4th Global WOPs Congress Report

We are pleased to bring you the Final Report of the 4th Global WOPs Congress from 18th to 29th October 2021. The Congress was convened by GWOPA Secretariat in its host city Bonn, but given the state of the Covid-19 pandemic, it took an entirely virtual format for the first time.

With 35 online sessions, the 4th Global WOPs Congress served as the premier global stage to advocate for more and better Water Operators’ Partnerships (WOPs). Practitioners and their partners joined the events to discuss the pressing issues water and sanitation service providers face– access for all, climate adaptation, circular development, managing crises, as well as advancing sanitation. A total of 32 organizations co-organized different sessions in the spirit of learning from each other, sharing experiences, and inspiring action, providing basis for the three-layered approach the Congress worked through.

The Congress took stock of 15 years of experience with peer support partnerships and gave a 360° view of the WOP practise and reflected its relevance in strengthening local utility capacity in the context of major global challenges such as inequalities, lack of sanitation and the increasing threat of climate- related disasters. Through intensive exchange and fruitful conversations, the Congress shed clarity on the status of the present critical challenges and issues faced by the water and sanitation operators while opening new windows of opportunities to take joint actions with clear recommendations on how to tackle the challenges by operators helping one another to strengthen their capacity and performance to provide quality services to all.