The global water sector operates under a fundamental contradiction: billions in capital seek deployment while 1 in 4 people lack safely managed drinking water, yet viable projects remain unfunded. This reflects not capital scarcity, but a market intelligence crisis that systematically excludes promising interventions while generating "fantasy pipelines" of non-viable projects.

The Scale of Disconnection
Current project preparation consumes 5-12% of total investment value before determining viability. McKinsey analysis reveals $30 billion in sunk costs from stalled infrastructure projects across six African markets. Simultaneously, the World Bank Group committed $117.5 billion in fiscal year 2024, while private investors hold over $328.9 billion in unallocated infrastructure capital.

Three Critical Failure Patterns
• The Cost Barrier: Market intelligence remains prohibitively expensive ($6 million studies for $50 million plants)
• Fantasy Pipelines: Master plans disconnect from payment realities (poor Nairobi households pay $0.40 daily—30% of income—while wealthy pay $0.02)
• The Development Finance Trap: Technical assistance cannot bridge fundamental market gaps, with 75% of water PPPs requiring renegotiation within 2.2 years

A Systematic Alternative
This session introduces standardized market intelligence combined with Water Operator Partnerships (WOPs) to build investment-ready utilities. Drawing from Athena Infonomics' Lagos market modeling, VEI's three-decade WOP methodology across continents, and IAWD's Southeast European cooperation experience, we examine how peer-to-peer capacity building transforms water sector investment.

Session Structure
Ninety minutes of structured dialogue across the full financing value chain—development finance institutions, utilities, governments, private operators, and technical partners—examining four questions:
1. What practical steps can actors across the WASH finance value chain take—together—to ensure water infrastructure is not only built, but sustained and functional over time?
2. How can ministries, regulators, financiers, and operators align earlier and more effectively in the planning and regulatory cycle to allow rapid opportunity identification?
3. How can partnership approaches such as WOPs (technical assistance) help accelerate early-stage opportunity identification and accompany effectively the implementation of investments?
4. What type of market intelligence would actually change investment decisions in the water sector—and who needs to generate it?

Expected Outcomes
Participants will assess whether standardized approaches can democratize market intelligence, making quality analysis accessible to utilities currently dependent on expensive external studies. The session examines why current approaches consistently fail and identifies implementable pathways forward.

Target Participants
Development finance institutions, bilateral agencies, commercial banks, water utilities, government