German Development Cooperation and the World Commission on Dams

Abstract

More than 10 years after the German government welcomed the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD) and made them the yardstick for all dam-related activities in its development cooperation, this article reviews how those recommendations were integrated into German development cooperation and what mechanisms were used to promote their implementation. The first part of the article considers the background to the work of and results achieved by the WCD, the policy response and four interrelated mechanisms for promoting the implementation of the WCD’s recommendations: (1) support for dialogues on implementation at national level; (2) integration into bilateral development cooperation; (3) advocacy of implementation in multilateral development cooperation, and (4) the promotion of international standard-setting and sector dialogues. The second part of the article takes a practical view and discusses challenges to the implementation of the WCD’s recommendations at project level on the basis of experience in German development cooperation. The aim of the article is to paint a comprehensive picture showing how and why German development cooperation has supported the work of the WCD and helped to implement its recommendations.