11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Opening Keynote
Aziza Akhmouch
Head of the Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development division within the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
The past fifteen years of work on water at the OECD have brought three main achievements: 1) a changed paradigm for water, from a resource challenge to an economic challenge, 2) recognition that multi-level governance and finance are essential to policy success, and 3) a body of evidence, insights and tools to support policy design and implementation. Dr. Aziza Akhmouch will discuss the work and research that OECD, partners, and stakeholders have engaged in to bring sustainable water governance to the forefront of healthy communities, specifically as it relates to the Sustainable Development Goals, linking water to urban planning and land use policies, and what they have learned about what it takes to be a water resilient city.
Aziza oversees a team of 30+ experts providing governments with new data, evidence, analysis and guidance in a wide range of urban policies to foster smart, inclusive, competitive and sustainable cities. Amongst others, she oversees the OECD metropolitan and National Urban Policy Reviews, and a broad range of thematic work related to housing, transport, cities and inclusive growth, cities and environment, metropolitan productivity and governance, and localising the Sustainable Development Goals. Aziza Akhmouch spearheaded the OECD Principles on Urban Policy and the OECD Water Governance Initiative. She also manages the OECD Champion Mayors Initiative for Inclusive Growth, the OECD Roundtable of Mayors and Ministers, and the OECD-UN Habitat-Cities Alliance National Urban Policy Platform. She holds a PhD and Ms Degree in Geography, specialised in Geopolitics from the University of Paris 8-Vincennes, and a Master’s degree in international relations.