SHUKALB Joins the IAWD Roundtable Meeting of Danube Region Water Associations

On 29^th of January 2024, IAWD, the International Association of Water Service Companies in the Danube River Catchment Area, organized a Roundtable meeting with the participation of the water associations from the Danube region. The roundtable was organized at the World Bank premises in Vienna, as well as enabled online participation.

The roundtable of water associations is already a known practice established and organised several times under the Danube Water Program. Its objective is to foster the exchange between the national water associations active in the region. The focus of this roundtable was on how to increase the cooperation among water associations in the context of communication and outreach as well as to introduce the ongoing activities related to benchmarking.

In regard of Communication and Outreach activities, Emilija Milunovic from IAWD introduced the participants to Just Add Water website, while Manfred Eisenhut from the Austrian Association for the Gas And Water Sector (ÖVGW) presented Communication as basis for successful association work, as the best practice example of ÖVGW.

“Just Add Water” is an initiative launched recently by IAWD, in the frame of the Regional Capacity Development Network for Water and Sanitation Services in South-East Europe (RCDN). This is a communication and awareness raising campaign on the importance of the work of water utilities, water associations, and everyone in the water sector, targeting the public, especially young people.

In addition, the roundtable included a presentation on Water Operators Platform, by Anne Bousquet from Global Water Operators’ Partnerships Alliance (GWOPA), who presented the activities related to Water Operators Partnerships, and the presentation of NewIBNET by Monika Weber-Fahr, NewIBNET, who presented activities related to benchmarking.

SHUKALB was represented at the roundtable by Jonida, Ahmeti, Training Manager, attending in person, and Albani Kushi, Manager of Member Services and Olta Alla, Program Manager, who attended online.  They contributed actively by giving their feedback, especially regarding the Just Add Water website features and what could be improved.