Stockholm World Water Week

A short introduction sesssion as a teaser for the workshop for the following day.

During the full workshop on Tuesday 25 August (search for Wetland Atlas) you can share your ideas on how to improve the platform and make useful connections.

This session explores how strategic partnerships and catalytic finance can unlock investment for climate-resilient water infrastructure and advance SDG6. Using the KIFFWA–Amref Health Africa partnership in Makueni County, Kenya, as a case study, it will showcase how blended finance mobilised over $600,000 to develop water treatment, storage, and distribution infrastructure serving more than 30,000 people, delivering over 1.6 million litres of clean water. With the potential to leverage up to $1.6 million and reach 92,000 people, the session will highlight innovative financing, risk-sharing, and collaboration models that can scale sustainable, climate-resilient water solutions across Africa and other emerging markets.

Organisation: Kenya Innovative Finance Facility for Water and Amref Health Africa (KIFFWA)

Speaker: Grace Ndegwa

How can we make water-related decisions that include diverse, different or even competing values around water? What is required for inclusive processes? Join us to find out!

Organisation: CWiW

Speaker: Kathryn Pharr

As a follow-up to last year’s Build Neglect Rebuild session, Partners for Water, WaterWorX and Blue Deal developed recommendations outlining how governments, utilities, programmes and IFIs can better align to enable sustainable water infrastructure. Join us to reflect, contribute insights, and shape these recommendations towards the UN 2026 Water Conference.

Organisation: RVO / Partners for Water

Speaker: Liliane Geerling

This session explores how water can drive systemic urban transformation in the face of climate change, rapid urbanisation, and growing resource pressures. Drawing on Felixx’s Water as Leverage projects in Cartagena (Colombia) and Nakuru (Kenya), it demonstrates how Nature-Based Solutions, landscape-led planning, and cross-sector collaboration can address flooding, water scarcity, environmental degradation, and urban growth. The session will highlight the governance, investment, and partnership models needed to turn resilience ambitions into action, while sharing transferable lessons on scaling climate resilience, water security, and sustainable urban development in cities worldwide.

Organisation: Felixx Landscape Architects & Planners

Speaker: Deborah Lambert

Water-related risks are increasingly visible through data, modelling and early warning tools. Yet this information does not automatically lead to action. In fragile and conflict-affected settings, the missing link is often not only technical, but also institutional, political and social: trust, mandates, local ownership, conflict sensitivity, financing and the ability to act together.

In this interactive session, the Water, Peace and Security partnership (consisting of Deltares, IHE Delft, International Alert, The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, Wetlands International & World Resources Institute) will explore what it takes to turn water-risk analysis into timely, locally grounded and conflict-sensitive action. Drawing on lessons from WPS Phase 2 and the ambitions for the next phase, Deltares and Wetlands International will invite participants to reflect on the barriers between knowing and acting, and on how water expertise can contribute to peace-positive outcomes.

Organisation: Wetlands International / Deltares

Speaker: Michael Nelemans

The Water Resilience Tracker has issued a number of valuable knowledge products this year, notably: – A technical note on Water Resilience Indicators for National Implementation: Co-Design and Implementation Framework for WRT Countries – Scaling Water and Climate Resilience: Tools to Link National Strategies to Local Realities, and – Inclusion as Resilience: Operationalizing Equitable Water and Climate Governance

Organisation: Water Resilience Tracker

Speaker: Dani Gaillard-Picher

This session explores how sustainable, farmer-led irrigation can strengthen food security and climate resilience. Using the Solar Irrigation Agency (SIA) model in Mozambique, it showcases how local entrepreneurship, solar-powered irrigation, and nature-based solutions can expand irrigation access while reducing environmental impacts. By strengthening local markets and reducing investment risks, the model supports scalable and sustainable irrigation systems beyond donor-funded projects. The session will share key lessons and discuss how governments, donors, financial institutions, and the private sector can collaborate to overcome market barriers, improve farmer livelihoods, enhance water stewardship, and attract long-term investment across the food-water-energy-biodiversity nexus.

Organisation: Practica

Speaker: Berry van den Pol

Sensiblue is invited to Stockholm Water Week 2026 to present how our unique in-situ chlorination device is closing the point-of-use water safety gap in schools. Working with US, Ugandan and Indian partners, Sensiblue has installed electrochlorination units in 23 schools in Uganda and the 1st Tata Trusts school in India, providing safe drinking water to more than 10,000 students. Sensiblue’s units disinfect water automatically at the tap, makes the best chlorine on-demand and only needs salt for maintenance. Each installation costs a fraction of conventional filtration infrastructure and needs only local available pre-filter replacement and a salt top-up 2-3 times/year to maintain operational. In this 30-minute session, “Closing the Last-Mile Gap: In-Situ Chlorination for Schools at a Fraction of the Cost,” Sensiblue’s founder shares water quality test results, cost data, and lessons from scaling from a single pilot school to a 24-school network in under 12 months. The session is aimed at policymakers, funders and WASH practitioners looking for practical, evidence-based ways to close the safely managed drinking water gap identified by WHO and UN-Water, without waiting for full infrastructure buildout.

This session explores how storytelling can mobilise action on water challenges. Rather than focusing only on data, Isabelle Molenaar shows how compelling narratives help people – especially younger generations – connect with water issues on a human level.

