Towards collective action for water stewardship in Malawi: lessons from emerging practice

Water security is critical to Malawi’s economic development and increasing pressure on water resources is creating opportunities to strengthen how water stewardship efforts are coordinated and implemented.

Drawing on insights from the Fair Water Footprints Water Stewardship Masterclass and stakeholder interviews, this paper explores how collective action is beginning to take shape in practice.

It highlights five key lessons and a growing sense of momentum, showing how existing initiatives, knowledge and actors can be better connected to support more coherent, resilient and system-level responses to shared water risks.