On the question of barriers, I think its also worth highlighting the difficulties of cross-sector collaboration which is so critical in the water resources sector. Getting different government departments (water and ag, water and mining, water and energy, etc) to work together is very difficult in all countries and especially where capacities are weaker. In our experience, we have found it is often much easier to coordination stakeholder groups (government, private sector, civil society) than to foster genuine coordination between different branches of government.
Let's move to our next question:
How can we build, strengthen and scale up partnerships that aim to tackle shared water risks?
It's also worth noting here that WASH development efforts and freshwater conservation reinforce each other and are mutually dependent on each other to succeed. Well-planned sanitation programmes ensure wastewater is treated and disposed of properly which protects freshwater and coastal ecosystems downstream, as well as safeguarding the local communities’ health. Freshwater conservation measures ensure a continued supply of good quality water that communities can access.
It's great to see that the SDG Goal 6 recognises the interconnected nature of these issues.
Katherine Rostkowski said:
Excellent points. Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) is an example of a global partnership of over 90 developing country governments, donors, civil society organizations and other development partners working together to catalyze political leadership and action, improve accountability and use scarce resources more effectively. Partners work towards a common vision of universal access to safe water and adequate sanitation, including national level sector planning and monitoring.
Nathaniel Mason said:I'd highlight transparency from that list. It can be in tension with building trust within the partnership, But for long term success it's key to address external concerns about capture of the resource or the policy influence that controls the resource, from getting the businesses involved in managing water. Need for transparency applies to everyone, not just those in business – people in governments, NGOs and donor agencies have their own interests. Ultimately transparency means not just sharing with partners, but incrementally opening up to wider scrutiny and sharing information and decisions with the public.
Lucy Lee said:There are a number of lessons that WWF has learnt from our water stewardship work about the ways to develop and maintain successful partnerships to support sustainable water management including the need to:
Identify water risks hotspots and target actions at these key locations
- Include all stakeholders in a collective action process, not just a small number of organisations in partnership
Collectively identify the drivers of risks with key stakeholders in the catchment
Raise awareness of the risks and the potential impact on the local economy
Develop a shared vision of how to address them
Respecting the different motivations of stakeholders
Compromise on timescales to ensure work can be delivered to meet the needs of different stakeholders
Be transparent about actions taken
Develop simple clear communication, harmonising language across the value chain
The role of government is exceptionally important in promoting and strengthening the 'institutional framework' in which other actors can build and advance successful partnerships. Governments ameliorate opportunities, reduce barriers and can strengthen particular partners; additionally they are able to ( and should be encouraged to) take a long term perspective, thus promoting learning and best practice and encouraging innovation in the process of building new partnerships.
One good example of this is the work WSUP Advisory is developing in India, within the broad context of the Clean India initiative (championed by the Indian and other governments) and with the vital support and collaboration of USAID, to understand how learning from the building of partnerships to deliver of water services to low income consumers can be best transferred into the Indian urban context.
Working in collaboration governments can assist others to
Zahid Torres-Rahman said:
Great discussion! Let's move on to the second question:
What are we learning about how to develop and sustain successful water partnerships on the ground, particularly the role of governments, and what are the greatest barriers to progress?
USAID has created a practical guide for business on partnering with USAID that includes motivation to partner (with case studies), investment strategies, and logistics information. Partnering with USAID: A Guide for Companies can be found here: http://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1880/Partnering_Guide_Updated2012.pdf
Will Davies said:
I think there are two parts to this: the pre-conditions that increase the chances of the partnership succeeding, and then the more practical (and difficult) process of making it work over the longer term.
On pre-conditions, we already discussed motivations, which are key. Water scarcity needs to be high on the political, business and/or social agenda in the first place. And not just for a small cross section of stakeholders - to really build and sustain coalitions, you need a critical mass. Then you also need champions, leaders that are willing to stand up and put their name to the partnership, to draw others in. And you need a common vision - a common understanding of what the partnership is for, and what it aims to achieve.
On the process side, I think the factors are more general - getting people with the right skill sets in to manage the partnerships, demonstrating results, etc.
