ZERO DRAFT NARRATIVE

The African Cities Water Adaptation Platform (ACWA Platform) is a pan-African coalition designed to accelerate urban water resilience across Africa. Led by WRI Africa and a diverse group of partners, the platform coordinates research, technical assistance, and advocacy to address projected tripling of water demand by 2050. It operates in tandem with the African Cities Water Adaptation Fund (ACWA Fund), a blended finance instrument providing grants and investments to transform strategic water plans into investment-ready projects.

• By 2050, Africa is projected to see water demand triple and its urban population more than double, with over two-thirds of cities expected to face water-related shocks and extreme climate risks.
• The ACWA Platform is a coalition of diverse partners—including research institutes, national governments, and private sector groups—that aims to scale existing solutions and provide technical assistance to build resilient urban water systems.
• The platform has endorsed nine strategic priorities for urban water resilience, which include prioritizing marginalized communities in informal settlements, strengthening locally rooted governance, leveraging digital and SMART technology, and increasing aligned investments across sectors.
• The ACWA Fund serves as the platform's primary financing instrument, utilizing a blended finance approach that combines concessional grants and loans from philanthropy, bilateral agencies, and governments to attract commercial and impact investment.
• The ACWA Fund provides three specific resource streams: grants for analytical support to develop action plans, repayable grants for project preparation, and direct investment in innovative projects.
• The platform's theory of change targets the development of water resilience action plans in 100 cities by 2032, with an overall goal of benefiting 29 million people, creating 64,000 jobs, and saving 137 million cubic meters of water.
• Current implementation of risk-based planning using the City Water Resilience Approach (CWRA) is underway in several cities, specifically Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa in Ethiopia, Kigali and Musanze in Rwanda, and Johannesburg and Gqeberha in South Africa.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). ZERO DRAFT NARRATIVE. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-08/acwa-platform-narrative.pdf

Chicago

World Resources Institute. ZERO DRAFT NARRATIVE. n.d. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-08/acwa-platform-narrative.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=ZERO DRAFT NARRATIVE |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-08/acwa-platform-narrative.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendzero, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{ZERO DRAFT NARRATIVE}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-08/acwa-platform-narrative.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }