Even before COVID-19 struck, progress on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 was alarmingly off track. According to the latest UN report, the current rate of progress on achieving water and sanitation for all will have to quadruple to meet the 2030 deadline.

On Friday, 9 July 2021, a virtual SDG 6 Special Event will be hosted during the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development 2021. In line with the theme of the 2021 high-level political forum on sustainable development, the Special Event will focus on how the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework can support a sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that promotes the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, and builds an inclusive and effective path for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda in the context of the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development.

The SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework introduces this multi-stakeholder, high-level, annual stock-taking event to enable stakeholders to keep up momentum on SDG 6 as well as share lessons and best practices. As a new contribution to the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework, the SDG 6 Capacity Development Initiative will be launched at the Special Event. The Initiative is built on existing capacity development activities across the UN-Water family, and is co-coordinated by UN DESA and UNESCO. The SDG 6 Special Event will also review the progress to date and showcase some of the projects that have been developed around the Framework.

• The agenda for the special event, hosted on 9 July 2021 at 8:00-9:30 EDT/14:00-15:30 CEST, will be made available shortly.