About WWAP
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.
Its overall objective is “to 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)”. 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.
WWAP functions under Division of Water Sciences in the Natural Sciences Sector.
Purely an extra budgetary Programme, WWAP is funded by the Government of Italy and is hosted by the Regione Umbria at the UNESCO Programme Office for Global Water Assessment in Perugia, Italy since 2007. WWAP was previously funded by the Government (2000-2006) and hosted at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.
Our mandate
The mandate of WWAP 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’s 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
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. The premises, comprising of four buildings, provides also conference and meetings rooms to host capacity-building activities and other events organized by partner organizations.
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:
Internship Programme
If you are planning to embark on a career in the field of water sciences, then an internship 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
. You will be contacted if selected.
Vacancies at WWAP
To apply to a vacancy fill out the UNESCO CV template and send it to
along with your motivation letter. CV 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.
Staff
UNESCO Policy on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
UNESCO is committed to applying a ‘zero tolerance’ 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 UNESCO Policy on the Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse that applies to all persons employed by UNESCO, namely staff members and non-staff members such as “contractors”, 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: TOR
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.
Pleas also visit the UNESCO Ethics Office page