The Global Water Partnership (GWP) is an international group formed to help create a unified way to manage water resources and offer useful guidance for using water in a way that lasts. It works as a network open to all types of organizations, including government groups, United Nations agencies, international development banks, professional groups, research centers, non-governmental organizations, and companies in the private sector.

History

The Global Water Partnership (GWP) was created because many people were unhappy with how water was managed and agreed that a better, more lasting method was needed. Large international meetings and agreements helped shape its development:

• The 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Environment
• The 1977 Mar del Plata Conference
• The 1992 Dublin Conference, which prepared for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro the same year. This meeting led to the "Dublin Principles," which became the main ideas for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).
• Agenda 21, created during UNCED, included the Dublin Principles in Chapter 18, which focuses on protecting freshwater resources and using integrated methods for water management.

GWP was started in 1996 with help from the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). At first, it worked as part of Sida. In 2002, it became an international organization governed by international laws, called the Global Water Partnership Organisation (GWPO). The organization’s main office is in Stockholm, Sweden.

Organisational structure

The Network includes 13 Regional Water Partnerships and 68 approved Country Water Partnerships. It has more than 3,000 institutional Partners in over 170 countries. The 13 regions are Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, the Mediterranean, Central and Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Central Asia and the Caucasus, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China.

Although the Secretariat helps organize and support activities, Regional and Country Partnerships manage their own work. They bring together people and groups to solve specific water-related problems.

The Global Secretariat assists the Executive Secretary, the Technical Committee, and other GWP Committees, as well as the Regional Water Partnerships. It helps with management, funding, communication, planning, and running programs and administrative tasks. The Technical Committee, which includes experts with experience in water management, also supports GWP.

The GWP Chair is Howard Bamsey, who started his role in January 2019. The Executive Secretary and CEO is Darío Soto-Abril, who began work on March 1, 2021. The Chair of the GWP Technical Committee is Dr. Jerome Delli Priscoli. The Patrons are Dr. Ismail Serageldin and Margaret Catley-Carlson. Prince Willem-Alexander of Orange was a Patron until April 30, 2013, when he became King of the Netherlands. In May 2014, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia, became a Patron of GWP.

Operations and Actions

GWP's most important tasks are helping people learn new skills and sharing knowledge. This is done through books, workshops, training classes, meetings, casual conversations, and using its IWRM Toolbox website. The GWP IWRM Toolbox is a free online platform and database about IWRM. It includes examples and references from local, national, regional, and global projects. It helps professionals talk about and study different parts of the IWRM process. It also helps people decide which actions are most important for improving water management and working with others to solve water-related problems.

GWP also works with other groups through special programs, such as the Global Water and Climate Programme, the joint GWP-World Meteorological Organization Program on Flood Management, and the Integrated Drought Management Programme. Important partners include CapNet UNDP, UN-Water, and UNEP-DHI Centre.