UN High Level Political Forum side event 2023

Date: 17 July 2023, 18:30 – 20:00

Location: Conference Room A, UN Conference building, New York

Moderator: Mrs Vida Duti, Country Director, IRC Ghana

Speakers:

Harold Adlai Agyeman, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Ghana to the United Nations, New York
Hon Amidu Issahaku Chinnia, H.E. Deputy Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Ghana
Prof Joseph Alcamo, Director of the Sussex Sustainability Research Programme
Dr Kodjo Esseim Mensah-Abrampa, Director-General, National Development Planning Commission, Ghana
Prof Mrs Esi Awuah, Commissioner at the National Development Planning Commission and former Foundation Vice-Chancellor, University of Energy and Natural Resources
Mr Alfred Okot Okidi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water and Environment, Uganda
Prof George Gyan Baffour, Chairmain, National Development Planning Commission and Minister for Planning, Government of Ghana
UNICEF Representative

The government of Ghana and the University of Sussex present:
“At the mid-point: Policies and measures for achieving SDG6"

As the International Decade for Action on Water and 2030 Agenda marks its halfway point with progress off track on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is essential to reflect on progress in and solutions for realising Sustainable Development Goal 6 - ensuring access to water and sanitation for all.

The global water goal was one of the SDGs focused on at this year’s important "at the mid-point" High-Level Political Forum on S ustainable Development (10-19 July 2023), an annual meeting of governments and experts held by the UN General Assembly in New York to review progress on the SDGs. Despite the progress made, the UN estimates that 1.6 billion people will still lack safe drinking water, and 2.8 billion safe sanitation in 2030. It is clear that much work still needs to be done.

On this occasion the University of Sussex, Sussex Sustainability Research Programme (SSRP) and Government of Ghana convened an official HLPF side event for experts and delegates to debate priorities for reaching SDG 6, building on experience in Ghana and other countries.

The side event provided a platform for an open conversation and dialogue among countries, stakeholders and partners, with discussions covering topics such as:

building synergies across the SDGs to strengthen coordination for effective WASH Systems;
improving and strengthening WASH prioritisation and capacity-building;
accelerating the improvement of sanitation services; financing of water supply and sanitation infrastructure;
addressing issues of water quality and pollution of water resources;
subsidies for agriculture and water and effects on excessive water consumption;
and effective partnerships for advancing SDG 6.

The side event entitled 'At the mid-point: Policies and measures for achieving SDG 6', built on SSRP's previous Ghana partnership successes in 2018 with a focus on the discussions of HLPF Day 2 and deliberations from the UN Water Conference in March 2023 where delegates emphatically called for greater collaboration and innovation to address the transboundary challenges and transformations needed to accelerate progress.