The equitable provision of water and sanitation services is now more critical than ever in the face of increased frequency of extreme weather events, natural disasters, public health crises, and economic pressures. Ensuring that all individuals, especially the most vulnerable, have access to these essential services is central to achieving the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation.
To advance this mission, Parties to the UNECE-WHO/Europe Protocol on Water and Health and other pan-European States and international and civil society organizations as well as water and sanitation service providers gathered in Budapest for the Regional Workshop on Equitable Access to Water and Sanitation (11-12 December 2024). Speakers from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), and the Water Integrity Network (WIN) were present and shared their experiences from other regions.
The workshop that was organized by France, Hungary, North Macedonia, and the UNECE-WHO/Europe joint secretariat, under the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union officially launched the Equitable Access Score-card 2.0, a thoroughly revised tool designed to help countries create a baseline measure and assess progress in reducing disparities in access to water and sanitation. Since its initial introduction over a decade ago, the original Equitable Access Score-card has been applied in 14 countries and provided valuable insights for targeted policy measures.
The Equitable Access Score-card 2.0 builds on the lessons learned from the application of the first version across the pan-European region, as well as the challenges posed by emergency situations such as natural disasters. The revised tool therefore includes newly introduced dimensions such as the ability to assess the emergency preparedness and response of water and sanitation service providers and the explicit participation and access to information of vulnerable and marginalized groups in processes related to ensuring their access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene.
The workshop provided an opportunity to explore how the Equitable Access Score-card 2.0 and other tools, as well as the overall framework of the Protocol, can support the implementation of global and regional processes such as the recently adopted recast of the European Union Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive and the Drinking Water Directive. The Equitable Access Score-card 2.0 has been revised to align with the articles of both directives that address access to safe drinking water and sanitation, as well as ensuring access to information and public participation.
During the workshop, participants also underlined the need for policies that ensure affordability and accessibility to water and sanitation services while guaranteeing the financial sustainability of service providers. The discussions highlighted the need for more capacity-building and the importance of monitoring tools such as the Equitable Access Score-card 2.0 to guide decision-making, address identified limitations, and prioritize resources effectively. The outcomes of this workshop will feed into the development of activities under this programme area in the future programme of work of the Protocol for 2026-2028 to be adopted at the seventh session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health (Budapest, 5-7 November 2025).
Back-to-back with the workshop, the 14th meeting of the Task Force on Target Setting and Reporting also took place in Budapest. The meeting officially launched the 6th mandatory reporting cycle under the Protocol. Starting from this new cycle, Parties and other States are invited to use the new online reporting system under the Protocol. The new system is provided by UNEP-WCMC represents a sophisticated web application which streamlines the environmental reporting process. It has been also used by other global Conventions such as Ramsar Convention, CITES and others.
