AGWA will champion resilience thinking at SWA Ministers Meeting
Off the heels of UNGA and only a fortnight before COP30, Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) pre-empted questions of whether another high-level meeting – their Sector Ministers Meeting (SMM) in Madrid – was necessary with a resounding “yes and here’s why”. The SMM is the only regular, minister-focused, global forum dedicated to water and sanitation, and AGWA will be attending as a formal member of the Civil Society Delegation and supporting the Ministerial Dialogues.
As ministers, experts and advocates gather in Madrid, the absence of one of our most dedicated voices will be felt by all. Catarina de Albuquerque, SWA’s CEO, recently passed away after a life and career committed to improving the living conditions of the world’s most vulnerable people.
From the communities she visited as the UN’s first ever Special Rapporteur on the human right to water and sanitation, to the heads of state she engaged with to make these rights a reality, Catarina never stopped fighting, and neither can we.
King of Netherlands and Catarina de Albuquerque, 2023 | Photo credit: Tanya Bindra/SWA
Systems thinking to break silos
AGWA’s Senior Policy Advisor, Dani Gaillard-Picher, will be amplifying the voice of AGWA, its members, and civil society actors in the meeting, dedicated to the theme of “Breaking Silos: Uniting political leadership for integrating water, sanitation and climate action.”
The framing of the 2025 SMM encourages national governments to approach water resources management, water supply and sanitation service provision, and climate action in a systemic way, recognizing the many interdependencies and potential co-benefits of holistic management of these complex challenges. SWA’s effort to emphasise integration is timely and crucial, because otherwise – and historically – these conversations have seen IWRM and WASH specialists at separate tables. In Madrid, they will be at the same table along with climate and finance actors: an opportunity to diversify both expertise and collaboration.
The push to break down silos isn't new, but the value of working collaboratively is increasingly evident. Shifts in the global economy, politics, and climate policy threaten both water and climate action goals. SWA notes that “hard-won developmental gains are being threatened if not reversed, exacerbating existing vulnerabilities.” In this perspective, participatory governance creates further bridges, by enabling co-creation and implementation of integrated policies with equity and accountability at multiple levels, so that the voices of the most marginalised and climate-vulnerable populations are heard and capacitated.
AGWA’s response to such uncertainties has long been resilience thinking - a crucial approach to future-proof progress. Leaning into optimism, the goal is to build a future where both people and the planet can thrive, rather than merely survive. The Water Resilience Tracker, led by AGWA, is already helping countries work across silos in practice, providing the process support and specific evidence needed to provoke hard conversations that can ultimately lead to better shared understanding of the challenges and break down siloes between ministries and between governance levels.
Fostering High-Level Political Leadership for Integration and Resilience
In addition to the plenary discussions, four ministerial dialogues will serve to deepen the exchanges and cooperation potential going forward, culminating in the launch of a High-Level Leaders’ Compact on Water Security and Resilience. Based on AGWA’s rich expertise in this area, Dani Gaillard-Picher hopes to strengthen the shared understanding of resilience as a concept and the value of systems approaches. Indeed, resilience is not only about access, efficiency, or the ability to withstand and absorb shocks. It is also about the ability to transform societies and economies through the support of robust and flexible systems that can optimize future pathways.
“In a lot of places, resilience is often being used as a buzzword, but building resilience is hard work,” says Dani. “It requires us to acknowledge that what has worked in the past may not work in the future. That deep uncertainty is really uncomfortable for most people because it makes us feel vulnerable and ill equipped to deal with change, but it can also open up our thinking in entirely new and exciting directions. Building resilience means that we will be better prepared for those changing scenarios and can adjust our plan of action as needed, not only to survive, but to thrive.”
In addition, she hopes to offer up the Water Resilience Tracker approach as a way to build new collaborative pathways within and across ministries in practice. The WRT questionnaire asks questions that require interaction with other knowledge holders: no one person or ministry can answer it alone. To successfully manage risk and implement climate resilience measures, capacity development in individuals, organizations, and across institutions is critical for the success of climate change initiatives throughout the project lifespans.
The Heads of State Initiative is a unique opportunity to catalyze political momentum ahead of COP30 and the 2026 UN Water Conference. The SMMs final plenary will mark the official launch of the High-Level Leaders Compact on Water Security and Resilience – a global political commitment to elevate water and sanitation as core pillars of climate adaptation and sustainable development.
Catarina’s passion, integrity and intelligence has undoubtedly contributed to achieving sanitation and water for all, in a world with shifting landscapes and ever-changing climate. Although she has left us too soon, we believe her legacy will continue to inspire and inform concrete decisions and meaningful collaboration at the SMM, COP30, the UN 2026 Water Conference and beyond. It must.
If you or your colleagues are attending or following the SMM and want to learn more about our ongoing work with – and recommendations for – countries, reach out to Dani Gaillard-Picher directly.