend towards centralizing water management within the public domain with a clear division of tasks between policy formulation, regulatory oversight and service provision. Federal and state actors have become the dominant players in the water sector. This has reduced the role of private water utilities to a small fraction of activities within the entire value chain of water, and strengthens close regulation oversight from the regulator. Lastly, civil society groups now have a growing (albeit still small) influence on the water sector. In terms of policy recommendations, this book reiterates the need to adopt a private sector culture in managing public water; to establish a clear division of tasks between policy formulation, regulation and service provision; and to facilitate wider public engagement as well as to promote better informational governance in the water sector, including the call for a national water data bank.