Coordinate Collective Action Projects to Take Action on SDG 6

Drive sustainable water management through collective action!

Collective action – that is, cross-sectoral collaborations to tackle shared challenges – is a foundational element of any robust water stewardship strategy.

Water challenges, like water scarcity, pollution, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient WASH services, and more, each affect many parties simultaneously, including businesses, communities, utilities, governments, NGOs, and more. As such, each group has an interest in managing these challenges. Businesses and others increasingly recognize that they can most meaningfully address these challenges when they work together.

However, strategically and credibly implementing water-related collective is no small feat. Indeed, it is quite complex and challenging.

A company considering collective action as a pathway to addressing water-related risks or opportunities has several engagement options – ranging from relatively low-cost/impact consultations to demanding, consensus-based multi-year partnerships. Collective action will be most successful when tailored to the motivation and capacity of all engaged parties, as well as to the context in which the action occurs.

The Mandate’s Guide to Water-Related Collective Action presents four collective action engagement levels, from the least complex, politically-sensitive, and time- and resource-intensive to the most:

1. Sharing information

2. Seeking advice

3. Pursuing common objectives and

4. Integrating decisions, resources, and actions

The earlier levels generally only seek input from stakeholders so a business or other entity can make more informed decisions. On the other end of the spectrum, later levels often require a much longer time horizon and consensus-based decision making, among other things. When first working with a new organization or stakeholder group, companies may find it helpful to start with the less demanding forms of engagement and gradually make their way toward full-blown partnerships as they develop trust, experience, and capacity.

Water-related collective action projects can also focus on a wide range of topics, including:

• Efficient water use

• Effluent management/wastewater reclamation/reuse

• Community-level access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH)

• Storm water management and flood control

• Infrastructure finance, development, operation, or maintenance

• Sustainable agriculture

• Climate change adaptation and resilience

• Ecosystem or source-water protection/restoration

• Monitoring and knowledge sharing

• Engaging in participatory platforms

• Public awareness and education

• Improved water governance, and policy development and implementation

The most strategic and appropriate topics for consideration will ultimately depend on the company’s circumstances and most importantly, the circumstances of the river basins in which it is operating.

Business networks can play an critical role in helping companies understand what challenges are most relevant to address, while also connecting companies to potential business and non-business collaborators. Networks can develop their knowledge of local water challenges by familiarizing themselves with tools like WRI’s Aqueduct and WWF’s Water Risk Filter and by convening local stakeholders to drive discussion and consensus. Networks can develop their knowledge of collective action by familiarizing themselves with the Mandate resources listed above. They can then guide members toward the level and topics of engagement most appropriate for them.

For more on the types of collective action, as well as how to go about engaging in collective action, see the Mandate’ Guide to Water-Related Collective Action.

Water-related collective actions are often quite complex, difficult to implement, and politically-sensitive. If implemented ineffectively, companies can waste considerable time and money on collaboration models that are not suitable for their project. Similarly, if implemented inequitably (e.g., pushing through collaboration models that do not adequately consider stakeholder voices or otherwise abuse corporate power), companies can create significant reputational and brand damage to themselves/

As such, water stewardship projects ideally have:

• Clear objectives and demonstrable outcomes that advance sustainable water management

• Trustworthy, credible, and accountable participants

• Inclusive, transparent, and responsive processes and governance that lead to informed and balanced decision-making.

Doing so, ultimately brings many benefits to such collective actions, including:

• Increasing effectiveness and likelihood of achieving initiative goals

• Generating greater credibility and reducing reputational risks for participants

• Fostering long-term engagement and cooperation with affected stakeholders

• Supporting participants’ staff or representatives through clear articulation of the rules for engagement.

To ensure integrity in their collective action efforts, networks can urge companies and other stakeholders to abide by seven core principles:

• Principle 1: Seek to align with, support, and strengthen public policy that advances sustainable water management

• Principle 2: Ensure appropriate and balanced representation of interests

• Principle 3: Be clear and transparent about roles and responsibilities

• Principle 4: Be clear and transparent about the water challenge(s) being addressed, as well as the agreed scope and intended benefits.

• Principle 5: Be clear and transparent about governance

• Principle 6: Track outcomes

• Principle 7: Foster an ethos of trust, and establish expectations for behavior

For more on ensuring integrity in water-related collective actions efforts, see the Mandate’s Guide for Managing Integrity in Water Stewardship Initiatives.

Networks can support effective, credible water-related collective action in regions of interest by:

• Sharing collective action guidance documents with member companies. The first step in facilitating collective action is in establishing the basics of collective action (e.g., What constitutes a collective action? How can companies go about partnering with others? What does it mean for a collective action to have integrity?). Networks can do so by sharing reports and guidances documents from the Mandate and others that espouse these core collective action principles. See the Resource Library for more.

• Helping members identify potential partnerships. One of the greatest barriers to collective action is suitable partners finding one another. Networks can support partner identification by encouraging members to use the Water Action Hub, which is built specifically for this purpose. The Networks can also use the Hub themselves to identify potential partners with which to collaborate on capacity building activities and other engagement opportunities.

• Document existing efforts open to more partners. Similarly, in many countries, there may already be existing water stewardship efforts that are open to more partners. By identifying these projects and listing them on the Hub, networks can help other companies and organizations from their countries to engage and collaborate.