REACH-WISER was an international, comparative research initiative to understand how water security risks are negotiated and managed at an individual level, in line with REACH risk-based framework and contributing to our work on reducing inequalities. It built upon the foundational work done through science-practitioner partnerships across three of REACH’s water security observatories in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Kenya. Collaboration partners: the University of Oxford, the Bangladesh University Engineering and Technology, the Water & Land Resource Centre (Addis Ababa University), the University of Nairobi, Tufts University, Uppsala Universitet, and the University of Waterloo.  

Water security risks are managed at different scales through multiple processes that determine which risks are addressed and for whom. Understanding these processes is critical to ensuring water security inequalities can be addressed. REACH-WISER has worked to better understand these processes at the individual and community scale, exploring gendered household dynamics of water insecurity. The interdisciplinary team focused on a breadth of research themes, working in communities across rural, peri-urban and urban areas. A combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods were used for data collection across seasons and settings. Methods included community contextualization with surveys and focus group discussions, a multi-season, intra-household survey as well as in-depth interviews with community members, practitioners and policy-makers.