More than 70 participants from 13 utility partnerships, including 16 German utilities and 13 international utilities from Ukraine, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia, and Jordan, came together to exchange experiences and strengthen collaboration.
After our map exercise to “connect the WOPs dots” on the world map, participants listened to an
interview between Laura Mlynarek, Senior Policy Officer, Divison „Federal States, local authorities”
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Heiko Heidemann, Head
of Project “Utility Platform” at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GIZ) GmbH
on the Status Quo of the Utility Platform.
Participants discussed a broad range of topics relevant to their work in operator partnerships, including the SDGs, gender and climate change, Solidarity Operator Partnerships with Ukraine, results-oriented reporting and monitoring, the role of travel in partnerships, public relations, university involvement, integrating partnerships into utilities’ day-to-day operations, and ways to motivate utilities and partners to deepen their engagement
Several partnerships also presented their ongoing work in two dedicated Congress sessions:
- German Operator Partnerships – Case Studies Showcasing the Strength of Embedding Operator Partnerships into Development Programmes.
- Solidarity Operator Partnerships with Ukrainian Water Utilities.
In addition, Ukrainian participants joined a field visit to Bonn’s sewage treatment plant and participated in a training on energy efficiency and GIS applications on 28 October
Technical discussion at Bonn’s sewage treatment plant | Photo: Sarah Walgern, GIZ
The Network Meeting was held under our Code of Conduct, ensuring an inclusive and respectful environment for all. We encourage others to use this Code of Conduct as inspiration for designing inclusive events that leave no one behind
For more detailed information, please refer to the documentation (English).
