Convened by UNICEF, the 3rd HLM took place at the World Bank in April 2014.
The 2014 SWA High Level Meeting (HLM) took place in Washington DC on 11 April 2014, hosted by the World Bank and convened by UNICEF on behalf of the partnership. The meeting was attended by 21 ministers of finance and 35 ministers responsible for water and sanitation, including several ministers of health. Sixteen donors and development banks attended the meeting, six of them at the level of Minister or head of agency. Senior representatives of civil society and the UN also participated.
The meeting was opened by SWA Chair H.E. John A. Kufuor, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and President of the World Bank, Dr. Jim Yong Kim. Attendees were welcomed by the Executive Director of UNICEF, Mr. Anthony Lake. Keynote addresses were provided by Dr. Shanta Devarajan, Chief Economist, World Bank and Hon. Sufian Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Ethiopia. Speakers noted the vast economic, social and environmental consequences of poor water, sanitation and hygiene, and urged the ministers in attendance to take action. A vibrant interactive session then followed, moderated by UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson, during which finance ministers, donors and civil society discussed the commitments being tabled.
During this meeting, 55 SWA partner countries, donors and banks made more than 370 new specific commitments, aimed at increasing the amount and improving the use of financial resources, reducing inequality in access, building capacity of institutions charged with delivering water and sanitation services, and coordinating resources more effectively, both from governments and donor aid.
The 2014 HLM is a major milestone in the on-going SWA High-Level Commitments Dialogue (HLCD), as developing countries and donors and banks identify and commit to address key bottlenecks. It marks the third milestone meeting to increase global access to sanitation and water and builds on the continuing dialogue resulting from the 2012 HLM and the results reported in the Progress Updates in 2013 and 2014.
The HLM was preceded by a meeting of ministers responsible for WASH, known as the Sector Ministers’ Meeting (SMM), which was held on Thursday, 10 April 10 2014. The SMM was the key event at which ministers present and discuss their countries’ high-level commitment statements, which have been prepared in each country’ HLCD. The meeting enabled ministers to interact informally, agree on a summary of commitments and, with other SWA constituencies, identify trends and issues of mutual concern. Having the commitments presented at the SMM, enabled the HLM to focus on a high-level dialogue between global leaders and ministers of finance. Other SWA constituencies were encouraged to join the SMM discussions, as behaviour change by all partners is necessary to realize the vision of universal access.
Countries and donors are welcome to engage and can contact the Secretariat for more information.
Documents
View all Key documents| Key documents | Type |
|---|---|
| What do we know about keeping water and sanitation services running? |
Gallery
