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  2. [2024] Project “Water in the World We Want” Phase 4 Asia Workshop and Open Discussion

[2024] Project “Water in the World We Want” Phase 4 Asia Workshop and Open Discussion

Tuesday, 11 June 2024 - 9:00am to Wednesday, 12 June 2024 - 5:00pm

Documents

Concept Note (updated as of 11 June 2024)

 

Background

The world is now at a defining moment in its commitment to manage, save, and preserve water as water is integral to the United Nations' sustainable development endeavor. Currently around 2.2 billion people lack access to safely managed water, and 292 million people spend more than 30 minutes traveling and queuing to collect drinking water. Despite strong commitment by the United Nations Member States, there is an urgent need to increase the pace of progress six times faster to meet the global target of universal access to safely managed drinking water by 2030.

Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) is intricately linked and aligns synergistically with all other SDGs laid out in the 2030 Agenda. SDG 6 seeks to ensure safe drinking water and sanitation for all, focusing on the sustainable management of water resources, wastewater and ecosystems, and acknowledging the importance of an enabling environment. In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, countries have committed to engage in systematic follow-up and review of progress towards the Goals and targets, using a set of global indicators.

The effective management of water and sanitation stands as a fundamental solution to addressing urgent global challenges, including but not limited to climate change, the pursuit of affordable and clean energy, combatting biodiversity loss, mitigating food insecurity, countering the spread of diseases through pandemics and epidemics, managing natural disaster risks, fostering peace and stability amidst conflict, reducing extreme poverty, and addressing gender inequality. Shortcomings in achieving SDG 6 have far-reaching consequences, undermining the integrity of 2 sustainable development's societal, economic, and environmental facets. Furthermore, these deficiencies erode human rights and imperil peace and security.

Although achieving SDG 6 is a formidable challenge for many countries, such challenges come with great opportunities. Effective planning and policy implementation through strengthening and realigning enabling environments are critical to driving success in achieving water-related sustainable development at the national level. However, evidence and appropriate data for policymakers and development actors to make this happen are missing, overlapping, or even fragmented in most countries in the Global South. If the nations are to achieve SDG 6, they need to assess their current national progress effectively. This means defining gaps and weaknesses and addressing them with workable policies and action plans to promote robust enabling environments for achieving SDG 6. These countries also need to set their national baselines, targets, and priorities in the general SDG process and focus on the ones that can be realistically achieved by 2030.

Since 2016, a consortium of partners (United Nations Office for Sustainable Development, UNOSD; United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, UNU-INWEH; the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea, MOE; and the Korea Environment Corporation, Keco) has been implementing the project ‘Water in the World We Want' to investigate how countries can address critical evidence gaps and deliver better policies to achieve SDG 6. Two additional partners (UNESCO International Centre for Water Security and Sustainable Management, UNESCO i-WSSM; and the Korea Water Resources Corporation, K-water) joined the project in 2022 while United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) joined the project at the beginning of 2024.

 

SDG-6 Policy Support System (SDG-PSS) - Key Product of the SDG Project

The SDG 6 Policy Support System (SDG-PSS), the key output of this project, was developed during its first phase (2016-2018) to help create evidence on the enabling environment of SDG 6 at the national level in countries with limited or missing data. Five countries – Ghana, Tunisia, Pakistan, Costa Rica, and the Republic of Korea – implemented the first stones of the project in a ‘champion system’, in which one water-related policymaker and one water professional in each country were responsible for promoting the project and providing coordination for the development of the SDG-PSS, a web-based tool to help navigate limited data conditions, relying on trends, information, and broader estimates.

SDG-PSS consists of the following components: Capacity Assessment, Finance, Policy and Institutional Assessment, Gender Mainstreaming, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)/Resilience Mainstreaming, and Integrity. These components were chosen as they allow a better understanding of the enabling environment where water and sanitation policies are developed and implemented for achieving SDG 6. They were based on more than 20 well-established tools, processes, and practices already used by many countries. The questions proposed in the tool were discussed in the national workshops organized in five countries and went through discussions, resulting in a comprehensive revision process.

During the project's second phase (2018-2020), the tool was officially launched as an online platform and promoted during project-led workshops. Regional workshops were organized to extend the use of SDG-PSS in countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean regions through broader cooperation and continuous learning, resulting in further refinement of the SDG-PSS. In its final version, SDG-PSS permits answering the challenge of bringing data and information from multiple international and national tools and translating them into a 'fit-for-policy' evidence framework. With the SDG-PSS available in six languages (English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, and Korean).

