Strengthening the Climate-Resilient Water and Sanitation Systems: A Practical Guide for NGOs to Drive Impact, Collaboration, and Scalability

This 2025 practical guide helps NGOs strengthen the climate resilience of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) systems through actionable frameworks that span internal operations, program design, and system-level influence. It defines Climate-Resilient WASH (CR-WASH) as services that can anticipate, adapt, and transform in response to climate shocks while ensuring equitable, sustainable access to safe water and sanitation.

The guide is structured around two key spheres where NGOs can drive change:

• Sphere of Impact – focusing on internal organisational culture and programmatic delivery.
  
• Sphere of Influence – focusing on shaping policy, financing, coordination, and enabling environments.

It offers self-check tools, case studies, and practical actions to help NGOs integrate resilience into leadership, program design, partnerships, and monitoring systems. Ultimately, it empowers NGOs to move beyond reactive adaptation toward proactive, system-level climate resilience in the WASH sector.