Operation and Maintenance Network

The O&M Network (Operation and Maintenance Network) is supported by WHO’s unit for Water, Sanitation and Health (WSH) and funded by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Goverment of Japan(MHLW).The coordinator is the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) in Japan. The O&M Network is constituted of experienced and knowledgeable volunteers from developed and developing countries and led by O&M Network Core Groupe Members and Japanese Collaborative Members.

The Operation and Maintenance Network was originally established in 1990 as one of the Working Groups of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, WSSCC. The Working Group was coordinated by WHO.  After one decade, the coordination was taken over by the National Institute of Public Health, Japan (NIPH) upon the decision at the WSSCC Fifth Global Forum in 2000, and the Working Group was transformed into a Network. From 2006, the O&M Network has been supported by WHO’s unit for Water, Sanitation and Health (WSH) and funded by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Goverment of Japan(MHLW). The Network does not have direct ties with the WSSCC Secretariat anymore, however it is open to any WSSCC members interested in the topic.

The objectives of the O&M Network are the following:

·    Promote policy formulation for O&M and its sustainability

·    Provide O&M tools to support information exchange on O&M

·    Training and capacity-building on O&M

The O&M Network maintains a website, on which it publishes among others a range of case studies on O&M related programmes and projects. The website also makes available a range of tools, which can be downloaded free of charge, or ordered.