WATERHer: Advancing SDG 6, Women- Led Water Access, Safety & Climate Resilience within Gender-Responsive Community Innovation for Sustainable Development (HLPF 2026 Side Event)

This meeting is called to order.
Before starting, I would request everybody to keep their phones on silent mode and please refrain from going in and out of the room to maintain the decorum of this meeting.
Excellencies, distinguished representatives of the member states, colleagues from the United Nations system, leaders of regional and international organizations, representatives of civil society, academia, private sector, youth, ladies and gentlemen.
On behalf of the permanent mission of the Republic of Burundi to the United Nations and the Water and Sanitation Mission to the United Nations, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to this high level political forum side event.
Over the past days, we have heard insightful presentations to the voluntary national Reviews and other HLPF discussions that have highlighted both the progress made and the significant challenges that remain in achieving sustainable development goal number six.
We extend our sincere appreciation to the member states, UN system, development partners, and all stakeholders for their support and commitment to advancing access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene for all.
The message emerging from the national and regional reviews are very clear.
While important progress has been achieved, the world is not on track to deliver SDG six by 2030.
Water insecurity, inadequate sanitation, declining water equality, ecosystem, water waste management, and the growing impacts of the climate change continue to threaten SDGs.
The finding of the 2026 SDG six synthesis report reinforced the urgency of accelerating the action during the remaining years of 2030.
At the heart of today's discussion are the SDG six voluntary review.
These reviews are far more than reporting exercises.
These are instruments of accountability, learning, and collaboration.
Achieving SDG six requires transformative action.
We must strengthen water governance, invest in resilient infrastructure, protect freshwater ecosystems, and expand wastewater treatment.
Innovation must also become a defining feature of our collective response.
Digital technologies, smart water management system, nature based solutions, water recycling, rainwater harvesting, and climate resilient infrastructure are already demonstrating how innovation can improve efficiency and strengthen resilience.
Equally important is our coordination.
Progress on SDG six depends on effective partnership among governments, regional organizations, the UN system, development partners, and financial institutions.
The years remaining before 2030 represent a decisive window of opportunity.
The choice we make today will determine whether SGG six becomes one of the defining success of the 2030 agenda or one of its greatest unfinished commitments.
Today's side event provides an opportunity not only to reflect on progress, but more importantly, to the identity, scalable and coordinated actions that can accelerate implementation.
I encourage all participants to engage openly, share lessons learned, showcase innovative solutions, and develop concrete recommendations that will strengthen the national implementation, deepen the regional cooperation, and contribute meaningfully to the outcomes of the high level political forum.
I extend again my sincere appreciation to the permanent mission of Burundi and his permanent representative, our distinguished speakers, ministers, partners, and every one of you joining us today.
Your participation demonstrates that our shared determination to translate commitments into action and to ensure that safe water and sanitation becomes a reality for everyone and everywhere.
I wish you all a productive, engaging, and inspiring discussion.
I will now give the floor to Mr.
Laundry, the charge of Affairs, who is also representing the permanent representative from the Mission of Burundi.
You have the floor, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Excellencies, distinguished ministers, dear colleagues and friends.
At the outset, I would like to present the regrets of His Excellency, Ambassador effin Marin Ratana who's actually out of New York on a very important business trip, and it's a pleasure for me and my delegation, Amin, to be here.
It's a distinguished honor for me to join His Excellency, doctor Nabit Kapoor, permanent observer of the Observer Mission on Water and Sanitation for Africa to the United Nations and this distinguished panel in openings today's side event on the Water initiatives held on the margin on the 2026 high level political forum on sustainable development.
This uses forum calls on us to pursue transformative, equitable, innovative, and coordinated action for the 2030 agenda and sustainable development goals for a sustainable future for all.
Bruni regards this team not as a rhetorical aspiration, but as an operating instruction, and it is precisely this instruction that Water He puts into practice in the water sector.
Transformation requires that we move beyond incremental fixes to water security and instead reshape who leads, who decides, and who benefits.
Equity requires that women and girls who bear the highest cost of water insecurity be placed at the center of the solution at its margins.
Innovations requires that we bring new technologies, new financing models, and new forms of community ownership to bear on hold on old and persistent problems.
Coordination requires that governments, United Nations entities, civil society, and the private sector and together rather than in isolation.
Waterho speaks for each of these four imperatives at once.
With fewer than four years remaining before 2013, we must be honest about where we stand.
Progress on HDC six on clean water and sanitation remains uneven and insufficient and nowhere in this is more acutely felt than in S San Africa and other climate vulnerable regions, including my own country, Burruundi.
Water scarcity, contamination, and increasingly erratic climate patterns continue to undermine health, education, livelihood, and sustainability and the sustainability of our communities.
This burden is not shared equally.
It is women and girls who walk the long distances to fetch water, who faces heightened risk of violence along the way and who bear the health consequences of inadequate sanitation.
Yet, despite carrying this burden, women remain largely absent from the tables where decision on water governance and climate adaptation are made.
This is not merely an inequity, it's a lost opportunity.
For no water strategy can be truly resilient if it does not draw on the knowledge and the leadership of those who manage water every single day.
It is for this reason that Burundi welcomes the Water initiatives and the model it proposes by positioning women as leaders, innovators, and decision makers.
Water HER offers a community owned, gender responsive, and climate smart approach to water security.
The initiatives pillar, women led community, water Hubs, climate resilience, infrastructure, water safety and public health training, Gender Water Innovation Lab, and the Women's Water Leadership Academy provide a practical and scalable pathway from principle to practice.
Bruni seeks in water and natural convergence in several priorities we hold dear.
The acceleration of SDG six, the advancement of SDG five on gender equality, support the SDG 13 on climate action, and the strengthening of SDG 17 partnership between government, United Nations agencies, academia, civil society, and development partners.
These goals are not separate tracks.
They are interdependent and progress on one reinforce progress on the other.
Therefore encourage the scaling of the water model across Africa and the Commonwealth and beyond.
We look forward to the community experience, evidence, and policy recommendation that will emerge from today's dialogue.
Burundi stands ready to contribute to this effort and to work with our partners here today to translate the outcome of this side events into concrete evidence based contribution to the work of the high level political forum.
In closing, let me reaffirm that Bruundi embraces this forums call for transformative, equitable, innovative, and coordinated action.
We reaffirm our commitment to gender responsive, climate resilient development and to ensuring that no community and no women or girl is left behind in our collective pursuit of a sustainable future for all.
I thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
Chad, for that informative discussion you spoke about Burundi and especially water as a very social issue, specifically when we talk about gender equality and water.
Now let me give floor to my colleague, the Deputy Permanent observer of the Mission of Water and Sanitation, Professor Ads Oka for her introductory remarks.
Good evening, everyone.
Mr.
Chair.
Excellency, distinguished delegates, colleagues, and partners.
It is an honor to share our initiative, Water H, which recognizes that sustainable water solution begin with women, communities, and inclusive leadership.
The global review of sustainable development goal six on scars and urgent reality, progress on ensuring universal access to safe water and sanitation is not advancing at the pace required.
Climate change, environmental degradation, and growing inequalities continue to deepen water insecurity, with women and girls being a disproportionate burden.
Water HA is a gender responsive community innovation that advances sustainable development goal six, ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all while strengthening climate resilience, community safety, inclusive local development.
Water HA is a gender responsive community innovation that recognizes women, not simply as beneficiary, but as leaders, innovators, and decision makers in sustainable water governance.