In the third phase (2021-2023), the project partners promoted the SDG-PSS by organizing three regional workshops in Asia (23-24 November 2022, Daegu, Republic of Korea), Africa (5-7 July 2023, Nairobi, Kenya), and Latin America and the Caribbean (20-22 September 2023, Brasilia, Brazil), and a final workshop of the project (20-22 February 2024, Phnom Penh, Cambodia). At the end of the third phase, 68 countries have been engaged through project-led workshops on using SDG-PSS within their national contexts.

There is an e-course on SDG-PSS to address capacity building for systematic and practical use of the tool. The course provides training and teaching on using this system to produce evidence and data on the enabling environment for achieving SDG 6. The effort required by the SDG-PSS to get all the evidence together is an essential step for countries to evaluate better which data is missing and where gaps in policymaking exist.

 

Asia Workshop of the Project's Fourth Phase

The extended use of SDG-PSS requires the engagement of more water professionals, managers, policymakers, and more countries. The experience of organizing project-led workshops in the second and third phases of the project showed that strengthening regional partnerships and cooperation has been critical for the project’s success. Thus, engaging more countries in using SDG-PSS is crucial to promote multinational collaboration and ensure knowledge exchange for effective use of the tool while informing policy and decision-makers on the enabling environments of SDG 6. Parallel to introducing SDG-PSS to more countries, it is taking stock of the work undertaken by the project and lessons learned to ensure a more significant impact of the project as it enters its fourth phase in 2024. While the Asia region workshop of the fourth phase will address such aspects, it will set the scene for the efforts to the extended use of SDG-PSS while addressing challenges in accelerating the achievement of SDG 6. In addition, the project’s fourth phase will embark on a project continuation strategy in its fourth phase.

 

Dates and Venue

As part of the Dushanbe Water Conference, this 2-day workshop and panel discussion will be organized during 11-12 June, Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

 

Meeting Language

This event will be conducted in English.

 

Participants

Around 15 water professionals and policymakers from selected countries from Aisa will participate in the workshop. Asia region hub country of the project, Pakistan, will also participate to share their experience and journey of collaboration since the beginning of this project. Other participants in the workshop are expected to be from the project implementing partners – UNOSD, UNU-INWEH,UNESCO iWSSM, K-water, and UNEP. The discussion panel will comprise experts from the project implementing partners as well as countries attending the workshop.

 

Objectives

This Asia regional workshop will contribute to

  1. taking stock of the work undertaken by the project and lessons learned to ensure a more significant impact of the project in its fourth phase.
  2. discussing ways to the extended use of SDG-PSS while addressing challenges in accelerating the achievement of SDG 6.
  3. developing a project continuation strategy for the fourth phase of the project.

Afterward, a workshop report with contributions from all participants and partners will be produced.

 

Organizers

This final workshop is co-organized by UNOSD, UNU-INWEH, UNESCO-iWSSM, K-water and UNEP.

 

Programme and Agenda

Day 1 (11 June 2024)

Opening Session 

Moderator: Mr. Simon Gilby, Sustainable Development Officer, UNOSD

Opening & Welcome Remarks:  

  • Mr. Chun Kyoo Park, Head of Office, United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD)
  • Mr. Manzoor Qadir, Deputy Director, United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH)
  • Mr. Youngkyo Kim, Senior Manager at Korea Water Resources Corporation Korea Water Resources Corporation, K-water
  • Mr. Alex Pires, Programme Management Officer, United Nations Environment Programme

 

Session 1: Journey of SDG-PSS across project phases

Moderator: Mr. Simon Gilby, Sustainable Development Officer, UNOSD

 

Session 2: Status of SDG-6 and the use of SDG-PSS in a regional hub countries

Moderator: Mr. Simon Gilby, Sustainable Development Officer, UNOSD

 

Session 3: Feedback on SDG-PSS from workshop-participating countries

Moderator: Mr. Simon Gilby, Sustainable Development Officer, UNOSD

  • Uzbekistan
    • Mr. Sergey Myagkov, Scientific Research Hydrometeorological Institute, Uzbekistan
  • Armenia
    • Ms. Tigranuhi Baghdasaryan, Water Committee of the Ministry of Territorial, Administration and Infrastructures, Republic of Armenia
  • Malaysia
    • Mr. Mursyidul Syafiq Bin Marzuki, Water Resources Division, Ministry of Energy Transition and Water Transformation, Malaysia

 

Session 3 (Continued)

Moderator: Mr. Simon Gilby, Sustainable Development Officer, UNOSD

  • Mongolia
    • Ms. Tsogzolmaa Khurelbaatar, Climate Change Research and Cooperation Centre, Mongolia
  • Thailand
    • Ms. Bawornrat Sukrakanchana and Ms. Sarintip Phadungsontikul, Office of the National Water Resources, Thailand

 

Day 2 (12 June 2024)

Session 4: Using SDG-PSS framework in addressing challenges from water- and climate-related emergencies, pandemics, and disasters

