A multitude of objectives: serving multiple stakeholders in water operators’ partnerships

Water operators' partnerships (WOPs) are usually presented as relatively simple partnerships between two or more operators. Through capacity development such partnerships then lead to improved performance of a water utility. In this article, we highlight how the context in which WOPs operate is much more complex than this definition suggests. Different actors, operating in different domains, have particular interests in how the water supply sector develops and how WOPs contribute to this development. As a result, in practice, these partnerships often pursue multiple objectives, which represent the interests of different stakeholders. The paper finds that in such settings, achieving these multiple objectives may well surpass the contextual realities and the capacity of the implementing water utilities that form the core of the partnership.