Climate Resilient WASH Systems

Water and sanitation systems are only as strong as the conditions around them. In communities facing extreme weather, conflict, displacement or disease outbreaks, infrastructure that was not built with resilience in mind fails precisely when it is needed most. The consequences reach far beyond inconvenience: public health risks rise, and the communities least able to cope bear the heaviest burden.

The Netherlands Red Cross works with National Societies to strengthen water and sanitation systems that hold up under pressure. Drawing on a Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) systems approach and access to the Dutch water sector, support focuses on building the technical, institutional, financial and community capacities that National Societies need to sustain resilient services over time. That means systems that are safe, inclusive, affordable, environmentally sustainable and reliable, not just in stable conditions, but during floods, droughts, and crises.

A particular focus is ensuring that vulnerable groups are prioritised in how systems are designed and run, and that climate variability is built into infrastructure from the start rather than addressed after the fact.

Support is relevant across acute crisis, protracted crisis, preparedness and localisation contexts, and has been applied in countries including Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, the Philippines, South Sudan and beyond.

How we work together

Support is hands-on and built around co-creation with National Societies and the communities they serve. It can include:

• Conducting climate-risk, environmental and social impact WASH assessments to inform context-specific design
• Designing climate-resilient water supply and sanitation infrastructure, including groundwater management
• Supporting water-related disease prevention and outbreak control
• Strengthening urban water and sanitation access, including collaboration with public utilities and municipalities
• Facilitating community engagement and behaviour change around hygiene, sustainable water use and sanitation services
• Developing sustainable operation, maintenance and financing models for WASH services
• Strengthening institutional capacity and facilitating knowledge sharing with and between National Societies