Kick‑off Meeting of the Service Providers Stakeholder Group

Good afternoon, colleagues and welcome to Baku.
Thank you are warmly welcomed by the weather this morning.
All of you who've made it are very brave and resilient.
Well done, making it here today.
My name is Julie Perkins.
I'm with UN Habitat.
I'm stepping in for the chair of this session today, Rose Kagua who is on the road somewhere to lead this very exciting session that we have had at the WUF on service providers.
This is a very important session, and it's the first time that we're opening up a session like this for service providers.
The whole range of urban service providers from waste managers, mobility service providers, water sanitation, and energy.
This is extremely significant at WUF at the World Urban Forum, The service providers are essential to urban functioning.
I think we've had proof of that even just this morning.
This is a space that needs filling at the World Urban Forum.
We'd like to give a little bit more visibility to this important set of service providers within this urban space.
We're really happy that you could make it here today.
Some service providers are a little bit late because they're tending to some urgent issues this morning, but we expect more to be rolling in and hopefully our chair will come and replace me shortly.
So to kick us off, I'm pleased to introduce Andrés Tikis.
Andrés is the chief of the Urban Basic Services section of UN Habitat.
And Andre, please come up and provide some introductory remarks.
Great.
Thank you very much, Julie, and first of all, to all of you, to colleagues, partners, and friends who've braved the weather coming here.
You've really shown a lot of resolve making it here.
Good afternoon to all of you and really a big welcome.
And it's really a big pleasure to bring together all the service providers and utilities here at the World Urban Forum.
I think this is the first which we have at the World Urban Forum.
And let me start, first of all, with a very simple truth.
Cities don't really run on plans alone.
They actually run on services, the services which you provide.
And that means they run because of all of you together working together.
Water utilities, energy providers, transport operators, waste managers, you are not really behind the scenes.
You are the lifeblood really of our cities.
Every day your work determines whether a city functions or fails.
Whether a child can go to school, a clinic can operate, or a business can grow, or a neighborhood can thrive.
So your presence here is not only welcome, it is actually essential.
We're meeting at a defining moment.
Cities are growing fast, especially across Africa and the pressure is rising.
It is not just because of keeping up with this growth, but it's about shaping the kind of cities we want to build.
Because let us be clear.
The city is not defined by its skyline alone, but it is defined by its services and the quality of life which the services provide in these cities.
By whether people have water they can rely on energy they can afford, transport they can access, and environments they can live in with dignity.
Too often utilities are seen as operators of infrastructure only, but you are much more.
You are connectors, you're enablers, you're city shapers, You connect people to opportunity, you turn settlements into communities, and you make inclusion real, not theoretical.
And you stand on the front lines of today's biggest urban challenges, the housing crisis, the expansion of informal settlements, growing impacts of climate change, and deepening inequality.
Because we know this where services are missing, inequality grows, where services are strong, cities succeed.
We have also learned a hard lesson.
When services are planned in isolation, cities fragment.
But when services are planned together with housing, land use, and mobility, cities become engines of opportunity.
That is why this conversation matters because the future of cities depends on moving from silos into systems, from disconnected solutions into integrated urban thinking, and from infrastructure delivery to people centered service provision.
You also sit at the center of another defining challenge, climate change.
The climate transition will not happen without you.
Cleaner transport systems, circular waste management, energy efficiency, and nature based and digital solutions.
These shifts are not abstract, they are operational.
They are decisions you take every day.
But none of this can happen alone.
No single utility, no single city, no single actor can deliver this transformation.
We need partnerships that work across national and local levels, across public and private sectors, and across formal and informal providers.
Partnerships built not just on strategy, but on trust, accountability, and shared purpose.
That brings us together why we're here today.
That is about elevating your voice here at the World Urban Forum, because too often, global urban discussions discuss about service delivery without hearing enough from those who actually deliver it.
That needs to change.
This platform is here to share real and practical solutions, strengthen collaboration across sectors and help shape the Bu call to action.
Let me close with one message.
Service providers are not supporting actors in urban development.
You are the foundation.
You are the backbone of cities.
Without you, there is no adequate housing, No resilient cities, no sustainable future.
So let's make this count.
Let's move from discussion to direction, from ideas to action because when services work, cities work, and when cities work, people thrive.
Thank you very much.
Thank.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Andrés iques for that.
I think the message is clear, service providers are essential and we're not peripheral to the discussions that are happening at the World Urban Forum.
I think we're here as a sort of prep exercise to rally our energy so that we go into the World Urban Forum, also being proud of our sector and stakeholder group and speaking loudly within that forum.
