SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WATER FORWARD
WATER FOR PEOPLE, FOOD AND PLANET Taking a long-standing commitment to the next level: How the OPEC Fund is delivering sustainable development in the water sector in projects and programs By Mohammad Mazraati, Senior Development Impact Officer, OPEC Fund
W hen the OPEC Fund joined the global Water Forward initiative at the World Bank Spring Meetings in April 2026 with a pledge of an additional US$1 billion to reach 15 million beneficiaries, it was reinforcing a long-standing commitment. Water is the source of life and as such is key to all development. Recognizing this crucial role, the OPEC Fund to date has provided almost US$1.5 billion in funding to more than 150 water and sanitation projects worldwide. With Water Forward, the World Bank has set an ambition to advance water security for 400 million people by 2030, representing 10 percent of the world’s water-insecure population. The approach is built on three pillars: Water for People, Water for Food and Water for Planet. This strategy recognizes water as a critical connector across human development, economic productivity and environmental sustainability. Water for People focuses on achieving universal access to safe, reliable and affordable water and sanitation services, emphasizing service quality, equity and resilience – particularly for poor and vulnerable populations. Water for Food prioritizes efficient and climate-resilient water use in agriculture, supporting food security, rural incomes and economic growth while reducing excessive water withdrawals and pollution. Water for Planet emphasizes protecting aquatic ecosystems, managing floods and droughts and adapting to climate change through integrated water resource management and nature- based solutions.
The launch of Water Forward brought together ten multilateral development banks and development finance institutions, committing to specific targets for 2030. The financing gap is estimated at US$7 trillion. While this is huge, financing is not the only measure. The success of the initiative also depends on the consistency, transparency and credibility of results measurement across multilateral development banks (MDBs). Achieving this requires participating institutions to make concrete commitments under a harmonized measurement framework applied consistently across stakeholders. In current practice, project- and portfolio-level accountability is primarily assessed through beneficiary metrics over the project lifecycle, focusing on access rather than welfare. However, harmonized results measurement, anchored in common principles and adapted to distinct intervention logic is essential for enhancing development effectiveness across the Water Forward pillars. Water for People interventions aim to deliver excludable, individual-level services, for which beneficiary attribution
can credibly be established. As a result, population- based metrics (people with access to new or improved services) remain both meaningful and methodologically defensible.
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