Governance

To ‘deliver as one’ on water issues, UN-Water coordinates the efforts of our Members and Partners. Through its governance arrangements, UN-Water provides the platform to address the cross-cutting nature of water and maximize system-wide collaboration and coherence.

UN-Water Members

The Members of UN-Water are the United Nations agencies, funds, programmes and conventions that include water as part of their mandate. In addition to their steering function for UN-Water as a whole, Members are the primary means of implementation of UN-Water’s mandate.

UN-Water Partners with Special Status

Other UN connected entities such as Special Rapporteurs, panels and advisory boards are Partners with Special Status.

UN-Water Partners

The Partners to UN-Water are organizations from the public and private sectors and civil society that are active in UN-Water’s scope of work. Partners take an active role in UN-Water Meetings, engage in Expert Groups and Task Forces and provide support to specific activities. Their collaboration with UN-Water is guided by a set of Guidelines on UN-Water Partners.

Senior Programme Managers

The UN-Water Senior Programme Managers (SPMs) are the representatives of the UN-Water Members at UN-Water. They provide the overall governance and strategic direction. Collectively, they constitute the highest operational decision-making body of UN-Water.

Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary

The Chair of UN-Water is nominated among the UN Executive Heads, after consultations in the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination. The Vice-Chair of UN-Water is elected among the UN-Water Senior Programme Managers, serves in a personal capacity and not in representation of her or his Member entity. The UN DESA Senior Programme Manager serves as Secretary of UN-Water ex-officio.

The UN-Water Inter-Agency Trust Fund

The UN-Water Inter-Agency Trust Fund is administered by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) Geneva office.