Agenda for Change welcomes five new members: Catholic Relief Services (CRS), The Center for Water Security and Cooperation (CWSC), Concern Worldwide, Helvetas, and WaterSHED. They join Aguaconsult, CARE, IRC, Osprey Foundation, Splash, WaterAid, Water for Good, Water For People, and Welthungerhilfe in the collaboration.
Agenda for Change is a collaborative response to the challenge of reaching sustainable service delivery as outlined in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) related targets of the Sustainable Development Goals. To qualify for membership in the collaboration, an organization must be committed to the goal of achieving permanent, universal access to WASH services, as demonstrated by satisfying systems strengthening criteria in at least one country (see Governance Framework for more information on criteria).
Read more below about what each member brings to the collaboration:
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) deploys a systems lens to contribute to the achievement of universal water security, including analyzing watershed and landscape health; engaging, planning, and responding through national and sub-national policies, actors, and partners; and, by strengthening existing public and private systems. CRS advocates for improved regulations and policies, and supports networks (e.g., civil society, the private sector, and government) to enhance the results they achieve. CRS’ water security programs engage various government ministries with responsibilities in water and other cross-cutting areas (health, gender, education, environment, agriculture, and others), as well as national civil
The Center for Water Security and Cooperation (CWSC) is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that is building the foundation for systems strengthening in water and sanitation law and policy at both national and local levels. CWSC critically examines water laws including legislation, regulations, policies, plans, strategies and court decisions across essential nexuses (agriculture, drinking water, health and hygiene, national security, peace and conflict, and others) to comprehensively understand how laws govern and impact water security. CWSC also facilitates evidence-based, responsive law and policy drafting, revision, implementation, enforcement, monitoring, and review.
Concern Worldwide’s WASH Programme takes a demand-led approach towards system strengthening. One such experience in systems strengthening is the DRC WASH Consortium, which ran from 2013 – 2019 with Concern Worldwide as the lead agency. The WASH Consortium developed an innovative economic approach, including business plans for sustaining the short, medium and long-term functioning of the new water services, and the establishment of revenue streams to cover these costs. Concern is also working on various projects involving WASH systems strengthening in a number of other fragile contexts.
Helvetas is progressing systemic change in small-scale agriculture to achieve large scale impacts and improve the livelihoods of farmers and vulnerable populations, notably through integration of water into market systems using inclusive approaches. Helvetas facilitates collective action across stakeholders in the public and private sectors; explores linkages between interventions at the farm level up to the national level; and, strengthens the capacity of stakeholders to support local ownership and accelerate replication of best practices within and across countries.
WaterSHED empowers local businesses, government, and other leaders to expand and maintain an inclusive WASH market in Cambodia. WaterSHED’s market-based sanitation program accelerated rural sanitation to more than 60% coverage in six years through building of stronger, local systems alongside leaders. WaterSHED believes that systems strengthening does not require an NGO to grow (in budget, size, or footprint); instead, that a stronger local system should result in a shrinking NGO presence. Therefore, their 2018 – 2020 Strategy is focused on exploring opportunities to expand impact that will stem from partnership, replication, and integration with organizations positioned to leverage their experience, rather than expansion of the organization.