FAQ
- Home
- About Us
- FAQ
You can find the most frequently asked questions
about theAsia Water Council below
Click on the box below, go to the menu
What is the Asia Water Council?
Asia Water Council (AWC) is a global water network focused on providing tangible solutions on Asian Water Challenges and facilitating multilateral discussions among stakeholders. The AWC will coordinate with stakeholders during identification and implementation of tangible solutions. The AWC is the principal organizer and sponsor of the Asia International Water Week, a forum for sharing AWC's professional achievements as well as knowledge sharing with other professionals’ experiences and networks. The AWC also creates future opportunities towards the common goal of the Asia water community, supporting SDGs as well as promote sustainability in implementing water solutions. Our mission is to "Achieve Sustainable Growth in Asia with Smart Water" and the vision is "Global Acknowledgement on Asian water issues and sustainable growth through resolving those issues".
When was the Council created and why?
Asia Water Council is established to respond to a call for implementing solutions, specifically to Asian water challenges by hosting meaningful knowledge forums on primary agenda relating to all kinds of needs of the global water community. Initially, the Asia Water High-level Round Table (AWHoT), one of the highlighted events of the high-levels of the Asian countries during the 7th World Water Forum in Korea, came up with an idea to establish a regional water solution provider, the Asia Water Council. As a follow-up action of the 7th World Water Forum that pursues the core value of the 7th Forum, which is "Implementation", the AWC announced its establishment at the 7th World Water Forum in April 2015 with a focus on implementation of water solutions to Asian water challenges.
The consensus on this new cooperative regional body for implementing water solutions was dueto the initiative of the representative participants from Asian countries such as China, Japan,Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Rep. of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnamwhere there are vulnerable water issues or solutions to the issues and participated in theAWHoT during the Forum as well as the participants from the ADB, UNESCO, GWP, USACE,Delta res and World Bank which are active in water sector in Asia.
The Council serves as a catalyst for the enhancement of common understanding on water agenda in Asia and promote effective partnerships within and beyond the water sectors in solving Asian water challenges.
Where is the Council based?
The HQ of the AWC will be an independent organization in 2016 and the location of the HQ will be decided at the 1st General Assembly meeting from Mar. 24th to 26th 2016.
*Until the location of the HQ is decided, the secretariat will be supported by and located at K- water Institute.
Who are the members of the Council?
Every stakeholder of the global water community committed to contributing in resolving Asian water challenges can be a member.
- The Council is composed of professionals from real actors including policy and financial advisors, planners, strategists, government officials, technicians, engineers, and scholars, as well as opinion leaders in the international water community who are ready to join in implementing solutions for Asian water challenges.
What are the benefits of being a member of the Council?
- Free networking opportunities to meet and interact with competent partners at all levels- locally, nationally and internationally in the global water community.
- Opportunity to implement solutions on the Asian water challenges by joining in the activities of the special committee of the AWC.
- Being a key actor of AWC working process from planning to implementing focused on one out of seven major themes (equals to seven special committees) of the AWC and enhancing acknowledgement on primary regional water agenda in the global water community.
Is there a membership fee to be a member of the Council?
- The membership is subject to annual membership fee from 2018. Membership fees will be decided in the Board of Council which will be held in Bali, Indonesia in March 2016
How is the council Structure?
The AWC shall be composed of members who are committed to fulfilling the vision and mission of the Asia Water Council. AWC member shall be an organization, not an individual. Each member organization will belong to one college. Yet, member organization can designate more than one special committee members from their organization while a special committee member is only allowed to work for one committee.
Six Colleges and Seven Committees of the Asia Water Council are as follows:
Colleges
1. Government
2. Multilateral Development Bank(MDB), Export Credit Agency(ECA)
3. Public Organization
4. Enterprise
5. Academia, Research Organization
6. International organization, Civil Society
Special Committees
1. Strategy and Policy
2. Smart Water Management Initiative (SWMI)
3. Standardization
4. Water-Energy-Food Nexus
5. Water-Aid Program
6. Water Education
7. Knowledge Base and Dissemination
The Board of Council (BoC) serves as the decision making body of the Asia Water Council. The President and Vice Presidents (there are three Vice Presidents) will provide leadership role in managing the Asia Water Council.
The Advisory Board (AB), mainly composed of the central governments, the MDBs, and ECAs will serve as a body for providing advices and consultation during the decision making process of the BoC.
The AWC secretariat will support in providing necessary support for overall activities of the AWC and support all activities of president, vice-presidents, BoC members, AB members and seven special committees.
How is the Council Governed?
The BoC is elected every three years at the General Assembly and composed of 25 members. Each eligible member can select a representative for election and has the right to vote in the elections. Every member is invited to take part in the General Assembly.
The elected BoC members are empowered for a period of three years to oversee any matters related to general management of the Council, governance and accountability, finance and audit of the program of activities and membership. They also take part in various task forces, committee activities and consultation groups and are involved in the preparation of the Asia International Water Week.
What are Special Committees (SCs) and their roles?
The AWC is composed of seven special committees. Each SC owns respective overarching theme as presented in the title of respective SC. Every member organization shall select and join in one or more SC according to its interest. Each SC will plan how to implement agreed solutions and design a roadmap by setting primary topics for specified action plans. Each SC, according to their approved action plans by the BoC, is to mobilize proper partners to implement approved action plans. In addition, disseminating their action plans and solutions to the problems in the Asian region in a special session at the Asia International Water Week (AIWW) will be one of the major task of the Asia Water Council.
Each SC shall consist of Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Coordinator, and Members.
