Sustainable Water Management in Cities: engaging stakeholders for effective change, Zaragoza, Spain, 13-17 December 2010

Organised by: United Nations Office to Support the International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life’ 2005-2015, UN-HABITAT, City of Zaragoza, and the SWITCH consortium (which includes UNESCO-IHE and the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre).

This four-day conference will bring together more than 200 experts, local government officials, media specialists, key water operators and political representatives of cities and stakeholder groups to discuss sustainable urban water management and propose practical ways to move forward to meet the challenges of disseminating results to a wider audience, also considering different development contexts and regional characteristics. This draws on the approaches of the SWITCH project and the Learning Alliances. Some specific outcomes of the meeting – especially case studies – will be presented as part of the World Water Day on 22 March 2011.

Conference web site: www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/swm_cities_zaragoza_2010/index.shtml

2nd IWA Development Congress & Exhibition, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 21–24 November 2011

Organised by: International Water Association (IWA) and Malaysian Water Association (MWA)

The Congress will “focus on workable approaches for the global water sector in low and middle income countries, from challenges to service delivery, through technological innovation, to implementation and delivery. The aim is to develop and help set the research and practice agenda for water and sanitation services internationally”.

Main themes:

• Urban water supply service provision
• Urban sanitation and wastewater service provision
• Managing, planning and financing urban water and sanitation services
• Social dimensions

Web site: www.iwa2011kl.org/

World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, 21-27 August 2011

Organised by: Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI)

Theme: Responding to Global Challenges – Water in an Urbanising World

Attracting 2,600 participants coming from 130 countries in 2010, the World Water Week is the leading international annual water networking event. It presents a comprehensive agenda of workshops, seminars and side events, complemented by prize ceremonies, including that of the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize.

Deadline for workshop abstracts and seminar and side event proposals: 15 February 2011.

Read the first announcement

Web site: www.worldwaterweek.org

World Water Day 2011, 22 March

Organised by: UN-Water under the coordination of UN-HABITAT with support from UNEP.

Theme: Water for Cities: responding to the urban challenge

The United Nations General Assembly designated 22 March of each year, starting in 1993, as World Water Day. In 2011 World Water Day will focus international attention on the impact of rapid urban population growth, industrialisation and climate change on water resources and environmental protection capabilities of cities and small towns.

Key issues such as the growing urban water and sanitation demand, increased pollution from municipal and industrial discharges, climate change and its unforeseen risks and challenges, overexploitation of available water resources, better targeting of the urban poor will be discussed. The critical role played by local governments and other service providers in tackling these challenges will be explored.

For more information on World Water Day see www.unwater.org/wwd.html and www.worldwaterday.org

The official web site (under development) will be: www.unwater.org/worldwaterday

Urban Rainwater Harvesting, Anil Agarwal Green Centre, India, 03-07 November 2009

Advanced course for working professionals

This course is open to civil engineers, architects, urban planners, environment consultants, municipal water managers, policy makers, government officials and NGOs interested in learning more about the theory, practice and policies of urban water harvesting.

The programme allows you to gain knowledge, acquire holistic perspectives and get hands-on practice in planning and designing urban water harvesting systems . It will help you to solve real-life water problems of today and give you the unique chance to meet and interact with experts and professional in the field of rainwater harvesting.

Course fee: Rs.8,800

Registration deadline: 26 October 2009

Danida Water and Sanitation Sector Seminar, Livingstone, Zambia, 29 September – 02 October 2009

Organised by: Water and Sanitation group of Technical Advisory Services (TAS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, in collaboration with the MFA Competence Centre (UMKC) and the Embassy Of Denmark, Lusaka.

The purpose of the seminar is to improve and consolidate the quality of Danish assistance to the water and sanitation sector and to facilitate a coherent vision across embassies and country programmes on what constitutes good development assistance to the water and sanitation sector.

Proposed sessions:

• Sanitation and hygiene: presentation and discussion based of the draft TAS discussion paper “Reaching the MDG Target on Sanitation in Africa – A Call for Realism” and related issues notes on “Hygiene behaviour change”, “Financing models”, “Political commitment”, and “Monitoring progress”.
• IWRM: providing an input to the planned TAS best practice paper on support to IWRM.
• Implementing the Accra Agenda of Agenda in the Water and Sanitation Sector, focussing on TA in capacity development as sector programme support becomes more aligned with national systems.
• Zambia day: problems in Zambia and southern Africa such as SADC/Zambezi and Zambia’s approach to water supply in peri-urban areas.

Target group: embassy staff responsible for water and sanitation sector support and Danida advisors; advisors funded through other donors; staff from other donors.

Contact: Sune Gerts Larsen, bftstud@um.dk or Jens Fugl, jenfug@um.dk

Read more

Training of Trainers on urban water and sanitation reforms, Kathmandu, Nepal, 20–24 July 2009

A WaterAid workshop focusing on the facilitation of civil society engagement in urban reforms.

The workshop draws on much of the experience of civil society groups around the world who have been advocating for pro-poor reforms in recent years. WaterAid has examined the different approaches used and brought together a manual focused on the role civil society organisations can play in improving reform processes and programmes. The training manual ‘Our water, our waste, our town’ (forthcoming) will be used to further develop skills and knowledge towards improving CSO participation in urban reform processes. The course itself has 7 central themes. The sessions will explore: the different types of reforms and why and how CSOs should get involved; understanding different urban water systems; the pros and cons of different water management options open to government; good governance, and increasing transparency and accountability in the sector; the neglected area of sanitation and sewerage reform; developing advocacy action plans; and working with IFIs.

The pilot training of trainers’ workshop is planned to support ongoing or proposed urban sector and utility reforms influencing projects of participating NGOs or networks/coalitions. The training is suitable for CSO network leaders, urban advocates and NGO members and staff.

Applicants are expected to submit a statement (by 15th May) clearly indicating how this training will be useful to their work. This statement should briefly outline the urban sector or utility reform they are engaged in, their NGOs role in the process so far and their NGOs’ future plans (max. 2 pages). Also noting their current and/or future involvement in urban water and sanitation reforms (0.5 page).

Please, forward your application directly to WaterAid:

Timeyin Uwejamomere, Policy Officer, Urban
WaterAid, UK, Tel: 02077934569, Email: timeyinuwejamomere [at] wateraid.org

Or

Mary O’Connell, Policy Officer, Capacity Building, WaterAid, UK, Tel: 02077934541, Email:maryoconnell [at] wateraid.org

Read the Workshop Announcement here.