Resilient Water Accelerator

Water is how people and nature largely experience climate change--through droughts, floods and extreme weather - and ensuring water security is the best way to address climate vulnerability and inequalities.

However, to create the holistic and resilient water systems necessary to enable water security requires climate financing that has yet to be unlocked.

This challenge stems from three major barriers: a lack of localised data and institutional capacity required to identify climate risk and support climate finance proposals; the absence of comprehensive cross-sectoral water programmes; and vulnerable communities facing a complex climate funding landscape.

We can only tackle these challenges in partnership. The Resilient Water  Accelerator is a multi-sector partnership which brings together governments, multilaterals, private sector, and NGO/civil society stakeholders from across the sectors of environment, water, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) , finance, climate and development. It is led by a steering committee that includes the African Development Bank, Arup, Global Water Partnership, Government of the Netherlands, Sustainable Markets Initiative, UK Government, WaterAid, and World Resources Institute.

Project Impact

The Resilient Water Accelerator, in its first phase, aims to reach at least 50 million climate-vulnerable, water-stressed people to boost their resilience to climate change by 2030 and support durable eco-systems and disaster preparedness in way which is sustainable, scalable and draws in a variety of financial sources.

Project Timeline

• October 2022 - Work begins in Bangladesh and Nigeria to scope water risks

• March 2023 – Water Situation analysis presented to policy makers, experts, investors and civil society 

• June 2023 – High level engagement  in Mozambique

• By September 2023 – High impact interventions identified

• By December 2023 – Funding secured for next phase of programme and scoping in further countries 

• 2024-25 - Test, refine, and build a shared water vision and portfolio of investable water security programmes  in five to six countries, with the aim of boosting resilience of at least 50 million vulnerable, water-stressed people in low- and middle-income countries by 2030.