Can regional cooperation deliver private investments for the water and sanitation sector in the Carribean?

Attracting private investment to the water and sanitation sector presupposes clear policyguidelines, a supportive legal framework and good regulatory governance. A multiple-casestudy strategy informed by interviews and documents was used to examine the operatingenvironment in the water and sanitation sectors of Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad andTobago. The aim of the paper is to identify opportunities for regional cooperation to improve theoperating environment for private investment in the Caribbean water and sanitation sector. Thepaper finds that sharing knowledge and experiences, overcoming capacity/capabilityconstraints, providing centralised services in areas such as regulation, harmonising regionalstandards, and building alliances to strengthen bargaining power are practical ways ofimproving the operating environment for private investment in the Caribbean water andsanitation sector.