The aim of the DROP project is to increase the resilience of NWE catchments to periods of drought.. DROP will develop a governance toolkit to be used by NWE regional water authorities and will test a few pilot measures on drought adaptation. The objectives of the project are 1) to promote the use of a European governance assessment toolkit to define regional drought adaptation; 2) to improve the effectiveness of drought adaptation measures for NWE areas. and 3) to enhance the preparedness of regional stakeholders in NWE in drought adaptation. To enhance the preparedness of NWE regions. the DROP project will work on improved measures and a better governance approach in defining drought adaptation. The DROP project will take a practical approach; realising concrete measures and improvements “on the ground” is our aim. but based on solid scientific methods. We will urge NWE regions to be ready. and take early action in drought adaptation. To support other NWE regions the project will develop tools. support and guidance that will benefit the whole NWE area in the process of adapting to drought and water scarcity situations. likely to increase in NWE in the near future. Achievements: The projects that are part of the three pilots (Nature, Agriculture, Freshwater) are all underway and going well. There are six practice partners working on these projects and studies. For information on the specific content of the projects we refer to the website of the DROP project: http://www.dropproject.eu. There you can select a pilot (e.g. Nature) and then a partner (e.g. Vechtstromen) to learn more about the work we are doing in the field. Here you can also find contact information for all the project owners, in case you have any questions or suggestions.The governance team (the scientific team of DROP) has produced their first set of regional reports in early 2014. In these reports they have analyzed the regions of the six practice partners on the governance characteristics for drought implementation. The governance team has recently visited most of the regions for the second round of research. In the second half of 2014 they will work on their final analysis of the governance aspects of the six regions and the roadmaps for those regions. The governance team does this work based on a scientific model for governance assessment: the Governance Assessment Tool. You can find both the full report on this tool as well as a very accessible summary on the DROP website: http://www.dropproject.eu/publications/ Half of the drought team visits have been done, the other half will follow in the upcoming months (second half of 2014). The drought team consists of regional experts, who exchange their knowledge and experience with their partner region (for instance Twente with Somerset, as they are both part of the pilot Nature). Another form of exchange are the six stakeholder exchange meetings we will organize. One has already been done (a visit from local stakeholders from Somerset to Twente), the other five will be done in the upcoming period. These exchanges help us to disseminate into practice and make sure we work on societally relevant issues. Furthermore, and most importantly, it allows the local stakeholders to take a look in a similar, yet different, region, to see how drought adaptation is carried out there. We are active on our own website (the beforementioned http://www.dropproject.eu) and on twitter (@The_DROPproject). We also have an account on YouTube (TheDROPproject) where you can find short movies on the project as a whole but also of the individual partners. On Picasa (https://picasaweb.google.com/109758023554421698659) you can find some pictures of the project. And Slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net/DROP_project) contains some presentations. Our partners have visited various conferences and meetings to present their work, both scientific as well as practice-based. In 2015 we will engage in more dissemination activities, including national end events in which we hope to convey our message on the governance of drought adaptation to relevant stakeholders in each of the five participating countries. Furthermore, we always like to get in touch with projects working on similar topics. We have done so up and until now, but we welcome other future contacts as well!