Source: Summary report 12–13 March 2024
The 39th UN-Water Meeting provided a platform for brainstorming how to implement the first-ever UN system-wide water and sanitation strategy. This strategy was called for in a September resolution by the UN General Assembly and follows up on the UN 2023 Water Conference, which took place in March 2023. UN-Water was assigned the responsibility for developing the collaborative implementation plan for the strategy. Deliberations during UN-Water’s biennial meetings, which gather UN-Water Members and Partners to discuss how the UN can “deliver as one” in response to water- and sanitation-related challenges, will support this effort.
Participants highlighted several challenges the implementation plan should address. Among these issues is the confusion of many inside and outside the UN who think UN-Water is an agency, rather than a coordination mechanism among its Members and Partners. Speakers also highlighted the importance of better communication among UN-Water’s Task Forces, which are comprised of representatives from UN-Water Members and Partners. Communication challenges with actors at the regional and national levels were also discussed with a focus on ensuring the UN system can deliver more strategic, effective support to countries. Participants supported the development of tools such as a repository of agreed text on water and sanitation within intergovernmental agreements and resolutions
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