The OECD Water Governance Initiative is an international multi-stakeholder network of public, private and non-for-profit stakeholders. It is gathering twice a year in a Policy Forum to share on-going reforms, projects, lessons and good practices in support of better governance in the water sector. For further information see www.oecd.org/gov/water

1. OECD Water Governance Initiative
www.oecd.org/gov/water
The OECD Water Governance Initiative was created on 27-28 March 2013 as an international multi-
stakeholder network of 120+ members from the public, private and non-for-profit sectors gathering twice a
year to share best knowledge and experience on water reforms, projects and policy. It has several objectives:
A Global Policy Forum in Support of Better Water Governance
• Provide a multi-stakeholder technical platform to share
knowledge, experience and best practices on water
governance across levels of government;
• Foster continuity on governance discussions at global level, in
particular by supporting the Implementation Roadmap on
Governance of the 7th World Water Forum (Korea, 2015) up to the
8th World Water Forum (Brazil, 2018).
• Advise governments in taking the
needed steps for effective water reforms
through peer-to-peer dialogue and
stakeholder engagement across public,
private and non-profit sectors;
• Provide a consultation mechanism to
raise the profile of governance in the
Global Water Agenda (Sustainable
Development Goals, World Water Forum,
Habitat III, COP etc.);
• Support the implementation of the OECD
Principles on Water Governance in
interested member and non-member
countries, basins and cities by scaling up
best practices and developing indicators;
and
An OECD commitment from the 6th World Water Forum (2012, Marseille, France)
The OECD Water Governance Initiative was created out of the community of practice gathered within the
OECD-led Good Governance Core Group throughout the preparatory process of the 6th World Water Forum.
The group developed six concrete, measurable and achievable targets in terms of effective public governance,
integrated water resources management, integrity and transparency.
During the conclusions of the Forum, several institutions called upon the OECD to set-up a platform to move
forward the implementation of such targets, and maintain continuous links and co-operation across
stakeholders between two World Water Fora.

2. The OECD Water Governance Initiative has an open membership and large geographic, economic and
institutional representation at local, national and global levels. The 120+ members include national
governments, basin and local authorities (and their networks), regulators (and their networks), donors and
international financial institutions, NGOs, international organisations and institutions, service providers (both
public and private, and their networks), as well as academics and independent experts. All members
participate in the Policy Forum twice a year as well as the working groups activities in between.
Membership
Programme of work (2016-2018)
The 2nd phase of activities is structured around two working groups to support the implementation of the
OECD Principles on Water Governance in interested Member and non-Member countries through:
• Collecting and scaling up water governance best practices to foster peer-to-peer dialogue within and
across cities, basins and countries facing similar types of challenges. This will result in an OECD Best
Practice Database with success stories and action-oriented guidance based on international experience;
• Developing water governance indicators as a voluntary-based self-assessment tool for bench-learning
and dialogue within and across countries. This will support evidence-based analysis of water governance
against the OECD Principles to be published in an OECD Water Governance at a Glance report in 2018.
In addition, the OECD Water Governance Initiative will peer-review analytical work on water governance,
including country-specific policy dialogues, and provide a consultation mechanism to raise the profile of
governance in the Global Water Agenda, through supporting the implementation of the 7th World Water
Forum Roadmap on Effective Governance and fostering linkages with SDGs, Habitat III and COP processes.
The Water Governance Initiative is hosted by the OECD and chaired by Peter Glas, former President of the Dutch
Water Authorities. It is led by a Steering Committee composed of partner institutions providing strategic
orientations and operational support : ASTEE, Suez, INBO, OIEau, SIWI, WIN, Transparency International and AEAS
Steering Committee
Achievements over 2013-2015
Over the 1st phase of activities, the Initiative met all the objectives set in its initial programme of work :
1. Advise governments through policy dialogues: The Initiative peer-reviewed 4 country dialogues in
Brazil, the Netherlands, Jordan and Tunisia, and formulate policy recommendations for effective reforms.
2. Discuss analytical work through peer-to-peer exchanges and knowledge sharing: The Initiative
contributed to 3 thematic reports on stakeholder engagement, water and cities, and the governance of
water regulators.
3. Raise the profile of governance issues in the Global Water Agenda: The Initiative plaid a leading role
in major international events (e.g. e.g. Budapest Water Summit (8-11 October 2013), the Istanbul
International Water Forum (27-29 May 2014), the IWA World Water Congress (21-26 September 2014), the
UN-Water Zaragoza Conference (15-17 January 2015), the 7th World Water Forum (12-17 April 2016), and
the IWRA World Congress (25-29 May 2015).
4. Support the implementation of the governance targets designed for the 6th World Water Forum up
to the 7th Forum: the Initiative progressed on each of the targets, which were used to shape an
Implementation Roadmap for the 7th World Water Forum. up to the 8th Forum.
5. Contribute to the design of OECD Principles on Water Governance: Through a bottom-up and multi-
stakeholder approach, the Initiative helped develop the OECD Principles, which were welcomed at the OECD
Ministerial Council Meeting on 4 June 2015.

