18 August 2009 | 5:45 – 6:45 pm | World Water Week Side Event | Stockholm, Sweden

In collaboration with
This UNEP FI Side Event, co-organised with the German Development Agency (GTZ) will address the core question of what is needed to transform the water sector into a strategic opportunity for responsible investment in order to finally equip it with the financing it has chronically lacked? Following the UNEP FI-hosted, general discussions during World Water Week 2008, this side event will provide the needed follow-up and concretely analyse the problem by looking at the specific example of a promising water utility in Uganda, and subsequently feeding the results into the discussions at the UNEP-FI Global Roundtable 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa. Representatives of the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) of Uganda and German Development Bank KfW will share first-hand experience and lessons learnt on the reform processes they have jointly undertaken. To a large extent these processes have been aimed at attracting commercial third-party financing. These concrete achievements will be compared to the credit and investment criteria of mainstream financiers and investors from the private sector, as represented by UNEP FI Signatories active in the infrastructure space. Based on this example from Africa, the panel will aim to explore the achievements many water utilities in developing countries have made, the opportunities this chronically under-funded sector offers to responsible investors, as well as the challenges that persist.