NWP Member Meet-up: Connecting ideas, building coalitions, driving water impact

The meeting was opened by Rick Elmendorp, Director and Chair of NWP, who reflected on the urgency of global water challenges and the importance of working together. “So much to do, so little time,” he said, stressing that cooperation is essential in making meaningful progress. “You may go faster alone, but you go further together.” 

He highlighted the importance of defining clear, shared goals across organisations as when coalitions are formed with purpose, they enable both acceleration and greater reach. Elmendorp also referred to the recent policy letter sent to the new Dutch Cabinet, which includes 10 recommendations calling for water to be embedded across all policy domains, positioning it as a cross-cutting connector.

He also mentioned a recent online stakeholder session on the new public-private coalitions programme for water and food organised by the Inclusive Green Growth Department (IGG) in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). During the session, the Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP) and the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP) highlighted how collaboration can strengthen food and water security in partner countries while supporting sustainable sector development. He emphasised NWP’s goal of actively supporting the formation of effective partnerships.

Cross-sector collaboration in practice

Several NGOs shared best practices and lessons learned from collaboration with the private sector. 

Amref Health Africa presented the Waterstarters model that focuses on blended financing and local water entrepreneurship. The private sector runs on innovation, a business mindset and speedy execution, while Amref facilitates market entry, and shares experiences, relationships and user experience feedback trust with countries and utilities. The session highlighted the importance of understanding each other’s roles and aligning expectations from the outset.

Both ENDS presented The People’s Plan for Nature-based Adaptation of Tidal River Basins in South-West Bangladesh, a locally driven approach to addressing waterlogging and climate vulnerability in highly exposed regions. Both ENDS is now exploring the use of a feasibility study to further develop and assess the approach.

WASTE presented moving from partnerships to scalable service systems. A key message in the presentation, shared by a local woman involved in their work, captured the essence of their approach: “It’s not about toilets, it’s about the system around them.” The session emphasised that sustainable sanitation solutions require alignment between households and communities, businesses, financiers and the public sector in order to function effectively and at scale.

WaterAid spoke about a new platform for water investments called Just Water Partnerships. It is a coordination platform for water investment with justice and equity as core decision-making principles. The presentation highlighted Just Water Partnership’s guiding principles, developed by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, and recommended viewing the explanatory video available on the https://watercommission.org/ homepage.

Woord en Daad (literally word and deed) shared insights from its Ethiopia water pricing project, focusing on the long-term nature of partnership development in complex governance contexts. Building effective partnerships requires time and should be captured clearly in contracts. It calls for patience and strong mutual commitment. While working with private partners can support scalability, it also creates opportunities for organisations such as Eijkelkamp to access new markets, while other partners gain influence and entry points for systemic change.

The organisation emphasised the importance of ‘jumping over your own shadow’ to achieve deep collaboration that goes beyond individual project boundaries. This means moving from short-term project partnerships towards long-term relationships, particularly with government counterparts. In this context, NGOs often play a key role as connectors and catalysts: mobilising stakeholders, acting as knowledge brokers, and helping to activate government institutions to take responsibility.

Matchmaking: connecting ideas and partners

A key part of the afternoon was the matchmaking sessions, which consisted of three organised rounds. Nearly 50 organisations took part, using the opportunity to explore potential partnerships and discuss ideas for future collaboration across the water sector.

NWP as a catalyst for cooperation

The Member Meet-up created space for exchange, reflection and new connections across the water sector ecosystem, and brought together a wide range of perspectives and expertise.

As the sector faces increasing global water challenges, the message from the afternoon was clear: no single organisation can do it alone. But together –  through strong coalitions and shared commitment – the water sector can go further, faster, and have a greater impact.