This report is produced for the Environment Agency (EA) based on the learnings from a pilot project to enable Catchment Partnerships (CPs) to become more independent, self-sustaining and resilient, with a particular focus on financial sustainability and income diversification. Through this initiative, Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has worked with four catchment partnership over the last 12 months.

The pilot programme aims to provide learning outcomes for EA and CPs which can be applied nationally.

CAF believes that a resilient catchment is one which will have strong governance, able to demonstrate its impact, each of the partners know the value of partnerships and are not reliant on one type of income (mostly restricted grant funding). The four catchment partnerships have been selected for this pilot project from more than 20 applications. The four catchment partnerships are spread around the country and cover both rural and urban areas.

The four CPs are:

• Loddon CP
• Northumberland Rivers CP
• Upper Bedford and Ouse CP (UBOCP)
• Dales and Vales River Network (DVRN)

All the CPs had an interesting mix of partners including Environment Agency, local/regional water companies, universities, local charities, regional branches of national charities, consultants and community members.