By strengthening, women's leadership in water as, safety, sanitation, and climate resilience, Water HA advances locally driven solutions that improve public health, reduce vulnerability, and build resilient communities.
Why water ha by water and sanitation mission.
Across the world, women and girls remain disproportionately affected by inadequate access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene.
They spend countless hours collecting water, face increased risk of gender based violence during water collection, experience health challenges from unsafe water, and are often excluded from water governance and decision making.
Climate change further intensified drought, floods, and water insecurity, making these inequalities even more severe.
Yet women are not merely beneficiaries.
They are innovators, environmental stewards, entrepreneurs, community leaders.
Water He therefore places women at the center of water governance, recognizing them as agents of change capable of delivering sustainable and locally owned solutions.
SDG six is off track globally.
2.2 billion people still lack safe drinking water.
Climate change and intensifying water scarcity and contamination.
Women and girls bear disproportionate boding times, safety health.
Global reviews call for locally led gender responsive water governance.
SDG six progress is lagging in terms of women and girls.
Women are central to water collection and management, yet excluded from decision making.
Water heart therefore responds to this gap by positioning women as leaders of water resilience.
So how do we respond W hat to SDG global review? The global review of SDG six reminds us that progress remains far too too slow.
Billions still lack safety, money, drinking water and sanitation services.
Water quality is deteriorating, ecosystems are under pressure, and climate related disasters are increasing.
Achieving SDG six therefore requires more than infrastructure.
It requires integrated governance, social inclusion, innovation, and community ownership.
Water has respond through five interconnected actions, promoting women led community water management, strengthening climate resilience water systems, improving safe sanitation and hygiene practices, integrating disaster risk reduction and water safety, and building local partnership for sustainable water governance.
These actions help bridge policy commitment with practical community implementation.
How do we align these to the five major points of SDGs as we run towards the end of SDG, the five Ps of sustainable development.
We look at people and we say water help protect health, dignity, and human rights by ensuring equitable access to clean water and sanitation, especially for women, girls, persons with disabilities, and vulnerable communities.
We also look at planet, healthy watershed, ecosystem restoration, rainwater harvesting, water conservation, and climate adaptation that strengthen environmental sustainability while protecting biodiversity.
Prosperity, reliable water access, improved livelihood, food security, education, and women's economic empowerment, time saved, Time saved from water collection can instead support education, entrepreneurship, and income generation.
We talk about peace.
Water security reduces community tensions, strengthen resilience during crisis, and promotes inclusive governance where women participate equally in decision making.
Partnership, water abuse, collaboration among government, civil society, academia, youth, indigenous community development partners, and the private sector because achieving LGG six requires collective action.
So how do we support this water Howard date 2026 HLPF? This call for accelerated, inclusive and evidence informed implementation of SDGs.
Water had demonstrated that gender responsible community innovation can help close implementation gaps while advancing resilience and leaving no one behind.
We therefore call on member states and all stakeholders to increase investment in led women initiatives, strengthen gender responsive policies and financing, and integrate climate resilience into water governance, ensure the meaningful participation of women at every level of decision making.
So achieving LGG is not only about expanding infrastructure, it is about empowering people, women, girls, strengthening institutions, protecting ecosystem, and recognizing women as indispensable partners in building a more resilient, equitable, and sustainable future.
The 2023 high level forum emphasizes accelerating action for sustainable, inclusive, science based, and resilient development while ensuring that no one is left behind.
I thank you.
That was indeed a detailed discussion on speech on Water HR, the flagship mission of the Water and Sanitation for Africa.
You can find our book on Water HR on Amazon as well.
It is very much available, written by the mission and headed by doctor Okeka.
Next, we move on to advancing SDG six and Women led water access, safety, climate resilience, gender responsiveness, very high level ministerial dialogue, and we have my colleagues from different parts of the world.
We'll start with Honorable Moholomi Moleko, Minister of Water from the Kingdom of Lesotho.
You have the floor, sir.
Thank you.
Your Excellency, esteemed leaders.
Good afternoon.
Water sustains life, powers economies, nature's ecosystems, and shapes the resilience of nations.
Yet across the world, it is women who most often bear the responsibility of securing, managing, and safeguarding this precious resource within their homes and communities.
It is therefore both timely and inspiring that we gather today under the theme Water hair advancing SDG six through Men led Community Innovation Solutions.
I am honored to join you in celebrating women as leaders, innovators, and change makers, whose contributions are essential to achieving sustainable goal six, ensuring clean water and sanitation for all.
For the kingdom of Lesotho, water is far more than a natural resource.
It is our strategic asset, our source of life, and one of the strongest foundation of our country's sustainable development.
Through our rivers, mountains, and wetlands, Lesotho contributes significantly to regional water security while supporting livelihoods, food production, renewable energy generation, and economic growth.
Leadership through the Lasoto Highlands Water Project stands as a testament to the power of water to foster regional cooperation, shared prosperity, and long term development.
Equally important is our commitment to protecting the catchments, wetlands, and ecosystems that sustain these invaluable water resources for generations to come.
This commitment extends beyond infrastructure.
It is reflected in our continued investment in integrated water resource management and our initiatives such as the Ra Integrated Catchment Management Program, which recognizes that healthy catchments are the foundation of water security.
Through these efforts, we are restoring degradated landscapes, strengthening community resilience, and promoting the sustainable management of our natural resources with communities at the center of implementation.
Ladies and gentlemen, when we speak of sustainable water management, we cannot overlook the indispensable role of women.
Across the suit and throughout our region, women are not only the primary managers of water within households.
They are engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, researchers, policymakers, environmental stewards, and community leaders.
They possess invaluable knowledge of local water systems and continue to develop practical, innovative, and sustainable solutions to the challenges posed by water scarcity, sanitation, hygiene, and climate change.
Our responsibility as governments is therefore not simply to recognize these contributions, but to create an enabling environment in which women can lead, innovate, and influence decisions at every level.
The C remains committed to strengthening inclusive water governance by promoting integrated water resource management, protecting wetlands and catchments, restoring degradated ecosystems and improving water security across the country.
We are equally committed to ensuring that women participate meaningfully in water policy, infrastructure planning, environmental management, and decision making processes.
As climate change intensifies intensifies floods, droughts and increasing water variability, Building resilient communities demands the full participation of society.
We cannot effectively safeguard our water resources while excluding half of our population from leadership and innovation.
Innovation itself must also be understood more broadly.
It is not measured solely by advanced technologies or sophisticated engineering.
It is equally reflected in indigenous knowledge, community driven solutions, youth creativity, and the determination of women who transform lives every day through resourcefulness, resilience, and innovation often with limited means.
By investing in numen' leadership, education, entrepreneurship, and access to technology, we strengthen far more than SDG six.
We advance gender equality, improve public health, enhance food security, build climate resilience, and unlock inclusive economic growth.
As chair of the Onco River Commission, the suit also remains committed to strengthening regional cooperation in the sustainable management of our shared water resources.
Water knows no borders and neither should our commitment to collaboration.
Through partnerships across the Sac region and beyond, we contribute to promote knowledge sharing, integrated planning, and collective action in addressing the complex water challenges facing our countries.
Ladies and gentlemen, the future of water security will not be secured by infrastructure alone.
It will be secured by inclusive leadership, sound governance, environmental stewardship, meaningful partnerships that empower communities to become active custodians of their own resources.
Let us therefore continue building strong partnerships between governments, development partners, research institutions, civil society, and private sector, and local communities to unlock the full potential of our women led innovation.
Let us leave this conference not only inspired by today's discussions, but committed to translating them into practical action.