Coming back to the SWPN example, we recently produced a case study looking at the this question of what drove the success of the partnership and many of these factors came up. Those interested can get a copy at:
http://www.2030wrg.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/SWPN-Case-Study_May2015.pdf
Absolutely agree with this point. There is the tendency to focus on one or the other when in fact the entire system needs to be taken into consideration in order to function properly.
Lucy Lee said:
It's also worth noting here that WASH development efforts and freshwater conservation reinforce each other and are mutually dependent on each other to succeed. Well-planned sanitation programmes ensure wastewater is treated and disposed of properly which protects freshwater and coastal ecosystems downstream, as well as safeguarding the local communities’ health. Freshwater conservation measures ensure a continued supply of good quality water that communities can access.
It's great to see that the SDG Goal 6 recognises the interconnected nature of these issues.
Katherine Rostkowski said:Excellent points. Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) is an example of a global partnership of over 90 developing country governments, donors, civil society organizations and other development partners working together to catalyze political leadership and action, improve accountability and use scarce resources more effectively. Partners work towards a common vision of universal access to safe water and adequate sanitation, including national level sector planning and monitoring.
Nathaniel Mason said:I'd highlight transparency from that list. It can be in tension with building trust within the partnership, But for long term success it's key to address external concerns about capture of the resource or the policy influence that controls the resource, from getting the businesses involved in managing water. Need for transparency applies to everyone, not just those in business – people in governments, NGOs and donor agencies have their own interests. Ultimately transparency means not just sharing with partners, but incrementally opening up to wider scrutiny and sharing information and decisions with the public.
Lucy Lee said:There are a number of lessons that WWF has learnt from our water stewardship work about the ways to develop and maintain successful partnerships to support sustainable water management including the need to:
Identify water risks hotspots and target actions at these key locations
- Include all stakeholders in a collective action process, not just a small number of organisations in partnership
Collectively identify the drivers of risks with key stakeholders in the catchment
Raise awareness of the risks and the potential impact on the local economy
Develop a shared vision of how to address them
Respecting the different motivations of stakeholders
Compromise on timescales to ensure work can be delivered to meet the needs of different stakeholders
Be transparent about actions taken
Develop simple clear communication, harmonising language across the value chain
For me the key word in this question is scale. We have seen many water partnerships develop over the past few years which have been very successful in their own right but a lot are, at best, pilot scale. I don’t want to underplay this, as it is important to develop a proof of concept, but it only tackles part of a broader problem.
Talking from a private sector perspective, it should be recognised that some companies have a bigger picture vision related to water stewardship (including WASH) and are prepared to engage and partner with the public sector and civil society to undertake these activities. Most, however, do not and need to be brought on board through more short-term projects that can show quick and visible results.
This does not mean losing sight of the bigger picture, but accepting that achieving a broader scale is a slow process and has to be undertaken in phases at the pace of the slowest partner. It can take a few years to get to the stage of implementing a multi-stakeholder initiative on a scale significant enough to make an impact. However, it is also important to have quick-wins along the way to maintain interest.
Zahid Torres-Rahman said:
Let's move to our next question:
How can we build, strengthen and scale up partnerships that aim to tackle shared water risks?
Bilateral partnerships are unlikely to be able to deliver a significant reduction in water risks, collective action will be required. Like-minded organisations can help catalyse a critical mass of stakeholders to come together to identify shared water risks and develop integrated solutions to address them. Ultimately though to scale up we need to intervene at a governance and policy level.
As part of our water stewardship work we have been working in a number of river basins demonstrating that by working with local government, the private sector and other stakeholders vital improvements in water resource management can be made. We recognise that more needs to be done to act on a scale and at a speed necessary to meet growing water related risks and have therefore developed ‘Water Stewardship Basins Strategies’ for 16 global river basins.
Our vision is for freshwater resources to be managed sustainably and equitably in each of these river basins to enable thriving communities, businesses and healthy ecosystems. In each we have carried out detailed analysis including mapping company supply chains, operations, donor investments and well as identifying existing platforms and forums.
Zahid Torres-Rahman said:
Let's move to our next question:
How can we build, strengthen and scale up partnerships that aim to tackle shared water risks?
