 So hi everybody. Thank you so much for joining the call. My name is Charles Chichinda and we're very pleased to have you in the call. So, to start off, we will be going through a discussion about pretty much youth perspectives from the African and European youth. For a water wise future. And it is our belief and trust that you'll be able to gather a couple of leaning aspects from this event as young world professionals. And the key objective really is that we'll be able to connect, be able to have a very meaningful chat on how we can foster a water wise future as young people. As I mentioned my name is Charles Chichinda and I will be moderating this session so just to go through a couple of generic housekeeping rules this event. The first one is you might want to know the this event has been recorded and it will be made available on demand. The next one is that the speakers will be responsible for securing copyrights permissions. So you might want to be aware of that. And as well as just ensure that you are on mute. Just to ensure that they in there's no disruptions of the speakers speak. You might also want to Somebody is unmuted. Yes, so please just ensure that your mic is on mute just to avoid any disruptions during the event. You may also want to post your questions in the chat box or the moderator for a specific panel session, we will be able to ask you to mute yourself and ask a question. So just ensure to be able to do that. You may also want to introduce yourself. I think it's always really good to get to know you. So who you are, which country you're from and what you do. At the minute. I've already mentioned that you be good that you put your mic on mute and as well as Your camera. Excuse me, your camera is in the bottom left corner. So just make note of that. There is no need for you to share anything. So that will be run from our end. So just a little bit of a A picture of the moderators and panelists for the session. So this myself charge agenda. We have Isabella. We've got Chris. We've got Naomi. We've got Ines. We got Jacob and we got Heiss. And that's for the gender. We will have a welcome and a bit of an introduction and meeting objectives from Jacob, who I'm going to introduce in a short while. We will also have so Jacob will pretty much go through a brief introduction of what the United Nations, what conference entails. We will then move on to a bit of an overview of organizations and their youth activities. Right after we'll then delve into a panel discussion which will be the first one that will look at youth engagement at the United Nations water conference. Pretty much gathering a couple of weeks perspectives will proceed on to comfort break is always really good to decompress a little bit. And then we'll crack on with a second panel. Where I will be good to gather thoughts from the youth around post the United Nations water conference. And then we'll move on to summary of the discussions and then Isabella come through and give the closing remarks and with an update from the International Water Association. Without further ado, we will. I have the pleasure to introduce Jacob. So, Jacob is an environmental engineer. He works as a water quality assurance provider at Gunna Water Company. Jacob is the chair of the International Water Association Young Water Professions during committee. So Jacob will take us through an introduction to the United Nations water conference. Over to Jacob. Hey, thank you, Charles. I'm always happy to to be in such a meeting with young water professionals. It's a pleasure to see the future of the water sector right in your eyes every day. Today we're going to have a brief discussion. Just as Charles said about learnings, the perspectives from the different regions, Africa and then Europe on how we can solve our water challenges globally. Right. Yes. I believe that we've all in one form or the other head about the UN 2023 water conference. I think for about two years, we kept on hearing about its objectives, what it plans to achieve and all that and it's come to pass. All the things that were said in those days, all the learnings, all the perspectives from different people all over the world. What are we going to do with it? Yes, so I'll give you a brief introduction of what it is next slide. So basically, the conference was built on three pillars. That is inclusiveness cross sectoria action oriented. So inclusive means that you are looking at both vertical and horizontal inclusiveness, where you have everybody coming on board everybody in the social system. Both users, service providers, policy makers, everybody having a say, everybody contributing from their perspectives to whatever that you wanted to achieve. Then we have cross sectoria. Most of the times you hear people saying that the water sector likes to keep to itself and not engage with other sectors. But this conference sought to look at how the finance sector is supporting the water sector, how the water sector is engaging different sectors in the economy and action oriented. Yeah, we've spoken for a while. Since the first water conference 47 years ago, we've talked about a problem with proposed solutions, but how well are we implementing them. So this conference also sought to look at how we can put those suggestions and those things that we talk about into action in order to get the results that we need next slide. Yes. So here you see how everything was planned, everything looked at the different sectors, looked at the different people that are supposed to participate and how you can engage in the conference and its aftermath activities here. Yes, so the conference had six plenaries where member states made speeches. Some spoke about the progress that they are making in their countries when it comes to wash. Others also gave speeches about what they plan to do in the future and how they can support other people. So it was very interesting, interesting speeches, very inspirational and a lot to learn. Then there were interactive dialogues, very interactive. People have described how the title of the whole session kind of looks like is the other way around when you are sitting in those