The Bank-Netherlands Water Partnership Program (BNWPP) mission is to improve water security by promoting innovative approaches to Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), and thereby contribute to poverty reduction. The driving force behind the BNWPP is an understanding that the global water crisis is in fact a crisis of water management as well as water development, and that developing countries face daunting challenges in developing and managing their water resources in ways that promote environmentally sustainable growth, poverty reduction and gender equity.

Established in 2000 by the Government of the Netherlands and the World Bank, the BNWPP draws upon the expertise of these two partners to address current challenges in IWRM across the world. The BNWPP promotes innovation and reform in water resources management by leveraging the World Bank's global portfolio of water-related activities. The program places a special emphasis on the use of integrated and cross-cutting approaches, including the use of multi-disciplinary teams, and seeks to draw lessons from program experience for broader application.

The BNWPP mobilizes practical expertise and implements innovative approaches at critical stages of the World Bank's project preparation and implementation cycle. The program also supports policy development, capacity-building and dissemination of good practice and lessons learned through support for: Country Water Resources Assistance Strategies (CWRAS); technical notes; training modules; and other media to contribute to the growing body of knowledge on IWRM.

Importantly, the effectiveness of BNWPP funds in promoting IWRM is leveraged by: i. responding to requests for assistance from World Bank Operations staff; ii. channeling BNWPP resources to existing and planned World Bank operations; iii. concentrating on replicable and innovative approaches to water resources management that are transferable to other projects in regions around the world.

To date, the BNWPP has financed over 350 activities. You can learn more about these activities by using the activity search function provided in the navigation menu to the left.