Finance for Water

The Dutch water sector is globally known for its excellent water expertise, multi-stakeholder and integrated approaches, innovative technologies, and capacity to address global water challenges. However, despite a myriad of technically sound propositions, innovative ideas and solutions do not always translate into tangible projects.

Bridging the water finance gap

It is not always clear to Dutch water organisations which financing instruments are available to them. The funding landscape of the Netherlands is quite fragmented with different and often small facilities. Taken together with the international funding landscape, it is easy to lose sight of what’s out there. To provide a sense of direction to the NWP’s network, we create insight and share information about financial instruments regularly. The publication of the ‘Mapping International Financial Instruments for Water’ study, commissioned by the Dutch by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, is part of our latest work. The study intends to “map and explain the financial instruments stemming from the European Union, focusing on those which are most relevant to Dutch water sector organisations.”

In addition, at NWP, we have noticed that collaboration between the financial sector and the Dutch water sector are sometimes difficult to materialise, mostly because the financial feasibility of propositions do not catch the investor’s eye. NWP tries to stimulate collaboration between the two sectors organising knowledge sessions with financiers and creating opportunities for organisations to better structure their project proposals and/or business propositions. In this regard, NWP and its partners, Wetsus and Financing Tables Friesland, have run the Investor Readiness Programme for several years. A capacity building programme designed for water technology organisations to advance their project propositions.

Financing water abroad

NWP strives for a water driven future in the Netherlands and abroad. That’s why we support innovative finance for water initiatives regardless of their location. The Kenya Innovative Finance Facility for Water (KIFFWA), for instance, is dear to us. Initiated by NWP in 2016 at the request of the Dutch Embassy in Kenya, KIFFWA is today an autonomous investment fund that co-develops water-related projects in Kenya. NWP continues collaborating with KIFFWA providing secretariat services.

Let’s collaborate

As a network organisation, NWP is uniquely suited to bring people together and to emphasise the importance of working together to address shared financing challenges. Through this network, we can connect you with financial engineering experts that can deliver hands-on support on project identification and work with you on the financial feasibility of your initiative. If you are interested to learn more about the work that we do to finance water and/or would like to explore possibilities for collaboration, contact us.