Global Water Operators' Partnerships Alliance…

Hosted by: UN-Habitat/GWOPA and Azerbaijan State Water Resources Agency

The GWOPA Assembly, hosted for the first time within the World Urban Forum (WUF), is open to all interested existing and future members and partners committed to strengthening the capacities of utilities as part of sustainable housing and urban development.

Since 2009, the Global Water Operators' Partnerships Alliance, led by UN-Habitat, has championing peer solidarity partnerships between water and sanitation operators and holds its Assembly every two years.

This year marks a milestone for the water and sanitation community and partners shaping the future of cities. As the world enters the final years of the SDG era and momentum builds towards the UN Water Conference in Abu Dhabi in December 2026, utilities and service providers are being recognized for the first time as a standalone stakeholder group within WUF.

Deficits in housing, land and basic services remain closely intertwined. Some 2.1 billion people lack safely managed drinking water and 3.4 billion lack safely managed sanitation in 2025. Progress on SDG 6 and SDG 11 depends in large part on stronger local systems for delivering basic services. Water and sanitation operators are central to this effort. Strengthening these institutions is essential not only to improving service delivery, but also to advancing the human rights to water and sanitation and making adequate housing and basic services a reality for all.

At the 2023 UN Water Conference, the Alliance made the collective pledge of "100 utilities for 100 million people" to strengthen at least 100 additional public water and sanitation service providers to benefit 100 million people with safer, more responsive, more resilient or more accessible basic services.

With the pledge, GWOPA raises the profile of water operators as key actors in localizing the SDGs, elevating the global recognition of basic service providers in achieving the SDGs.

The GWOPA Assembly provides significant momentum and a shared responsibility for all interested parties to ensure that the voices of water and sanitation utilities are meaningfully reflected in the lead-up to WUF13 and the implementation of the UN-Habitat Strategic Plan 2026-2029.

At this critical moment participants are invited to take stock of the progress made on the collective pledge, rally partners beyond the community to ensure that the Alliance responds to persistent needs and to new challenges, providing a clear framework for collective action. Objectives

1. Update and discuss with existing and new members and partners the evolution of the Water Operators' Partnership movement over 17 years of promoting peer solidarity.
2. Discuss the new 2026-2029 Strategy and mobilize joint action to advocate for, improve and scale up Water Operators' Partnerships.
3. Explore the roadmap to the 2026 UN Water Conference and the role of water and sanitation utilities in partnership with broader urban actors.