July 2014, EBC Foundation and IAWD (association of water companies in the Danube catchment area, on behalf of the Danube Water Program), signed an agreement for developing benchmarking programmes for water- & wastewater utilities in the Danube region.
The Danube Water Program is a capacity building programme to improve water services in the Danube region. The program is jointly led by the World Bank and IAWD and is funded by a multidonor trust fund, in which the Austrian Goverment, World Bank and GIZ (Germany) participate. The Danube Water Program is organised throught five pillars, one being benchmarking. Under the programme, EBC together with national water utility associations will develop benchmarking programmes for countries and country clusters in the region. The regional benchmarking programmes will shaped according to EBC's hub model, in which ownership of the programmes is with the national water utility associations and EBC is responsible for providing the methodology, an IT-platform, benchmark tools, training and organisational support.
The first stage of the project will last from July 2014 until October 2015.