Let us create a future where every girl knows that she can become a scientist, an engineer, an entrepreneur, a policymaker, a leader in the water sector.
A future where women are not merely beneficiaries of water services, but architects of water solutions.
Because when we invest in women, we do far more than improve water management.
We strengthen families, build resilient communities, grow our economies, and secure a more sustainable future for generations to come.
In closing, I wish to congratulate the organizers of the WaterH Conference for convening this important platform for dialogue, learning, and collaboration.
May our deliberations inspire stronger partnerships, bold ideas, and lasting action towards achieving sustainable development goal six and the broader 2030 agenda for sustainable development.
Together, let us ensure that water remains a source of life, dignity and opportunity for all while empowering women to lead the innovations that will shape a more resilient, prosperous, and water secure future.
I thank you, Dear Lebo.
Thank you, Minister for that very important message.
If I can summarize in one word, he meant that water is the source of happiness, and we strengthen the water systems and our women, I think we are all happy at the end of the day.
Can I give the floor now to another colleague, Honorable Minister Onse, the Minister of Water and Human Settlements from Botswana.
You have the floor, sir.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, the involvement of all stakeholders in the achievement of SD six to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030 can never be underestimated.
Effective management of water resources is guided by the four integrated water resource management principles which are number one, water is finite and vulnerable, therefore needs protection to prevent polluing and reduce water scarcity.
Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach involving users, planners, and policymakers at all levels.
Women play a central part in the provision, management, and safeguarding of water.
Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognized as an economic good sustainable development goal indicator, 6.51 measures the degree of integrated water resource management.
Implementation on the scale of one is 200.
Botswana has made significant strides in the adoption of the integrated water resource management principle in her water governance structures.
The country's water policy is anchored on the three pillars of the sustainability, efficiency, and equity adopted from the IWRM principles.
The nation is a growing economy faced with competing needs for water by the different sectors such as agriculture, energy, mining, manufacture, and tourism, environment, including water for domestic and sanitation.
The current water demand is 272 million cubic meters versus 225 million cubic meters supply creating a deficy of about 47 million cubic meters.
Considering the water scarcity facing the country, the involvement of all the stakeholders in water development, planning and decision making at different levels is very crucial to bring together different perspectives for innovation.
To ensure access to clean water and sanitation, we manage the competing needs for water by the different economic sectors, achieve efficient and equitable water use, as well as ensuring the promotion of water resource conservation and protection.
The Wa Wa policy is inclusive based on equity, principle that advocates for water as a human necessity, a participatory approach in water resources management and planning as well as for gender and social equity in accessing water resources.
Women empowerment to fully participate in issues and decisions relating to sustainable development and management of water resources.
However, women are the primary users, managers, and custodians of water for households, agriculture, and livelihoods.
As a result, they bring valuable knowledge, practical experience, and unique perspective to water related decision making.
Their meaningful participation in water governance promotes industry responsiveness and sustainability, at the same time, strengthening collaboration among stakeholders.
Improving community ownership of water initiatives, and contributing to more equitable and resilient water management strategies.
Therefore, women need to be given an equal opportunity to influence policies, shape decisions, lead negotiations, and contribute their expertise at local, national, regional and global levels.
Empower women in water governance strengthens water security, supports sustainable development, peace, and cooperation, as well as adaptation to climate change.
As these six B one advocates for the involvement of local communities in water and sanitation planning and management to ensure that the needs of the people are being met, communities at a grassroots level are able to guide the technical and the administrative solutions that are suitable for their local contexts.
People at local level interact directly with the water sources and sanitation systems.
Due to these intersections interactions, they possess some indigenous and practical knowledge of the local system that is critical for grassroots decision making.
Finally, public education and awareness on water resources and sanitation management remains the cornerstone that strengthen stakeholders involvement and participation in water conservation, climate adaptation measures, and hygiene.
This includes the education of young children to develop a culture that appreciates good practices in water and sanitation management.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you, Minister.
I think you stressed more on water laws and water governance, which is very important at both the national and the international level, and that is what this dialogue is all for.
The most important thing is that after doing this dialogue, how much we can execute at our own levels on the ground.
Thank you, Minister, for that very important note.
May I give the floor now to another colleague, Honorable Carlson Manuel, the former minister plenty potentially from a small Caribbean island of Cirau.
Please, you have the floor.
Excellencies, ambassadors, Flow delegates.
Good afternoon.
Allow me to begin by expressing my sincere appreciation to the Water and Sanitation Agency and its permanent observer mission for bringing us together during this high level political forum.
It is an honor to join this distinguished panel and to contribute to a dialogue that's not only about water, but ultimately about dignity, opportunity, and our shared responsibility to build more sustainable future.
Today, I will speak with reflection on the work of small island development state to climate change and SDG six.
For many of our islands, sustainability is not an abstract policy discussion.
It is our daily reality.
Climate change is not something we are preparing for.
It's already here.
Longer droughts, stronger hurricanes, rising sea levels, pressures on freshwater resources, and increasing cost of essential infrastructure are realities that many of our communities face every single day.
When we speak about SDG six, we are therefore also speaking about health.
We are speaking about education.
We are speaking about economic resilience, and we are speaking about equality.
Ultimately, we are also speaking about the future of our people.
The Water HER Initiative reminds us of an essential truth.
Sustainability development is strongest when communities themselves become part of the solution.
Women have always played a central role in protecting families, managing natural resources, and strengthening communities.
Empowering women in water governance is therefore not simply about representation.
It is about making better decisions and creating more resilient societies.
But today, I would also like to raise another point.
One, that I believe deserves also great attention.
Small island development states often call upon the international community for greater cooperation, increased finances, and also stronger partnerships, and rightly so.
Yet we must also ask ourselves a difficult question, are we doing enough to work with each other? Too often we approach the same challenges separately.
We negotiate separately, we develop policies separately.
We compete for the same limited resources separately, and then we wonder why our collective influence remains limited.
The reality is simple.
Individually, many of our countries are considered too small to attract major investments, too small to finance large scale innovations, and too small to carry out certain projects alone.
But together, we represent hundreds of millions of people.
Together, processes extraordinary knowledge.
Together, we have world class universities, innovative entrepreneurs, talented young professionals, and unique experience that can benefit one another.
The greatest prospect for us today is not only to ask other to partner with us, but it's to partner more with each other.
Imagine regional centers for innovation.
Imagine shared expertise in water management, joint procurement of sustainable technologies, collective investment funds, regional financing mechanisms.
Knowledge that moves freely instead of being reinvented every single time.
Partnerships should not begin when we arrive at the United Nations.
It should begin long before we enter these holes because partnerships is not only simple goal 17.
Partnership is a condition for long term resilience.
Excellencies and delegates, the sustainable development goals cannot be achieved two isolated success stories.
They required trust, they required courage, and above all, they require cooperation.
The future of our islands will not be determined by the size of our economies, nor by the size of our population.
It will be determined by the strength of the partnerships we choose to build with.
Let us therefore move beyond conversations.
Let us move beyond individual ambitions.
Let us build genuine alliances amongst and with partners to commit to sustainable development because no island of country can solve today's global challenges alone.
But once again, together, we can become one of the stronger global voices for resilience, innovation, and sustainable development.
Let me close by saying the last words.
The greatest untapped resource of small islands development states is not funding.
It is each other.
Thank you.
Thank you, honorable.
You see that everybody is touching a different aspect.
The first colleague of mine who spoke as water is happiness, second, water is governance, and the third one is saying that we all need to come together with partnership so that we can achieve the first two.
