Advancing a shared agenda for transformative water governance

Water is an essential element for sustaining all life on earth. It is essential for our bodies, for the food we grow, for the diverse organisms and rich ecosystems that make up our precious planet. But that’s not all. Water also has significant social, cultural, Indigenous, spiritual and natural values: water plays an important role in many spiritual practices, and many religions consider a particular source or body of water to be sacred. Yet in many places around the world, water sources are being irresponsibly exploited and polluted for the financial gain of a few. All too often, power and money determine the flow of water, including who has access to it, how it can be used, when, and how much.

Since its founding, Both ENDS has worked with partners to promote the meaningful and long-term participation of communities in sharing and caring for water. Among other things, Both ENDS contributed to the development and documentation of the ‘Negotiated Approach to Inclusive Water Governance’, a methodology based on the concrete experiences of several partners. The approach emphasises the importance of strengthening local capacities of local communities to engage in meaningful negotiations with policymakers and claim their rightful role in water governance.

Participatory process

Preparations for the 2023 UN Water Conference – the first to be held in nearly 50 years – provided the perfect opportunity for Both ENDS and partners to take this work a step further by developing a comprehensive, shared vision of inclusive water governance. Together with the international water knowledge institute IHE-Delft, Both ENDS convened a diverse group of some 40 environmental justice advocates. The collaboration drew experts from both civil society and academia, with experience in different water ecosystems – from rivers and wetlands to drylands and coastal zones – as well as different social and political contexts. In four online roundtables held over the course of several months, participants discussed the key principles, practices and policies that make up inclusive water governance, as well as the root causes, challenges and barriers that stand in the way of realising it. Participants shared their struggles and their solutions.

The resulting Transformative Water Pact, co-authored by 40 organisations and individuals worldwide, describes ten principles that concern the root causes of the current water crisis, the diverse values of water, and its governance as a commons. The Pact acknowledges that contemporary water crises are shaped by unequal power relations and injustices, which result in an unequal distribution of risks and benefits associated with water, to the detriment of marginalised groups. It underscores water as a human right and as a commons, in which communities play key roles as custodians of knowledge in caring for water, not only for its value in sustaining life and ecosystems, but also for its diverse cultural and spiritual values.

A key component of the Transformative Water Pact is the ‘Framework for Action’, which fleshes out the action needed to turn the principles of Transformative Water Governance into practice. The need for safe civic space, which allows citizens to freely speak out and mobilise, is considered as a precondition for socially just decision-making through responsive public institutions. The Transformative Water Pact also highlights the need to strengthen capacities of community-led water management organisations based on their needs and priorities, as well as the importance to learn from indigenous and traditional knowledge systems and practice that foreground common well-being and the intrinsic value of nature. The Transformative Water Pact was launched with a dedicated website and is available in eight languages.

Dialogue at the UN Water conference

The Transformative Water Pact served as the starting point for a dialogue at an online side-event aspart of the UN Water Conference, co-organised by the government of Colombia with Both ENDS, IHE Delft, the Latin-America based network Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA). Specific attention was given to the ways in which Indigenous, ethnic and bio-cultural approaches can be used to create stronger synergies between communities and formal institutions within the context of water governance. Speakers included staff of Both ENDS, the Director of Water Resource Management of the Ministry of the Environment of Colombia, and representatives from AIDA, the Millennium Community Development Initiative, in Kenya – partners of Both ENDS and co-authors of the Transformative Water Pact. Some 200 people attended the online side-event. The international support for the Transformative Water Pact has made it a valuable tool for advocacy.

Spotlighting partners’ practices of Transformative Water Governance

Transformative Water Governance is not just a vision for the future. There are already inspiring examples of it here and now, which inspired the principles reflected in the Pact. A key aim of Both ENDS is to support, strengthen, make space for and spread the wide range of transformative practices that are being implemented effectively around the world right now. Both ENDS raises awareness about existing practices and advocates for policies and funding to support them.

A policy briefing and the #WeWomenAreWater campaign, co-organised by Both ENDS as part of the GAGGA Alliance around the UN Water Conference, highlighted the leadership and crucial role of women and girls from local and Indigenous communities in the sustainable use and protection of water resources and in ensuring water security for all, as well as the need to support them. The GAGGA Alliance, in cooperation with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also organised sessions at the UN Water Conference, including the side-event ‘Making finance for gender-just water and climate solutions a reality!’, co-hosted by the Government of Chile, and Women Engage in a Common Future (WECF). The event was designed to influence other stakeholders to commit to support, finance, and promote locally rooted, gender-just climate and water solutions within the Water Action Agenda and featured inspiring examples of solutions presented by Both ENDS partners.

World of Water, a special report published around the Conference, described Both ENDS’ long-standing work for water justice and community-led water management, and featured the work of several partners, among them Millennium Community Development Initiatives (MCDI), in Kenya. MCDI’s work with the Athi River Community Network (ARCN) reflects the principles of Transformative Water Governance. MCDI supports communities in setting up or joining existing Water Resource Users Associations (WRUAs). Through the associations, local water users determine together how the water in their sub-basin is to be allocated and used. MCDI plays a facilitating and connecting role – supporting the various WRUAs in the Athi River watershed to govern effectively, and providing practical assistance to communities to stand up for their right to water.

MCDI’s role echoes that of Both ENDS: connecting people for change. Both ENDS has helped to connect MCDI and IHE Delft, through the involvement of both organisations in the Transformative Water Pact process. The result is an exciting new collaboration: MCDI, with technical and financial support from IHE Delft and Both ENDS, has developed an action research project to map distribution of water across the Athi River basin. The research will provide crucial information for the Athi River Community Network to strengthen their efforts to claim their water rights.

The Transformative Water Pact describes ten principles that concern the root causes of the current water crisis, the diverse values of water, and its governance as a commons

Community meeting in the Athi River watershed, organised by MCDI. Photo by MCDI