SIWI’s commitments to the Water Action Agenda will galvanize collective action
SIWI has submitted commitments to the Water Action Agenda to support collective action, good governance, and inclusion beyond the UN 2023 Water Conference. We will share expertise on topics like climate, source-to-sea management, and transboundary cooperation but also offer World Water Week as an arena for implementation.
An important aspect of the UN 2023 Water Conference is the Water Action Agenda, where anyone can submit game-changing commitments for water. These will be monitored in coming years so that institutions really deliver on promises made and create realistic pathways towards long-term goals.
As an expert in water governance, SIWI is a strong advocate for this systematic approach to bring about massive transformations and we will do anything we can to support countries, communities, businesses and institutions as they implement their commitments. SIWI has submitted one commitment of our own but also banded together with other leading organizations around joint commitments.
All our commitments centre around how we contribute to collective action and build a broad movement for water.
SIWI commits to support collective action
SIWI commits to support collective action on the Water Action Agenda, good governance, Water for Climate, Source-to-Sea and cooperation. As an organizer of the world’s leading water conference, and as the host of multiple international platforms and collaborations, SIWI will play a leading role galvanizing collective action:
- World Water Week is offered as an annual moment for participants to review, align and accelerate action on the commitments registered in the Water Action Agenda and to share solutions that can be upscaled;
- The source-to-sea approach to governance is championed by SIWI through knowledge development, pilot studies, advocacy and training. The Action Platform for Source-to-Sea Management (S2S Platform), hosted by SIWI, is an expanding community of peers. It will continue to establish an evidence base, strengthen commitments and get source-to-sea action on the ground for an ever-growing community of diverse actors that collectively contribute to the Water Action Agenda;
- Transboundary cooperation processes are continuously supported both through active facilitation and through knowledge development, including research on water cooperation, water diplomacy, and water governance. SIWI also hosts the International Centre for Water Cooperation.
- The Water Pavilion at the UNFCCC climate meetings started as a SIWI initiative and has come to play an important role in shining a spotlight on water solutions that help increase climate resilience, which continues as an ongoing effortin the lead-up to COP 28 and beyond.
SIWI is also a partner to the following commitments:
The Transboundary Water Cooperation Coalition brings together a diverse group of multi-stakeholder actors from around the world with a wide range of functions and capacities, including SIWI. The aim is to inspire and foster equitable and sustainable cooperation on transboundary waters and provide support through its members.
SIWI is a partner to the UN-Water SDG 6 Capacity Development Initiative, which helps countries develop capacities to accelerate progress towards SDG 6. The Initiative responds to countries’ specific capacity development needs by facilitating support from the United Nations system and other development partners at various levels of operation.
SIWI is a partner to the Global Coalition for Better Policies and Regulation of Water and Sanitation Services, an international cooperation platform aimed at boosting the improvement of public policies and regulation of water and sanitation services in the world. The Coalition will monitor regulation related to water, sanitation and hygiene services, and issue periodic reports.
SIWI has joined forces with the university IHE Delft and Cap-Net UNDP to support regional training centres. The initiative seeks to establish stronger links between organizations at a global level delivering education and capacity development services with a special focus on water education. By applying a more structured approach to capacity development, it is possible to make important progress on SDG6 and all other water-related SDGs.
The Women in Water Diplomacy Network started as an initiative by SIWI and partners to support improved gender equality in high-level decision-making. Focus is on enhanced women’s leadership in dialogues around shared waters in transboundary basins. The network drives change through pioneering actions linking decision-makers to leading academics and women-led civil society organizations.
