Throughout the developing world, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) applies an approach of integrated water resource management, seeking to ensure adequate supplies of good-quality water for people, agriculture, energy, and industry while also maintaining healthy ecosystems.

ME&A is assisting USAID to accomplish those objectives and balance those competing demands through the USAID-funded Water Sector Communications and Knowledge Management (WS/CKM) Program.

Since 2006, ME&A has provided broad-based support to the USAID Water Office under the Water Tracking, Estimating, and Reporting Support (WaTERS) Program that provided support for: 1) accessing and managing USAID water and coastal resources management information; 2) providing technical support for analysis and reporting; 3) accessing technical information relating to water and coastal resources; and, 4) knowledge management activities.

The Water Sector Communication and Knowledge Management (WS/CKM) Program is a follow-on task order that builds upon the successes of the WaTERS Program.  This project has a strong emphasis on knowledge management in order to meet the rapidly increasing needs of the Agency for effective programs in water productivity, water resources management, and water supply, sanitation, and hygiene activities. 

The program provides research, analysis, writing, obligations tracking, strategic planning and knowledge management to the Water Team in support of USAID's water project portfolio.

The WS/CKM Program staff and consultants work most closely with the Water Team. The cross-disciplinary Water Team serves as a key technical resource on integrated water and coastal resources management for USAID personnel in the Washington, D.C. headquarters and in countries around the world. The WS/CKM Program staff includes technical specialists, researchers, policy analysts, writers, editors, and communications experts.

Funding for the WS/CKM Program comes from a task order awarded under the USAID Water Sector Technical Support Integrated Water and Coastal Resources Management Indefinite Quantity Contract, which is also known as the "Water IQC II."

Key Activities

ME&A's WaTERS Program supported USAID through five primary tasks:

• Information management, including tracking USAID's funding and program activities in the area of water and coastal resources management

• Information access and sharing, to make information about USAID's water-related efforts, accomplishments, and lessons learned more widely available

• Analysis and reporting, such as regularly updating data that the U.S. Congress requires on special foreign assistance funding intended to increase access to safe water and sanitation for developing countries around the world

• Accessing technical information, including by preparing technical studies and reports on particular topics related to water and coastal resources

• Knowledge management, such as by improving training for and making best practices and other new information more widely available to the staff of USAID and its partner organizations

Key Activities Related to the Past and Present Program

• Launching a bimonthly magazine, Global Waters, to share the challenges, opportunities, approaches, and lessons learned in USAID water-related efforts

• Developing a bimonthly newsletter, Water Team Updates, to share ongoing activities of, and best practices in the water sector with, USAID staff working in the water sector

• Revising, updating, and reorganizing the water-related pages of the USAID intranet and internet

• Creating a Wiki to archive USAID program-related information

• Generating key materials for the FY 2006, FY 2007, FY 2008, FY 2009, and FY 2010 State Department report to the U.S. Congress titled the "Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005."

• Generating materials for USAID's FY 2008, FY 2009, and FY 2010 "Safeguarding the World's Water" report

Further Information:

More details on the WS/CKM Program are available by contacting Program Director William Wright at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or (202) 737-2780.