And let's move forward with Madam Fittore Pecoli who is an environmentalist and a leader.
You have the floor, ma'am.
Dear Excellency Distinguished representatives, ladies and gentlemen, I thank Ambassador doctor Nabit Kapoor for bringing us together to confront a defining global challenge, clean water and climate resilience.
Let us be direct.
Water is no longer merely an environmental concern.
It is the absolute bedrock of public health, food security, economic development, and national security.
For my country, securing our water future is our highest strategic priority.
We face a unique and unforgiving geographic reality due to our topography and elevation.
My country does not naturally retain water.
Our rivers flow rapidly out of our borders, and when the rain stops, our land dries out quickly.
With climate change and accelerating change that is coming, bringing extreme temperatures, severe droughts, and unpredictable floods, relying on the natural flow of rivers is no longer enough.
Capturing and storing water is an existential necessity.
That is why we are moving decisively to construct five new dams and reservoirs.
These are not simply infrastructure projects, they are lifelines.
They will guarantee drinking water, sustain agriculture, manage flash floods, and help us survive prolonged droughts.
As we build these essential reservoirs, we are doing so with uncompromising environmental standards.
We have taken decisive actions to protect our river corridors, mandating the preservation of free flowing waters, and banning harmful interventions that destroy aquatic ecosystems.
Simultaneously, we are modernizing wastewater treatment and actively embedding rainwater harvesting into our public planning.
To protect our people, we are also building robust early warning systems because reacting after a disaster strikes is no longer an acceptable strategy.
Yet, our sustainable future is a collective horizon and no country can reach it alone.
While we are resolutely committed to climate action, our potential is constrained because we are excluded from major climate finance adaptation.
If UN is serious about achieving SDG six, ensuring clean water and sanitation for all, we must practice true inclusivity.
We all know that a global goal cannot and will not succeed with deliberate blind spots.
To reach this milestone, we must include everyone and that includes my country as well.
But I stand before you today not to dwell on limitations, but to invite partnership.
Climate change recognizes no borders, respects no political statuses, and honors no division.
Here at the United Nations, we must champion the profound truth that environmental degradation affects us all equally.
We stand on the same Earth, our common foundation.
We live beneath the same sky, warmed by the same sun and nourished by the same rain.
Because we share this one beautiful planet, we share the extraordinary opportunity to protect it together.
Global climate Funding must reach every corner of the globe where there is readiness to act.
Inclusion is not merely a matter of fairness, it is the very engine of effective global climate action.
We stand fully ready to contribute, to collaborate, to share our hard won experiences, and to learn from yours.
To protect water is to protect life itself.
To invest in resilience today is to plant the seeds of peace, prosperity, and dignity for all generations to come.
Just as our rivers flow outwards to nourish the lands beyond our borders, let water be the ultimate bridge that connects people, communities, and nations.
Let us transform barriers into unbreakable partnerships, translate our words into bold actions, and replace our uncertainties with unshakable hope.
Together, we should actively engage in a world where every community drinks from the well of clean water, where nature strives, and where absolutely no one is left behind.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Pitore.
I think you spoke about the various examples of what you have been doing and also the integrated approach that the Earth is one and we are all living on the same planet, and so we all need to protect it.
We move on to the next section, which is the keynote presentation.
The speakers here, we have two and I would like them to limit their statements to 7 minutes at least.
The most important one being the Water her model as a scalable approach to women led water governance.
The first speaker we have in this is a very veteran personality, doctor Linda Salvin, who is a radio talk show host and also a creator of Vicks of Wisdom.
Ma'am, you have the floor, please.
Thank you very much.
Excellencies, distinguished delegates, estemed colleagues and fellow advocates for sustainable development.
It is an honor to join this important dialogue at the 2026 high level political forum as we collectively advance global efforts towards sustainable development Global six and reaffirm our shared responsibility to ensure safe water, sanitation, public health, and human dignity for all.
I extend my sincere appreciation to the organizing missions and distinguished partners for convening this timely conversation, focus on climate resilience, women led innovation, and sustainable community development.
Today, I speak from both professional experience and personal conviction.
Nearly 50 years ago, I began my journey in epidemiology and public health studying the spread and impact of waterborne and foodborne diseases.
At that time, the world was confronting outbreaks and revealed how fragile public health systems can become with sanitation, water safety and environmental conditions, especially when they fail in our communities.
Decades later, despite advancements in medicine, technology, and global awareness, many of these same challenges continue to affect us and millions of people around the world today.
Because access to safe water is still not guaranteed and without safe water, health itself becomes fragile.
When we discuss water, we are discussing far more than infrastructure or environmental policy.
We are discussing life itself.
Water sustains the human body, it sustains agriculture, healthcare systems, schools, communities, and economies, and yet for millions of people around the world, particularly in vulnerable and underserved regions, clear, clean water is difficult and still remains difficult to access.
As an epidemiologist, I learned very early that contaminated water systems became pathways for disease and human suffering.
Diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery, hepatitis A, salmonella infections, gastroenteronitis, parasitical illnesses, infections to threatened communities where sanitation systems remain inadequate and clean water remains inaccessible.
These are not simple medical terms from textbooks.
These are the realities experienced in families in every single area today.
Children suffer from dehydration, mothers caring for sick infants without proper sanitation, communities struggling with recurring illnesses because the most basic necessity of life still remains uncertain, which is water, clean water.
While public health systems often focus on treatment, We must remember that prevention begins long before a hospital is ever needed.
Prevention begins with clean water.
Many of us gathered here today live in environments where water is immediately available.
We drink it without hesitation, we bathe with it, we wash our clothes, we cook with it, we clean hospitals, schools, and our homes with it.
We rarely stop to think about the privilege of faucet and expecting water to flow.
But for many women and families around the world, daily life looks very different.
Without reliable access to clean water, maintaining hygiene becomes difficult.
Simple daily activities become major challenges.
Families struggle to safely prepare food, wash clothing, care for newborns, or maintain sanitary living conditions.
Women and girls often carry the greatest burden of this crisis, of course.
They are frequently responsible for collecting water, caring for children and vulnerable family members and managing the household sanitation, often while lacking adequate support, infrastructure, or representation and decision making processes.
This is why women's leadership must remain central to conversations surrounding sustainable development and water access.
Because women are not only affected by these realities, they are often the ones holding communities together in the face of them.
Water also affects every system within the human body.
Our body itself is largely composed of water.
It's actually 92%.
Hydration supports circulation, immunity, cognitive function, nutritional absorption, muscle performance, and overall physical well being.
When people are chronically dehydrated and exposed to unsafe water systems, the consequences extend far beyond temporary illness.
Children struggle with growth and concentration, malnutrition intensifies, communities experience declining health outcomes and reduced productivity, healthcare systems become overwhelmed with preventable diseases and the cycles of poverty continue to deepen.
Without health, there's no quality of life.
Without health, there was no sustainable development and without water, there can be no health.
Climate change continues to intensify these challenges.
Flooding, droughts, Flooding, droughts, water contamination, environmental instability, and placing enormous pressure on already vulnerable communities and public health systems.
As we know, those with fewer resources often face the greatest consequences.
Over and over, we repeat the same things with each of us as we represent our own dignitaries in our countries and our societies.
But the actual goal is that we understand many of the solutions before us and that we have ways to reduce disease transmission.
It's up to all of us to increase public health awareness.
I know we're short on time, but what we need is more innovation, partnership, and leadership and the 2030 agenda calls for transformation, equitable, innovative, and coordinated action.
