The objectives of the Expert Meeting were:
- To continue exchanging experiences in carrying out self-assessments of the equity of access to water and sanitation in countries / regions, and to identify additional lessons learned in organising self-assessments;
- To identify what have been the impacts of the self-assessments in terms of the identification and implementation of actions to achieve equitable access to water and sanitation, and to identify success factors and main barriers in the identification and implementation of such actions;
- To discuss the initial experiences in developing Equitable Access Action Plans and identify lessons learned from those processes;
- To discuss how equitable access to water and sanitation is currently financed, and to identify useful work on this topic that could be carried out by the Expert Group;
- To provide an opportunity to exchange information on related topics, in particular monitoring of targets 6.1 and 6.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
- To discuss the preparation by the Expert Group of a publication capitalizing findings and lessons learnt from the work on equitable access to water and sanitation under the Protocol on Water and Health for the next session of the Meeting of the Parties in 2019.
Participation
The meeting was attended by 30 participants, country representatives from the pan-European region whose work is related to equitable access to water and sanitation as well as representatives from development partners, international organizations, civil society organization and stakeholders engaged in the provision of water and sanitation services.