New tools to improve the financial governance of the Water Authority of Jordan

Ensuring the financial viability of the sector in the medium term

In 2016, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI) agreed to work on gaining a better understanding of the debt dynamics in the water sector and the related financial issues.

The project aimed to optimise the debt management and financial viability of the sector in the medium term, while allowing the simultaneous pursuit of the implementation of the priorities of the investment plan defined by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation.

This project is part of a second loan to help strengthen the technical and financial performance of the water sector in Jordan, allocated in 2017 and 2018 by AFD, jointly with its German counterpart, the agency KfW.

Provision of public expertise and analytical tools

Expertise France has successfully supported the efforts of the Jordanian water authorities with a team of public experts (from the French ministries of Finance and Ecology) with diverse skills in public management, firstly purely financial, then combining financial expertise and expertise in the water sector. 

This type of technical assistance focuses on supporting partner institutions, by providing them with analytical tools and high-level public expertise. The aim is to ensure there is a proper ownership and successful implementation of the reforms in the context of a co-construction approach.

Financial management strengthened

The results achieved by the project have allowed the Jordanian water authorities to implement approaches and actions that meet the requirements of the financial management requested:

 • Implementation of monthly forecasting and cashflow management tools in water agencies, which are combined at WAJ to provide a sectoral vision;

 • Implementation of key performance indicators, concerning technical and financial data, and intended to identify, in the infra-annual plans, the performance gaps likely to affect the results;

 • Medium-term study (2018-2025) on the cost of water, based on projections by agency and combined for the sector.

In November 2018, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation approved the recommendations of the expert mission and decided to continue to implement them in 2019.