World Bank’s GWSP Expands Global Water Security and Sanitation Financing in 2025
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The World Bank’s Global Water Security and Sanitation Partnership (GWSP) significantly expanded its financial and policy influence in 2025, accelerating global progress toward SDG 6 and strengthening long-term water resilience in high-risk markets. Created in 2017 within the Water Global Practice, the partnership converts technical expertise into actionable reforms, influencing national strategies, World Bank lending pipelines, and sector-wide institutional performance.
In fiscal year 2025, GWSP shaped $12.46 billion in new lending across 13 countries, 11 of which are categorized as fragile or conflict-affected. Its work supports major priorities within the World Bank Water Strategy 2025–2030, focusing on water access, climate-resilient infrastructure, and sustainable resource management.
The partnership’s interventions include advisory services, capacity building, and analytical support that strengthen utilities, expand rural and urban sanitation systems, and improve water governance in climate-vulnerable regions.
GWSP’s 2025 program centers on four core areas:
• Water security for prosperity: improving infrastructure performance and expanding safely managed services.
• Climate-resilient systems: reducing vulnerability to droughts, floods, and extreme weather.
• Social inclusion: ensuring equitable access in fragile and conflict-affected regions.
• Water finance: mobilizing capital, structuring bankable projects, and improving financial sustainability.
These priorities reflect a shift toward integrated water planning that strengthens both economic productivity and public health outcomes.
A critical function of GWSP is acting as a pipeline and de-risking mechanism, enabling large-scale water and sanitation projects to attract development and private finance. By improving data systems, sector transparency, and regulatory capacity, GWSP reduces information asymmetries that traditionally limit investment in emerging markets.
This has direct implications for:
• Sovereign risk and credit exposure
• Infrastructure performance and productivity
• Agricultural supply chains and food security
• Climate adaptation financing
In fragile states, strengthened water systems mitigate instability by reducing resource conflicts, health shocks, and migration pressures.
The scale of GWSP’s 2025 influence highlights the rising importance of specialized trust funds in shaping investment flows for global water security. By combining technical expertise, policy leverage, and capital mobilization, the partnership is becoming a central driver in closing global water and sanitation gaps.
