About

GWP’s VISION is a water secure world. Our MISSION is to advance governance and management of water resources for sustainable and equitable development.

OUR UNIQUE VALUE: GWP mobilises action on the global water crisis through a unique combination of social capital, shared values, credibility within the global water community, bottom-up orientation, and expertise. A network of networks, we ensure the ‘voices of water’ can inﬂuence local, national, regional, and global development priorities. We are committed to our role as a neutral convener and respected for our focus on inclusiveness and sustainability.

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GWP creates and communicates information about integrated water resources management which contributes to improved water governance and, ultimately, water security.

Together with our Partners, we provide knowledge resources and capacity building activities for solving water problems.

Partner

Institutional Partners are the basis of GWP's multi-stakeholder partnership. A strong, diverse partnership can bring about the changes needed to achieve a water secure world. In this section, learn about the benefits of being a Partner and meet a few who already are. We invite like-minded organisations to join us!

GWP Regions

This is where you can find links to the websites of our Regional Water Partnerships (RWPs). RWPs are closest to the countries where we work. They share knowledge and learning across national boundaries and are expected to have an open, inclusive, and gender-sensitive policies for bringing together as wide a group of stakeholders as possible to solve water problems.

10/1/2013

GWP Participates in UN Event on Post-2015 Agenda

GWP Chair Dr. Ursula Schaefer-Preuss took part in a Special Event hosted by the President of the UN General Assembly in New York on 25 September. The aim was to follow up on the efforts made to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to discuss the post-2015 agenda.

Dr. Schaefer-Preuss participated on behalf of GWP in one of four high-level multi-stakeholder roundtable sessions, held at the Special Event during the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly.

Dr. Schaefer-Preuss said that there were discussions regarding the positioning of a dedicated, global goal for water in the successor arrangements to the Millennium Development Goal Declaration, which expires in 2015.

“It is quite clear from the various interventions made by delegations and representatives of civil society related to the challenges of water security or water scarcity, that there has to be more emphasis on the various components of water. A majority expressed strong support for a dedicated water goal in the successor arrangement to the MDGs, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, said Dr. Schaefer-Preuss after the meeting.

More Work Ahead

The UN recently published a report on how the work on the MDGs is progressing. It states that the achievements have been uneven among and within countries, and although some of the targets have been met or are within close reach, progress is not enough in many areas. Addressing the roundtable in New York, Dr. Schaefer-Preuss stressed the need for a dedicated water goal:

“Some economists still appear to believe that the water cycle can be dealt with piece by piece – some under agriculture, another piece under health, some under ecosystems, etc. The Global Water Partnership believes that a dedicated water goal is now imperative, in order to focus attention and political will upon this neglected system which is so vital for sustainability”.

The GWP Chair also participated in an exploratory exchange of views aiming at establishing a platform for a Water Global Goal (working title), “to coordinate water stakeholders and produce a comprehensive output on what a holistic, sustainable global goal on water must look like”.

There was general agreement that such platform would be useful, and further discussion about this initiative will likely take place at the Budapest Water Summit 8-11 October.

As a result of the Special Event, an Outcome Document was adopted by the UN Member States, with renewed commitments to continue work on the MDGs and also to adopt a new set of goals in 2015.

Photo: The UN Headquarters in New York, by Muhammad Ghouri/Wikimedia Commons

Page last edited: 10/1/2013