What’s New on Globalwaters.org? Stockholm Recap and More
USAID and its water sector partners spent the last week of August with other experts, practitioners, and policymakers at World Water Week in Stockholm. This year the Stockholm International Water Institute agenda focused on reducing and reusing water and waste in recognition of the vital roles that water use efficiency, wastewater treatment, conservation, and water recycling play in bolstering water security throughout the world.
In addition to presenting at eight different events on topics ranging from sewer connectivity and fecal sludge management in the Latin America and Caribbean region to building Africa’s leadership in sanitation, Agency representatives and partners took the time to observe, discuss, and provide highlights of their sessions and impressions of others. USAID’s Deputy Assistant Administrator and Acting Global Water Coordinator James Peters was on hand to provide opening remarks at five of those USAID sessions.
If you missed Stockholm, or couldn’t attend all the events, visit Globalwaters.org. The USAID Water Office’s official website featured a series of Stockholm Snapshots recapping sessions on WASH and finance, water security, and sanitation capacity building in Africa, authored by some of the Water Office’s implementing partners.
USAID’s Water for Africa through Leadership and Institutional Support (WALIS) project’s Chief of Party Richard Rapier participated in the panel discussion Building Africa’s Leadership in Sanitation, along with representatives from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation/UNESCO, IHE-Delft Institute for Water Education, and AMCOW Innovations. The session updated participants on sanitation leadership activities, encouraged greater collaboration and innovation, and identified gaps in sanitation capacity building.
Takeaway:To achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.2 (achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all, end open defecation), strategic investments in human resources capacity development in the sanitation sector will be required.
USAID’s Sustainable Water Partnership (SWP) convened a session with partners from the private sector, conservation, and other development organizations called Delivering Stability and Benefits through Water Security. Various speakers linked water security to political security, productivity and livelihoods, and human development at large. The session introduced participants to tools that have been developed to help raise awareness among decisionmakers of water security risks in their region and how to engage local and regional leaders in water management planning. SWP’s Director Eric Viala blogs about his presentation here.
Takeaway: Security in one country can affect water insecurity in others and have a ripple effect. Improving water security supports political stability. Public investment in water management or infrastructure can have the positive effect of reconnecting remote communities with their government.
In the Tapping Capital Markets to Finance WASH Investments session, James Peters introduced the Agency’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Finance (WASH-FIN) activity and convened experts from government/regulatory bodies, credit-rating agencies, and both public (World Bank) and private (commercial banking) finance institutions in several panel discussions. Drawing upon their unique perspectives and experiences panelists weighed in on topics of growing interest in the sector: measuring creditworthiness, attracting capital, and tapping into public and private funding. WASH-FIN Deputy Chief of Party Stephen Sena provides a thorough summary in his blog.
Takeaway: When water and sanitation are marketed and sold “as a service” governed and monitored by an independent regulator, consumer willingness to pay approved tariffs is more likely to increase — foundational to both creditworthiness and bankability.
Globalwaters.org updates its blog regularly to feature the latest thought leadership, notes from the field, events, and resources. Also new this month on our site:
By Wendy Putnam
To subscribe to Global Waters magazine, click here, and follow us on Twitter @USAIDWater. This article appears in Global Waters, Vol. 8, Issue 5; for past issues of the magazine, visit Global Waters’ homepage on the USAID website.
