NWP held a Member Meet-up every quarter in which we put our philosophy of ‘Share, Connect, Involve’ into practice. The Meet-ups gave members an excellent opportunity to connect to influential officials and gain insights into their perspectives, hear about events in the water sector, and engage in lively discussions with other members.

Members were also invited to join NWP’s Member Tours. One Member Tour visited the Marker Wadden Islands, where ‌Natuurmonumenten, ‌Rijkswaterstaat, and ‌Boskalis explained how this new nature reserve came about. The other Tour visited the AWZI Harnaschpolder wastewater treatment plant, which is part of the ‘Delfluent consortium’. Here, the consortium addressed the design, construction, finance, and management of new wastewater treatment facilities in The Hague region.

Besides the member-only activities, NWP continuously facilitated access to market knowledge and local contacts for members who were looking at entering new markets. One example is the 3-day study visit of the US City of Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, and the State of Maryland, which exchanged knowledge with ten NWP members.

A great number of members profited from a stronger brand positioning and higher online visibility through NWP’s digital platforms, including its social media channels and the international www.dutchwatersector.com website. NWP actively endorsed its members online, announcing their corporate events, job vacancies, and water-related news, and featured them in articles and interviews. In 2023, NWP published nine Member Updates. These Updates are specially compiled for members.

In March, the NGO Water Platform met with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the UN Water Conference 2023, which resulted in both parties cooperating on the follow-up of the Water Action Agenda. Later this year, the NGO Water Platform contributed greatly to the Stockholm World Water Week 2023 programme. More than 30 knowledge sessions were convened by NGO Water Platform members. 

The KIFFWA Board convened physically four times in 2023 and visited several stakeholders, potential partners, and NWP members in the Netherlands. The NWP team also visited project sites and multiple stakeholders in and around Nairobi on two occasions last year and connected with potential local partners and embassies. Further, the NWP team also assisted in the onboarding of a local finance officer and the handover of all IT functions in August, activities which were designed to further enable KIFFWA’s autonomy.

During the UN 2023 Water Conference side event, organised by Wageningen University and Research, NWP announced a Global Campaign on Salinisation on behalf of NWP and the Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP). The Campaign will raise awareness on the issue of salinisation among policymakers, researchers, and practitioners in the global water and food sectors, and drive a collective follow-up agenda.

In 2023, five projects received seed money through the SW&FS Partnership. Three of the projects’ reports were published in November 2023. One report covered ways to address salinity from an integrated water-food system perspective. A second report looked at the impact of regenerative farming practices in Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan. A third report introduces the STAP (Salinity Transition Approach for Progress) framework, supports the forthcoming Global Campaign on Salinisation with a report and infographic, addressing global challenges related to increasing salinity levels.

One initiative consisted of a three-day knowledge sharing workshop in Turkana County, Kenya, on the challenges and opportunities of using saline resources. It brought together various stakeholders from local government agencies, NGOs, United Nations organisations, knowledge institutes, and the private sector.

The SW&FS Partnership provided support to FAO’s WASAG (the Global Framework of Water Scarcity in Agriculture) International Forum. The Forum attracted 300 participants and included a technical session on saline agriculture and an announcement on the launch of farming guidelines, produced by a WASAG working group, on cultivating crops under saline conditions. The working group’s ‘Farmers’ Guidelines on Soil and Water Management in Salt-affected Areas’  was shared at the WASAG webinar last year.

In May, our member Dunea received a delegation from Nama Water Services to jointly explore the possibilities for knowledge exchange. Dunea and NWP organised a network opportunity to meet the delegation from Nama.

Just a month later, we were honoured with another Nama Water Services visit. As part of NWP’s activities for the Taskforce, we arranged a special programme for Mr Hussain Al Balushi, CFO of Nama Water Services, to meet with representatives of the Dutch public and private sector and knowledge institutes.

Later in the year, a delegation from Nama Water Services visited the Netherlands and took part in a special programme that NWP designed for incoming delegations at Aquatech Amsterdam. The delegation hosted a session on the company, its history, and its ambitious Master Plan at the Netherlands Pavilion, learned about the innovative technology on display, and held roundtable meetings with representatives of the sector.  

Looking to the future, NWP foresees many more potential opportunities for cooperation related to the water-energy-food nexus, and we aspire to connect the Dutch water sector to these opportunities.

As part of the Excellent Promotion programme, NWP actively drove opportunities for the Dutch sector to make an impact. It arranged international delegations from no less than 13 countries at Aquatech and put together a customised programme comprising guided tours, company visits, insightful roundtable sessions, fruitful matchmaking opportunities, and network events.

