Four years ago world leaders made a promise: to end extreme poverty by 2030. But the UN progress report paints an alarming picture. During the HLPF we hosted events, blogged and tweeted live from New York, to make sure the water, sanitation and hygiene crisis is no longer ignored.
Why do we care?
This wasn't just another closed-door meeting of government officials. The annual High Level Political Forum is the only opportunity for organisations like ourselves to hold governments to account on their Sustainable Development Goals promise.
This year Goal 6 (water and sanitation for all) was reviewed, and it couldn't have come sooner: Governments are way off their 2030 target. In fact, if current trends continue it’ll be 2045 before everyone everywhere has access to water, and 2066 before the world gets basic sanitation.
A WaterAid delegation headed to New York to participate in the forum and host events. During the forum our main aims were to:
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Increase awareness of the global water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) crisis which is costing millions of lives per year.
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Increase understanding of SDG 6 as the key to achieving the SDGs (increase your understanding with this blog!) >
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Highlight best practices and potential solutions to the WASH crisis to generate political support for WaterAid’s approach.
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Identify WASH champions within governments and the private sector who can help us drive greater action towards achieving SDG 6.
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Establish closer working relationships with non-WASH civil society groups so that we can foster an holistic approach to ending extreme poverty.
How do we hold ourselves accountable?
WaterAid are determined to hold governments to account on their promises to end extreme poverty and ensure access to water and sanitation for everyone, everywhere. So how do we measure our effectiveness at events like HLPF?
Voluntary national reviews
Every year Governments present voluntary national reviews (VNRs) of their progress on the SDGs. The VNRs report on national progress and key findings on the 6/7 goals that are selected to report on that year. The VNR countries submit a comprehensive written report as well as documents detailing key findings.
The VNR process is problematic, but one thing is clear: WASH is not being focused on. And we need clear data and reporting in order to progress action towards the 2030 Agenda.
WaterAid took an active interest in the presentation of Voluntary National Reviews, and released a blog charting how effective VNRs are at monitoring progress. Read the blog >