Our Approach
Freshwater’s approach emphasizes the importance of strong relationships, smart institutional structures, and collaborative, proactive solutions to difficult challenges.
Strong relationships. So much of doing good work is about building good relationships with the right people. In its work with clients on water policy and sustainability issues, Freshwater emphasizes the need to listen carefully, and to build meaningful relationships with the people and stakeholders involved.
Smart institutional structures and systems. “Institutions”—a broad name for significant practices, relationships, or organizations in a society or culture—and underlying “systems”—different arrangements of people, organizations, and other elements, set up (whether intentionally or not) to accomplish something—are often key to what does get accomplished in a certain place or around a certain set of issues. We believe that it’s important to pay attention to supporting and building the right institutions to get the right results. When possible we like to take a “systems” approach to problems.
Proactive solutions to difficult challenges. It is easier to identify and talk about problems than to identify and talk about solutions, and it is easier to tear things apart than to build them up. Freshwater believes in the need to undertake smart, sequential, and strategic work to build and promote the right solutions to challenges.