The Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) attended the Pacific Water and Wastes Association (PWWA) workshop on benchmarking and matchmaking on the 6th and 7th of July 2010. The workshop was co-facilitated and co-funded by PWWA and UN-HABITAT.

As part of the Global Water Partnerships Alliance, UN-HABITAT are proposing to establish a Water Operators Partnership (WOP) in the Pacific, with PWWA as the facilitators.

The workshop was aimed at assessing how the Pacific WOP platform could be established and to identify some key areas where twinning arrangements as part of the WOP would be most beneficial to the Pacific water utilities.

The proposal of the Pacific WOP and twinning was well received by the PWWA membership and will be further progressed by PWWA and UN-HABITAT.
SOPAC with their regional mandate and vast Pacific experience in implementing programmes on water (and sanitation) management has offered to collaborate with PWWA as needed to strengthen the Pacific WOP platform.

Contact: Tasleem Hasan, Water Services Coordinator, SOPAC