Water and Development Partnership Programme year-end message

Looking back on our achievements in 2023, we funded an additional 6 large-scale, 10 medium-scale and 5 small-scale projects, aligning with our programme’s goal of supporting organisations in low- and middle-income countries dedicated to conducting research, education and capacity-strengthening activities to manage their water in sustainable and inclusive ways.

In collaboration with Both ENDS and 40 environmental justice advocates from across the world, we drafted and signed the Transformative Water Pact, which offers an alternative approach to water governance founded on the principles of environmental justice, equality and care. To advance this progressive, justice-oriented water agenda, we organised an insightful online session as part of the United Nations Water Conference held in March. Your support in signing and sharing the pact is highly encouraged!

Facilitating ongoing knowledge-sharing, we established an online output repository that already houses over 70 inspiring resources from our projects. This will help ensure that the wealth of knowledge generated by our programme is accessible and extends far and wide within our water and development community and beyond. We also organised 8 seminars for the programme's learning networks to stimulate joint learning among the project teams.

In November, our inaugural annual Water and Development Symposium, themed ‘Beyond reporting impacts,’ brought together more than 480 participants online from multiple countries, helping us to foster dialogue and collective learning that transcends disciplines and regions.

However, as we conclude our programme activities this year, we cannot overlook broader occurrences that mirror the current state of the world, especially the challenges faced by some of our partners and project teams operating in regions affected by ongoing conflicts, violence and geopolitical wars. In view of these sufferings, our reflections this year are also inevitably coloured by the emotional turmoil and complexities associated with implementing projects under these circumstances. To those who are directly impacted by this adversity, we hold you and your families close in our thoughts and prayers.

Despite the grief that may surround us, our collective resilience and commitment as a programme have been unwavering, and it is in acknowledging these difficulties that we find the fortitude to continue collaborating with our partners and projects, and persist with our joint work in these places, knowing that our dedication to positive change will endure.

As we look forward, we will carry the lessons learned this year and we are excited to share our planned activities for 2024:

• Stay tuned for upcoming thematic learning network sessions as we jointly reflect on critical topics.

• In mid-March, we anticipate launching a call for small-scale projects, inviting more progressive ideas to further our mission.

• Investing in strengthening regional collaboration, we aim to support the development and offering of interdisciplinary Master’s programmes on water, fostering sustainable solutions on a broader scale.

• We will initiate projects to study and critically reflect on the impacts of the research and education funded by our programme.

• Save the date for our second annual symposium scheduled for November, where we will continue to explore and expand our collective impact.