About

GWP’s VISION is a water secure world. Our MISSION is to advance governance and management of water resources for sustainable and equitable development.

OUR UNIQUE VALUE: GWP mobilises action on the global water crisis through a unique combination of social capital, shared values, credibility within the global water community, bottom-up orientation, and expertise. A network of networks, we ensure the ‘voices of water’ can inﬂuence local, national, regional, and global development priorities. We are committed to our role as a neutral convener and respected for our focus on inclusiveness and sustainability.

Learn

GWP creates and communicates information about integrated water resources management which contributes to improved water governance and, ultimately, water security.

Together with our Partners, we provide knowledge resources and capacity building activities for solving water problems.

Partner

Institutional Partners are the basis of GWP's multi-stakeholder partnership. A strong, diverse partnership can bring about the changes needed to achieve a water secure world. In this section, learn about the benefits of being a Partner and meet a few who already are. We invite like-minded organisations to join us!

GWP Regions

This is where you can find links to the websites of our Regional Water Partnerships (RWPs). RWPs are closest to the countries where we work. They share knowledge and learning across national boundaries and are expected to have an open, inclusive, and gender-sensitive policies for bringing together as wide a group of stakeholders as possible to solve water problems.

Global SDGs

5/12/2016

GWP Launches Paper on Water and the SDGs

The inclusion of a water goal in the the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) puts the responsibility for linking water to other development sectors firmly in the hands of water policy makers and practitioners. GWP’s Technical Background Paper No. 22 addresses the implementation of the water goal in the context of an integrated, cross-sectoral approach.

The title of the paper is “Increasing water security: the key to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals”. Tushaar Shah wrote the paper while he was a member of the GWP Technical Committee. He reviews the IWRM approach and its evolution over the past 25 years towards increasing water security – its successes and disappointments.

“IWRM is essentially a simple idea which gradually gained international acceptance, yet putting it into practice has not proved easy. IWRM is not without its critics. Those who have tried to operationalise it have often applied a ‘one-size-fits-all package’ which does not recognise the unique nature of physical, social, economic, political, and environmental circumstances which determine how a country puts IWRM into practice,” explains Dr. Mohamed Ait-Kadi – former Chair of the GWP Technical Committee – in the foreword.

This review suggests we should learn from the disappointments rather than abandoning the application of IWRM. The first lesson is that implementation of an integrated approach must be gradual and nuanced and not pushed upon countries as an ‘IWRM package’. The second is that countries at different stages of socio-economic evolution have different needs and capabilities and it is essential that this context is taken into account.

The paper is now available online or through the GWP web shop.

Page last edited: 5/12/2016