The BNWPP focuses on water management reform as well as water development activities, as it understands the innovation is needed in both arenas to improve water security at international, national, regional and local levels. The program works by mobilizing practical expertise at critical stages of the World Bank project preparation process.

Broadly, the BNWPP works from two principles. First, BNWPP assistance is demand-driven. That is, the BNWPP assists with existing and planned World Bank projects where staff connected with the project request BNWPP support. By responding to such concrete requests and focusing assistance on reform issues, the BNWPP has produced tangible results on the ground.

Secondly, in addressing concrete challenges in specific projects, the BNWPP concentrates on innovative strategies that can be generalized and applied worldwide. Lessons learned in irrigation systems in Latin America might find new applications in Southeast Asian systems, for example. By assisting operations with such potential, a grant activity sponsored by the BNWPP holds benefits that extend beyond the local to help increase global WRM knowledge.

Though a relatively small instrument (approximately US$5 million per year over 3 years), BNWPP impact is amplified bythe fact that it focuses on