So I'd like to move on to the first agenda item.
We're going to talk about the significance of utilities and service providers and how it matters for the World Urban forum by speaking with service providers from a few different types of service providers, and let me introduce them now and bring them up to the stage.
First, I'd like to introduce Mr.
Sinan Quitenda.
Have you made it here today, Mr.
Quitenda? Bit of a challenge.
I'm not seeing him yet.
I will introduce him later if he arrives.
Someone who I do know is here is Mr.
Jerry Vandenberg, who works with the Netherlands Trade Union Confederation, FNV and is a post doctoral researcher at University, doing research specializing in water.
Governance, river restoration, environmental justice.
You're a researcher now, but you have very much been a service provider and you're defending service providers very actively.
He has a lot of experience in water policy, public service and advocacy.
He was very active in coordinating an important European right to water citizens movement back in the mid 2010.
Next, I would like to introduce miss Yolanda Gomez.
She is water Operators partnerships facilitator with over two decades of experience across Asia and Pacific.
She is with Water Links as partnership coordinator and has led the design and implementation of WAPs between utilities for more than a decade out of the Philippines.
Yolanda.
I would like to call up miss Elizabeth Ruvinska.
Elizabeth, have you made it through? No, she is not here yet, hopefully soon.
We welcome people up onstage as they arrive.
Okay.
We have water sector speakers, but hopefully we will be joined also later by a speaker from the mobility sector and waste management as well.
Great.
I What I'd like you to do, speakers, is please give us a quick snapshot of what you think is the most important speaking from your own constituency towards this group.
Let's start with you, Jerry.
Thank you very much, Julie, and thank you very much for being here and being able to speak on behalf of the workers in utilities.
And I'm a member of FNP, Dutch Public Service or Trade Union and affiliated to Public Services International, the International, the Global Federation of Trade Unions in public services.
And that include, of course, water services, but also energy, waste services, health services, education, transport, et cetera, and government employees, of course.
And I want to address four conditions that we think are key for sustainable development and sustainable cities, and that is public ownership, public finance, public partnerships, and committed workers.
Public operators and public finance have played and continue to play an important and crucial role in developing water and sanitation systems worldwide.
When these services are publicly owned and managed, it is possible to reinvest all profits into the service.
This instead of extracting profits to benefit shareholders, like private companies must do.
In Paris, for example, in France, after water supply went back into public hands, the public utility, hou de Paris, Paris Water, cut tariffs by 8% while increasing the investment and benefiting water users, including the most disadvantaged and also benefiting the environment.
By contrast, in England, 35 years of privatizations have led to a long list of failures.
The private companies paid out 83 billion pounds in dividend to their shareholders while under investing, while selling no less than 35 reservoirs and polluting their rivers and waterways with raw sewage for over 3 million hours in 22,023 alone.
So England's water utilities have basically been bankrupted by private equity owners, using all sorts of blended and innovative financing tools to extract massive undeserved profits.
Public sector freedom from this profit maximization means that public utilities can enter public partnerships, PPS, we call them, not for profit twinning between utilities and peer learning.
That is to mutually develop capacities to improve service quality.
Yet government and development agencies keep underfunding these public utilities and PP.
International financial institutions are turning a blind eye to successes and the potential of public water and public finance.
Instead, they promote neoliberal policies that repeatedly fail privatization, public private partnerships, PPPs, blending of public and private finance.
But that comes down to public money going into private pockets.
This approach is not working.
We need public investment, including money raised through fair corporate taxation and appropriate debt relief mechanisms for countries.
We propose a number of policies to achieve this, enable and promote the return of services back into public hands.
By means of deprivatization or remicipalizations, keep public utilities under public ownership and public control, strengthen democratic governance, transparency, accountability, participation of workers and users and community representatives, and ensure adequate funding for ambitious international programs, like, for example, UN Habitat, Giapa, the Global Water Operators Alliance.
On labor, there is no human right to water and sanitation unless there are enough workers to operate and to provide the services with the proper tools and training with decent working conditions and labor rights, including occupational safety and health.
But attracting and retaining staff is a huge challenge for utilities worldwide.
If workers are not respected and included, if they don't earn enough or are poorly managed, they will, A, perform poorly and B, leave as soon as possible.
Water and sanitation services cannot come from AI or smart meters.
They require workers to ensure, to improve, to expand, and to maintain services.
That's also part of sound development and employment policies.
