The Project Advisory Board (PAB) for the Project “Regional Capacity Development Network for Water and Sanitation Services” (RCDN) was constituted today in Belgrade, Serbia.

The PAB members, who are nominated representatives of 16 Local Government and Public Utility Associations that take part in the project, elected a Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the PAB and endorsed the key project documents. Mr. Miodrag Glushcevic, from the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities in the Republic of Serbia was elected PAB Chairperson, while Elisabeta Poci from SHUKALB Albania was elected PAB Deputy Chairperson.

“Thank you very much for your trust and your support”, said Mr. Glushcevic. “I believe that RCDN is a very important initiative for our region and that it will bring a new value in developing the human resources capacities for sustainable management of water services, as well as help in reaching EU standards”. 

“RCDN will make an important contribution for shifting from donor community driving the Capacity Development vehicle to it being done top down, by Local Governments and their Public Utility Companies via their respective Associations”, said in his opening presentation Mr. Pavle Donev, from GIZ, Open Regional Fund Modernisation of Municipal Services.

The PAB discussed and endorsed the RCDN strategic directions and operational model, the 2018 Operational Plan, agreed upon the next steps in operationalising RCDN and clarified the open issues.

The PAB meeting was also attended by donors and International Finance Institutions (IFIs), interested in developing a potential partnership with the RCDN in providing accompanying capacity development measures for their infrastructure investment projects throughout the region.

The first meeting of the RCDN Project Advisory Board was facilitated by Jelena Janevska, NALAS Knowledge and Communications Manager. The meeting was organised and presentations were provided by the Project Implementation Team (PIT), made up of three partner organisations: NALAS, IAWD and Aquasan, supported by GIZ.

The objective of RCDN is that the water utilities in the Western Balkans increase their effectiveness and efficiency, contributing to better service provision with larger numbers of population groups getting access to drinking water and sanitation services and meeting the European Union (EU) environmental acquis communautaire. RCDN works with 16 LGAs and APUCs in 6 project countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia), while the final beneficiaries are the top and middle managers from municipal and regional utility companies and officers in charge in municipalities. RCDN will be implemented from 2017-2020, with a budget of 6,8 Million EUR, oprovided by SECO and BMZ.