The Climate Resilient Infrastructure Development Facility (CRIDF) is a DFID (UK Aid) supported programme working to provide long-term solutions to water issues that affect the lives of the poor in Southern Africa. Our focus is not on building short-term water infrastructure, but on working with organisations to show them how they can better build and manage their own water infrastructure to improve people’s lives. Because rivers, lakes and river basins cross borders, CRIDF is working with 12 different countries in Southern Africa that share water resources. In so doing, CRIDF aims to improve the lives of over 200 million people, many of them extremely poor. To achieve its goals, CRIDF is using an ‘infrastructure development facility’ model – an approach which works to bring together financial resources for projects in the region, and to advise partners of the best way to select, manage and implement their projects. An important part of this approach involves the Facility working with local partners to together put infrastructure in place. Working together allows the CRIDF team to demonstrate best-practice techniques and ways of working to local engineers. We believe that physically working hands-on together with people while showing them how to employ climate-resilient techniques is the best way to bring about successful long-term management of water infrastructure.