Water4All has begun an important strategic exercise: imagining how our community and its work can continue after the current European funding framework comes to an end. In December 2025, we submitted a first draft of our “phasing-out strategy” to the European Commission, opening a conversation on what Water4All’s long-term legacy should be and how it can be sustained in the years ahead. 

Why is Water4All doing this now?

 The European Commission is reflecting on the future of its partnership instruments, and Water4All wants to be ready for several possible evolutions. This does not mean deciding today what comes next. Instead, the exercise helps clarify what Water4All brings to Europe and the world, what activities must endure, and what different options could secure that continuity. The strategy is a living document to be enriched throughout 2026 as partners, stakeholders, and policymakers share their views.   

A collective and forward-looking process 

This first draft builds on the many discussions held within Water4All in autumn 2025, including exchanges with partners and other European initiatives, strategic meetings and a dedicated Governing Board session. A wider consultation will follow in early 2026.  

The exercise serves three main aims: 

Understanding Water4All’s added value, identifying the activities that simply wouldn’t exist without the partnership, such as international research calls, shared tools, knowledge hubs and Water-Oriented Living Lab approaches. 

Shaping a shared long-term vision of what should continue or evolve. 

Outlining options, not predictions, that can guide discussions with the European Commission.  

Six possible directions for the future 

Instead of one predefined path, the strategy presents six contrasting scenarios, showing different ways Water4All could evolve. These include: 

• joining forces with other European initiatives; 
• continuing priority activities with lighter coordination; 
• diversifying funding sources; 
• strengthening innovation and market uptake; 
• creating a long-term institutional structure; 
• or extending Water4All’s reach globally through international organisations.  

Together, these options illustrate the range of possibilities for preserving Water4All’s mission, supporting collaborative research, fostering innovation, and contributing to resilient water management. 

What comes next? 

Throughout 2026, Water4All will refine these scenarios with partners and stakeholders, assess their feasibility, and identify the elements essential to safeguarding the partnership’s legacy. The final version, expected in spring 2026, will support discussions with the European Commission on future directions for coordinated water research in Europe and beyond.