Theory of Change
This report is the fourth output of a multi-stage study on the barriers and enablers for implementing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to adopt and institutionalize climate resilience (CR) in their water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) efforts. The scope of the study is intended to be limited to rural water supply but because most organizations work across all sub-sectors, we refer to CR-WASH in this study; however, the focus remains on water supply. Although the focus of the study is on WASH NGOs, it recognizes that these organizations operate within local WASH systems, meaning that shifts in NGO approaches to climate resilience could have an impact on how governments, the private sector, and civil society address this issue.
This report presents a Theory of Change (ToC) that outlines how NGOs can increase their commitment to climate resilience. The ToC was developed in a collaborative manner through the integration of key recommendations from various analyses and the outputs of semi structured interviews. These discussions included insights from the study's findings, which encompass:
An assessment of good practices and tools for NGOs to adopt CR-WASH (Output 1).
A gap analysis identifying the challenges faced by WASH-implementing organizations due to barriers at the sectoral, organizational, and programmatic levels (Output 2).
The identification of key organizations (also referred to as Change Agents) that could provide technical assistance, offer funding solutions, or advocate for policy changes, thus supporting WASH organizations in making their work climate resilient (Output 3).
Additionally, feedback was gathered from the thought partners group established for this study, which includes the Shockwave Foundation, Osprey Foundation, The One Foundation, One Drop, the Hilton Foundation and the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), and from a dissemination workshop with various organizations, including NGOs, donor representatives, and academic institutions, hosted on July 10, 2024.