Thanks Neil, Will, Katherine, Nathaniel and Lucy,
Once the drive is established (with the help of some advocacy), then Lead partners bringing in a neutral broker, finding shared value and building trust sounds key. Are you generally finding that the lead partners can come from any of the key stakeholder groups (NGO/CSO, government, business or funder), or is this tending to be led by NGOs? How can we help catalyse some of these processes in the early stages?
Thanks again for the great discussion and ace examples.
USAID proactively seeks to build partnerships that leverage the combined skills, assets, technologies and resources of the public, private and nonprofit sectors to deliver sustainable development impact. Such partnerships enable us to achieve more working together than we ever could working alone.
For example, the Securing Water for Food (SWFF) Grand Challenge for Development is looking to source, fund, and accelerate the development of scientific, technological, and business innovations that will enable the production of more food with less water and/or make more water available for food production, processing, and distribution. SWFF is looking for solutions in water efficiency and reusing wastewater, water capture and storage, and salinity and salt water intrusion. Engaging the world in the quest for solutions, USAID, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (MFA-NL) seeks to find and support the best partners including science and technology innovators, entrepreneurs, businesses, students, and other organizations that can help solve this grand challenge for development.
For more information on SWFF and innovations, visit: http://www.securingwaterforfood.org/
Zahid Torres-Rahman said:
Let's move to our next question:
How can we build, strengthen and scale up partnerships that aim to tackle shared water risks?
Agree with previous comments from David and Lucy. From a partnership building perspective, I think its important to demonstrate results as quickly as possible, which often means looking for quick wins and working at manageable (e.g. catchment) scale. However, this should note mean losing sight of the bigger picture, i.e. the high impact and difficult topics, and engaging at a national level to influence more policy/incentives/governance in a way that can have systemic impact. A balance is important..
Lucy Lee said:
Bilateral partnerships are unlikely to be able to deliver a significant reduction in water risks, collective action will be required. Like-minded organisations can help catalyse a critical mass of stakeholders to come together to identify shared water risks and develop integrated solutions to address them. Ultimately though to scale up we need to intervene at a governance and policy level.
As part of our water stewardship work we have been working in a number of river basins demonstrating that by working with local government, the private sector and other stakeholders vital improvements in water resource management can be made. We recognise that more needs to be done to act on a scale and at a speed necessary to meet growing water related risks and have therefore developed ‘Water Stewardship Basins Strategies’ for 16 global river basins.
Our vision is for freshwater resources to be managed sustainably and equitably in each of these river basins to enable thriving communities, businesses and healthy ecosystems. In each we have carried out detailed analysis including mapping company supply chains, operations, donor investments and well as identifying existing platforms and forums.
Zahid Torres-Rahman said:Let's move to our next question:
How can we build, strengthen and scale up partnerships that aim to tackle shared water risks?
I would like to highlight the SWFF, I think this is a really brilliant initiative on the part of USAID and I think certainly gives the stimulus needed to get some innovative ideas off the ground.
Katherine Rostkowski said:
USAID proactively seeks to build partnerships that leverage the combined skills, assets, technologies and resources of the public, private and nonprofit sectors to deliver sustainable development impact. Such partnerships enable us to achieve more working together than we ever could working alone.
For example, the Securing Water for Food (SWFF) Grand Challenge for Development is looking to source, fund, and accelerate the development of scientific, technological, and business innovations that will enable the production of more food with less water and/or make more water available for food production, processing, and distribution. SWFF is looking for solutions in water efficiency and reusing wastewater, water capture and storage, and salinity and salt water intrusion. Engaging the world in the quest for solutions, USAID, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (MFA-NL) seeks to find and support the best partners including science and technology innovators, entrepreneurs, businesses, students, and other organizations that can help solve this grand challenge for development.
For more information on SWFF and innovations, visit: http://www.securingwaterforfood.org/
Zahid Torres-Rahman said:Let's move to our next question:
How can we build, strengthen and scale up partnerships that aim to tackle shared water risks?
Effective partnerships integrate common interests and require time and careful planning. Strengthening and scaling partnerships requires ongoing and active engagement from all partners even after the partnership is well-established.
