Blue Revolution Initiative: Highlighting Worldwide Successes in Innovative
Financing for Water and Sanitation

Thursday 21 August
Afternoon Seminar

Convenor: United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Advancing the Blue Revolution Initiative

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals by increasing access to safe water and basic sanitation services requires expanded local financial flows from both the public and private sectors. Under the aegis of the Blue Revolution Initiative, a flagship effort by the U.S. Agency for International Development, a panel of senior government officials and practitioners from Egypt, Kenya, the Philippines, India, Mexico, and the United States will speak from first-hand experience about some of the most exciting and successful approaches in innovative water financing today. These diverse efforts share a common approach in combining expert technical support with credit enhancements and private sector partnerships to mobilise domestic private sector financing for water and wastewater infrastructure. At the same time, each transaction deals with its specific set of demands in mobilising domestic capital and building local support.

The Honourable Jacqueline E. Schafer, USAID’s Assistant Administrator for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade will chair the session. Ms. Schafer was appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate for this position. Ms. Schafer brings a life-long professional dedication to the water sector having helped to draft the original U.S. Clean Water Act while working in the U.S. Senate.  John Wilson, USAID’s Senior Environment Officer for both the Near East and Asia Bureaus, will discuss the goals of the Agency’s innovative Blue Revolution Initiative.  Brad Johnson, a leading U.S. practitioner in the areas of water and energy finance will provide a framework of recent global developments and later act as discussant. A distinguished panel composed of practitioners from Egypt, Kenya, India, the Philippines, and Mexico will discuss recent best practices. The programme concludes with what we hope will be an animated question and answer period.

Seminar Programme            13:30-17:00, Room K21

Chair:  Jacqueline E. Schafer, Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade, United States Agency for International Development, USA
Co-Chair:  John Wilson, Senior Environment Officer, Bureaus for the Near East and for Asia, United States Agency for International Development, USA

Presentation from the event

Please scroll down and find the link from the programme