In 2023, UWP3 hosted a series of events to facilitate effective cooperation between Dutch and Ukrainian stakeholders and the development of project proposals on sustainable solutions.

As a brand-new platform, its first activities were designed to shape the initiative. In doing so, it held a Welcome Meeting, which set the collaborative tone among interested Platform members; a Spring General Meeting that focused on strategy and engagement; and, a Special Water Clusters Meeting to forge specialised collaborative groups. In addition, UWP3 held two Municipal & Oblast Day Talks (oblast are administrative regions in Ukraine) which were pivotal in aligning Dutch expertise with Ukrainian local needs; an Open House Meeting to boost the Platform’s engagement with Ukrainian stakeholders, attracting further interest and partnerships; and, a meeting with international financial institutions which marked a solid step towards securing project financing and support. These events facilitated dynamic matchmaking, knowledge exchange, and the strengthening of Dutch-Ukrainian partnerships, demonstrating the Platform’s vital role in driving forward the reconstruction of Ukraine’s water sector.

Three Programme projects, run by three different Dutch consortia, were finalised in the spring of 2023.

Three new projects were accepted by the Programme and the Dutch consortia behind them started their business cases in various parts of the world. At the end of the year, the consortia presented their business case results and promising future business indications to NWP and policymakers at the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality. 

This year, the WTEX10 Programme funded several activities, including the Dutch mission to WEFTEC Chicago. The Dutch water sector was well-represented at the event with 12 organisations showcasing their latest state-of-the-art expertise and technology solutions at the Netherlands Pavilion. The Dutch mission also comprised networking, pitch presentations and site visits.

Aquatech Amsterdam, the world’s leading trade exhibition for processed and drinking water, and wastewater was also an excellent opportunity for Dutch organisations to meet with incoming delegations. The WTEX10 Programme organised matchmaking and networking opportunities. Dutch organisations could promote their expertise and/or solutions and meet one-on-one with the incoming delegation members from Canada, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

“UVOX Redox was present at the Netherlands Pavilion at WEFTEC to launch the patented UVOX Redox technology for sustainable water treatment in the USA. The Netherlands Pavilion was the perfect platform to do this. The layout of the booth and the well-organised events led to a substantial number of leads. UVOX Redox was thus very pleased to be a beneficiary of the event.”

Barbara Berson, Uvox Redox

Market scans, reports and whitepapers that benefit the wider water sector, can be downloaded from our website.

Looking back at 2023, we would like to give a special mention of the Netherlands’ involvement in the UN 2023 Water Conference and New York Water Week and their significance to NWP. Leading and coordinating the programme for the Innovation Pavilion at the UN headquarters and supporting the Dutch programme at the Water House in New York City was both a gift and a challenge, as the coordination request by the Dutch Government was received at the last minute.

After 25 years of facilitating a neutral platform for organisations and individuals to connect and jointly safeguard our most precious natural resource, having the opportunity to coordinate the Dutch presence at these two major events was an unforgettable experience. NWP’s team flew thousands of kilometres to be onsite to coordinate such contribution and organise four sessions around key challenges that are currently shaping the global dialogue on water resources, namely:

1. integrated river basin management;
2. conversion of water-related commitments into actions and measurable impact;
3. water footprint implementation; and,
4. circularity in water usage.

In addition, we hosted two dinners for NWP members who attended the Conference in New York and pledged to develop a global campaign on salinisation for the Water Action Agenda. The campaign is an NWP and Netherlands Food Partnership commitment as part of our joint Saline Water and Food System Partnership.

Some requests were submitted at the very last minute, but drawing on NWP’s extensive network and experience, we were able to organise study tours and learning visits with bespoke programmes ranging from presentations, roundtable sessions and field trips, to company visits, networking meetings and matchmaking sessions. Each of them was carefully selected to meet the unique needs of our international guests.

‘’I wish to take this opportunity to render my million thanks to NWP and its team for your kind assistance and guidance during our three-day official visit to the Netherlands. They were very much appreciated.’’

Ahmad Denney of the Department of Irrigation and Drainage Sarawak

The Dutch Moroccan Water Days is a good example of this collaboration. At the request of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Morocco, NWP helped coordinate the programme of this first-of-its-kind event that facilitated thematic discussions on major water challenges such as water efficiency in agriculture, groundwater monitoring, water reuse, and desalination, and gave a voice to several NWP members. The programme was designed to be an open space where both countries could share their water-related experiences and their water sectors could define and develop opportunities.

