USAID’s Improved Water and Sanitation Services in the Middle East and North Africa Region (IWSMR)

Project Dates: September 2013 - September 2015
Certification programs for water plant operators are improving critical water and sanitation services in the Middle East and North Africa.

Water and sanitation services are essential to human well-being and economic growth, and effectively providing these services requires plant operators to be well trained. USAID’s Improved Water and Sanitation Services in the Middle East and North Africa Region (IWSMR) program accomplished this by scaling up successful Jordanian and Egyptian certification programs in neighboring countries, while ensuring certifications were cost effective and gender inclusive. The program collaborated with the Arab Countries Water Utilities Association (ACWUA) on these certification programs, establishing best practices for water treatment utilities’ performance and management. By helping ACWUA pool information and resources and become more financially sustainable, IWSMR helped the region further strengthen its delivery of water and wastewater services.