Public investment in water and sanitation has the potential of providing quality jobs that can lift families and communities out of poverties and at the same time, improve quality of life in cities.
Next to the investment in workforce, we need participation of workers in decision making processes.
Workers cannot be guided by algorithms, nor can they be instructed by managers that don't know reality in the trenches on the ground.
These are the reasons why managers need to include workers and trade unions in all water operator partnerships and all municipal partnerships.
Sustainable public services means they must be provided for all of us, but also must be provided with all of us.
It's my message to referum Thank you so much.
Thanks, Terry.
Really interesting messages and perspectives.
I think it's just as utilities service providers need to be heard and integrated into the urban dialogue, workers also need to be integrated within the voices of service providers themselves.
They're the hands on the ground that are doing this work.
Thanks so much.
Yolanda, if we could hear from you, please.
Okay.
So I'm I'm from Water links and we have been a facilitator of partnership among water and wastewater utilities across Asia and the Pacific.
So I only I have only a very brief statement highlighting the significance of water and wastewater providers, a stakeholder group and its relevance, and why does it matter to the World Urban Forum.
First, the role of utilities and service providers such as water and sanitation or wastewater facilities is central to the theme of the 30th WUF, which is housing the world, safe and resilient cities and communities.
Note that a water and sanitation utility is the legally recognized entity responsible for delivering safe, reliable services in a defined population or area.
It could be the household, it could be the community, whether it is formal or informal, so they are doing their job along those lines.
By that definition alone, one can clearly conclude the relevance and critical role of these water and sanitation service providers within the landscape of human habitat and housing.
Note further that there are about 285,000 of these water and sanitation service providers that comes in different sizes and makeup.
Without them, there would be no basic services.
And here, I'm speaking about water and sanitation.
I personally think that a house or a community is not complete or nor functional without those two elements.
Finally, I'd like to highlight that water and sanitation service providers are a game changer in the housing arena.
As one of the speaker highlighted earlier, we should be elevating their voices.
But I think we should not only be elevating their voices, but we are ensuring that as stakeholders, they should be heard and listened to.
Thank you.
Thank you, anda, and this is what we're here is to make sure that those voices are heard.
Do we have any questions from the audience while we're waiting for any efforts? Well, if any of our missing panelists managed to get through the high waters and arrive at the forum? No, not yet.
Would any of the service providers or others in the audience like to ask a question or like a comment, please? Yeah.
Please introduce yourself.
Thank you.
Hello, everyone.
My name is James Casgo.
I'm from Zambia.
I work for the regulator of Water Supply and sanitation back home.
I was following through with what Bj was saying and back home, currently, the service provider is 100% owned by the local authorities.
But we went through a process of commercialization.
So they are shareholders, but they are adding as private utilities.
Now, we have found ourselves in a challenge with regards to investment capacity.
The rate of urbanization back home compared to the rate of investment in the sector by service providers, I think there's a de link there.
The rate of urbanization is faster than the rate of investment.
So we were thinking as regulator that perhaps it would not harm the sector if we allowed a bit more private sector participation.
Where maybe a private company comes in, maybe they build facilities, operate and at some point transfer back to the utility.
Now, I was following through.
Maybe you seem to not be okay with the idea of the private participation.
In the case that I've given, for example, Zambia, would you still feel maybe it's something we should think through a bit more or maybe they build up pattern transfer mode would work a bit more because then they'll operate for a particular period of time and at some point has it back.
It's a win for them.
It's also a win for us because then access is improved.
We're looking at it from those two angles.
Thank you.
Yes.
Thank you very much for your question.
I gladly respond to that.
Yes.
Well, to answer it directly.
No, I'm not opposing private sector participation, but that's something different than privatization.
Privatization means private company is taking over the surface, and there's only one objective to take over.
It's to make a profit.
That's what a private company exists for.
If it doesn't make a profit, it stops to exist.
That's what the private company has to do.
That's the first objective of the private company.
Now, the first objective of public services of water provision is to provide water to all, to everybody.
It's not an objective to make a profit.
So if you hand over the surface to a private operator, then the well, the meaning of the surface changes.
The objective changes.
So that's something different.
Private sector participation, I can imagine very well if you need expert knowledge in a certain area.
When I look at, well, situations I know in the Netherlands or in Europe, for example, you could make use of capacities of a private laboratory for testing.
I mean, that's okay because they are specialized on that.
It's not the service delivery that their private company is specialized in.
So For testing, yes, for research, I can imagine you ask a private company consultancy.
So there's good reasons to enter into cooperation with a private company, but that's something different than privatization.
