Water Governance Capacity Framework

Today our Governance Capacity Framework has been published online in the journal Water Resources Management (open access): Koop SHA, Koetsier L, Doornhof A, Reinstra O, Van Leeuwen CJ, Brouwer S,  Dieperink C, Driessen PPJ (2017). Assessing the governance capacity of cities to address challenges of water, waste, and climate change. Water Resources Management: 11(31), pp 3427–3443; DOI: 10.1007/s11269-017-1677-7

Fig. 1. Governance capacity of the city of Amsterdam based on 27 indicators

According to the OECD, water governance is the set of rules, practices, and processes through which decisions for the management of water resources and services are taken and implemented, and decision-makers are held accountable. The governance capacity framework (GCF) is a practical approach to assess the governance capacity in municipalities and regions. It took us a long time to develop the GCF as the list of identified governance gaps, barriers and capacities is seemingly endless and partly overlap or contradict.

Based on an extensive literature study, we have proposed a Governance Capacity Framework that focuses on 5 water-related challenges: 1) flood risk, 2) water scarcity, 3) urban heat islands, 4) waste water treatment and 5) solid waste treatment. The GCF (Fig. 1) is based on 3 dimensions (knowing, wanting, enabling), 9 conditions with each 3 indicators (27 in total). The City Blueprint Approach now consist of three complementary frameworks (Fig. 2), i.e. the TPF (Trends and Pressures Framework), CBF (City Blueprint Framework) and the newly developed GCF. The entire City Blueprint Approach is just the first step (the baseline assessment) in a long-term journey of communication and co-operation within and between cities. The GCF embraces the OECD Principles on Water Governance.The GCF has been applied in Amsterdam (Fig. 1), Quito (Ecuador), Ahmedabad (India), New York City and Bandung (Indonesia).

Fig. 2. The City Blueprint Framework

Further details and links to the GCF questionnaire including a full description of the GCF indicators are provided in our updated E-Brochure that can be found on our EIP Water website and of course in our publication. The GCF has been developed in the context of the H2020 POWER project. We are currently working on software to facilitate the application of the GCF.