sessions because it's everybody giving speeches, not really interacting with each other. So yeah, there were five dialogues over the two days and also spoke about different aspects when it comes to the wash sector and how best we are making progress and what can be done moving forward and how to implement those things after the conference. So, next slide, if I'm not done. Okay, thank you. Perfect. Thank you, Jekyll. That was a really good overview of the United Nations Water Conference and its objectives and what any child obviously that it should be inclusive, action-oriented and very cross-sectoral. So, thank you for that overview. So cracking on with our agenda, we'll then move on to the second bit of it, where we'll have an overview of the youth organizations and their activities. So without further ado, I will invite Ines Greta. She is the product and process manager at Eurowater and she saves as secretary of the Young Water Professional Steering Committee for the International Water Association. She is also a board member and treasurer for Young Water Professionals Denmark. Ines will be running us through the International Water Association and Grand Falls Fellowship and pretty much what it entails. Over to you, Ines. Hi, everyone. I hope that you can hear me clearly. Thank you for the presentation, Charles. And so nice to see so many people here, also from so many different countries. So what I will try to do because we will go on a deep dive on the fellowship later on. What I'll try to do here is to give you an idea of the International Water Association and how somehow it felt logical for IWA to support youth engagement at the United Nations Water Conference last March. So IWA is a network with over 16,000 members. We are part of a broad range of knowledge areas that are spread within research institutions, universities, consultants, regulators, utilities and industry. We are spread across the globe, and we are especially proud to gain a strong momentum with youth engagement in the southern globe. There are several ways that we somehow exchange knowledge across the network, but one of the ways that for me has been clearly a way forward has been through specialist groups, and kind of opportunities that IWA starts to promote within the program that allows youth to connect across the globe. If you could move to the next slide, I will have, I'll be so proud to show you how youth is actually being spread. You have no idea how happy I am to share this picture because we are now over 40, representing over 40 chapters, so 40 countries across the globe, where we have a young water professional that understands what IWA is trying to do. We establish a connection within communities that promotes communication across stakeholders in water, especially here with research and work with water utilities that for IWA has always been and specifically stressed in the last strategy, a key point. I'll give you an example of how something like this can look like, but for Denmark, for example, I'm sitting, the young water professional started in 2014. Next year it will be the 10th anniversary and we have over 500 members at a national level. And the happiness that we have at each of our national conferences, it just ensures that the community continues to grow and the knowledge is then spread across generations because now we have people that used to be young water professionals but now they have these positions within the different companies and water utilities or research groups that somehow see youth within the country and this is so important. Next slide please. So how these opportunities occur? Well, many, many ways. So one of the ways is actually this direct link with leaders, right, because the network is cross-generational and we try to take advantage of that with regards to connecting generations. The engagement through leaders is very direct. So both either through the events that we have or through our IWA Connect Plus, which is a social network that allows us internally to connect with each other. So this allows not only some career development and but also this network exchange, the expertise, trying to figure out what is working in one place but it's not working in another. How can we facilitate that? We have access to the latest advancements of the water sector. This is strongly because we are embedded within the IWA publishing, which means that every scientific article, for example, in water research is spread out throughout the community and we can have people who can translate that knowledge from within the network. And it's this what we believe it gives a tremendous professional development. So what was the latest opportunity that I was very excited about? It was the youth action for STG6 Fellowship. And what was that? Well, Grunfors as a private company saw the benefit of supporting youth through the International Association and both created a program that sponsored 14 young professionals from across the globe. And we're talking about the diversity of both gender and geographies and backgrounds. And those 14 were able to attend the United Nations Water Conference. We are in continuous work. This is part of one of the activities we are developing. We are in continuous work to try to translate and bring the knowledge and the learnings from that conference to other peers. And we will meet two times again this year, one in September here in Denmark and another time in Kigali at the Water Development Congress in December. And this is a continuous work that we'll be doing. Each one of us have their own projects that we're also trying to bring forward and kind of creating synergies with each other for the advancement and acceleration of water action. And I have to tell you that the five days that I was lucky enough to be at the United Nations Water Conference were five days where I was truly smiling every day. And not because I didn't know the challenge that I didn't understand what was happening. The reason was that I knew that I was surrounded by people that wanted to make change. And it was important for me to see who they were and to connect with them. So deep dive after later on on this, this