Awareness and Communication Strategy  Communicate that climate change and variability have negative and positive impacts on water availability and demand in southern Africa;  Communicate that there is a need to develop, adopt and implement mitigation and adaptation measures, technologies and opportunities specific to the SADC region and best practices from the region and other parts of the world; and  Communicate that flood and droughts should not be emergencies but part of everyday, planning and development issues, which must be prepared for at any time, anywhere and by everyone. Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene The SADC Water Sector will:  Communicate that it is critical to create a legal and regulatory framework that promotes the universal access to water supply and sanitation services;  Communicate that integration of water supply provision with sanitation services and hygiene education is vital in improving socio-economic welfare and health;  Communicate that sustainability of water supply should be improved by increasing beneficiary ownership and human and financial resources for continued operation and maintenance; and  Communicate that making clean water accessible and productive to the poor is a responsibility and not a choice. Transboundary Water Resources Management The SADC Water Sector will:  Communicate that RBOs and Basin Water User Communities are important institutions in implementing regional instruments and initiatives and there is need to capacitate them enough to effectively carry out their functions;  Communicate that shared watercourse, regional and international agreements are critical to regional integration and in guiding the water resources development and management activities in Member States;  Communicate that information sharing is critical for effective and transparent transboundary water resources development and management;  Communicate that transboundary water resources utilisation should be based on collective benefits sharing with promotion of payments for ecosystem services, and the incorporation of virtual water trading principles; and  Communicate that joint water resources assessments should form the basis for transboundary agreements in order to build trust and achieve a common understanding. Water Demand Management The SADC Water Sector will:  Communicate that Southern Africa needs to create a legal and regulatory environment that mainstream WDM in water resources development and management, and implement all the provisions in the guiding and binding instruments;  Using models of best practice, communicate that incorporating WDM principles in water infrastructure planning, development and operations creates options for utilising the limited resources optimally; Page iii