Using Collective Impact to Improve Water Security
Tuesday July
26
Time 2:00 pm
- 3:00 pm EST
The U.S. Water
Partnership with support from FSG, Inc.will convene a
webinar on addressing water security by collective impact approach.
The webinar will be presented by Dr. Arani Kajenthira Grindle on Tuesday, July 26 from 2:00
pm to 3:00 pm (U.S. Eastern).
Achieving
water security is a complex challenge. Across the U.S. and around the
world, communities are struggling to balance water usage between four
competing needs: human well-being, economic activities, ecosystem
health, and climate resilience. Yet many of our typical responses –
rationing, price increases, infrastructure investment, or new
management approaches – are falling short. Achieving a long-term,
sustainable balance between competing needs at a watershed level
requires a combination of strong governance structures,
adequate financing, and structured cooperation between cities,
regions, and states, as well as basin-level water users, most easily
developed through open and inclusive dialogue, and shared decision
making.
The collective impact model for structured collaboration offers a new
approach to address complex problems such as water security. It
recognizes that such complex social challenges are not caused – and
therefore cannot be solved – by any single sector, agency, or
organization. It builds on more traditional partnership models in the
water sector such as integrated water resources management (IWRM),
bringing the government, nonprofit, philanthropic, and corporate
sectors together as equal partners with community-level water users to
actively coordinate efforts, change behavior, and share lessons
learned.
This 30-minute webinar will provide a brief introduction to
collective impact approach, describe the necessary mindset shifts for
successful collaboration, and offer concrete examples of how this
model can enhance existing partnerships in the water sector, as well
as an opportunity for Q&A.
PRESENTER
BIOGRAPHY
Arani
Kajenthira Grindle, PhD
Associate
Director, FSG, Inc.
Arani is based
in FSG’s Boston office and has extensive experience engaging and
advising philanthropic, nonprofit, and corporate actors in their
strategic planning and collaborative efforts.
At present, Arani is managing two global collective impact
engagements; one is focused on addressing human slavery, land rights,
and environmental degradation issues in the Brazilian Amazon, while
the other aims to address child welfare and protection issues in
Cambodia. Over the past year, Arani has also managed and supported
three other collective impact initiatives: improving early childhood
education outcomes in Houston, Texas; increasing social mobility in
Israel; and improving maternal and infant health outcomes in Staten
Island, NY.
Prior to FSG, Arani was Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy
School, where she managed research projects focused on the water use
implications of food and energy production in arid states,
particularly in the Middle East. In this role, she also specifically
explored water security and management challenges in the São
Francisco river basin in Northeast Brazil. Arani has practical
experience in environmental consulting from GeoSyntec, and multiple
years of international development experience from her involvement
with Engineers Without Borders.
A Rhodes Scholar, Arani holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Science from the
University of Oxford focused on the remediation and risk management
of mercury-contaminated groundwater, and a B.Sc. in Biological
Engineering from the University of Guelph (Canada).
Please email
Carole Abourached with the U.S. Water Partnership Secretariat at carole.abourached@uswaterpartnership.org with any
questions.
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