The climate crisis is a water crisis. Around the world, people are feeling the effects of climate change through water, with flooding, drought, sea level rise and unpredictable rainfall. To adapt to this new reality and build resilience to the impacts of climate change, we need to rapidly improve how water systems are designed, managed and delivered for different users over time – and this needs investment. Current finance falls short. New frameworks are needed to speed up and scale up this investment, and to change the way water is financed. The Resilient Water Accelerator (RWA) rethinks these investment opportunities to promote climate-resilient water management for people and the planet.
The RWA was conceived by WaterAid in recognition of the lack of investment and growing impacts of climate change on water security in emerging economies. Our mission is to demonstrate the need for public and private investment into water systems that build resilience to the impacts of climate change, so that millions more can benefit. From design support with the Sustainable Markets Initiative, led by HM King Charles III, formerly The Prince of Wales, alongside funding from SIDA, the Bank of America, and Dutch and UK Governments, the RWA has evolved to a team of 13 and a budget of over £11million to deliver impact at global and local levels.
Now entering it’s next phase – to consolidate progress made to date, scale up delivery, secure new investment and move from a flagship programme within WaterAid to become a separate organisation as a wholly owned subsidiary of WaterAid. We are working to increase the speed, scale, and replicability of water investment with a pipeline of projects, bringing together the right mix of financing, commercial structures and partners. We are working to understand local markets and context, develop and originate projects, create shared resources, tools and frameworks, and build proof of concept. We are complementing this with thought leadership on how to make water more investible at a global level. Read more here: www.resilientwateraccelerator.org/