Capacity Building Workshop on Partnerships for Improving the
Performance of Water Utilities in the Latin America and Caribbean Region
Recife, Brazil  11-13 June, 2007
 

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Sustainable Development (UN DESA/DSD) in cooperation with the Ministry of Cities of Brazil and COMPESA organized a capacity building workshop for the senior water utility managers of the Latin America and Caribbean Region in Recife, Brazil from 11-13 June 2007.

This workshop is responding to one of the recommendations of the 13th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development which emphasized the need to strengthen the capacities of water utilities to meet the challenges of service expansion and efficient delivery of services. The workshop proceedings will be organized around the following four thematic areas:

(i) Managing water and sanitation services in the urban areas;
(ii) Strengthening institutional governance and accountability;
(iii) Financing water and sanitation services;
(iv) Promoting partnerships among water operators.

The Workshop served as a forum for sharing knowledge and experiences gained in improving the governance of public water utilities, especially from the regional perspective. As such, it contributes towards strengthening the technical capacities of water utility managers in developing and implementing institutional and policy reforms that will make these utilities more efficient.

In addition to raising awareness about the challenges and their possible solutions, the Workshop programme was geared towards strengthening south-south cooperation, especially among water operators. The dialogue between water operators and experts focused on sharing lessons learned and good practices, as well as finding solutions that will help these utilities to become more responsive to their clients, commercially astute and financially sustainable. In summary, the Workshop was an important step forward towards accelerating the implementation of global water and sanitation agenda.