Mobilizing market finance for water utilities in Africa : practitioners' workshop, Pretoria, South Africa, August 7-9, 2006

Summary proceedings of the outputs from the Workshop which focused on two key financing challenges in attaining the Millennium Development Goals on water and sanitation: mobilizing additional funding resources for developing the water sector; and ensuring that these investments result in sustainable delivery of services. The three themes on the workshop program were: reforms and practical strategies to improve the financial viability of utilities, and lessons learned from transaction experiences for improving bankability and market access for utilities; assessing utility readiness from the perspective of financing institutions and credit rating agencies and measures to improve bankability and access; and reviewing the opportunities of innovative financing and support to facilitate transactions. The workshop outputs will feed into a WSP global initiative funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) that aims to unlock the domestic private sector’s potential in the delivery of water and sanitation services to the poor. Aim of the workshop was to create a better understanding of the challenges of accelerating market financing to improve delivery of services in Africa.