Water Economics and Politics Seminar Series
/ Water institutions and sector performance

Analysis of collaboration and cross-sectoral coordination in UN water governance

Speaker: Assist. Prof. Leah Jones-Crank | University of Waterloo, Canada

Moderator: Prof. Djiby Thiam | Director: WPE – Water and Production Economics, University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa

Time: 16:00 South African Standard Time (SAST) | GMT +2

Topic: The 2023 United Nations (UN) Water Conference brought together world leaders to commit to addressing water challenges and achieving water and sanitation for all. The conference resulted in a collection of commitments from governments and organisations to address water issues. Achieving water security requires solutions that involve cross-sectoral coordination and collaboration between water and other resource governance sectors. Therefore, this research evaluates the level of collaboration and cross-sectoral coordination within those commitments. As we look towards the 2026 UN Water Conference, consideration of collaboration and cross-sectoral coordination in water governance is crucial to achieve local to global water security. See also Collaboration and coordination in the United Nations 2023 Water Conference commitments, in Water Policy (2025).

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Leah Jones-Crank

About the speaker: Dr Leah Jones-Crank is an Assistant Professor in Environment, Resources, and Sustainability at the University of Waterloo, Canada. As an interdisciplinary sustainability scholar, her research employs qualitative data collection and analysis methods to understand water systems, governance challenges, and urban systems. Her work investigates collaborative governance within the water-energy-food nexus for improved management and sustainability. The goal of her research program is to advance knowledge on cross-sectoral governance approaches to address challenges of drought and water stress in urban and peri-urban spaces. Her work has employed a variety of social science methods, including stakeholder engagement, case study investigation, institutional analysis, and qualitative inquiry. 

Seminar format:

  • Live online session on Microsoft Teams
  • Duration: 1 hour
  • Live presentation with Q&A session

Who should attend: This series is open to students and faculty from academic institutions across South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, policymakers, engineering and technical professionals, advocacy groups, NGO staff, and anyone with a keen interest in water economics and policy.

The UCT-UCR Seminar Series

This seminar is part of the UCT-UCR Seminar Series: Water Economics and Politics, a collaboration between the University of Cape Town (UCT) and University of California, Riverside (UCR). Subscribe to our mailing list to receive updates on upcoming sessions.

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