I mean, water is a public service, and that's why we say you have to keep public control.
You have to keep it in public hands because the surface is for all of us and with all of us.
Okay.
I'm going to I live in Metro Mania, so I know what privatization is all about.
So based on my experience, if you go into, like, privatization, like what's happening in Metro Manila, where in the there are to concessionaires, I think you should have a very strong regulator.
But personally, I've seen also the changes that happened, you know, I I'm used to in the early 80s, I live in a in a building in the third floor and I can only have the water at 10:00 in the evening.
So you can just imagine.
But after that one, I'm not saying that this may happen to you, but in Metro Manila, this is the reality.
The chains and hands also made a lot of progress.
And I think in general, we accept that.
But I also want to emphasize that you really need a strong regulator and a very strong and participation of the people like a stakeholder, like a consumers group.
Because in our case, every five years, there is what we call a rate basing, which means that two concessionaires would present their plan for the next five years and say, we need this money because in return of giving us this money, which means raising the tariff, this will be the benefits.
That's where the regulator really comes into and also the very strong participation.
You know in the Philippines, the NGOs very strong.
They are really a force to wreck one, not to mention the church.
Thank you.
Thanks so much.
We have time for one more question.
Yeah.
Go ahead.
Hello.
Sorry.
I will take a segment of your speech, Gerry, concerning the replacing of AI into human labor or employees.
In my opinion, I'm presenting water service provider in Bethlehem and I'm a member of the Arab regions in Jooa.
It really very interesting to have an AI partnership to be embedded into new waves.
But in my opinion, AI is very essential to teach the employees about the new methods to solve, to monitor, and to be as a tool supporting the team to work together to have development and improving of the work in field offshore and onshore.
So I would like to know more about this through your experience and the effects of that on the work.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your question.
Yes, I gladly go into this point of AI because I see AI as a danger to public service and a danger to water surfaces.
Because we are dealing with water, we are dealing with nature.
We have to develop our knowledge and our capacities to Well, let me say to live in harmony that is sustainable with our environment, with nature.
That's the only way forward.
And That is why at this moment, so often is spoken about nature based solutions.
Now, AI is the opposite of that.
AI is a technological solution, and it's in the hand of only a few corporations worldwide.
So do we increase the knowledge and the power of these few companies worldwide? Or do we want to increase the knowledge and capacities of all of us, service providers, humans to live in a sustainable world? And that is something that we have to realize, I think, all of us in the utilities, but also and especially, I think, in governments, because they are the decision makers.
And yeah, I don't want to put my future and my life in the hands of AI and the company that is behind this AI.
That This is what's so great is that this is just the beginning of five days of discussion, you guys have plenty of opportunity to talk about this more.
I'm going to move on to the next segment, you can chip in later.
I think Vishnu here also, I know has lots of excellent AI defense to give at the moment, so you can check in with him later.
But the Wolf program is actually full of really interesting um, sessions that are picking up on a lot of these topics that you've raised in its assemblies, dialogues, its roundtables.
What we'd like to do next in this session is to, first of all, thank our panelists very much for their interventions and the audience for that.
Thank you.
Welcome to stay or go whatever you prefer.
We'd like to one of the purposes of this session, as we said, is to equip, let's say, service providers to go into the World Urban Forum, more proudly and loudly and to really be raising the voices, trying to get some kind of messaging into the Baco action plan that will emerge at the end.
And to support us in that, we have drafted a number of messages, basic messages around the role, the importance, challenges facing service providers in cities as they connect to housing and sustainable urbanization.
We're going to share these small messages with you now to be able to discuss with your read first and then discuss with your neighbor.
And then we'd like to hear from you.
This is an active exercise and Rusque currently it's done.
They're all there.
People see these messages, they're look like this.
Okay.
Before I read out all of them, I think we can do that at the end, but what I think would be nice is just to read the message that you have.
Is anyone missing a paper? Rose Kaag, our chair is here.
You want to come replace with me? Just take your time, read through, take a minute, and then just turn to your neighbor and share your message.
What we think would be interesting is to comment on it.
Do you agree with it? Do you agree with the challenge? Do you agree with the message? What would you change? What would you adapt and that message? Just discuss that with whoever is sitting close to you.
I see some people are sitting next to no one, so they'll have a hard time discussing.
I think you might need to cozy up to somebody and chat away.
Great.
Sorry to cut the conversation short, but we would like to now hear back from you a little bit.
Who has message number one? Who is holding message number one and would be willing to read it out.
