In their article for the Zeitschrift für kommunale Wirtschaft (Magazine for Local Economy), Nadine Herbke, Ecologic Institute, and Dr. Nicole Weiß, Verband kommunaler Unternehmen (Association of Local Businesses) (VKU), present the results of the "Entwicklung lokaler Wasserpartnerschaften" ("Development of Local Water Partnerships") workshop, which took place on 23 November 2005 in Bonn.

The German people responded generously to the tsunami catastrophe and proved their willingness to provide spontaneous help to the victims. Many water suppliers and municipalities have also offered their own proposals. The German Federal Environment Ministry wishes to build on this willingness and launched a project to investigate the opportunities available for a long term, professional commitment of the German civil society in the area of water provision and sanitation. The project team conducted interviews of experts and stakeholders from the water sector, the area of development policy and of academia, who then met in a workshop to discuss the results. The workshop documentation is available for download.