It's not simply develop framework, it's a call for humanity to act with responsibility and compassion.
Let's work together to strengthen public health systems, improve sanitary and water.
Because water is life, water is health, water is dignity, we can all protect and help each other and remain one of humanity's highest shared responsibilities as one.
I thank you.
Thank you, Linda.
You mentioned a lot on how we are working under the development framework and we need to come out of it and do some more work.
Everybody is talking on water and women.
I think we should have a next session on water and men because that is also important.
Water her and water him should be the two important topics.
Yes.
Next we have another champion who's doing amazing work.
We have known her, doctor Linda Fn, who is the managing Director and Inspired Development Solutions Private Limited.
Ma'am, you have the floor and please be concise and summarize it.
Thank you.
Excellencies, distinguished delegates, esteemed colleagues, and partners in sustainable development.
It's an honor to participate in this important discussion at the 2026 high level political forum on sustainable development.
As we approach the final years of the 2030 agenda, one reality remains clear and we've heard that already, access to safe water and sanitation continues to be one of the defining challenges of sustainable development.
Water isn't simply a natural resource.
It's the foundation of health, education, economic opportunity, gender equality, and community resilience.
Without it, communities struggle to thrive, health systems face increased pressure, education becomes a challenge, economic productivity is reduced, and of course, opportunities for sustainable growth become increasingly difficult.
Despite global efforts, progress on water still remains one of the significant barriers.
This is why the initiatives such as Water AHR are so important in today's world.
It recognizes that sustainable water solutions must be community driven, they must be climate responsive, and they must be gender inclusive.
These initiatives bring women's voices to the fore.
They also require innovation, they require inclusive leadership, but most importantly, they require resilience.
This brings me to a broader challenge facing our world today.
While water remains critical, we must also ask ourselves a fundamental question.
Are our people, our institutions, our leaders, and our systems ready and prepared to navigate the extraordinary pace of change that is reshaping lives and our world? Resilience is not just about water systems, resilience is about human systems.
Today, we're experiencing levels of disruption unlike anything previously experienced.
Artificial intelligence is transforming industries, professions, workplaces.
It's affecting global change.
Geopolitical instability is reshaping economies and international relationships.
Social expectations and challenges are growing.
Technology is changing the way we live, work, learn, and connect and the pace of change shows no slowing at all.
Alongside all of this disruption, we're also witnessing some really troubling global trends.
Mental health challenges are increasing at an alarming rate, specifically in our younger generations and it's impacting women globally.
Stress, anxiety, burnout, exhaustion are affecting individuals across the world.
The challenges are no longer simple personal concerns.
They are economic concerns, they are social concerns.
They are affecting productivity, innovation, participation.
At the same time, we're also seeing a decline in the levels of satisfaction of people across the globe.
Often focus though on external factors.
We must recognize that this global trend is not going to disappear or reduce.
Technology is going to continue to evolve, AI will continue to transform our world.
Water will continue to be a challenge for us, global uncertainty will continue to change economies, institutions, and communities, and groups like this.
The question is not whether disruption and change will continue.
The question is whether we are preparing people to navigate successfully.
This requires a different conversation, a conversation around resilience, a conversation around grit, a conversation around emotional intelligence.
These are no longer optional skills, they are essential capabilities in the 21st century.
If we want future generations to solve the complex challenges represented by the sustainable development goals, we must equip them with the tools to manage uncertainty, to adapt to change, to remain effective under pressure.
Unfortunately, our existing systems are not designed for this.
Our education system continues to emphasize competency is designed for a previous era.
Increasingly technology and AI are capable of performing many tasks that traditionally dominated education priorities.
The things that will distinguish future leaders and future citizens are uniquely human capabilities that technology cannot easily replicate, emotional intelligence, collaboration, ethical decision making and resilience.
The future requires a new leadership paradigm, a paradigm that will help to recognize that people are the heart of every successful transformation, including transforming our water crisis in the globe.
Thank you.
I'm so sorry, doctor Linda.
We had to cut you short because of the time and we have other speakers.
But your speech was actually interesting.
You see, I love this job of being a moderator.
I'll tell you why.
I have done with my part.
Now I'm listening from this side, going to this side, and it's actually very connecting what ministers have said, and now she's asking a question, are we actually ready to achieve all this and how do we achieve all this? So it's actually very intriguing and your part was about satisfaction is quite interesting.
I mean, you actually bring out something which is very, um, you know, to be thinking upon in this conversation.
Next, we have coming to community experiences on Waterh and we have two speakers in this.
We would like to give them flow for 3 minutes each.
First is Mr.
John A.
Tarantino, who's a senior counsel and President emerges at Adler Pollock and han PC.
You have the floor, please.
Distinguished delegates, esteemed colleagues, and fellow advocates for sustainable development.
I extend my sincere appreciation to the organizing missions and partners for convening this timely discussion.
Today, I speak not only as the CEO of a global Precision Oncology organization, but as someone who has personally witnessed the fragility of life, the importance of dignity in health care, and the responsibility we all share as stewards of our environment and our water systems.
Water is not merely a resource.
Water is life.
It sustains our communities, our ecosystems, our public health systems, and our future generations.
But women and girls continue to bear the greatest burden of water insecurity.
They are often responsible for water collection, household sanitation, and caregiving, while simultaneously remaining underrepresented in water governance, climate decision making, and infrastructure leadership.
Principle of interconnectedness is deeply aligned with the work we do in precision oncology.
At first glance, oncology and water governance may appear unrelated, but in reality, they are profoundly connected The treatments we choose in health care do not only affect patients, they affect our ecosystems and our health and our biodiversity.
Traditional chemotherapy drugs are highly potent chemical compounds designed to destroy rapidly dividing cancer cells.
However, many of these toxic compounds are not fully metabolized by the human body.
In many regions of the world, existing wastewater infrastructure was never designed to effectively remove these complex micropollutants.
Consequently, these substances can eventually find their way into rivers, lakes, groundwater systems, and agricultural environments, creating a serious but often overlooked environmental challenge.
Ultimately, traces of these compounds may return to human populations through recycled water systems.
This is why innovation in health care must also be viewed through the lens of sustainability.
Precision oncology offers a more targeted and personalized approach to cancer treatment, one that reduces unnecessary exposure to toxic chemicals while improving treatment outcomes for patients.
In doing so, it has the potential to reduce the environmental burden associated with conventional chemotherapy.
This is particularly important as we discuss SDG six and climate resilience because protecting water systems requires us to think holistically.
Excellencies, the 2030 agenda calls for transformative and coordinated action.
That transformation must include investment in smarter health care systems, cleaner technologies, and inclusive governance models that empower women and communities as decision makers.
Its emphasis on women led water hubs, climate resilient infrastructures, innovation labs, technical capacity building, and cross sector partnership reflects the type of collaborative thinking necessary for sustainable development acceleration.
We must acknowledge that innovation alone is not enough if access remains unequal.
Through my work with Ilon and the Pipito Opportunity Connection, I have dedicated substantial effort toward expanding access to precision oncology and supporting underserved communities that would otherwise be excluded from these advancements.
And development cannot be considered successful if entire populations remain behind.
Solutions that strengthen health care systems while safeguarding water systems are essential.
Solutions that recognize the sacred interconnectedness of all life.
Allow me to conclude with the belief that continues to guide my work and my mission.
All life matters.
All life is sacred and water remains the foundation upon which life, dignity, health, and sustainable development depend.