Yes.
Great.
Please, could you pass through the microphone.
We're reading through the messages.
Go ahead.
Introduce yourself, please.
Hi, my name is Lj.
I'm from Brazil and I'm part of organization called it Manji.
So just adopt it for me to read the message.
Yeah.
If you could read the call the message.
Our call.
Utilities call for early and systematic involvement in urban planning process, ensuring that the house development is matched with water, sanitation, energy, waste, and mobility system.
Avoid fragmentation, service gaps, and the costly retrofitting, particularly in informal setments.
That's it.
That's great.
That's great.
What did you think of this message? Yeah.
I was talking about the people as part of this process.
We are talking about infrastructural basal services, technical ology, but I think people need to be at the center of the process.
We need to bring people to technical conversation, political dialogue and to translate, make this conversation working with people as part of the different steps in this process because we need to guarantee that everything is going to happen, is going to happen with people as the central element in this In this challenge, and this process.
Thanks so much.
I think that's people are maybe the connector on this one.
House, land, infrastructure, services, and climate planned together by people from the outset.
It's also doing this together.
That's a message you can carry with you through the Wolf in addition to some of the others.
Thanks very much.
Could we have somebody who is holding message three, please.
I see somebody in the front row is holding message three.
Are you comfortable to read the message? Yeah.
Anyone who would like to read message two? Yes.
Please go ahead, James.
Thank you.
Sorry.
Message two, affordable housing without affordable transport is not affordable at all.
That's the message.
From our discussions, we thought that this statement is not entirely false, but is not complete, but we think that a more systematic approach should be taken.
That is a bit more multi sectorial, because we shouldn't just look at affordable transport.
We should also look at other basic services, where is the water, where is the sanitation.
Where is the energy? Where is the drainage system? I think not having water and sanitation in the picture of this statement makes this housing expensive, in our view and not affordable.
I think our case is to follow a more systematic approach.
Thank you.
Thanks so much.
Yeah.
That could be interchanged with different basic services, couldn't it? Yeah.
Thanks so much.
Anyone who is holding message four? Yes.
So I have message four and it says inclusive water and sanitation services are essential to safe and dignified housing.
The challenge is without reliable access to safe drinking, water, sanitation and wastewater management, housing cannot be healthy, dignified, or sustainable.
The call is that utilities affirm their role as core public service actors in achieving SDG six, protecting public health, reducing? Okay.
I've been very cold, so it's very comfortable to just sit there and not stand.
Reduce an environmental risks and strengthen resilience, especially in informal settlements and rapidly growing urban areas.
Me and my partner here, we've discussed about this.
We agree with this statement, but there is the last part that says no safe water.
No safe housing, service equity is non negotiable, we think is incomplete.
And we would like to say no safe water and sanitation.
No safe housing.
Service equity is non negotiable.
He's going to talk more about he has statement number nine and he will talk about that and including this and we've agreed.
This is where my intervention ends under statement number four, just to add that no safe water and sanitation, no safe housing.
Thanks so much.
Great addition.
What we're not going to get through all of these right now.
I'd like to look at one that addresses waste management.
Does anyone have message number six? No one or seven.
Please.
If you have seven, you're obliged to speak.
How about number nine? Please.
The statement we have digitization and data sharing are critical enabler of inclusive service delivery.
I think we agree I come from Rad, Saudi Arabia, working for R regional municipality.
Fortunately, digitization is not an issue for a city like Rad.
We have digital platforms for all service providers.
In addition, that we have created coordination governmental entity that works to coordinate all service provider and infrastructure, and it works also to receive complaints from the citizens and in addition to standardize the service provided in the infrastructure services.
Thanks very much.
This message, share data closes service gaps.
Interoperability is an equity tool.
Do you agree with that? Is that a message you'll take forth in the World Urban forum? Super.
Great.
Thanks everyone.
We have these messages to share with you electronically.
I think you've signed up for this session, so we will share them with you so we don't have enough copies to give them all out, but you can also pick up what is left and please take them forth.
Of course, the point is not to use them word for word, but just to adapt and feel confident and empowered to be speaking up on behalf of service providers in the World Urban Forum.
For this final segment, I would like to introduce our UN Habitat colleague from the WUF Secretariat, so that I get his name, Wycliffe Tonga.
If he is here and available to come up, Oh, you're good.
Super.
Thank you.
Wherever you like.
Wycliffe will just give some closing wrap up remarks.
Then if you don't mind sticking, we'll do a quick little family photo for this first session at the World Urban Forum dedicated to service providers.
