Localizing Resilience: Centering Locally-Led Water Solutions in a Global Funding Crisis

Emily Sample, Alliance for Peacebuilding (United States)

This presentation will explore the urgent need for locally-led solutions in advancing sustainable and inclusive water governance in conflict-affected and climate-vulnerable regions. As global development, humanitarian, and peacebuilding assistance structures contract and traditional funding becomes increasingly inaccessible, local actors are driving innovation, legitimacy, and resilience from the ground up. Drawing on a series of case studies, this session will highlight how women’s groups, traditional authorities, and grassroots organizations are negotiating and implementing community-based water-sharing agreements that de-escalate conflict drivers and promote long-term cooperation. These approaches intentionally center indigenous knowledge systems, cultural legitimacy, and participatory governance, providing models that are not only scalable, but also more durable. Shifting power, resources, and decision-making to local stakeholders is both a peacebuilding necessity and a strategic imperative. This presentation will examine how such locally-led efforts can be better recognized and directly financed, offering a blueprint for funders and international actors to move beyond top-down frameworks and meaningfully support local leadership in water governance, conflict prevention, and climate resilience.