Recognizing the need to better link freshwater conservation and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) initiatives, the Africa Biodiversity Collaborative Group's (ABCG) Global Health Linkages to Biodiversity Conservation working group initiated a community of practice with the aim of establishing an integrated learning and knowledge sharing platform between FW-WASH practitioners in a supportive and collaborative environment. The main goal of the community of practice is to bring together WASH and conservation practitioners to reduce watershed degradation and pollution, and improve the health of freshwater ecosystems.

The proliferation of water crises is the biggest global risk facing countries and industries. In many developing and emerging economies, water-related risks, such as floods, shortages and pollution, are creating a rising tide of increasing business risks for companies, threatening their profits, supply chains, investments and reputations. These risks are also having massive impacts on communities and governments, threatening broader socio-economic development. New partnerships among governments, companies and communities must be forged urgently to address these threats effectively. This is built on the understanding that the complex and multiple causes of threats to water security cannot be managed by any single actor and that joint efforts are necessary.

This community of practice meeting, co-hosted with the Kenya Water and Sanitation Civil Society Network, focuses on sharing knowledge and experiences in building partnerships for water security. Practitioners who have been involved in formulating multi-stakeholder partnerships share their practical experiences on:

Relevant tools for formulating multi-stakeholder partnerships
Ensuring proper monitoring and communication within the partnership
Examples of innovative financing models for multi-stakeholder partnerships
Private sector engagement in partnerships

Resources

For more information, see the meeting report .