Let us work together to ensure that future generations inherit a world where clean water, environmental sustainability, equitable health care, and human dignity are not aspirations, but realities.
I thank you.
Thank you, and I appreciate you giving a different perspective altogether from a clinician that how we are contaminating water.
I give the floor to miss Tina Newsome, who is the National Practice lead and vice president of the Travelers Indemnity Company.
You have the floor, ma'am.
Thank you.
Excellencies, distinguished delegates, esteemed colleagues, and fellow advocates for sustainable development.
I would like to begin by extending my sincere appreciation to the organizers, partner missions, fellow speakers, and all those who have come together for this important dialogue on advancing sustainable development goal six.
As we approach the final year of the 2030 agenda, access to safe water and sanitation remains one of the most pressing developmental challenges facing communities around the world.
While we often discuss water through the lens of infrastructure, investment, policy, and technology, it is important to remember that water insecurity is ultimately a human experience.
It is experienced in schools, homes, healthcare facilities, and communities every single day.
It affects whether children can attend school consistently.
It affects whether families can maintain their health and well being.
It affects livelihoods, economic opportunities, dignity, and community resilience.
As we know, women and girls continue to bear a disproportionate share of this burden.
In many communities, they are responsible for collecting water, managing household sanitation, caring for family members, and adapting to the daily challenges that arise when reliable access to safe water does not exist.
When we speak about community experiences, I would like to briefly share a personal experience that shaped my understanding of what insecurity around basic necessities truly means.
I grew up in the South Bronx in a family that experienced significant economic hardship.
There were times when essential services were disconnected because bills cannot be paid.
There came a period when my family lost their home and for two years, lived without reliable housing.
During those years, we relied heavily on the support of others and on the strength of our community to navigate uncertainty and hardship.
Although my experience was not one of water insecurity, it taught me an important lesson about what it means when access to basic necessities become uncertain.
It taught me that insecurity is never about a resource.
It is about opportunity.
It is about dignity.
It is about whether individuals and families have the foundations they need to build a better future.
That lesson is one I continue to see reflected in communities facing water insecurity today.
Across many regions of the world, families are making difficult decisions because access to safe water cannot be taken for granted.
Children lose valuable educational opportunities, health care deteriorates.
Economic participation decline.
Women spend significant portions of their day securing water rather than pursuing education, employment, and or entrepreneurial opportunities.
These realities are not statistics alone, they are lived experiences affecting millions of people.
One of the most important lessons emerging from communities involved in Water HER and similar initiatives is that sustainable solutions cannot be designed in isolation from the people they are intended to serve.
Too often, development programs begin with assumptions rather than understanding.
Communities themselves frequently possess valuable knowledge about local conditions, cultural realities, environmental challenges, and practical solutions.
Listening to those voices is essential.
Community engagement is not simply a consultation exercise, it is a prerequisite for sustainable success.
The evidence is clear that when communities participate actively in the design, implementation, and stewardship of solutions, outcomes are stronger, adoption rates improve and long term sustainability increases.
This is particularly true when women are meaningful included in leadership and decision making processes.
Women are often the first to identify challenges and the first to understand the practical implications of water insecurity within households and communities.
They understand how water affects health, education, economic participation, and family well being.
Their insights are not supplementary, they are essential.
This is one of the reasons the Water HR model is so significant.
Water Hear recognizes that women are not merely beneficiaries of development programs, they are leaders, innovators, problem solvers, and agents of change.
The initiative places women at the center of water governance, climate resilience, and community innovation while creating opportunities for broader participation, local ownership, and sustainable impact.
It also recognizes that climate resilience and water security are inseparable.
Communities are increasingly confronting droughts, floods, environmental degradation, and water contamination resulting from climate related pressures.
Adré these challenges requires solutions that are locally informed, climate responsive, and capable of adapting to a changing world.
The experience in emerging from communities demonstrates that resilience is strongest when local leadership, community ownership, and initiative and inclusive participation work together.
This is not simply about delivering infrastructure, it is about strengthening capacity.
It is about building trust.
It is about empowering communities to become active participants, shaping their own future.
As we look towards 2030, we must continue investing in solutions that are community centered, evidence based, and scalable.
We must strengthen partnerships between government, civil society, organizations, academic institutions, development agencies, the private sector and local communities.
We must ensure that women and girls have meaningful opportunities to participate in leadership and decision making and we must continue listening to the voices of those who experiences the challenge every day.
Because the most effective solutions are not imposed upon communities, they are created with communities.
Sustainable water solutions are most successful when people are not treated simply as beneficiaries of development efforts, but as active partners in creating and sustaining them.
My own journey taught me that when opportunity reaches communities, lives change, the experiences we are hearing through WaterH remind us that when communities are empowered, supported, and included, transformation becomes possible.
Let us continue working together to ensure that access to safe water, dignity, opportunity, and resilience become realities for all.
I thank you.
Thank you, Tina, for this very informative dialogue actually.
You mentioned that women are the first ones to recognize that challenge.
I think we men should get up to recognize the challenges as well so that we have something called Water Hm as well next time.
The next segment, please try to limit yourself because we have a couple of other people also and we are short on time because United Nations will close and then we will be stuck inside.
Then we can have a dialogue throughout the night.
The next is gender innovation in water and sanitation.
We have the first speaker as Paul Mahoney, the CEO of Rethink Academy.
You have the floor, sir.
Excellencies, distinguished delegates, esteemed colleagues and fellow speakers, thank you to the organizers, partner missions, and my fellow panelists for the opportunity to participate in this important discussion.
I would like to begin with a simple observation.
Throughout history, humanity has solved extraordinary engineering challenges.
We have built bridges across oceans, we have connected continents through technology.
We have developed systems capable of delivering clean water to millions of people.
Yet, despite all our technological progress, one challenge continues to persist.
How do we sustain positive outcomes over time? As a chemical engineer and someone who has spent more than 20 years studying habits and human behavior, I've come to believe that the answer often lies not in technology itself, but in what people do with it.
Water infrastructure can be built, water treatment systems can be installed, policies developed and funding can be mobilized.
But the long term success of every one of these investments ultimately depends on human behavior.
It depends on whether communities adopt, protect, maintain, and sustain the solutions that have been created.
This is why I believe one of the greatest sustainability challenges facing the world today is not simply an engineering challenge, it is a behavioral challenge.
Every sustainable outcome begins with a sustainable behavior and every behavior begins with a habit.
Across the world, billions of people continue to face challenges related to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene.
Yet one of the most important lessons emerging from communities is that sustainable water solutions are not only about access, their long term success depends on what happens at the point of use.
Even the cleanest water, if handled incorrectly, can create health challenges.
Likewise, simple practices adopted consistently across households and communities can significantly improve health outcomes and strengthen resilience.
This is where women play an extraordinary role.
Across many communities, women are the educators, caregivers, organizers, and knowledge keepers who transfer the practices and behaviors from one generation to the next, and they influence decisions around hygiene, health, and water use every day.
This aligns closely, of course, with the vision of Water HR.
By empowering women as leaders and decision makers, we are not simply strengthening water governance, we are strengthening the transfer of knowledge, responsibility, habits and practices across generations.
The evidence from communities consistently shows that sustainable water solutions require more than access alone.
They require ownership, participation, and empowered habits.
Simple habits, safely storing drinking water, practicing proper hygiene, preventing contamination of local water sources, and sharing knowledge throughout the community.
None of these actions appear revolutionary on their own, yet together they create healthier families, stronger communities, and more resilient futures.