Through practical examples, she demonstrates how stories can turn complex topics into relatable experiences that inspire engagement and behavior change. Attendees will gain insights into communicating water in ways that resonate, stick, and move people to act.

Organisation: Sidewalk Stories

Speaker: Isabelle Molenaar

This session marks the launch of the IHE Delft Women 4 Water initiative, which supports female professionals in pursuing an MSc in Water and Sustainable Development while strengthening their capacity to improve and develop locally driven water solutions. By increasing women’s participation in decision-making and building local expertise, the initiative promotes long-term, systemic change in the water sector.

The session will highlight how investing in women’s education and leadership creates lasting impact, with graduates driving practical, science-based solutions that improve livelihoods, strengthen ecosystems, and enhance resilience to water-related challenges worldwide.

Organisation: IHE Delft 

Speaker: Cristina Anacabe

Join this highly interactive 30-minute booth session and test your own context against three essential building blocks for sustainable water services: governance, financing and water quality monitoring.
Using a real municipal case from Nepal, participants will discover how local government shifted from project-based implementation to strengthening the public system. Rather than listening to another presentation, participants work in small groups using a simple assessment tool to identify whether their own context is still project-driven or already moving towards systems strengthening.

The session concludes with a facilitated discussion where participants exchange experiences and identify practical actions that can strengthen long-term, equitable and climate-resilient water services in their own countries. Whether you are a policymaker, donor, utility, NGO or researcher, you will leave with practical insights and new connections for advancing sustainable water governance.

Organisation: WaterAid Nepal, WaterAid Netherlands (formerly Simavi), ENPHO, Dopper

Speaker: Katinka Lansink, Chrissie van Heijningen and Sanne Pel

This session explores how large-scale wetland restoration can strengthen water security, climate resilience, biodiversity, and local livelihoods. It will introduce the Wetlands for Resilience (W4R) Toolkit, a practical approach that helps stakeholders collaborate on holistic landscape restoration. Using the Ziway–Shalla sub-basin in Ethiopia as a case study, the session will showcase how public and private partners can work together to deliver environmental, social, and economic benefits.

Through practical examples and lessons learned, participants will gain actionable insights into scaling wetland restoration to support resilient ecosystems, sustainable livelihoods, and long-term water security for people and nature.

Organisation: Wetlands International

Speaker: Jeroen Jurriens

This session shares the turnaround story of a small, community-owned water system that moved from years of management challenges, regulatory noncompliance, mounting fines, and declining public confidence toward stability, accountability, and resilience. Aligned with the conference theme, “Water for People and Progress,” the presentation shows how reliable water service protects public health, rebuilds trust, and supports rural progress in even the most remote communities.

Speaker: Kristina Gillespie-Jaques

Organisation: Lioness Resource Optimization

Organisation: Deltares / RVO/ Partners for Water

Speakers: Liliane Geerling and Shahnoor Hasan

This interactive session explores how rethinking laundry can improve health, gender equality, water quality, and economic opportunities. In many parts of the world, laundry is still done by hand, placing a significant burden on women while increasing exposure to unsafe water and cleaning chemicals.

Drawing on research and human-centred design in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Mozambique, MetaMeta and Practica are developing accessible laundry solutions that respond to local needs. Through an engaging quiz and case studies, participants will gain early insights into the findings, emerging solutions, and opportunities to support more sustainable and inclusive approaches to laundry.

Organisation: GOPA MetaMeta / Practica 

Speaker: Meghna Mukherjee

This session showcases how integrated investments in water, energy, and healthcare can strengthen health systems and improve community wellbeing. Using a case study from Narok, Kenya, participants will see how reliable water access, solar energy, and upgraded health infrastructure are transforming healthcare delivery. Improvements in hygiene, sanitation, vaccine storage, diagnostics, and maternal care have enhanced service quality and resilience, while reducing barriers to healthcare access.

Through practical lessons and real-world examples, the session will demonstrate how combining water, energy, and health solutions can create sustainable impact and provide a scalable model for stronger, more resilient communities.

Organisation: Amref

Speaker: Tara Klijn

Speakers: Antoon Blokland and Hein Gietema

We’re on a mission to mainstream ‘swimmability’ in urban planning and integrated water management. Swimmable Cities is a global initiative shaping urban liveability, climate resilience and social equity in communities around the world.

Since launching our Charter before the Paris Olympics, our ALLIANCE has grown to include 255 diverse organisations across 121 cities and towns in 38 countries.

Organisation: Swimmable Cities

Speakers: Henk Ovink and Adriaan van der Linden

Wavemakers United brings together students, young professionals, and athletes who are passionate about water and sustainability. At this event, we host a short session on the importance of Youth in the multilateral process. Participants dive into real challenges around water security, climate action, and the SDGs, and explore how youth-led movements can drive change from local communities to the global stage. Building on the momentum of the UNESCO Water Youth Strategy and the growing #Youth4Water movement, this session invites attendees to share stories, spark ideas, and connect across borders. Whether you’re a policymaker, educator, or young water professional, this is your chance to be part of the wave.

Organisation: Wavemakers United

Speaker: Tim Rotteveel

Case studies from Kenya, Ethiopia and Malawi to be shared show how climate adaptation can ensure water security.

Organisation: VEI

Speaker: Myrko Webers

Efficiency in water and sanitation utilities in Kenya and Rwanda on energy and non revenue water

Organisation: VEI

Speaker: Myrko Webers