WOPs work by harnessing the skills, knowledge and goodwill within a 'mentor' utility to build the capacity of another utility – the 'mentee' – that needs assistance or guidance. Through mentorship, WOPs progressively strengthen and empower the mentee operator on management, financial and technical levels to implement operational and organizational changes that will lead to better and more sustainable services. WOPs have a number of distinguishing features, most notably: WOPs focus on building the resident capacity of water operator staff, rather than ‘doing it for them.’ WOPs are peer partnerships, meaning that the support comes from professional counterparts with hands-on experience within utilities Knowledge is not for sale in WOPs. WOPs are carried out on a solidarity basis and are not to be used for commercial purposes.

PERPAMSI (Indonesia Water Supply Association), WaterLinks, Aqua Publica Europea, Asociacion Nacional de Empresas de Agua y Saneamiento, Federacion Nacional de Cooperativas de Servicios (Chile), Contra Costa Water District (USA), International Water Management Institute (IWMI), African Water Association (AfWA), Asociacion Latinoamericana de Operadores de Agua y Saneamiento (ALOAS), Pacific Water & Wastes Association (PWWA), Pakistani Platform of Water Operators (PWON)