Our Work

SEMIDE's objectives

Water management requires a large volume of increasingly sophisticated information. However - at both international and national level - access to know-how in the water sector remains fragmented, dispersed and heterogeneous. There is therefore a need to rationalize the information and to make it both understandable and easily available.

Founding process

During the Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Water Management of November 1996 in Marseille, France, the Ministers of Water of the 15 European Union states and the 12 countries of the Southern Mediterranean region (Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority) met together. SEMIDE was initiated in the subsequent Marseille Declaration, in which the Ministers decided to create a system to rationalize the exchange of information and know-how and to strengthen the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue. After a one-year feasibility study, SEMIDE was definitively approved by the concerned 27 Water Directors at the Naples Conference on 9 and 10 December 1997.

Today, it is the only operational tool for cooperation between the 43 Euro-Mediterranean countries in the water sector. Its task is to make an inventory and gather all available information, providing easy access to everyone.

Main targets

1. To provide easy access to information, with special emphasis on:

• Institutions: the types of institutions and the people involved.

• Documentation: existing centres and their organisation; the means and technologies used for processing, accessing, consultation and dissemination, standardisation and quality certification.

• Training: existing organizations, programs, localization, trainers, methods, training materials, quality certification.

• Research and development: existing organizations, programs, people involved, means and technologies, publications, partnerships, funding sources.

• Data administration: existing organizations and databases, methods used for data gathering and checking, publications.

2. To develop the sharing of information.

3. To work together on common products and cooperation programs.

SEMIDE's structure

SEMIDE has a two-tier structure. At decision-making level, there is a Steering Committee and a Coordination Committee, and at operational level there are a number of National Focal Points (NFPs), grouped together under a central Technical Unit. 

The Steering Committee

SEMIDE is directed by a restricted Steering Committee of 13 countries (with rotating rules). It formulates the main strategic lines and validates yearly budgets and progress reports.

Currently under Spanish Presidency and Lebanese and Moroccan Vice-Presidency, the Steering Committee is composed of the Technical Unit's 3 sponsor countries (Spain, France and Italy), in addition to the 12 countries of the Mediterranean region (Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Turkey, and the Palestinian Authority).

The Coordination Committee

The National Focal Points

The National Focal Points (NFPs) are small teams working in a public organisation responsible for water-related documentation and information. Their tasks consist in creating and developing a national information server; managing communication processes and access to vetted information; ensuring information availability in the working languages; developing access to information and maintaining relations with the users in their country. To date, 20 of the 37 partner countries have created an NFP, and 16 of them have launched their own website.

The Technical Unit

The Technical Unit is a permanent body managed and financed by a group of water operators acting on behalf of their governments:

• Spain: Centro de Estudios y Experimentación de Obras Públicas (CEDEX).
• France: Office International de l’Eau (OiEau).
• Italy: Società di Gestione di Impianti Idrici (SOGESID).

The Technical Unit has three main roles, which are to: 

• Coordinate and provide assistance and recommendations to the National Focal Points.
• Support the activities of the Steering and Coordination Committees
• Act as the International Focal Point.

The latter role makes SEMIDE responsible for collecting data on institutions, for documentation, training, research and development and data management at international level (relevant for the Euro-Mediterranean region). SEMIDE also manages the information portal, acting as a single access point for inland water in the Euro-Mediterranean region, and providing access to international information and NFP websites. It also works towards reaching agreements with international initiatives and projects.

Funding

The SEMIDE approach is based on partnership. The principle of subsidiarity* regarding the partner countries was adopted from the start of the initiative (Naples Conference, December 1997). This means that each partner country benefiting from a subsidy must be committed to providing adequate resources for the development of its national system and the operation of its National Focal Point. 

Regional activities (meetings, working groups, defining standards, training, etc.), the International Focal Point, and technical assistance to non-EU countries are financed by contracts between SEMIDE's Technical Unit as an European Economic Interest Group (EEIG) and the European Commission. 

* Subsidiarity is the principle which states that matters ought to be handled by the smallest (or, the lowest) competent authority.