Last week, our CEO, Jeny Wegbreit, spent the week at the UNC Water and Health Conference, moving between sessions on results-based financing, rural water service sustainability, and climate-resilient WASH indicators.
Three ideas ran through the week. First, climate resilience now sits at the center of the work. Climate data, risk maps, and predictive tools keep getting more sophisticated, and the real test is whether they shape where funding goes, how systems are designed, and who gets served. Second, systems always outlast projects. Building infrastructure is the easier part. The harder part is keeping services running through droughts, floods, political shifts, and funding cuts. Finally, evidence works best when it drives decisions. The sector is getting better at generating knowledge. Now it can use that knowledge to make smarter investments and let go of approaches that fall short.
"Stop funding activities and start funding the conditions for lasting impact," Jeny said. “For Shockwave, that means backing early-stage, locally led work along with the systems around it, so water and sanitation services keep working long after a project ends.”
The week also brought time with the people doing the work. Jeny met with Will Tillett of Self Help Africa, Kate Cincotta of Saha Global, and teams from WaterAid, Water for People, and Catholic Relief Services.
We are grateful to support each of these organizations and to learn alongside them, and to the UNC Water Institute for convening the field.
