This paper uses an ensemble of high-resolution global drought datasets to analyse the extent to which a key driver, atmospheric evaporative demand (AED) impacts drought magnitude, frequency, duration and location. It finds that AED has increased drought severity by an average of 40% globally and that AED has an increasingly important role in driving severe droughts. This tendency will likely continue under future global warming scenarios.
2025
REACH Story of Change: SafePani – Public finance to support safe drinking water in Bangladesh
The SafePani model guarantees reliable drinking water services, free from faecal contamination, to rural schools (primary and secondary) and community clinics in rural Bangladesh. SafePani represents a change in National WASH Policy and national planning in Bangladesh. For the first time, safe drinking water services will be ensured in public schools and community clinics with a sustainable funding model to ensure accountable service delivery to 2030.
We must account for the results of water governance to deliver the SDGs and beyond
This perspectives paper focuses on tracking the results of water governance, arguing that the crisis of water governance is one of delivering results, particularly as a widening range of public, community, and private actors get involved in addressing fundamental challenges around the SDGs and beyond. The challenge is illustrated via two examples of governance innovations in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Impact and value-for-money of the REACH programme
This report aims to provide an independent input to the evaluation workstream in REACH’s programme closure plan agreed with FCDO, and includes an assessment of value for money (VfM) across the “5 Es”: cost-effectiveness, effectiveness, equity, efficiency and economy. The close relationships developed with practitioners in the programme countries and the funding of a ten year research programme to allow research to be translated into policies and programmes on the ground – were strong enabling factors for REACH to achieve and surpass its targets.
Participation, inclusion and reflexivity in multi-step (focus) group discussions
This paper draws on experiences of applying a cross-comparative approach (INITI8) combining community-based participant observation with focus group discussions in water security research across Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Kenya. The authors reflect on the tensions and resulting re-work related to power dynamics in North-South and local collaborations, and on the socio-spatial inclusion implications of the research design, in particular definition of peri-urban areas and engagement with illiterate women in rural areas.
Managing contractual uncertainty for drinking water services in rural Mali
This paper examines how contract incompleteness affects the sustainability of professional rural water service delivery and explores how and to what extent an incomplete contract might be addressed. Applying contract theory to a professional service delivery model operating in rural Mali, it applies qualitative methods to provide new insights on the process and consequences of contract renegotiation.