Wycliffe.
Thank you so much for having us here.
This is a very interesting conversation and if I remember very well, for a very long time, utilities and service providers have been forgotten whenever we call upon stakeholders and other groups for the conversation about sustainable urban development.
But I'm really glad that finally, there's recognition that other actors are starting to show.
As I've been introduced, my name is Wycliffe Tonga.
I'm with the partnerships and local governments unit within UN Habitat.
I would just like to really acknowledge the important role that service providers and utilities play in advancing sustainable urban development.
There is no conversation about housing, about climate resilience, about public health, about mobility, about water that can be dealt with in isolation.
This has been the case, and I believe also a reason as to why we're experiencing some of the challenges that we're experiencing today.
You cannot have this conversation amongst yourselves, and this is an opportunity for you to really connect with the other actors within this space.
After this meeting, we have roundtables, we have dialogues, we have networking opportunities, and it's good if we become ambassadors of the message that is coming from this meeting here today.
When you interact with the other counterparts, it's good to take the key messages to those rooms.
Let us have some coordinated approach when we speak to the other groups.
There is a roundtable called the Parliamentarians round table.
I believe these are strategic entry points when it comes to changing policy at the national level.
It's good to have one voice when we interact with these partners.
Over the past few months, UN Habitat organized consultations with the representatives of partner groups.
I'm happy to note that this group was also represented in these consultations and the voices that came from these consultations have informed the zero draft of the Baku call to action.
This is the document that is going to be a reference point for the next two years when we interact at the intergovernmental meetings and also when we engage and support the countries.
It's good that you look at the draft and provide feedback through the other channels and also writing back to your inhabita to ensure that your voice is represented in the Baku call to action.
As you have noted in this meeting today, this is not only a networking space, but it's an opportunity to shape our collective messages and identify partnerships and collisions.
The position of service providers within the broader discussion of the Wolf, including at roundtables and networking events is really, really encouraged.
It's a good start and I'm glad that this is happening on the first day so that when we interact with the other groups, we at least speak with one voice.
So as we conclude here today, it's good to really emphasize the importance of building bridges throughout the WF process.
By this, we mean, let us move beyond discussing our own sectors, as we've mentioned, and actively really look at the collisions and associations that we can make.
It's good as a group to identify the strategic partners who can speak our language, those who can really understand what we're trying to say and bring this within our meetings in the future.
Future consultations of utilities and service providers, the networks that you're forming, it's really good to expand your wings to bring on the local and regional governments, the private sector, the parliamentarians that you will meet in the round tables and have them really champion the message that you have.
So let us continue connecting with the academia, the youth, the women, the private sector.
Many of the challenges we are discussing, whether it's on water, sanitation, transport, are deeply connected and cannot be solved in isolation.
So we need everyone in this journey.
Of provides the opportunity to identify common priorities, and it's also an opportunity to ensure that the operational realities and solutions emerging from service providers are better understood and reflected in policy discussions.
My call here is, please attend the dialogues, please attend the roundtables, please look at the partner events and make the interventions, the voice that is coming from here, the call to action that we've read just in the concluded session.
Let us pass this message, let us make sure that it is captured.
We really have to shout and repeat the same message until we are heard, until they put our message on paper and they adopt it at the end of the World Upon forum.
So please don't only attend sessions that speak to your group or that speak to the message that you believe in.
But try and see the connection between your vision and your mandate with the other groups.
Because at the end of the day, we are here to discuss the 2030 agenda and how to build a sustainable urban world.
So we are headed towards the same goal.
So while our mandates might seem to be different, they all culminate at the same goal, and the WUF is the platform that provides that opportunity.
Thank you so much and happy to be part of this conversation.
Thank you.
So well said, Wycliffe, thanks so much.
I think this really hits home for service providers because we're very much stuck in our sectors often.
I've been to so many water, water, water, water conferences in our day, and I think it's the same for a waste for mobility, often very much sector oriented.
What's so beautiful about the WUF is that it brings all of these people together.
It's really a territorial based approach.
It's like the city.
All these actors are actually there together and there's an opportunity to talk with them and solve problems together.
Thanks so much.
And this concludes our first session at the World Urban Forum dedicated to service providers and we'd love to take a picture with all of you.
I suggest that that happens.
Is there a photographer maybe just where you're sitting, perhaps or how does this happen? No.
Just where we are.
We're all in front.
Okay great.
Come on up here then, if you don't want, just to get you up and out of your cozy seats and please join us on stage for the photo.
Thank you.