3. Plenary meetings
27-28 March 2013, Paris, France
The 1st Meeting defined the scope, mandate and activities of the Initiative, as well as its
strategic and operational organisation. The meeting took stock of the progress achieved
since the 6th WWF and discussed recent water governance reforms in OECD and non
OECD countries. Read the meeting highlights.
7-8 November 2013, Paris, France
The 2nd Meeting received high-level political buy-in with the participation of the Spanish
Secretary General for International Cooperation and Development, and the
Ambassadors to the OECD of Korea, France and the Netherlands. The event kicked-off
the activities of the 4 Thematic Working Groups, peer-reviewed the OECD report on
water governance in the Netherlands, and discussed the rationale for the development
of Principles and Indicators on water governance. Read the meeting highlights.
28-29 April 2014, Madrid, Spain
The 3rd Meeting provided a platform to peer-review OECD water governance reports in
Jordan and Tunisia, discussed post-2015 water related targets and the milestones to the
7th WWF, commented on draft principles and indicators on water governance, and
exchanged lessons from water reforms in Spain, Peru, France, Ethiopia, Mozambique,
and El Salvador. Read the meeting highlights.
24-25 November 2014, Paris, France
The 4th meeting was opened by OECD Secretary General, Angel Gurría, and World Water
Council President, Benedito Braga. It discussed contributions to the Global Water
Agenda and peer-reviewed analytical work on water governance. The meeting also
discussed the first draft of OECD Principles on Water Governance and working group
sessions allowed to brainstorm on water governance indicators. A tour de table
provided experience-sharing on recent water governance reforms, initiatives and events.
Read the meeting highlights
26 May 2015, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
The 5th meeting was hosted by the Scottish Government as part of the XV World Water
Congress of the IWRA. It discussed the results of the first two years of activity of WGI,
reported on their contributions to the Global Water Agenda and shared experience on
recent water governance reforms and initiatives. They also exchanged on the ways
forward for the WGI in 2016-2018, especially milestones to support the implementation
of the OECD Principles on Water Governance. Read the meeting highlights
2-3 November 2015, Paris, France
The 6th meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the latest developments in the
Global Water Agenda and to share knowledge on recent water governance projects and
research. Participants discussed expectations and needs to follow-up on the OECD
Principles on Water Governance, especially in terms of scaling-up good practices and
drawing lessons from pitfalls or traps to avoid. In-depth brainstorming was carried out
in smaller groups on the ways forward for the WGI, with strong support from members
towards a best practice database and a set of water governance indicators. Read the
meeting highlights
23-24 June 2016, The Hague, Netherlands
The 7th meeting discussed progress in the implementation of the OECD Principles on
Water Governance through taking stock of various initiatives from members. It also
discussed linkages with COP, Habitat III and SDGs. Delegates peer-reviewed a paper on
flood risk governance and kicked off bottom-up consultations on water governance
indicators and best practices.
WGI 1
WGI 2
WGI 3
WGI 5
WGI 4
WGI 6
WGI 7

4. Official members
For more information, visit www.oecd.org/gov/water or contact water.governance@oecd.org