Multi-Stakeholder Platforms for Improved Water Governance

Water resources management decisions are made by a multitude of actors working across various sectors and scales. Partnership and cooperation platforms are thus essential to ensure that these actors take coordinated decisions and work towards the same direction. The term Multi-Stakeholder Platform (or MSP) has become one of the most used umbrella terms to refer to such kind of mechanisms that unite stakeholders in a process of collaboratively solving problems or exploring opportunities. MSPs vary in their degree of formalisation, numbers of stakeholders involved, and scope of work, e.g., ranging from local multi-stakeholder consultation forums for improving WASH services to inter-governmental transboundary basin organisations.