A Waterway to Resilience 2015

The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for improved water access has been met—5 years ahead of schedule—but 2.5 billion people still lack access to improved sanitation, a figure far behind the target. Adaptation may also bring about the resilience needed to guard countries against climate-related impacts for centuries to come. The new structure, embodied in five thematic Global Solution Groups (GSGs) in the Water Global Practice (WGP) (irrigation, hydropower, water supply and sanitation (WSS), water economics and poverty, and water resources management (WRM)), ensures external and internal lessons learned are incorporated into project designs and integrated across the regions. The Water Partnership Program (WPP) is working to end poverty and boost shared prosperity through support to investments and analytical work in the water sector. The WPP has evolved from single-country interventions on either WSS or WRM, to more integrated framework solutions that address multiple water uses at the city, basin, or regional level. WPP activities add value to many of the WGP’s operations by creating the space and time needed to deal with challenges as they arise. The WPP provides a solution to fixed budgets and schedules, moves from traditional to transformational.