The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Sustainable Development (UN DESA/DSD) in partnership with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN HABITAT) will be organizing a capacity building workshop for the senior water utility managers of the Africa Region in Nairobi, Kenya, from 6-8 December 2006. This workshop is responding to one of the recommendations of the 13th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development which emphasized the need to strengthen the capacities of water utilities to meet the challenges of service expansion and efficient delivery of services. The workshop proceedings will be organized around the following four thematic areas:

Managing water and sanitation services in the urban areas;
Strengthening institutional governance and accountability;
Financing water and sanitation services
Promoting partnerships among water operators


The workshop will serve as a forum for sharing knowledge and experiences gained in improving the governance of public water utilities, especially from the regional perspective. As such, it will contribute towards strengthening the technical capacities of water utility managers in developing and implementing institutional and policy reforms that will make these utilities more efficient. In addition to raising awareness about the challenges and their possible solutions, the workshop program is geared towards strengthening south-south cooperation, especially among water operators. The dialogue between water operators and experts will focus on sharing lessons learned and good practices, as well as finding solutions that will help these utilities to become more responsive to their clients, commercially astute and financially sustainable. In summary, the workshop will be an important step forward towards accelerating the implementation of global water and sanitation agenda.