USAID and Rotary International partnered to establish The International H2O Collaboration in 2007 to support collaborative water, sanitation and hygiene initiatives between Rotary Clubs/Districts and USAID Missions. In the first phase, projects in Ghana, Dominican Republic, and the Philippines with contribution of US$1 million each from Rotary and USAID, resulted in more than 15,670 WASH interventions in 496 urban and rural communities, ranging from household hygiene promotion to rural water supply systems and utility-managed urban services. The partnership leveraged the Rotarians’ service and influence at the local level while partnering with USAID’s wide policy influence and operational expertise. The partnership took a deliberate and step-wise approach to testing its partnership implementation model. The partners also invested in the development of the WASH Sustainability Index Tool (SIT), a tool that assesses the likelihood of sustainability of WASH programs against five factors critical to ensuring the sustainability of service: institutional, management, financial, technical and environmental (http://www.washplus.org/rotary-usaid). The experiences gained in the pilot efforts have developed solid partnership procedures, more robust design approaches, and strengthened the institutional relationship between USAID and Rotary for the expansion of activities. Rotary and USAID have committed to a second phase of the partnership, currently being developed.
Zahid Torres-Rahman said:
Let's move to our next question:
How can we build, strengthen and scale up partnerships that aim to tackle shared water risks?
Totally agree that the interconnections between WASH and water resources are plain to see, and are being reinforced by SDG 6 - which is really positive. Our team here at ODI tries wherever possible to work on the intersection of WASH and water resources management - we've been frustrated by the siloes that get created in the water sector (as well as between water and other sectors).
I do think that the conversations on business engagement in water resources management on the one hand, and water supply, sanitation and hygiene on the other, have tended to be a bit separate. Any more examples of where water resources and WASH issues are being approached together, through multistakeholder partnership?
David Grant said:
Absolutely agree with this point. There is the tendency to focus on one or the other when in fact the entire system needs to be taken into consideration in order to function properly.
Lucy Lee said:It's also worth noting here that WASH development efforts and freshwater conservation reinforce each other and are mutually dependent on each other to succeed. Well-planned sanitation programmes ensure wastewater is treated and disposed of properly which protects freshwater and coastal ecosystems downstream, as well as safeguarding the local communities’ health. Freshwater conservation measures ensure a continued supply of good quality water that communities can access.
It's great to see that the SDG Goal 6 recognises the interconnected nature of these issues.
Katherine Rostkowski said:Excellent points. Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) is an example of a global partnership of over 90 developing country governments, donors, civil society organizations and other development partners working together to catalyze political leadership and action, improve accountability and use scarce resources more effectively. Partners work towards a common vision of universal access to safe water and adequate sanitation, including national level sector planning and monitoring.
Nathaniel Mason said:I'd highlight transparency from that list. It can be in tension with building trust within the partnership, But for long term success it's key to address external concerns about capture of the resource or the policy influence that controls the resource, from getting the businesses involved in managing water. Need for transparency applies to everyone, not just those in business – people in governments, NGOs and donor agencies have their own interests. Ultimately transparency means not just sharing with partners, but incrementally opening up to wider scrutiny and sharing information and decisions with the public.
Lucy Lee said:There are a number of lessons that WWF has learnt from our water stewardship work about the ways to develop and maintain successful partnerships to support sustainable water management including the need to:
Identify water risks hotspots and target actions at these key locations
- Include all stakeholders in a collective action process, not just a small number of organisations in partnership
Collectively identify the drivers of risks with key stakeholders in the catchment
Raise awareness of the risks and the potential impact on the local economy
Develop a shared vision of how to address them
Respecting the different motivations of stakeholders
Compromise on timescales to ensure work can be delivered to meet the needs of different stakeholders
Be transparent about actions taken
Develop simple clear communication, harmonising language across the value chain
In our experience the initial catalyst has been from a relationship between a few like minded organisations - some NGO's some business but less regularly government. In terms of supporting these processes in the early stages we need tools like the Water Action Hub where businesses and NGO's can identify who else is working on the same issues and in the same areas,
Rachael Clay said:
Thanks Neil, Will, Katherine, Nathaniel and Lucy,
Once the drive is established (with the help of some advocacy), then Lead partners bringing in a neutral broker, finding shared value and building trust sounds key. Are you generally finding that the lead partners can come from any of the key stakeholder groups (NGO/CSO, government, business or funder), or is this tending to be led by NGOs? How can we help catalyse some of these processes in the early stages?