Throughout my work studying human behavior, one lesson stands above all others.
Small actions repeated consistently over time create extraordinary results.
The same principles apply to sustainable development.
A positive habit practiced by one family can influence an entire community.
Of course, a community can influence a region, a region can influence a nation and nations working together can influence global outcomes.
Excellencies, this is why the sustainable development goals ultimately depend not only on policy investment and innovation, but also on behaviors and choices people make every day.
Whether we are discussing water security, gender equality, climate resilience, public health or community development.
Lasting progress requires sustainable actions repeated consistently over time.
The future of sustainable development will not be determined solely by what we know, it will be determined by what we repeatedly do.
This is why community engagement matters.
This is why local ownership matters, and this is why empowering women and communities to become active participants in water governance is essential.
As we move towards 2030, we must continue investing in scalable, inclusive, and community centered approaches that strengthen both access to water and the behaviors that protect it.
We must continue supporting women as leaders, innovators, educators, and change makers within water governance systems.
Excellency, the sustainable development goals provide a shared vision for a better future.
But goals alone do not create change, people create change, every liter of water protected, every hygiene practice adopted, every community empowered, every woman given the opportunity to lead, every partnership strengthened.
These actions, repeated consistently over time are what transform aspirations into outcomes.
Sustainable development is ultimately the result of sustainable behaviors and sustainable futures are built when communities embrace the habits, practices, and values that enable progress to endure across generations.
Because perhaps the most powerful water purification system in the world is not a filter, a pipe, or a reservoir.
It is the flow of knowledge, responsibility, and good habits from one generation to the next.
I thank you.
Thank you, Paul.
One point I could gather very importantly from your conversation was repeated actions, which creates a ripple effect in the community, and then you make it as a sustainable behavior to achieve your goal.
The next in this category, we have miss Ira Single from Indian Administrative Services, and a global champion for social development.
Ma'am, you have the floor.
Gets, colleagues and partners, thank you for the opportunity to speak at this year's high level political forum on gender innovation in water and sanitation with respect to water aiming at advancing SGG six.
As we review SGG six, one truth is clear water justice is gender justice and without women's centered innovation, we cannot achieve universal access, safety, or climate resilience.
Water HR is a gender responsive initiative of observer mission of water and sanitation, designed and advancing women led water access, safety, and climate resilient community systems across vulnerable and underserved populations by integrating gender responsive community innovation into women led water safety audits, community driven wash mapping, girls climate resilient education, community mobilization for water equity, and local leadership training for water governance.
Its mission aligns directly with the HLPS call for transformative and coordinated action recognizing women as water collectors, caregivers, managers, designers, innovators, and decision makers, providing solutions that are context specific, culturally grounded and socially sustainable.
When women lead water governance, communities experience immeasurable improvements in safety, sanitation, and climate adaptation.
This initiative gains even more importance when we look at the immense economic impact it seeks to achieve.
Globally, women and girls waste an estimated 250 million hours every day due to this crisis.
Even at a rough meager income of $10 a day, it extrapolates to a lost global GDP of approximately $900 billion a year, which compounds into many trillions per year in the future.
That is the scale of the global impact on GDP we are aiming to achieve with this.
Hence, we must move past and territory and implement five practical disruptive structured innovations, which also account for intersectionality amongst women since the crisis of water insecurity compounds heavily at the intersection of gender, physical ability, socioeconomic status, caste, age, and geography.
Firstly, we must ensure that every public infrastructure project must undergo a mandatory intersectional review prior to approval, moving beyond basic engineering feasibility to requiring a comprehensive dignity study evaluating physical distance, safety, menstrual hygiene, universal disability access, and social exclusion.
Secondly, we must have decentralized microgrids by deploying low cost IoT sensors across community solar borel and filtration networks.
Putting these digital tools directly in the hands of local women as pump audiences decentralizes maintenance.
Thirdly, we must have women led community water hubs that combine water access, real time water quality testing, menstrual hygiene supply distribution, and local grievance real mechanisms managed by trained women water stewards.
This ensures that the infrastructure lasts longer, faces fewer breakdowns, and operates with high financial efficiency.
Fourthly, we must ensure equity driven procurement and venture finance using instruments like the WaterH Opportunity Fund.
International and municipal actors should implement procurement mandates directing a fixed percentage of water contracts towards local women led water enterprises.
This ensures capital directly builds local entrepreneurial wealth, enabling women to manage solar pumps, rain water harvesting, and last mile delivery.
Lastly, we must have a multi layer disaggregated data infrastructure.
Global monitoring systems must overhaul data collection to disaggregate water statistics, bisex, age, disability, income geography, and social vulnerability.
Communities must be active co creators of this data dashboard to hold local budgets publicly accountable.
In closing, gender innovation in water is not about adding women to old failing systems, but about redesigning systems with women in all their intersectional diversity at the absolute center.
Advancing SDG six to Water H, women led water access safety and climate resilience within gender responsive community innovation for sustainable development affirms that gender innovation, water and sanitation is the accelerator that will determine the achievement of SGG six by 2030.
Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Mira, for that remarks about global integration and how we as people can come together and the billions and billions of numbers which you have said, I think those are very important, which we have not mentioned yet.
And the next is now we're coming towards the closing and how to mobilize partnerships and financing for this kind of a project on water, especially the water her and water him now I will also mention.
And I have Gregory as the speaker, who is also the advisor to the Water and Sanitation for Africa.
He's looking after the policy and collaborations and partnerships.
Greg, you have the floor.
Thank you.
Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues and friends.
I'm Greg Const Salvoy Senior Advisor to the permanent Observer mission of the Pan African Intergovernment Agency for Water and Sanitation in Africa to the United Nations.
I bring you one message.
Water HER is ready to scale and the Capital and coalitions of scale are in this room.
Consider the stakes.
2.2 billion people still lack safely managed drinking water worldwide.
In seven of ten households without water at home, it is women and girls who carry it 200 million hours every single day spent walking instead of learning, earning, and leading.
The climate change is compounding a crisis.
Droughts, floods, contamination are intensifying across Sub Saharan Africa and other climate vulnerable regions, yet the women who anchor community water systems remain underrepresented in the rooms where water and climate decisions are made.
We have less than four years to 2030 and progress on SDG six is not on track.
Water HER is not a concept.
It's a deployable model, women led community water hubs, climate resilient infrastructure, safety training innovation labs, a leadership academy, and a platform that connects capital communities.
From the financing side, three disciplines blend the capital, so first loss grants and concessional finance crowd in private investment.
Build the coalition which aligns with SDG 17 in practice, so no partner carries the risk alone, improve the impact with pilot site evidence delivered to this form.
Let me make that concrete.
One woman led water hub, roughly a quarter philanthropic first loss capital, 40% concessional, and 35% private placement and impact investment funding, a solar bore system serving some 5,000 residents.
Community set water fees make the hub self financing so that the grant capital recycles in the next community.
That is capital compounds, not aid that expires.
The governments represented here, this is not charity.
The World Health Organization estimates $4 returned for every dollar invested in water.
Hours returned to women and girls become income in school attendance.
Safe water lifts sustained pressure off national health budgets, water security stability and migration policy, and measurable SDG six progress strengthens your voluntary national reviews, your access to international climate finance.
Water is her burden today.
With your partnership, it becomes her power.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Greg, for bringing on the partnership proposal again on the table.
The next segment, we just have one or two things to do.
We are launching the stakeholders council today.
The stakeholders council is something which is outside the mission's perspective, but which has come from the headquarters.
