ISW and SWE

About us

The International Secretariat for Water (ISW) and Solidarity Water Europe (SWE) form a movement bringing together citizens and organizations who are committed advocates for water. Their commitment is to ensure that all people have access to drinking water and sanitation in accordance with the Montreal Charter and Strasbourg Declaration, the movement’s founding documents. The ISW is based in Montreal, Canada, and SEE is based in Strasbourg, France.

Building on evolving knowledge, innovative partnerships and creativity, ISW-SWE develops initiatives that uphold the universal right to water, while preserving the resources for future generations. The network and its partners build bridges and enable dialogue between all stakeholders — government, civil society, education and the private sector.

Our activities fall under three spheres of action:

  • Field projects;
  • Advocacy and awareness;
  • Youth outreach.

We have a special focus on smaller rural and semi-urban communities, where the need for adequate infrastructure is often greatest. Using watersheds as a framework, we help communities implement integrated water resource management.

Our goals

  • Ensuring universal access to water and sanitation remains a key priority in the context of sustainable development.
  • Fighting for universal access to water – a source of life, democracy, peace, creativity, spirituality and tradition.
  • Creating decentralized and interwoven funding sources that benefit marginalized populations.
  • Developing local climate change adaptation strategies.

 

Our skill set

  • Promoting local knowledge and institutional capacity building.
  • The promotion of local, national and cross-continental alliances.
  • Involving youth and elders in the search for innovative solutions.
  • Creating effective local and international campaigns on integrated hydrographic basin management
  • Creating issue advocacy campaigns for events and conferences.

Annual reports

You can consult our annual reports at the page of Publications – Rapports d’activités.