Terry Paule Takes SWIM to Abu Dhabi UN Water Conference
Philo Founder and Findex Co-Founder says SWIM will take the friction out of global water funding
When the concept behind SWIM (Sustainable Water Impact Maps) was first previewed during Climate Week in New York in September 2025, the ambition was clear to break down the silos fragmenting global water stewardship and bring the sector together in one place. But a vision on a whiteboard is a far cry from an operational global network.
Now, the journey reaches a major milestone. Led by World Economic Forum-recognised Aquapreneur Terry Paule, Founder of Philo and Co-Founder of Findex, SWIM is primed for its official hard launch at the UN Water Conference in Abu Dhabi on 8 December 2026.
"The global water crisis cannot be solved alone," said Terry Paule. "Water is finally being recognised not just as a humanitarian necessity, but as a primary economic and investment priority. This is exactly why SWIM was built as an operating platform that could take friction out of the ecosystem and deliver real world, measurable results."
Built From Experience
SWIM was developed by Philo, the Abu Dhabi-based parent company of Botanical Water Technologies. Through its own water projects in India and elsewhere, Philo saw how fragmented water funding is, funders struggle to find credible, fundable projects, implementers struggle to reach funders, and there is little visibility or collective action across the sector.
SWIM brings this together in one place. It maps water risk and need alongside projects, funders, implementers, evidence and impact, covering reduce, reuse, replenish and WASH projects across technology and nature-based solutions.
From Isolated Projects to Shared Action
Water experts largely agree that no single organisation can fix a river basin on its own. Yet most efforts still happen in silos. Projects are small and scattered, money is thin, business and government rarely work hand in hand, and the bodies that manage water are stretched.
The answer is to stop backing projects one at a time and start organising around whole catchments, with companies, governments, communities and NGOs working to the same goals and tracking the same results. That is the gap SWIM was built to close: one shared platform that shows who is active where, so funders and implementers can find each other in the basins that matter.
Onboarded and Operational
Around 1,000 projects are now on the platform, and SWIM is onboarding Fortune 500 funders, NGOs and implementers globally. Instead of working in isolation, organisations are using SWIM to
Find credible projects
Funders can search the map, the Project Marketplace or SWIM AI, the built-in assistant, and filter by location, project type, stage, volumetric benefit and cost.
Act where it matters
Risk and footprint tools show an organisation's exposure. SWIM helps it act by finding and funding credible projects in the basins that matter.
Connect without cold introductions
Requests between funders and implementers are screened by the SWIM team, so every conversation is qualified.
Data-Rich, Evidence-Based
SWIM draws on 100+ data layers from sources including the World Bank, WRI Aqueduct, WHO/UNICEF JMP and the WWF Water Risk Filter, down to sub-catchment level. Implementers must evidence at least one project funded by a credible organisation before publishing, and any project can be independently evaluated to earn a verified badge.
Once a project is funded, PhiloX is the execution layer behind SWIM, supporting contracting, funding workflows, verification and real-time, auditable impact reporting.
The Abu Dhabi Milestone
The UN Water Conference in Abu Dhabi, running 8–10 December 2026 at ADNEC, is only the third major UN Water conference in nearly half a century. As global leaders converge, the conversation must shift past endless debate and into hard execution.
By bringing commercial banks, institutional investors and private enterprises directly into the fold, with a dedicated focus on financing, technology and execution, the conference marks a turning point. Water scarcity will not be solved by more panel discussions but by connecting capital with credible projects and the people delivering them.
SWIM is live, free to join, and ready for Abu Dhabi. Join at www.philox.io.
SWIM is an AI-native water impact platform from Philo that connects funders with credible water projects and implementers, with PhiloX as the layer that delivers, verifies and reports impact once a project is funded. Philo is a water technology and impact group headquartered in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and the parent company of Botanical Water Technologies.
