MWH Global attend UN OCHA Consultation

MWH Global were privileged  last week to be one of only two design engineering consultants invited to the Pacific Regional Business Consultation (RBC) hosted by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at the Deloitte New Zealand Auckland offices. MWH were represented by Sarah Davies (Group Manager, Water & Wastewater Upper North Island, New Zealand) at the RBC.

The workshop was a part of a global series of private sector consultations which are intended to identify issues, solutions and recommendations from the private sector which address issues in the humanitarian sector. This particular workshop was focused specifically on the Pacific region where annually the disaster recovery costs are more than US $280 million. This stems from events such as Tropical Cyclone Pam and Typhoon Maysak which occur on a regular basis and have devastated smaller island nations such as Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands. Also as part of our attendance at the RBC, MWH have been invited to the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul during August later this year.

To date there have been 13 consultations worldwide in cities from Johannesburg to Stockholm and many other places. These previous consultations have generated some innovative pilot projects that have engaged the private sector in emergency preparedness and response in a more effective and sustainable way.

MWH Global recognises the role private business plays in humanitarian action and has subsequently been heavily involved in international development work in Asia Pacific working alongside organisations such as the World Bank, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and trade (DFAT) (formerly AusAID) and the New Zealand Aid Programme (NZAID). Our mission has been to improve the delivery and reduce the inherent risk in aid programs by providing high-quality consulting services in institutional strengthening, capacity building, and design procurement and construction supervision for water, wastewater, and energy projects.

MWH Global is also contributing to the international development space through not just our consulting work, but also through our charity engagement too. In 2015 the company has raised thousands of dollars for Oxfam WASH projects in rural Melanesia through participation in their 2015 Water Challenge.