Focus on sector-specific collective action opportunities

Posted on August 31, 2021 by Lillian Holmes

Authoring Organizations:	CEO Water Mandate Pacific Institute
Consulting Organizations:	Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
Universal:	No
Applicable Phases:	Prepare
Last Updated	Apr 18, 2024

Overview

Different sectors face different natural resource challenges—and have access to different natural resource opportunities. Depending on the challenges your partnership faces, consider tailoring your proposed actions to engage a specific sector.

Benefits

• Focusing on a single sector can better position your partnership to connect with key players and design outputs that will make a meaningful impact on the water use of a certain sector in a given region.
• Promote project success by focusing on outputs that are most relevant to your target sector.
• Leverage the experience of industry leaders to create peer-learning opportunities.

Guidance

• Where possible, frame sector-specific opportunities in a pre-competitive light: combining forces is necessary for all companies to strengthen the water security of their operations. However, understand that not all companies will be open to inter-sectoral cooperation.
• Use the Natural Resources Risk and Action Framework Tool 2: Market Scan to identify and engage key companies in water-intensive industries.

Example

UNESCO Brazil, the Global Compact Network Brazil and the FAO collaborated to launch the UN-World Water Development Report (WWDR) on the topic of valuing water in 2021. This theme served to unite actors both in the water resources field and in the agribusiness community. Dialogues surrounding the report yielded a proposal for a long-term project consisting of a training component and an innovation component. Companies will be able to participate in a training and innovation program developed by the Global Compact Network Brazil, in partnership with UNESCO Brazil and FAO Brazil. This will be a 12-month initiative (starting early of 2022), consisting of workshops (online and in person), lectures, monitoring and engagement with senior leadership that help companies achieve ambitious goals for sustainable water consumption in agriculture for the top leadership.

The project is intended for a broad audience within the agriculture sector, from companies in the agribusiness and food production sectors; decision-makers and public policy managers in areas related to agricultural production, irrigation, and water resources; and start-ups related to irrigation, rural planning, and related topics. The project’s focus on the agricultural sector allows for the development of sector-specific trainings and projects, while the diversity of the intended audience within the agricultural sector will help the project reach a broad base of stakeholders.