Event – Scale or Fail: How can we achieve SDG 6 in cities?

Join speakers from Deloitte, UNICEF, Unilever, WSUP and World Resources Institute at this debate timed to coincide with the UN General Assembly.

There is a lot of talk of the need to scale up to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

And yet, there is endless fascination in new ideas. Is innovation the answer? Have we already developed the winning solutions that can, if given the right kind of backing, move us towards universal access to water and sanitation? And if so, how do we replicate them to really make a difference?

This event will discuss water and sanitation initiatives that have the potential to reach scale across Africa and Asia, as well as explore the scope for developing integrated operations that can address issues related to livelihoods, healthcare, housing and other urban planning challenges faced by the 900 million urban slum residents around the world.

These initiatives need to have a lens on climate change – the impacts of which are primarily felt through water – and we will also explore what can be done to make fragile urban environments more resilient to drought and floods.

Event details

Date: September 26, 2019
Time: 6.00pm-8.00pm
Venue: Deloitte, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York

Invitees should be New York based or able to travel to New York. 

Meet the speakers

Host: Wade Warren
Chief Strategy Officer for International Development, Deloitte

Wade leads strategic insight, thought leadership, and innovation across the international development spectrum for U.S. foreign assistance and international development clients. He previously served as the Acting Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development.

 

 

Moderator: Adva Saldinger
Associate Editor, Devex

Adva covers the intersection of business and international development, and U.S. foreign aid policy. A journalist with more than 10 years of experience, she has worked at several newspapers in the U.S. and lived in both Ghana and South Africa.

 

 

David Spira
Managing Director, International Donor Organisation Practice, Deloitte

David leads project implementation and business development in infrastructure finance and private sector development. He has been a technical advisor and project manager for more than fifteen years on numerous projects throughout central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the Caribbean for USAID.

 

 

Kelly Ann Naylor
Associate Director, WASH Section, Programme Division, UNICEF

Kelly has over 19 years of experience in the WASH sector managing urban, peri-urban and rural water, sanitation, and hygiene programmes in Central Africa, South Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and North America.

 

 

Rebecca MarmotRebecca Marmot
Chief Sustainability Officer, Unilever

Rebecca is responsible for leading the team to provide strategic counsel to the business on key advocacy areas and co-creating strategic partnerships that deliver scale.

 

 

Neil Jeffery
CEO, Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP)

Neil has been Chief Executive since 2014, and has over two decade’s experience of successfully leading and growing organisations, social enterprises and innovative partnerships, in both Europe and North America.

 

 

Victoria A. Beard
Professor, Associate Dean of Research, Cornell University; Fellow, World Resources Institute

Victoria’s research and teaching focus on comparative urbanization and international development planning. Her work focuses on how planners address urban inequality and poverty.