Thanks again for the great discussion and ace examples.
Great point Lucy. Lasting impact will require a deep commitment to work as partners in fostering sustainable development. We seek to empower and support through collaboration. Nations and communities must increasingly be able to meet the needs of their citizens. These partnerships will need to consider government agencies, international donors, NGOs, the private sector, the academic community, partner countries, and civil society organizations.
Lucy Lee said:
Bilateral partnerships are unlikely to be able to deliver a significant reduction in water risks, collective action will be required. Like-minded organisations can help catalyse a critical mass of stakeholders to come together to identify shared water risks and develop integrated solutions to address them. Ultimately though to scale up we need to intervene at a governance and policy level.
As part of our water stewardship work we have been working in a number of river basins demonstrating that by working with local government, the private sector and other stakeholders vital improvements in water resource management can be made. We recognise that more needs to be done to act on a scale and at a speed necessary to meet growing water related risks and have therefore developed ‘Water Stewardship Basins Strategies’ for 16 global river basins.
Our vision is for freshwater resources to be managed sustainably and equitably in each of these river basins to enable thriving communities, businesses and healthy ecosystems. In each we have carried out detailed analysis including mapping company supply chains, operations, donor investments and well as identifying existing platforms and forums.
Zahid Torres-Rahman said:Let's move to our next question:
How can we build, strengthen and scale up partnerships that aim to tackle shared water risks?
I would very much agree with you David - governments have a long term role to play in the oversight of the management of water resources in a country. The challenge is helping them to develop their understanding of and response to the multiple, and cross cutting, responsibilities associated with that their mandate - and assisting them to develop a pragmatic mechanism to manage those responsibilities - i.e. through delegation of regulatory authorities, or building of specialist skills or areas of expertise. This process may involve helping them to develop specific priority areas for focus, ....for example we worked with the Kenyan authorities to develop additional KPIs for urban water delivery to enhance the quality of the regulatory framework and improve oversight and assessment of service delivery in that country.
David Grant said:
I think that any partnership that is hoping to achieve success needs to engage with government for long term sustainability. I say this due to the fact that whatever is being considered on the ground will invariably have some relationship with government (for example national, local, catchment management agencies) policy, strategy, action plans, projects etc and to not include them does place the partnership in jeopardy. Ultimately government is the custodian of the water resources in a given country.
I think the Strategic Water Partners Network (WRG Partnership in South Africa) is doing some good work in this area, albeit at a high level. They have a number of work streams that fall under the partnership umbrella looking to on the one hand safe guard water resources while on the other support local government in WASH - for example effective wastewater treatment. It is not a perfect example to your question, but it is making progress in that direction.
Nathaniel Mason said:
Totally agree that the interconnections between WASH and water resources are plain to see, and are being reinforced by SDG 6 - which is really positive. Our team here at ODI tries wherever possible to work on the intersection of WASH and water resources management - we've been frustrated by the siloes that get created in the water sector (as well as between water and other sectors).
I do think that the conversations on business engagement in water resources management on the one hand, and water supply, sanitation and hygiene on the other, have tended to be a bit separate. Any more examples of where water resources and WASH issues are being approached together, through multistakeholder partnership?
David Grant said:Absolutely agree with this point. There is the tendency to focus on one or the other when in fact the entire system needs to be taken into consideration in order to function properly.
Lucy Lee said:It's also worth noting here that WASH development efforts and freshwater conservation reinforce each other and are mutually dependent on each other to succeed. Well-planned sanitation programmes ensure wastewater is treated and disposed of properly which protects freshwater and coastal ecosystems downstream, as well as safeguarding the local communities’ health. Freshwater conservation measures ensure a continued supply of good quality water that communities can access.
It's great to see that the SDG Goal 6 recognises the interconnected nature of these issues.
Katherine Rostkowski said:Excellent points. Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) is an example of a global partnership of over 90 developing country governments, donors, civil society organizations and other development partners working together to catalyze political leadership and action, improve accountability and use scarce resources more effectively. Partners work towards a common vision of universal access to safe water and adequate sanitation, including national level sector planning and monitoring.
