Watershed International and Netherlands (WP0) General Description
We have to get the next five years right, if we’re to meet the target of universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) by 2030. Watershed will take up the challenge by putting lobby and advocacy as one of the key pillars to achieve faster results. Watershed is a strategic partnership between the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and IRC, Simavi, Wetlands International and Akvo. Sustainability of WASH services is a critical Watershed goal. Over the next five years, the Watershed strategic partnership will deliver improvements in the governance and management of water, sanitation and hygiene services as well as of the water resources on which they draw. Good WASH governance requires the active and meaningful involvement of users (particularly women) of WASH services, service providers, water resource users and polluters. A strong civil society is essential to ensure that the voices of users are heard by service providers and government, and that government, service providers and the private sector are effectively held to account. The programme will be active at international level and in six countries: Kenya, Uganda, Mali, Ghana, Bangladesh, India. What we want to see: • Proven interventions funnelling knowledge and lessons upwards to influence governance and policy at national, regional and international levels. • Global civil society demanding fulfilment of the right to water and sanitation and equitable, sustainable allocation of water resources. • New partners investing in other countries based on Watershed results and approach. • International donors integrating environmental sustainability and climate change resilience into their WASH frameworks and practices. Simavi will be active at international level and Dutch level and in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Bangladesh.

Objectives Description
Long-term objective: ‘improved governance of the WASH sector, responsive to the interests of marginalised groups’. Overall outcomes: 1 In the countries where we work: competent CSOs and their networks lobby effectively for the realisation of the human right to water and sanitation and the reduction of inequalities in access to WASH/IWRM services. 2 Communities and citizens become capacitated and organise to demand their rights to water and sanitation and participate in WASH planning and budgeting. 3 In the global WASH/IWRM arena: global civil society effectively demands fulfilment of the human right to water and sanitation and equitable and sustainable allocation of water resources.

Target Groups Description
The ultimate target group for which we want improvements are the marginalised or people at risk of being marginalised in WASH governance: the poor; people who are excluded by reason of ethnicity or caste; and those who are hardest to reach due to location. The Watershed programme will work through strengthening civil society organization and governments.