Water, Growth & Inclusion

Water security is essential to all forms of economic activity, from farming to manufacturing, energy production, transport and other service industries including tourism. An absence of water in the right quantity and of the right quality, or an overabundance in the form of flooding, directly threatens economies and the livelihood security of key communities. In conditions of scarcity, allocation between rural agriculture and urban consumers, or between industrial uses and environmental flows, can have immediate or long-term impacts on economic growth but also on the future well-being of societies. Large numbers of people migrate to and from regions and countries where changes in water access and use can have significant impacts on rural development. Research on these challenges helps in not only identifying the institutions, policies and governance processes required to build more robust and water-secure economies, but also to reduce poverty and ensure more gender-equitable and inclusive societies. 

Our approach

IWMI is the only transdisciplinary, internationally located water research institute working at the nexus of food systems, climate and growth. This provides us with unique opportunities to generate insights that will transform sectors and sector decision-making, helping to support future food security, long-term sustainable resource governance and economic growth with equity. Our work on growth and water brings together theoretical and methodological advances in understanding with practical implementation of solutions on the ground, driven through partnerships with governments, civil society and the private sector. Our Governance and Inclusion team has deep knowledge of systemic resource governance challenges across Asia and Africa, complementing our work under the Circular Economy and Water Pollution team, who are driving forward solutions to waste recycling, recovery and reuse. Our work in economics across a range of country contexts ensures that we bring academic rigor and broad experience to assessing the impacts of different interventions on economies and societies 

Our research on Water, Growth and Inclusion

• Analyzes the dynamics of power, interests and incentives and their impact on decision-making.
• Supports cooperation in transboundary water management across a range of globally important river basins.
• Understands the gender dimensions of new technologies and water governance, strengthening the inclusion of women, youth and marginalized people.
• Strengthens women’s access to decision-making through tackling institutional barriers.
• Identifies inclusive and sustainable ways of adopting and scaling up water-related technologies.
• Assesses the costs and benefits of water risk management at different scales.
• Undertakes ecosystem service valuations in decisions on water allocation and infrastructure investments.
• Applies cost-benefit and impact evaluation to strengthen policy analysis.
• Provides enhanced capabilities in hydro-economic modeling to support future decision-making.

Latest publications on this topic

Meeting each other halfway: institutionalizing community participation in integrated development plans and water services development plans in South Africa. Synthesis report to the WRC Project No. C2020/2021-00538, titled ‘Institutionalizing Inclusive Community-led Planning of Water Supply in Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Water Services Development Plan (WSDP).
2024
More... | Fulltext (3.50 MB)

South Africa’s Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Water Services Development Plan (WSDP) processes provide a legally binding framework, or so-called ‘long route to accountability’, in which citizens can hold their elected political representatives accountable. This includes municipalities’ prioritization and allocation of available internal and external financial, technical and institutional resources for service delivery, and the appointment of internal or external service providers to that end. On the ground, communities interact directly with these service providers in a short route to accountability. However, when it comes to participation for improved water services, communities in low-income rural and urban areas seem inactive. Instead, they protest on the streets. Addressing this void, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) started establishing and supporting Water and Sanitation Community Forums (WSCFs). In collaboration with DWS and eight WSCFs, and supported by the Water Research Commission (WRC), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) implemented the project ‘Institutionalizing inclusive community-led planning of water supply in IDP and WSDP’. The project examined the stumbling blocks in the implementation of this long route to accountability or in other institutional issues that seem to ignore ordinary community members in under-resourced settings. This evidence is the basis for recommendations to revive the IDP and active participation in the water sector. The project has two main outputs. The user-friendly “Guidelines for Water and Sanitation Community Forums, municipal officials, and other decision-makers to integrate participatory planning into Integrated Development Plan and Water Services Development Plan processes” synthesize the experiences and aspirations of the WSCFs, as emerged from direct and mutual engagements and dialogues. The present report combines these experiences with extensive literature review on the South African context, disentangling public water services delivery according to the World Bank’s long and short routes to accountability. Our analysis suggests main obstacles in the first leg of the long route to accountability, in which communities express their problems and priorities in the IDP processes via the wards up to the mayor of the Water Services Authority. Voices about specific water issues are quite technical and get lost amidst of many other needs. Even if communities communicate acute problems of lack of maintenance and breakdowns of municipal infrastructure, response is slow or absent. Further, officials tend to focus on municipal systems only. Yet, where municipal water services fail or haven’t been implemented as yet, communities find alternatives. Communities already take over some operation and maintenance of municipal systems and are keen to formalise. Communities also participate actively from the planning phase onwards in small systems by NGOs, donors, or private sector,

Municipal governments / Communities / Political aspects / Frameworks / Planning / Stakeholders / Capacity development / Co-management / Accountability / Water supply / Development plans / Community involvement
Record No:H052927

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Assessing the investment climate to promote a circular bioeconomy: a comparison of 15 countries in the Global South.
2024
More... [DOI] | Fulltext (16.8 MB)

Transitioning towards a circular economy requires investments in new businesses and for this, a supportive environment and business models that can attract private entities are needed. Operating in countries where the enabling factors are minimal or weak proves extremely challenging for private enterprises. The present cross-country study tried to assess the investment climate for promoting a circular bioeconomy, i.e., businesses or public-private partnerships based on organic (municipal) waste. The main indicators used for the assessment are existing regulatory frameworks; business climate and associated procedures; governance in provision of infrastructure; incentives; access to finance; and entrepreneurial ecosystems. While most of the countries analyzed indicated evidence of regulations on waste management and policies related to promoting circularity, the divide is mainly on aspects related to business environments, access to finance and governance. The World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index and Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) indicate that Southeast Asian and Latin American countries are better positioned than most other Asian and African countries. National economies are challenged by these barriers that need to be addressed to foster the widespread adoption of a more circular bioeconomy.

Global South / Developing countries / Indicators / Awareness-raising / Competitive behaviour / Markets / Entrepreneurs / Biogas / Renewable energy / Composting / Organic fertilizers / Sustainable Development Goals / Waste management / Public institutions / Private sector / Contracts / Legislation / Taxes / Lending / Funding / Financial inclusion / Access to finance / Corruption / Incentives / Infrastructure / Governance / Business models / Guidelines / Policies / Frameworks / Regulations / Investment / Bioeconomy / Circular economy / Reuse / Resource management / Resource recovery
Record No:H053062

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Scaling circular bio-economy solutions in refugee settings: a peer-to-peer capacity building approach.
2024
More... | Fulltext (10.8 MB)

Agroforestry / Households / Reuse / Resource recovery / Capacity development / Communities / Human settlements / Refugees / Bioeconomy / Circular economy
Record No:H052802

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Changing gendered roles in agricultural production in northwestern Ghana. [Policy Brief of the Resilience Against Climate Change - Social Transformation Research and Policy Advocacy (REACH-STR) project].
2024
More... | Fulltext (4.88 MB)

Decision making / Commercialization / Soil fertility / Shea butter / Shea nuts / Groundnuts / Cassava / Cropping patterns / Women farmers / Farmers / Vulnerability / Transformation / Social norms / Socioeconomic aspects / Climate resilience / Policies / Climate change / Households / Communities / Drought / Gender / Agricultural production
Record No:H053119

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