The Dutch Moroccan Water Days were part of the Dutch economic mission to Morocco in October 2023. The Moroccan Minister of Equipment and Water, Nizar Baraka, underlined the importance of the Dutch Moroccan Water Days as one of the first tangible outcomes of the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Morocco and the Netherlands on the sidelines of the UN Water Conference 2023. After the positive outcomes of these first Dutch Moroccan Water Days, the organising partners expressed their intention to hold this event every year to continue nurturing the cooperation on water between Morocco and the Netherlands.

Another example of a successful trade mission was the visit to INTERGEO in Berlin, Germany. For the second year in a row, NWP joined forces with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Berlin, the Enterprise Europe Network, and the ROM Utrecht Region.

The delegation of twelve organisations worked closely with the Dutch Embassy to put together a side programme which was as interesting and impactful as the visit to the expo itself. The opportunity to sit down with a select group of representatives from the Kompetenzzentrum Wasser, the Berliner Wasserbetriebe and the German Water Partnership immediately produced joint topics of interest for future collaboration.

In one example, at the Grand Danish Water Day hosted by the Confederation of Danish Industry, the Netherlands was invited to share its vision on the global water sector. NWP gave a keynote speech on the Dutch approach and philosophy towards water. We presented the state of the Dutch water sector and the reason why and how the Netherlands has earned its reputation as a global leader in water. We pointed out that the country’s sense of urgency, its ability to turn threats into opportunities, the renowned multi-stakeholder and integrated approach, and a continual focus on cross-sectoral collaboration are key to this achievement.

NWP was grateful for the opportunity to reconnect with Denmark and follow up on conversations, that started at the IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition in Denmark in 2022.

Another good example in 2023 is NWP’s participation in the Saudi Agriculture event held in Riyadh last November. Here, we joined up with the Dutch horticulture sector, represented by Dutch Greenhouse Delta, to connect with Saudi partners. On stage, NWP co-presented feasible integrated solutions to achieve the food security and water-saving goals in Saudi Arabia’s agricultural vision for 2030.

In 2023, Dutchwatersector.com regularly shared news and activities featuring the Netherlands’ work on creating a water secure world. As part of this, we promoted the Dutch water sector at various international events. Given the unique international reach of Dutchwatersector.com, NWP was contracted by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management to cover the Stockholm World Water Week and Aquatech Amsterdam in detail.

The content published on the website was further disseminated through the platform’s unique social media channels (X and Facebook), NWP’s LinkedIn account, and the newsletters of both NWP and Dutchwatersector.com. All in all, the work conducted for the platform helped sustain and strengthen the international positioning of the Dutch water sector, promoting the Netherlands as a Centre of Excellence in the field of water, and inviting the international water sector to team up with the Netherlands to achieve a water-driven future.

NWP’s members form the largest water network in the Netherlands that focuses on international collaboration to address global water issues.

Outreach & visibility

NWP connects the knowledge, expertise, and innovations of the Dutch water sector to the global demand for solutions to water-related challenges. While doing so, it creates and disseminates high-quality content and market intelligence that is conveyed through its various digital channels.

In 2023, NWP’s outreach and sector visibility can be translated into:

NWP’s core mission, to ‘facilitate the Dutch water sector to solve global water challenges in a societally just and environmentally resilient way,’ while growing its global reach and business success, has shaped the organization since its inception almost a quarter of a century ago. In 2023, NWP continued fostering collaboration between members with an international outlook and within the Dutch water sector by creating conditions conducive to knowledge exchange, matchmaking opportunities, and sector initiatives.

Our strong alliance of the most innovative, entrepreneurial, and renowned Dutch water sector members makes NWP the first port of call for anyone anywhere in the world seeking collaboration and Dutch water expertise. Through its wide network, NWP can connect organisations and individuals in the water sector who may not always come across each other in their immediate circles.

As of 2023, NWP’s new governance includes a Supervisory Board and an Advisory Board. 

Supervisory Board

NWP’s Supervisory Board, chaired by Rob Steijn, safeguards NWP’s interests and its stakeholders’ interests by providing oversight, guidance, and strategic direction. In December last year, two new members were appointed to NWP’s Supervisory Board, making the Supervisory Board complete. The Supervisory Board comprises Dorette Corbey, Esat Akkaya, Martijn van de Groep, and Rob Steijn.