How the UN can strengthen partnerships between private companies and investors on water 

AquaFed led a presentation to UN agencies about what roles the UN can play in accelerating partnerships between countries and regions with private water service providers, private investors, and industrial users of water. 

We presented the results of a survey carried out by Global Water Intelligence earlier this year about what the UN should prioritise. 

 

Key messages from the survey are: 

• there is very low engagement between the private sector and UN, but the private sector wants to engage more through transparent and structured pathways 

• the private sector and UN share the same priorities – WASH, water security and water quality 

• the UN has so much more potential to accelerate investment in water and should act as a trusted platform to showcase solutions and help develop pilot projects 

• the UN should focus on: 

• strengthening enabling conditions including capacity development in national and regional authorities 

• stronger coordination between UN agencies and Member States at national level 

• supporting Member States to build project pipelines 

• strengthening national governance on water 

• on financing, leave the creation of innovative financing models and structures to investors. 

 

The presentation was organised jointly with UNDP, UNIDO, Global Water Intelligence, IDRA, the CEO Water Mandate, CDP, Aqua for All and the Toilet Board Coalition. 

 

You can download the slides with key survey data from investors and water service providers. 

 

During the session, we also briefly introduced the recently published White Paper – Accelerating Water Action Through UN-Private Sector Engagement. This was commissioned by the UN Special Envoy on Water and produced by consultants BCG. 

 

The presentation was given at the first ever private sector focused side event at a UN Water meeting in Rome, on 1 October. UN Special Envoy, Mrs Retno Marsudi, spoke at the session and said there are barriers that limit private-sector participation at a national and local level. She added that the UN has a very important role in facilitating engagement on the ground between Member States and private organisations.  

  

Mohammed Diatta, Sherpa of the Republic of Senegal for the UN 2026 Water Conference, also stressed the importance of the private sector in achieving SDG6 goals and urged for stronger cooperation between the UN, governments and all parts of the private sector. 

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Khadija Sall, CEO of Water Leaf in Senegal, gave the practical realities facing water SMEs in Africa – for example access to low-cost finance and long waits for payments that cause cashflow problems. 

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AquaFed previously published details of the survey involving private water service providers and innovators here.