Facilitator: Mr. Manzoor Qadir, Deputy Director, United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) 

Session 5: Learning lessons and way forward

Moderator: Mr. Manzoor Qadir, Deputy Director, UNU-INWEH

 

Wrap-up and Closing Session

Moderator: Mr. Simon Gilby, Sustainable Development Officer, UNOSD

  • Mr. Manzoor Qadir, Deputy Director, United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) 
  • Mr. Chun Kyoo Park, Head of Office, United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD)

 

[Side Event] Open Panel Discussion - "Navigating through limited data while aiming at SDG-6 ‘fit-for-policy’ evidence"

Following the close of the Asia Workshop, a panel discussion will be held as a side event for the Dushanbe Water Conference. This panel discussion will invite experts and participants from the regional workshop to both share the outcomes of the regional workshop and showcase the achievements of the project to interested parties in Dushanbe. This will both raise awareness of the project and its tool as well as give the opportunity for those less familiar with the tool to ask questions and gain an initial understanding of the tool.

 

Background

While the world has passed through the halfway mark of addressing the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, strengthening enabling environments to drive the achievement of waterrelated sustainable development is becoming a critical step for many countries, particularly lowand middle-income economies. The evidence for SDG 6 and pertinent data for policymakers to make this happen are missing, overlapping, or fragmented as the urgency for actions grows.

In addressing the need for policy actions under limited data conditions, a multi-institutional team of water professionals and policymakers developed the SDG 6 Policy Support System (SDG-PSS), which is an answer to the challenge of bringing data and information from different sources and translating them into a ‘fit-for-policy’ evidence framework. The critical components of SDG-PSS include Capacity Assessment, Finance, Policy and Institutional Assessment, Gender Mainstreaming, Disaster Risk Reduction/Resilience, and Integrity.

Water professionals and policymakers can use SDG-PSS to translate trends and estimates into collaborative planning to develop, implement, and measure the effectiveness of water-related policies while addressing national-level SDG 6 targets. These aspects are the focus of this event, which starts with introductory talks followed by a moderated panel discussion, open discussion stemming from panelists' contributions, and conclusions/recommendations.

 

Documents

Concept Note (updated as of 11 June 2024)

 

Conveners

  • United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD)
  • United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Heath (UNU-INWEH)
  • Korea Water Resources Corporation, K-water
  • UNESCO International Centre for Water Security and Sustainable Management, UNESCO i-WSSM
  • United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

 

Dates and Venue

2pm, 12 June 2024, Corpus 1, Conference Hall, Kokhi Somon, Dushanbe, Tajikistan

 

Objectives and Expected Outcomes

The objectives are to (1) highlight the significance of enabling environments for the achievement of SDG 6 targets at the national level; (2) provide insight into the challenges of bringing limited data and information together and translating them into ‘fit-for-policy’ evidence; and (3) offer SDG-PSS as an opportunity to develop and implement effective water policies in the SDG era.

The outcomes are (1) a better understanding of the enabling environments for SDG 6 targets, (2) knowledge of critical issues around translating limited data and information into an evidence framework, and (3) the importance of collaborative planning through SDG-PSS to promote pertinent water policies.

 

Programme and Agenda

Welcome and Introductory Remarks

Moderator: Mr. Manzoor Qadir, Deputy Director, United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH)

  • Mr. Chun Kyoo Park, Head of Office, United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD)

 

Introductory Talk

Moderator: Mr. Simon Gilby, Sustainable Development Officer, UNOSD

  • Navigating through limited data while aiming at SDG-6 ‘fit-for-policy’ evidence
    • Mr. Manzoor Qadir, UNU-INWEH
  • Experiences in using SDG-PSS in Pakistan
    • Mr. Muhammad Kashif Manzoor, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), Pakistan
  • Experiences in using SDG-PSS in Uzbekistan
    • Mr. Sergey Myagkov, Scientific Research Hydrometeorological Institute, Uzbekistan

 

Moderated Panel Discussion

Moderator: Mr. Manzoor Qadir, UNU-INWEH

  • Mr. Chun Kyoo Park, Head of Office, United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD)
  • Mr. Muhammad Kashif Manzoor, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), Pakistan
  • Mr. Sergey Myagkov, Scientific Research Hydrometeorological Institute, Uzbekistan

 

Open Discussion

Moderator: Mr. Manzoor Qadir, UNU-INWEH

  • Mr. Chun Kyoo Park, Head of Office, United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD)
  • Mr. Muhammad Kashif Manzoor, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), Pakistan
  • Mr. Sergey Myagkov, Scientific Research Hydrometeorological Institute, Uzbekistan

 

Concluding Remarks

Moderator: Mr. Simon Gilby, Sustainable Development Officer, UNOSD

  • Mr. Chun Kyoo Park, Head of Office, United Nations Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD)