From the Spanish Blue Community Asociación Española de Operadores Públicos de Abastecimiento y Saneamiento AEOPAS (Spanish Association of Public Water Supply and Sanitation Operators):
The Spanish city of Seville is hosting the Dialogues on Twinning between Water Operators and the Spanish Conference for the Promotion of Technical Cooperation and Partnerships in the Sector. These dialogues will enable water operators, government representatives and other key sector players to exchange knowledge and explore different forms of collaboration.
The 4th European Dialogue of key players for the promotion of partnerships between water operators is being organised by GWOPA/UN-Habitat, the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) through the Water and Sanitation Cooperation Fund (FCAS), Aqua Publica Europea (APE), and the Seville Public Water and Sanitation Company (EMASESA).
GWOPA, facilitated by UN-Habitat, supports water and sanitation services in achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 and related SDGs. Through the twinning of water and sanitation operators, known as WOPs and SWOPs, the GWOPA network strengthens the capacities of water and sanitation operators through non-profit, peer-to-peer exchanges.
GWOPA created the Key Stakeholder Dialogues to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and best practice on how to make twinning between operators more feasible, effective and scalable. Three Dialogues have been held at the European level to date in Bonn, Germany, so the fourth edition, which will be held in the Andalusian capital, is the first to leave Germany.
The first session will be attended by twinning professionals and key stakeholders from across Europe, including water and sanitation companies, municipalities, regional and national governments, regulators, financial institutions, and bilateral development agencies. They will have the opportunity to meet and learn from each other’s experiences, thereby promoting this type of solidarity partnership with operators from other continents.
On the second day, Spanish operators will meet to share case studies and identify opportunities with national stakeholders. They have extensive experience in sustainable water management and technical cooperation, particularly in Latin America, in terms of capacity building and strengthening operators.
Dialogues on Twinning between Water Operators
- 17 June: The IV European Dialogue of WOPs Facilitators (in English) is aimed at water operators, financiers, and European public administrations.
- 18 June: Spanish Conference on Twinning between Water Operators (in Spanish). This event is focused on mobilising the Spanish water ecosystem (operators, decentralised cooperation funds, local administrations, universities, associations, etc.) to increase their participation in these alliances.
- Location: Seville, Spain
