Empowering Local Actors on Water Cooperation Towards Social Cohesion

Building Peace Water for Peace Diplomacy in the Sahel and West Africa

Recognizing the shared view that intercommunity conflicts exacerbate insecurity and state destabilization, we consider strengthening local resilience crucial for sustainable peace.

To achieve this, we focus on endogenous knowledge, and revitalizing community concertation mechanisms regarding water points and land use to promote social cohesion. Moreover, we support local actors in articulating their visions and proposing solutions to challenges encountered at the community level. In partnership with grassroots NGO and West African Think Tanks, such as IPAR, CEROS and Eau Vive International, we empower local actors to strengthen cooperative water-related practices in fragile areas, aiming to foster social cohesion. We engage in dialogue with authorities and public institutions to support local actors in reflecting practically on how to develop more equitable and effective water governance models, recognizing water as a common good and the key to natural resource valorization.

In Mauritania, we are working with national and regional authorities, UNHCR, and other humanitarian and development agencies to support dialogue between host and refugee communities around water points in and around the largest refugee camp in the Sahel (Mbera camp, Hodh Chargui region). Through a participatory action research programme, we aim to facilitate community-driven solutions to management and technical challenges at various water points (wells, sumps, boreholes, and ponds).

In 2025, the regional authorities of Hodh Chargui appointed a Water and Peace focal point within the Regional Council. This nomination sends a positive signal of the local authorities’ commitment to making water a vector of social cohesion.

More recently, the Geneva Water Hub and UNHCR Mauritania signed a Partnership Protocol, aimed at facilitating collaboration between the two institutions. To implement this engagement, we are partnering with 2 key Mauritanian think tanks, CEROS and IPAR, we whom we made a Pledge to the Global Refugee Compact aiming to reinforce social cohesion between host communities and refuges through water cooperation. In this vein, thecooperation recognises water governance as an essential lever for stability, social cohesion, and refugee autonomy, while strengthening the capacity of host communities to sustainably manage limited resources.