WATER & SANITATION IN THE CITY: GOOD & BAD EXPERIENCES, WHAT ARE THE LESSONS?

The GCH and UN Habitat co-organize, in collaboration with the Geneva Water Hub, the first of a series of ‘Geneva Urban Debates’ (GUDs), which highlights the role of cities in relation to issues that lie at the heart of the International Geneva ecosystem. This first GUD celebrates World Water Day and puts at the centre of the debate urban and municipality voices, as well as UN agencies and NGOs working in urban contexts on water and sanitation. The event is supported by the City of Geneva, the Canton of Geneva (founders of the Geneva Cities Hub) and the Swiss Confederation.

The event will focus on the following questions :

• What are the most critical water & sanitation issues facing cities today?

• What are the best multilateral fora, if any, where cities can be heard on water issues?

• Is there the potential for improving city legislation and its implementation to increase access to quality water and sanitation services?

• What is the UN concretely doing (standard-setting, capacity-building, etc.) on water & sanitation issues in cities?

Working Groups Presentations

The event will also discuss public-public and public-private partnerships in cities in Mauritania, Tanzania, Nepal and Kenya. Following the presentations of these case studies, participants will be divided in working groups to discuss:

• Whether these cases were successful or not? Why?

• What was the specific role of cities/Mayors/local community management?

• What could have been done differently by cities/mayors to improve the outcome?

Read the full outcome article related to this event here.

You will also find:

1. Mayor Kanaan’s intervention
2. François Münger’s intervention
3. Graham Alabaster’s Intervention