Announcing the Launch of Globalwaters.org

While progress has been made, the world still faces a water and sanitation crisis. Billions of people are still in need of access to better sanitation, and millions are in need of safe water. At the same time water stress is projected to grow ever more severe. USAID is on track to meet or exceed the targets established in its first-ever Water and Development Strategy, 2013–2018, but there is much more work to be done, with disparities in access in nearly all countries.

As the Acting Global Water Coordinator for USAID, I am pleased to announce the launch of Globalwaters.org, USAID’s new knowledge-sharing and collaboration website. A companion to the Global Waters feature stories available on Medium, Globalwaters.org offers water and development practitioners a wide array of learning materials, technical resources, project evaluations, and multimedia content covering the depth and breadth of USAID water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs and related topics—water resources management, water for food, cooperation over shared waters, drought, and resilience.

Globalwaters.org is a platform for water and development partners to share program expertise and demonstrate thought leadership. Its growing resource collections seek to maximize the impact and sustainability of current and future water-sector development interventions by streamlining the sharing of lessons learned and best practices. Click anywhere below to start browsing Globalwaters.org on a laptop, tablet, or mobile device.

Learning materials. Welcome to Globalwaters.org’s virtual classroom. Stream webinars covering a broad range of WASH and water-related topics, download learning briefs, register for upcoming water conferences, or preview upcoming events and online courses.

Multimedia collections. Stream the latest podcasts from USAID’s Global Waters Radio, click through a series of photo essays illustrating the on-the-ground impacts of USAID programs, or browse a growing video collection showcasing USAID’s water and WASH projects across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East.

Technical resources. In search of resources to help inform project design or guide project implementation? Click through Globalwaters.org’s extensive and growing collection of technical resources, including implementation briefs, toolkits, guidance documents, field guides, and more, to gain new insights into how to maximize impact and enhance sustainability.

Project evaluations. Dive into the details with midterm and final evaluations of USAID projects addressing water supply, sanitation, hygiene, agricultural water management, disaster risk reduction, and water resources management.

Case studies. Browse a collection of case studies from USAID’s Real Impact series, sharing best practices and lessons learned gleaned from decades’ worth of the Agency’s water-related programming around the world.

Water stories, newsletters, and more. Stay connected with the latest water news, research, and stories from USAID and its partners. Browse the latest articles in Global Waters magazine on Medium; dive into the latest water and WASH research with our biweekly Water Currents newsletter; scan the latest tweets from @USAIDWater; and read the latest thoughts and perspectives from USAID staff, project implementers, and local partners through our regularly updated Globalwaters.org blog.

We look forward to creating and developing this online community with you. In the coming months, Globalwaters.org will launch new content and features, including:

• Detailed country profiles providing key information, up-to-date WASH statistics, and backgrounders about current and past USAID water-sector projects.
• Microsites highlighting the ongoing work of USAID’s global water and sanitation programs, and dedicated landing pages showcasing the impact of the Agency’s major water-sector public-private partnerships.
• Additional project evaluations highlighting USAID water-sector programming in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East.
• Data sets from USAID and key partners in the global development community to help inform project design, guide implementation, and improve monitoring and evaluation.

I encourage you to spend some time exploring the site and send us feedback or suggest new content. Globalwaters.org is meant to make it easier for all of us to work, share, and learn so we can better meet the needs of those who face each day without access to sanitation and safe water.

James Peters is Deputy Assistant Administrator and Acting Global Water Coordinator in USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment.