About the World Water Assessment Programme

UNESCO established the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) in 2000 in response to a call from the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) to produce a UN system-wide periodic global overview of the status in terms of quantity and quality, use and management of freshwater resources.
Last update:10 December 2024

Its overall objective is 鈥渢o meet the growing requirements of UN Member States and the international community for a wider range of policy-relevant, timely and reliable information in various fields of water resources developments and management, in particular through the production of the United Nations World Water Development Report (WWDR)鈥. Through the WWDRs and complementary activities, WWAP aims to equip water managers and policy- and decision-makers with knowledge, tools and skills necessary to formulate and implement sustainable water policies.

Purely an extra budgetary Programme, WWAP is funded by the   and is hosted by the at the UNESCO Programme Office for Global Water Assessment in Perugia, Italy since 2007. From its inception in 2000 until 2006, WWAP was funded by the Japanese Government and hosted at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

Mandate

The programme's mandate, in fostering global processes to achieve water security and sustainability, is defined by a number of Strategic Objectives:

  • Producing the WWDR series on the global situation with regard to water availability (both in terms of quantity and quality) and its uses, and on the likely future changes of water availability and use in relation to global drivers, in order to provide early warning to avoid potential water related conflicts;
  • Helping Member States to assess their water resources and the efficiency and effectiveness of their water policy decisions and programmes,
  • Assisting Member States to build and improve their capacities to collect and analyze data of relevance to their water policy initiatives;
  • Developing conceptual and methodological frameworks for internationally comparable data and indicators for water resources;
  • Analyzing data in partnership with policy-makers and researchers, and promoting wider and more informed use of data for policy purposes at different scales;
  • Disseminating WWAP messages and results by producing various means of effective communication tools and public education material; and
  • Developing regional, sub-regional and national case studies and best practices as well as regional water development reports underpinned with regional data sets.

Lines of action

In accordance with its strategic objectives, WWAP鈥檚 activities revolve around three lines of actions:

  • Provide fact-based knowledge to achieve water-related objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;
  • Help implement  integrated  water resources management and effective governance through capacity development and policy dialogues;
  • Support measuring gender equality and women empowerment acceleration in water management and governance through ad-hoc gender-responsive indicators and sex-disaggregated water data.

Join us

Given the ambitious and exciting challenges of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, WWAP expertise on water resources is more relevant than ever. WWAP is committed to having a competent, motivated and dedicated workforce that acts with the highest integrity and is empowered to deliver on the sustainable development goals.

Spontaneous applications for Consultancy positions can be sent to: wwap.perugia@unesco.org

Internship Programme

If you are planning to embark on a career in the field of water sciences, then an at the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme will be ideal for you. While you learn about the United Nation system and the UNESCO mandate and programmes, as well as WWAP activities, the internship programme also enhances your academic knowledge with relevant work assignments that can help you prepare for your future career. You can also contact directly WWAP by sending your CV to: wwap.perugia@unesco.org

You will be contacted if selected.

Vacancies at WWAP

To apply to a vacancy fill out the and send it, along with your motivation letter, to: wwap.perugia@unesco.org

CVs on a different format will not be taken into consideration. In the subject of the email please mention the vacancy number and the job title (for further details refer to the specific vacancy notice). Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. 

Secondment opportunities

Seconded Experts are staff employed by governmental entities, Non-Governmental Organizations, International Organizations that are not part of the United Nations common system, universities, and private sector companies and foundations, who are assigned to WWAP so that the Programme and its beneficiaries can benefit from their high level of professional knowledge and experience. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement - secondees can gain experience and contacts in a dynamic and truly international environment at WWAP, while WWAP can benefit from the specific skills and expertise they bring.

The purpose of a secondment is to provide expertise/skills not available within the Organization or to supplement currently available expertise, on the basis of a specific need identified by UNESCO.

Where we are

Villa La Colombella, an ancient castle modified during the 17th century to become a residence, is generously offered to UNESCO by the Regione Umbria of Italy to host the Secretariat of the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme in Perugia, Italy. The premises, comprising of four buildings, provides also conference and meetings rooms to host capacity-building activities and other events organized by partner organizations.

Offices of the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) in Italy

Secretariat

Michela Miletto, Coordinator and Director, WWAP
Michela
Miletto
Coordinator and Director, UNESCO-WWAP
Bhanu Neupane
Bhanu
Neupane
Senior Programme Officer/Process Coordinator

Phone: +33145681083

Laura Veronica Imburgia
Laura Veronica
Imburgia
Programme specialist
Richard Connor
Richard
Connor
Editor in Chief
 Barbara Bracaglia
Barbara
Bracaglia
Executive Assistant
Arturo Frascani
Arturo
Frascani
Administrative Assistant
Lucia Chiodini
Lucia
Chiodini
Junior Administrative Assistant
Simona Gallese
Simona
Gallese
Communication Assistant
Valentina Abete
Valentina
Abete
Publication Assistant
Michele Brensacchi
Michele
Brensacchi
IT & Security Assistant
World Water Assessment Programme
(WWAP)

UNESCO Policy on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

UNESCO is committed to applying a 鈥榸ero tolerance鈥 policy towards acts of sexual exploitation and abuse by its personnel.

To support system-wide implementation of the zero tolerance policy, the UNESCO Director-General has decided to adopt the standards of conduct and provisions on PSEA set by the Bulletin as reflected in  the that applies to all persons employed by UNESCO, namely staff members and non-staff members such as 鈥渃ontractors鈥, interns, volunteers and occasional workers.

Each UNESCO Office nominates a Focal Point tasked with implementing PSEA in direct coordination with his/her Director/Head of Office, both internally and as an active member of the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) PSEA Network. You can find here the Terms of Reference of the PSEA Focal Point:

The PSEA Focal Point for the UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme is Ms. Barbara Bracaglia.

She can be contacted at: b.bracaglia@unesco.org ; 0039 075 5911001.

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