Abstract
Analytical research has been conducted through questionnaire surveys and case studies to examine the effectiveness of approaches used by the World Water Forum in realizing major global actions on water and sanitation.Results show the following.
1.World Water Forums are characterized by their size, openness, non-binding outcomes, and trials and follow-ups of innovative discussion processes.
2.Organizers of the forums clearly recognize and make maximum use of their strengths to achieve their objectives, i.e., galvanizing global action related to water and sanitation.
3.Priorities in organizing the forums are numbers of high-level participants, diversity of participants, and media attention.
4.The following approaches have been taken to transform forum outcomes and influence into concrete global actions: promoting participation of multi-stakeholders and highlighting their roles in achieving the forum objectives, urging voluntary commitments by governments and organizations during the forum, and announcing clear messages related to specific issues.
5.The effectiveness of these approaches has been verified through case studies following the forums.
