From Crisis to Cooperation: Making Water Central to Resilience and Recovery
In a world increasingly defined by floods, droughts, pandemics, and fragility, water is no longer just a development issue; it’s a survival issue. For countries like Sierra Leone and many others across the Global South, access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene is the frontline of resilience. Yet global efforts continue to treat water as an afterthought in emergency planning, climate financing, and infrastructure investment.
At the recent United Nations Special Session on Water and Disasters, H.E. Laura Chinchilla Miranda, former President of Costa Rica and member of the SWA Global Leadership Council, offered a strong reminder: water is not just a sector—it is the foundation for peace, dignity, and sustainable recovery.
Water as a Human Right and Public Good
Time and again, disasters have laid bare the cost of failing to protect this basic resource. When communities face floods or droughts without safe water systems, the ripple effects extend to health, education, food security, and economic productivity. In too many cases, water has also become a source of conflict; manipulated or withheld as a tool of war, repression, or neglect.
But there is another path—one grounded in cooperation, accountability, and shared responsibility.
That is why global leaders, including those at the recent Financing for Development Conference in Seville, are calling for water to be treated as a global public good. Like education or health, water systems must be supported through fair financing, responsible governance, and solidarity across nations. For countries facing unsustainable debt burdens, this means rethinking how we finance water and sanitation—not as charity, but as a necessity for peace and equity.
Bringing Political Will to the Fore
The Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) partnership, together with UNICEF and host government Spain, is setting the stage for the 2025 Sector Ministers’ Meeting in Madrid. This meeting is not just a bureaucratic gathering; it’s an opportunity to galvanize real political will.
At the centre of this effort is a new High-Level Leaders Compact on Water Security and Resilience, designed to bring heads of state and government into the conversation. Civil society groups like WASHNet believe this is essential. Policies and plans alone won’t deliver change. Political buy-in at the highest level; and grassroots accountability at the community level; must go hand in hand.
Moving From Words to Action
The call from leaders like President Chinchilla is clear: we must break down silos between humanitarian response, climate adaptation, and long-term water and sanitation systems. This means building institutions that can outlast political cycles. It means investing in early warning systems, sustainable infrastructure, and social safety nets. And it means ensuring communities; not just donors or technocrats—are part of the decision-making process.
As we move toward the 2025 Sector Ministers’ Meeting, WASHNet calls on the Government of Sierra Leone and its partners to:
- Recognize water and sanitation as a cross-cutting issue central to resilience.
- Prioritize WASH financing in national budgets, even in the face of debt and competing demands.
- Ensure civil society has a seat at the table; not only in Madrid, but in every national planning process that shapes water access and climate adaptation.
Conclusion
Crisis will continue to test our systems. But it also presents an opportunity to strengthen cooperation, transparency, and solidarity. The question before us is no longer whether water matters. It’s whether we will act accordingly; together, and in time.
WASHNet remains committed to elevating the voice of communities and frontline actors in this global conversation.
