SYNTHESIS OF WATER WINDOW CHALLENGE RESULTS

The Global Resilience Partnership (GRP) Water Window Challenge supported over 500,000 people across eight countries through 12 projects focused on flood resilience. The synthesis identifies that success was driven by 'layering' interventions—combining livelihood support, early warning systems (EWS), and infrastructure—and by deep stakeholder engagement. Key achievements include the establishment of 347 women-led community-based organizations in Sri Lanka, the support of 265,000 individuals in Indonesia through transboundary coordination, and the deployment of EWS reaching over 84,000 households in the India-Nepal border region. The report emphasizes that flexible, adaptive management and strong partnerships are essential for innovating and scaling resilience efforts in volatile climatic contexts.

• The 10 GRP Water Window Challenges with validated data supported more than 500,000 people in eight countries, with women making up approximately 51% of those reached.
• Project interventions enabled at least 189,362 people to utilize climate information or early warning systems (EWS) and provided training to at least 16,920 people in disaster risk reduction (DRR), alternative livelihoods, and resilient agricultural techniques.
• Cost-benefit analyses (CBA) across the interventions generally indicate that benefits exceed costs from the perspective of local policy-makers, although most estimates excluded program costs.
• Scaling grantees achieved significant specific outcomes: Mercy Corps supported 265,000 individuals through transboundary coordination; the Danish Refugee Council harnessed 24 million liters of water for harvesting; Seacology established 347 community-based organizations (CBOs); Lutheran World Relief provided EWS access to over 84,000 households; and Practical Action increased agricultural productivity through flood-resilient techniques.
• Effective resilience building requires a 'layering' approach, where projects sequence multiple interventions such as livelihood strengthening, access to information, and physical infrastructure to decrease climatic impacts.
• Partnerships and stakeholder engagement are identified as the primary enablers of success, with a particular emphasis on co-creating interventions and using reciprocal engagement to build trust.
• Grantees faced significant administrative challenges, including bureaucracy and reporting systems, and noted that the unpredictable climatic contexts necessitated flexible and adaptive project planning.
• Innovation occurred across several domains: technological (e.g., floating and amphibious houses), organizational (e.g., legalized transboundary forums), agricultural (e.g., sack gardening and vermicomposting), and infrastructural (e.g., improved polder drainage and earth dams).

APA

Robens, S., Yaron, G., Sladkova, B., Smith, G., Wilson, D., & Verkaart, S. (2019). SYNTHESIS OF WATER WINDOW CHALLENGE RESULTS. Global Resilience Partnership. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grp-ww-synthesis.pdf

Chicago

Robens, Sarah, Gil Yaron, Barbora Sladkova, Gregg Smith, David Wilson, and Simone Verkaart. SYNTHESIS OF WATER WINDOW CHALLENGE RESULTS. Global Resilience Partnership, 2019. https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grp-ww-synthesis.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Robens |first1=Sarah |last2=Yaron |first2=Gil |last3=Sladkova |first3=Barbora |last4=Smith |first4=Gregg |last5=Wilson |first5=David |last6=Verkaart |first6=Simone |title=SYNTHESIS OF WATER WINDOW CHALLENGE RESULTS |publisher=Global Resilience Partnership |date=September 2019 |url=https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grp-ww-synthesis.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{robens2019synthesis, author = {Robens, Sarah and Yaron, Gil and Sladkova, Barbora and Smith, Gregg and Wilson, David and Verkaart, Simone}, title = {{SYNTHESIS OF WATER WINDOW CHALLENGE RESULTS}}, institution = {Global Resilience Partnership}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://www.globalresiliencepartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/grp-ww-synthesis.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }