The proposal for a global financing and knowledge facilitation platform emerged as one of the most forward-looking ideas from the 6th Global Water Operators’ Partnerships Congress, convened by UN-Habitat through its Global Water Operators’ Partnerships Alliance. The proposed platform would serve as a hub to bridge learning with funding, promote appropriate financing, and help water and sanitation utilities grow sustainably while keeping water a public good.
The session “Unlocking Peer Learning Alongside Financing: Scaling Water and Sanitation as Public Services” brought together representatives of major international financial institutions to explore how peer learning and financing can reinforce each other to accelerate progress towards universal water and sanitation access.
Across the world, many utilities know what needs to be done to improve services – but too often, they lack the financing to make it happen. In other cases, funding is available but fails to build on utilities’ own expertise, data and engagement, limiting its long-term impact.
Speakers from the Agence Française de Développement, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Commission, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau and the World Bank highlighted how Water Operators’ Partnerships can open pathways to better finance. By linking technical improvements with investment readiness, parftnerships help ensure that both capacity and financing are meaningful, effective and sustainable.
Panellists pointed to ongoing initiatives such as the European Union Water Operators’ Partnerships Programme, managed by UN-Habitat’s GWOPA, and the Urban Water Catalyst Initiative, as examples of how solidarity-based cooperation can strengthen the empirical foundation for sustainable financing. They also called for stronger integration of climate resilience and people-centred digital innovation within partnerships, to ensure that future utilities are not only efficient but adaptable and future-ready.
The discussion underscored a clear message: financing and capacity building are two sides of the same coin. When what utilities learn is connected to how they are financed, public services become stronger, fairer and more resilient.
As the Congress concluded, participants agreed that bridging learning and finance is essential to move from building capacity to building creditworthiness, confidence and climate resilience – advancing the shared goal of universal access to safe water and sanitation.
The 6th Global Water Operators’ Congress was organized by UN-Habitat through GWOPA with the support of the Government of Germany and the City of Bonn.