What are the distinctive features of the AWC?
The AWC, different from others, provides distinctive working procedure to the members that ensures every member can get involved from planning to implementing stage. This 'Total System from Planning to Implementing for resolving water problems' and involvement of all seven special committees are possible due to its decision making process covering entire cycle from planning to the stage of action with water solutions provided by the members of the AWC to offering practical and tangible water solutions to vulnerable areas where there are primary and urgent water problems in Asia. Developing innovative, scientific and technological solutions and implementing methodologies provided by the AWC will contribute to resolving the Asian water problems that will be the core value of this new regional cooperative entity. This will consequently strengthen ties between technological solutions and political decision making process so that it finally influence the regional water safer and secured from multifaceted perspective.
As the main actor of the AWC, Seven Special Committees will contribute to identification of primary regional water problems and applicable solutions to them with appropriate implementation methods. Among proposed plans, primary agenda will be decided based upon discussion of the AWC Board of Council. The advisory board, then will support the process of committee working with political and financial advice to make this selected agenda to be implemented in the properly selected region or area successfully with added value of the AWC working procedure its expertise in the seven important areas of water.
Therefore, important elements and the process of this total solution providing system approach for resolving Asian water problems will be discussed and shared throughout whole scale of AWC activities including the Asia International Water Week.
What does AWC seek for achieving its vision?
- Setting "Water" as a regional primary agenda:
setting Asian water issues as the primary agenda for regional sustainable development. It is possible through enco니raging effective implementation and locally customized activities of the seven special committees of the AWC.
- Opening the Asia International Water Week:
providing an efficient platform not only to members of the AWC but also to regional water stakeholders to present and disseminate what they need to discuss for realizing the action plans drawn out from SC's activities and discussion within the AWC umbrella.
- Providing vision of Asian water:
Serving as a provider of practical guidelines for implementing solutions based on seven SCs' PFI(Priority for Implementation) and action plans for regional water community
- Facilitating Stakeholders’ Dialogue:
Dialogues between members, committees anddifferent bodies of the AWC and beyond will be effectively facilitated by the council as to ensure its continuity of communication between stakeholders and most updated information sharing that will consequently produce tangible and timely action plans for regional water problems.
- Financing Water in Asia:
Raising fund and securing financial sources for both conducting projects created by the seven SCs and implementing the practical solutions to water problems of the Asian region.
- Building solid cooperative mechanism:
Based on solid network of the AWC, action oriented plans will be managed and implemented in cooperation between stakeholders with insightful advice from Advisory Board and the Board of Council members of the AWC
- Empowering stakeholders:
The AWC will seek to empower stakeholders by utilizing seven SCs and its programs of capacity building and project conducting. Procedures of activities of the SCs and the products from them will improve condition for Asian sustainable development by enhanced capacity of water stakeholders sharing thoughtful insights and helpful experiences.
Is there a membership fee to be a member of the Council?
- The membership is subject to annual membership fee from 2018. Membership fees will be decided in the Board of Council which will be held in Bali, Indonesia in March 2016
The Asia International Water Week (AIWW)
The AIWW is a triennial water gathering to share tangible implementation for resolving Asian water problems. It is organized by the Asia Water Council in collaboration with the authorities of the host country. Regional water problems that were discussed for three years prior to the AIWW based on the preparatory process will be raised as the primary issues from Asian water community and will be disseminated to the global water community with action plans to solve them and timelines for them by the relevant committee at the AIWW. The tangible plans to implement solutions by each committee will be particularly highlighted by organizing the sessions on the pertinent topics. Designing the future plans for collected action plans will be the core part of the gathering in the AIWW. Gathering of AWC's members and prospective members including water related stakeholders and preeminent experts in the fields in the AIWW is to share their insights and experiences to support the activities of the AWC and pave the way towards sustainable development in Asia. As the AIWW is held one year prior to the World Water Forum, major gathering for the preparatory process and the follow up action process will be held at the World Water Forum.
Where and when the Asia International Water Week (AIWW) will be held?
The AIWW will be held in every three year, one year prior to the World Water Forum by the Asia Water Council in collaboration with the authority of the host country that will win the bid three year prior to the AIWW.
What is difference of the AIWW from other Forums?
The AIWW will be the place to demonstrate how "Implementation of practical solutions" can be achieved throughout sharing its process from planning to implementing as well as follow- ups which is considered as the core value of the AWC working procedure.
Outcomes of the committee activities they have conducted and managed until the AIWW will be effectively presented by the relevant committee.
The Process of seven SC’s activities from planning to implementing will be shared with regional and global water partners at the AIWW.
How can Asia benefit from the AWC and the AIWW?
One of the core values of the AWC is to raise primary regional water issues of concerns to the region and finding through AWC members ’Implementation of water solutions to Asian water problems'.
This will be fulfilled by promoting ’Asian sustainable growth’ by successfully providing tangible and practical water solutions with appropriate methodologies. Accordingly, the AWC is to encourage common prosperity and achievement of SDGs by solving Asian water challenges with the stakeholders including government, MDB, EC A, public org., Academia & Research orgv and international org. as well as civil society within the AWC platform.
In this regard, the AWC will become a distinctive entity, which never existed before, only focusing on water related issues in Asia and providing practical solutions with applicable implementation methodologies.
How is the AIWW financed?
The budget includes the costs related to entire integrated process from the preparatory process to a follow up. It also includes the costs associated with organizing the AIWW such as the venue, the marketing, announcements, communications, etc. The entire budget will be financed by members’ contribution in the form of membership fees, sponsorship and hosting grant for the AIWW.