WSP Sessions, World Water Week in Stockholm, August 21-27, 2011

Date:        August 21-27, 2011
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Topic:       World Water Week
Contact:   WSP@worldbank.org

The World Water Week in Stockholm is the annual meeting place for the planet’s most urgent water-related issues. Throughout the week-long conference, organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), WSP will join experts, practitioners, decision makers and leaders from around the globe to share knowledge, foster new thinking and develop solutions.


August 22

Side Event: Disaster Risk Management in Urban Water Supply and Sanitation in Latin America
With Glenn Pearce-Oroz, Gustavo Perochena

In an urbanizing world, natural phenomena (floods, droughts, earthquakes, landslides) can have disastrous consequences (Japan 2011, Haiti and Chile earthquakes in 2010, Peru earthquake in 2007; flooding in Pakistan in 2010 and Australia in 2011; and Brazil landslides in 2011). Water supply and sanitation is one of the most at-risk infrastructures in developing countries, since most of it is old, highly exposed, incomplete, and not always sited according to codes or risk management practices. As a result, reconstruction of water and sanitation systems can be highly costly in addition to the human and health costs incurred by interruption of services, especially by the poor. See more

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August 23

Focus: Eye on Asia
With Almud Weitz, Guy Hutton

It has been said that the water crisis in Asia is a crisis of governance. Many cities are still struggling to provide clean and reliable water supplies and are faced with common problems such as high non-revenue water, intermittent supplies, and poor water quality. Many cities also suffer from inadequate sanitation system or lack sewerage networks. A large majority still depends on rudimentary on-site sanitation facilities and septic tanks, causing health risks and pollution in surface and groundwater sources. Poor management of water resources, aggravated by impacts of climate change poses a threat to water security. See more

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Focus Africa: Responding to the Urban Challenge by Improving Water and Sanitation Services for the Poor
With Rosemary Rop

Water and sanitation services for the urban poor remain deficient throughout Africa. While service levels as well as rates of adequate access to drinking water and sanitation are generally higher in urban areas as compared to rural settings, data from recent benchmarking assessments indicate that most countries are struggling to keep up with rapid population growth. Also, the urban poor are usually the worst off and most vulnerable. Where utilities do not extend their services to urban low income areas, they generally have to rely on poor-quality and overpriced water from informal service providers. Further, largely inadequate sanitation solutions subject them to major public health risks and pose questions of human dignity. See more

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Side Event: Sanitation Solutions in Challenging Urban Environments
With Almud Weitz, Isabel Blackett

Based on work by WSP in four countries in Southeast Asia, this event will outline a process for addressing urban sanitation where adverse geographic and climatic conditions make most conventional and "alternative" options not feasible or unaffordable. The process includes scoping the scale and nature of the challenges; priority setting; adaptation of existing knowledge; development of new options; and embedding key findings into government processes. See more

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August 24

Workshop: Urban Inequities: Service Delivery and Social Development
With Glenn Pearce-Oroz, Patrick Mwangi,  Rosemary Rop, Michael Jacobsen

This workshop will address (1) current inequities in urban basic service provision, (2) how poor facilities and interrupted service result in disease outbreaks and retard economic and social development, (3) the opportunities for forging links between the formal and informal service providers, and (4) how are improved basic service provision linked to social cohesion and improved efficiency in urban areas of different sizes. See more

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Seminar: Integrated Urban Water Management Challenges in Africa and Latin America
With Glenn Pearce-Oroz

Cities in the developing world are recognizing the importance of increasing the efficient use of water resources and, in many places, are adopting an Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) approach to plan and manage the water supply, sanitation and other environmental services in close integration with both the city’s urban development and the surrounding basin’s management. IUWM addresses all phases of the water cycle, as related to cities, from the availability of quality water resources for different needs and users, to the safe disposal of wastewater back to the environment -- or better yet, its reuse for other purposes. See more

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Seminar: Getting the Drive to 2015 on Track in Urban Settlements – From Intention to Implementation
With Almud Weitz, Isabel Blackett

In face of harsh deficits in access to basic sanitation and the increasingly deteriorating situation particularly in urban settings‚ Sustainable Sanitation -- The Drive to 2015 is a UN-endorsed advocacy initiative that specifically targets this most delayed MDG. Calling on the positive experiences of the International Year of Sanitation (2008) it is intended to generate political will among UN member states and empower communities, governments as well as the private sector to organize sustainable sanitation solutions. See more

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Seminar: Understanding the Context: Operationalising Political Economy Analysis to Improve WASH Outcomes
With Almud Weitz

This session presents case studies illustrating the benefits and challenges of using political economy analysis (PEA) to improve policy and/or programmatic engagement in WASH service delivery, and considers the ways it compliments other governance tools. The session shares findings from recent research in various countries -- including presentation and analysis of methodological approaches, evidence of impact to date, and lessons learned regarding good practice -- to elicit feedback on the theoretical framework and practical process, and invite discussion. Country case studies presented by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), and the World Bank will discuss the use of PEA in various urban water supply development initiatives, and more specifically the sanitation sector programming in Indonesia and rural sanitation initiatives in Vietnam. See more

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Seminar: Challenges of Monitoring Drinking-water and Sanitation Progress in Urban Settings

Access to drinking-water and sanitation is generally much higher in urban settings than in rural areas. However, this generalisation masks major disparities within urban areas. The rate of access and the level of service are often lower in peri-urban neighborhoods and slums where settlements are frequently the fastest growing areas. Disparities within urban areas are not reflected in national and global estimates. The monitoring of drinking-water and sanitation in urban areas rarely produces sufficient disaggregated data to measure the specific status of peri-urban areas and slums. This situation is of particular concern since the populations of these areas are generally the poorest and most vulnerable. See more 

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August 25

Side Event: Toolkit for Mainstreaming Gender in Urban Water and Sanitation Utilities
With Rosemary Rop

Practitioners will present a newly tested tool kit from Kenya used to promote equal participation and benefits to women and men at all stages of urban water and sanitation services planning, decision-making and management. This will open the door for exchange of international good practice and approaches to urban gender mainstreaming in the sector. See more

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Click here to view the presentation on display at the WSP booth during World Water Week.

Event Info
Date: 
Sun, 2011-08-21 - Sat, 2011-08-27
City: 
Stockholm
Country: 
Sweden