Workshop Summary

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Sustainable Development (UNDESA/DSD) organized a capacity building workshop for the senior water utility managers of the Asia and Pacific Region. The workshop was held at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) at Meeting Room A, level 1, United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC). It served as a forum for sharing country-specific knowledge and experiences about the nature and extent of policy and institutional reforms implemented in public utilities of various countries, and their impact on improving the performance of utilities.

The 13th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development emphasized the need to strengthen the capacities of water utilities to meet the challenge of service expansion and efficient delivery of services. This workshop will contribute towards the implementation of the global water and sanitation agenda.

The workshop focused on five interlinked themes.

• issues and challenges in urban water supply;
• strengthening partnerships between regulators and operators;
• making water utilities financially sustainable;
• improving the performance of public water utilities; and
• launching the water operators’ partnership.

The workshop was an important step forward in helping the managers of public water utilities acquire expertise in: implementing institutional and policy reforms; strengthening institutional governance and accountability; formulating capacity building plans for the public utilities; and developing and administering partnerships among water operators. Such expertise will enable the public utilities to become more efficient, responsive to their clients, commercially astute and financially solvent. Moreover, this meeting served as a vehicle for raising awareness about the progress being made and the way forward. Results of this workshop will lead to improved south-south cooperation, especially among water utilities.