Those people who are willing to support the projects on water and sanitation across the globe, we are creating this council for them.
Something very similar to what United Nations also does.
And we as a mission, and with your partnership, with your support, we are happy to launch this today.
I officially open this stakeholders council with our first head of this council, doctor Patel.
You have the floor to give us the highlight.
Make it a little brief so that we can all understand and then take it forward.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
Well, Your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, honored ambassadors, colleagues and friends from around the world.
Good afternoon and welcome.
Before we begin our work together, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the leadership of the world sub national and nations for the confidence that they have placed in me in appointing me to serve as chair of the council.
As I look around this room today, I don't simply see representatives of different countries or organizations.
I see an extraordinary gathering of experience, knowledge, innovation, and leadership.
Each of us brings a unique perspective and together we represent something far greater than ourselves.
Challenges facing our world today are too complex for any one government, institution, or organizations to solve alone.
Climate change, access to clean water, affordable energy, quality education, health care, food security, sustainable economic development are all interconnected as we all spoke about today.
Because these challenges are interconnected, our solution must be as well.
Throughout my professional journey, I've had the privilege of working alongside remarkable leaders from government, business, academic, philanthropy, and civil society.
If there is one lesson that experience has taught me, it is this, the greatest progress is made when people stop asking who deserves the credit and instead begin asking, how can we work together to make a difference? I hope this simple philosophy becomes the foundation of this council.
Our responsibility extends well beyond discussion.
We have an opportunity to build bridges, bridges between government and private sector, development institution, investors, academic, non government organizations, and local communities.
When we bring the right people together around the common purpose, idea becomes investment, investment becomes infrastructure, and infrastructure becomes opportunity.
Around the world, many of the most transformative initiatives are no longer driven by government alone or by the private sector alone.
They go by making possible through global public private partnership, when government provides the vision and policy and the private sector contributes innovation technology and investment, and civil society helps ensure that development creates lasting social impact.
Our initiatives that reflect this collaboration approaches through one of the projects I've been closely following in Madagascar, the Integrated Energy, Water and Human Development Platform.
Through the partnership of Jirama, the Utama Foundation, an international organization, investors, private sectors, partners, renewable energy is being transformed into far more than electricity.
It's becoming the financial engine that supports clean drinking water.
Education, health care, digital connectivity, and sustainable economic opportunity.
It demonstrates how an integrated public private partnership can simultaneously advance multiple United Nations sustainable development goals through one unified development platform.
This is exactly the kind of innovation thinking that we here at WSA UN Stakeholders Council should encourage.
One of our principal responsibility will be to educate, connect, help facilitate these kinds of partnerships around the world.
We can serve as a trusted platform where government investors, development agencies, business foundation, NGOs, and innovators come together to exchange the idea, identify opportunities, and transform promising concepts into sustainable financable projects that improve the lives.
Our role is not to replace the work of government and international organizations.
Our role is to help bring the right stakeholders to the same table, encourage collaboration across sectors and help create the partnership that turns the vision into reality, a place where successful projects can be introduced to other countries and adapt to meet local needs.
The place where innovation is encouraged, partnerships are created, and practical solutions move from discussions to implementation.
Every person seated in this room brings valuable experience.
Where you work is focused on whether you work is focused on the renewable energy, education, health care, technology, agriculture, finance, women empowerment, economic development, and environmental stewardship, your voice matters.
You and your experience can help shape solutions that benefit communities far from beyond your own borders.
None of us has every answer.
But together, we possess something far more powerful, our collective experience, our willingness to collaborate on our shared commitment to improve the lives of others.
To me, that is the true spirit of the United Nations.
Yes.
Bless you.
As we begin this journey together, I encourage each of you to view the council not simply as another international committee, but as a partnership built on mutual respect, shared purposes, and measurable actions.
Bring your ideas, share your experience.
Thank you, Mr.
Patel.
Challenge conventional.
I'm so sorry.
Thank you.
Thank you.
With this commissioning of the stakeholders council, something now you see why I like the job of being a moderator.
I'll tell you, I have another reason.
We came from what is the problem, then questions, then how do we achieve it? Coming back to partnerships.
So this is what I like about my mission that we are solution focused and solution oriented, and Mr.
Patel coming on board, I think we can gear up and spearhead this project which we are taking forward.
So I would request now my deputy, Adis Oka, to please hand over the appointment letters.
To Mr.
Jae Patel and Dots Okocha from Ghana as the first two members of the stakeholder council.
Adis Akika will be the ex officio chairperson of this board because she's one bridge between the mission and the stakeholders council.
So we can all give a big hand to them.
That Thank you.
Thank you, Ada so much.
Congratulations to you too, please.
I would really look forward to working with you externally that how we can actually achieve this on the ground, what we are speaking here with all the relevant people on the board.
The last but not the least, we have the closing remarks from my advisor again, doctor Raul Handa, who is the advisor for Delegate Relations and International Outreach.
Please, you have the floor, Mr.
Handa.
Excellencies, distinguished ministers, ambassadors, colleagues and friends, before I turn to what we heard today, let me brief with our thanks to the permanent Mission of Burundi, our co hosts, thank you for your partnership, sir, to the ministers who joined us today from Loto, Botswana, and Cursa, thank you for bringing your governments into this room.
To every speaker on today's program, thank you and to the team behind this mission.
Our ambassador and permanent observer, His Excellency, doctor Novi Kapoor, Our deputy permanent observer, He Excellency Ambassor Professor Adesa Okika, our senior advisor, Greg, our legal advisor who's not here today, Ankush, and our communications advisor Anker, thank you for building this room.
Now, what matters the most, what we actually discussed today, we are reminded that water is not infrastructure, it is life itself sustaining the human body, our food systems, our schools, our hospitals.
Without safe water, there is no health and without help, there is no development.
We heard how contaminated water still drives through cholera, typhoid, and communities that should have moved past these diseases decades ago.
We were reminded again and again that women and girls carry this crisis on their backs, walking hours for water, managing household sanitation, absorbing the health consequences while remaining locked out of the governance rooms where water decisions get made.
That is precisely the gap water exists to close women led water hubs, climate resilient infrastructure like solar boreholes and windwa harvesting, water safety training, innovation labs, and a women's water leadership academy to build the next generation of decision makers.
We heard that climate change is not a future threat but a present one, droughts, floods, and contamination already destabilizing the system we depend on.
We heard that even the best infrastructure fails without the household habits and behaviors that sustain it.
We heard powerfully that no solution holds unless it is built with communities not handed to them, that lived experiences must shape policy, not follow it.
This is all of SEG six tied inseparably to SEG five, SEG 13, SEG 17, water, gender equality, climate action, and partnership.
The 2030 agenda gives us four years or less what we do with today's commitments, the partnerships proposed, the recommendations tabled.
The WSA stakeholders Forum now commissioned will decide whether Water HER becomes a model that scales across Africa and the Commonwealth or a good idea that just left in this room.
We choose to scale it, we choose to believe in it, and we ask you to choose it with us.
Thank you very much for your time today.
And we have heard the last speaker for today and just in my closing, I would like to say that whatever we have spoken, I promise you, WSA is not one of those missions who just speaks and walks out of the door.
We want to and we have been doing and we will continue to do the work on the ground, whether it's in the form of execution of projects or whether it's in the form of dialogue at the United Nations.
We are ready, and I'm very thankful to the permanent representative of Burundi and his colleague and the Mission of Burundi for co sponsoring us today.
And thank you so much.
Before we leave, we'll have a quick photograph, and this meeting is closed.