We are delighted to announce the release of the Watershed Security Fund’s 2025–2028 Strategic Plan—a guiding framework that sets the course of focus for the next three years. This Plan is the result of extensive collaboration between the First Nations Water Caucus (FNWC), the First Nations Fisheries Council (FNFC), and the Real Estate Foundation of BC (REFBC).
The Strategic Plan was developed over three planning sessions, facilitated by Four Directions Management Services. These planning sessions strengthened the partnership between FNWC, FNFC and REFBC, and helped identify the Watershed Security Fund’s (WSF or ‘the Fund’) shared vision, aligned shared values, and defined priority areas of work. This Strategic Plan will support the work of the Fund moving forward to help our water, lands, and communities thrive.
Rooted in Healthy Watersheds and Thriving Communities
The resulting plan honours the sacredness of water and the inherent rights, knowledge and leadership of First Nations. It also takes a whole-of-watershed approach and recognizes that watersheds function as large, interconnected systems—an approach that considers water, land, people, plants and animals, recognizing that anything happening upstream has repercussions downstream.
In addition to advancing outcomes for healthier watersheds and thriving communities, the Watershed Security Fund represents an innovative opportunity for building relationships between First Nations, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), crown governments, industry, and local communities while upholding shared commitments with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
Strategic Priorities for 2025–2028
At its core, the Watershed Security Fund envisions a future where thriving watersheds and the natural flow of water are of the utmost importance, and water is highly valued as the sacred source of life for all living beings.
Over the next three years, the Watershed Security Fund will focus on the following Focus Areas of Work:
- Co-development of a Permanent Organization to hold the WSF long-term.
- Strengthen communications that establish an identity for the WSF and that engage with various audiences on the importance of watersheds.
- Growing the Fund through durable and predictable sources of funding that support WSF impacts and outcomes.
- Provide Interim Governance to the Fund to further refine effective and efficient governance structures that guide the interim implementation of the Fund
- Implement an Interim Grants Program that provides communities access to critical and timely funding.
- Investing and Managing the Fund to provide accountability for financial management and values-aligned investment planning.
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