Resources

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Irrigation water quality impacts the agro-ecosystem, human health, and the overall well-being of the environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate upstream municipal and industrial pollution impacts on irrigated farming and ecosystem health. The suitability indices and Heavy Metal Pollution Index methods have been used to identify the contamination extent and corresponding spatial and seasonal variability. Samples were collected twice per annum, i.e., during the low-flow season and high-flow season (rainy season) in the 2022/23 year. Results demonstrate that metal pollution is a serious concern that needs upstream quality monitoring.

Women’s participation in water management institutions (WMOs) is seen as a vehicle for female empowerment and gender equity, yet this does not guarantee women are actively involved in decision making. This paper investigates opportunities for women’s empowerment via participation in WMOs in water insecure southwest coastal Bangladesh. Using qualitative research tools and methods, the study examines the extent and nature of women’s participation in WMOs and the factors that affect the level of participation in varying hydrological settings.

This document discusses the need for step-wise progression towards implementing the Guideline for the management of rural water and sanitation services published by Wasreb, Kenya's water regulator in 2019. It combines insight from engagements with Wasreb, rural water service providers, and other stakeholders to identify where there is a need to develop, strengthen and/or clarify key processes.

Balancing economic growth and river protection is a significant undertaking, but not an impossible one. This policy paper addresses the environmental, social, and regulatory complexities surrounding industrial production in Bangladesh. It examines how power dynamics in global supply chains influence state-market regulatory relationships and provides recommendations to strengthen state regulatory capacity, enhance civil society participation in regulatory processes, and strengthen public-private partnerships through global-local alignment.

This Story of Change explores the Fair Water? exhibition, a collaboration between REACH scientists and public engagement experts at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History to engage the public in discussions on water justice and communicate the value and influence of research. Based on extensive collaboration between REACH researchers and the museum exhibitions team, the exhibition used art, interviews, animations, interactive displays, and specimens from the museum to reveal some of the global barriers to water equality and explore how researchers, communities and policymakers are working together to shape a fair water future.

This report from the Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation (ICCA) at the University of Nairobi, Kenya provides a summary of key messages from research conducted under the REACH Kenya programme (2015-2024).

A brief overview of work by the REACH programme in Kenya on interlinked groundwater systems, institutions, water quality management and reducing inequalities, illustrating milestones in the Kitui and Turkana Water Security Observatories.

This perspective paper in Nature Sustainability reframes responses to mitigating the world’s water crises using a ‘beyond growth’ framing. Beyond growth is systems thinking that prioritizes the most disadvantaged. It seeks to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation by overcoming policy capture and inertia and by fostering place-based and justice-principled institutional changes.

Climate uncertainty has always existed both as a socio-ecological reality for pastoralists living with climate variability in drylands and as a component within climate modelling. Despite this, there is little consideration as to the experiences of poor people in the urban drylands living with intensified hazards. In response, this paper discusses an emerging conceptual nexus of uncertainty and precarity, using the example of flood disaster governance in Lodwar, Kenya.

This study looked into the water quality and flooding situation of Greater Dhaka for two successive monsoons through extensive river sampling coupled with the estimation of flooded area and exposed population using remote sensing tools.

This paper examines the political nature of water crisis discourses and their influence on responses to water and climate challenges. It argues that crisis definitions are not universally agreed upon but are shaped by authority, legitimacy, and the ability to mobilize resources.

This report, produced by the University of Oxford in collaboration with representatives from civil society, research institutions, government organisations, and NGOs, evaluates public participation and community engagement in domestic water supply management in Kenya, analysing policy progress, practices, and challenges within an evolving governance landscape.

Permit systems used for water authorisation were introduced in many African countries during the colonial era to protect water entitlements of settlers, with disregard for customary water tenue and local needs. These permit systems require users of water above a defined threshold to apply for permits offering formal legal water rights, therefore granting those who use water below this threshold weaker legal status. This REACH Story of Change explores a science-practitioner partnership which assesses water permit systems in Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The findings have been presented at key international forums and gained significan media attention, influencing policy discussions on water governance reform to better support inclusive rural development and farmer-led irrigation.

Water use behaviour impacts the hygiene of water collection points which can therefore impact water quality. While previous research has focused largely on household hygiene, REACH research has demonstrated how a systematic gap between engineering and hygiene considerations in the water sector is reducing access to safe drinking water. This Story of Change explores how regular cleaning of water point spouts and taps in Bangladesh could substantially reduce the number of people who lack access to uncontaminated drinking water (currently estimated to be between 2-4 billion people worldwide).