Our Vision

We envision a world in which Water is accessible to all in an equitable manner, promoting the empowerment of local actors and cooperation between countries, generations and institutions.

Since its foundation over 30 years ago, the ISW-SWE movement has strived to create a better planet, where people can live in dignity, free from the tyranny of thirst and unsanitary conditions.

In pursuit of this goal, we work from local to international levels, with a growing network of partners on all five continents. Whether we are building infrastructure, coordinating governance of inspiring young water leaders, we operate with flexibility, adaptability and creativity. We mobilize, connect and support stakeholders who may otherwise be excluded from decisions that affect them. We work to build an inclusive movement for better, more sustainable provision of water and sanitation. Access to water is a right, and for a right to have meaning, it must be defined, and it must above all defended. Our team’s actions in Montreal, Strasbourg and in the field are guided and motivated by this maxim.

Our Mission

To initiate, facilitate and implement systemic changes for a sustainable governance of water from a local to a global level and to promote the empowerment of actors involved in its management and protection.

Our Values

We are a bold, change-accelerating, accessible, engaged organization with the ablity to facilitate relationships. The following values guide our actions:

Openness

We respect singularity and otherness. We are at the service of other actors to facilitate concerted actions and are guided by a willingness to collaborate within the framework of common and unifying objectives.

Commitment

We carry out our actions with conviction and are fully mobilized for the transparent and effective implementation of our mission.

Audacity

Creativity and innovation are at the heart of our actions and we are not afraid to think outside the box. Having implemented several innovative ideas that have now progressed, we intend to conitnue along this path, always seeking to contribute in a different way.

Complementarity

We accompany the action of other actors (BY), putting ourselves at the service of these other actors (FOR) and acting with them in a spirit of complementarity and tenfold influence (WITH). We catalyze partnerships between actors from all over the world with different experiences and approaches or specialities.

Furthermore, gender equality and cooperation between generations are values transversal to our action. Choosing these values means establishing them as ethical principles and respecting them in our daily actions and decisions.