Nathaniel Mason said:I'd highlight transparency from that list. It can be in tension with building trust within the partnership, But for long term success it's key to address external concerns about capture of the resource or the policy influence that controls the resource, from getting the businesses involved in managing water. Need for transparency applies to everyone, not just those in business – people in governments, NGOs and donor agencies have their own interests. Ultimately transparency means not just sharing with partners, but incrementally opening up to wider scrutiny and sharing information and decisions with the public.
Lucy Lee said:There are a number of lessons that WWF has learnt from our water stewardship work about the ways to develop and maintain successful partnerships to support sustainable water management including the need to:
Identify water risks hotspots and target actions at these key locations
- Include all stakeholders in a collective action process, not just a small number of organisations in partnership
Collectively identify the drivers of risks with key stakeholders in the catchment
Raise awareness of the risks and the potential impact on the local economy
Develop a shared vision of how to address them
Respecting the different motivations of stakeholders
Compromise on timescales to ensure work can be delivered to meet the needs of different stakeholders
Be transparent about actions taken
Develop simple clear communication, harmonising language across the value chain
What about the role of finance? The idea of bringing more private finance to the table has been discussed for years but we're still not seeing it at scale. There are lots of bottlenecks in bringing private finance to water and sanitation infrastructure in low-capacity countries: lack of bankable projects, undeveloped regulatory environments and domestic capital markets, banks that are unfamiliar with the specific needs of the sector. Don't know if you're involved in it, Katherine, but 'Innovative Finance for Water Supply' under USAID's SUWASA is an interesting example of some work on this area: http://usaid-suwasa.org/index.php/projects-and-activities/kenya/item/281-innovative-finance-for-water-supply-phase-2
Katherine Rostkowski said:
Effective partnerships integrate common interests and require time and careful planning. Strengthening and scaling partnerships requires ongoing and active engagement from all partners even after the partnership is well-established.
USAID and Rotary International partnered to establish The International H2O Collaboration in 2007 to support collaborative water, sanitation and hygiene initiatives between Rotary Clubs/Districts and USAID Missions. In the first phase, projects in Ghana, Dominican Republic, and the Philippines with contribution of US$1 million each from Rotary and USAID, resulted in more than 15,670 WASH interventions in 496 urban and rural communities, ranging from household hygiene promotion to rural water supply systems and utility-managed urban services. The partnership leveraged the Rotarians’ service and influence at the local level while partnering with USAID’s wide policy influence and operational expertise. The partnership took a deliberate and step-wise approach to testing its partnership implementation model. The partners also invested in the development of the WASH Sustainability Index Tool (SIT), a tool that assesses the likelihood of sustainability of WASH programs against five factors critical to ensuring the sustainability of service: institutional, management, financial, technical and environmental (http://www.washplus.org/rotary-usaid). The experiences gained in the pilot efforts have developed solid partnership procedures, more robust design approaches, and strengthened the institutional relationship between USAID and Rotary for the expansion of activities. Rotary and USAID have committed to a second phase of the partnership, currently being developed.
Zahid Torres-Rahman said:Let's move to our next question:
How can we build, strengthen and scale up partnerships that aim to tackle shared water risks?
Agree, individual projects enable to demonstrate success and get certain industries on board for collective action.
David Grant said:
For me the key word in this question is scale. We have seen many water partnerships develop over the past few years which have been very successful in their own right but a lot are, at best, pilot scale. I don’t want to underplay this, as it is important to develop a proof of concept, but it only tackles part of a broader problem.
Talking from a private sector perspective, it should be recognised that some companies have a bigger picture vision related to water stewardship (including WASH) and are prepared to engage and partner with the public sector and civil society to undertake these activities. Most, however, do not and need to be brought on board through more short-term projects that can show quick and visible results.
This does not mean losing sight of the bigger picture, but accepting that achieving a broader scale is a slow process and has to be undertaken in phases at the pace of the slowest partner. It can take a few years to get to the stage of implementing a multi-stakeholder initiative on a scale significant enough to make an impact. However, it is also important to have quick-wins along the way to maintain interest.
Zahid Torres-Rahman said:Let's move to our next question:
How can we build, strengthen and scale up partnerships that aim to tackle shared water risks?