is more for you to understand how IWA and Confos collaborated and how this made a lot of sense for IWA to connect with the United Nations, moving from research to practice, but also taking into account the community driven research, inclusive science and of course how science can shape policies. Thank you so much. I think I'll pass the word to Nwemi. Great. Thank you. It's going to be high snakes. Thank you very much, Ines. And I think it's really good to see all those fast opportunities that IWA has to offer. And probably suffice to say that it really provides a platform for young people like ourselves to be able to connect, exchange knowledge and be able to develop our professions going forward. And that's really good. I should mention that we were supposed to have Danielle Kamuchi from the African Parliament for Water, but unfortunately Danielle was not able to join us last minute. She had a little bit of a bit of an inconvenience there. So we will be cracking on anyway. And without further ado, I would then like to invite Heise Vanes from Webmakers United to be able to give us an overview of his organizations and what they do. So Heise is a young water professional focused on sustainable urban water management and drinking water supply. He currently works for the EI in Kampala, Uganda to reduce water losses in the water supply network. But besides that, he is a strong advocate of the 30-30-30, I think, which should be talking about its commitment and youth engagement in the water sector on behalf of Webmakers United. Over to you Heise. Alright, thank you for the introduction Charles. Also, thank you to the IWA team for giving this opportunity and organizing this event. Yeah, I'm the youth network manager with WaveMakers United Foundation. If we can go to the next slide please. So what we are doing with WaveMakers United is we are a youth organization focusing on students at least and young professional working in the water or climate sector. And I think this is also something that is a big difference with other youth organizations in the sector is that we are really focused on the athletes as well, because we think that athletes in the water sector such as kite servers, wind servers, rowers. They can be great advocates of water quality because they experience the water every day during their training and games. And they are often looked up to by young people. So in that way, you really want to inspire the young people. Next slide please. So this community, students at least young professional, we want them to focus on while they're working in the water sector already. And we challenge them to think about these challenges like too much water, too little water, too dirty water, water safety, and there's one missing out, let me see which is it is, and the water management. And what we do to help them is next slide. Yes, is that we want to educate and empower this community to make changes and take actions in the climate and water field. We do this through various programs such as setting up local chapters. But we also added a commitment to the water action agenda, which is to educate one million young people every year until the year 2030. And this is what we're doing to our SDG toolkits that are freely available to the local chapters and anybody who would like to use them to educate young people. Next slide please. And so what our legacy, what we think our legacy is going to be is that we have local communities who also operate on a global scale. So they they know the challenges they know solutions or local skill, which can be applied to the global level as well. And is global level like for example conferences, such as in New York, if we attempt that we can take that global knowledge of the big organizations and exchange it again with the local communities to empower and educate them on what's going on and give them more to work with basically to work on the challenges they face. So in that way we, you know, work back and forwards with local global youth communities and try to strengthen them to solve climate and water challenges. Next slide. So, specifically talking about New York, one of the major things we did here, also to do this global local interchange basically is that we had the final of the UN 2023 game changer challenge that we organized together with IHE Delft. And so what we did here is we had a Stockholm World Water Week last year, we launched a challenge and we asked young professionals, students to come up with innovative ideas that are implementable to that that solve the SDGs using water. Basically, and we got subscriptions we got innovative ideas from 201 teams from 62 different nationalities so that was quite big and I think Enes was very proud when she was talking about all the IWA chapters which was very impressive as well. It's really the same for this I'm very proud to see that we reached so many different countries and we had so many teams that were very inspired to contribute to our challenge. So we launched it in Stockholm, and we had the final in New York. The final is not the end though, I will tell you a bit more afterwards. The winning team, chosen by both first youth jury and then a senior jury, the winning team, what they basically developed was a system that it makes salt water into fresh water using LJ. LJ can also be afterwards used for for fuel production for biofuel production, and obviously it takes in a lot of a lot of CO2 so it cleans here basically as well. So that's a winning idea. But that's not the only winning idea we had a lot of great great innovative ideas. We also developed a marketplace for all those ideas to be taken up by organizations that want to utilize those ideas and implement them, help them further develop. So that's where we are now. Next slide please. And we also host the 2030 2030 youth target event in New York in the Dutch consulate. We had a great event with great speakers who are also present here such as Ines and Noemi. Thanks again. Well, the event was in the Dutch consulate sort of required a bit of Dutch people but we had a lot of other people as well. Young people older people, all interested to find out what this was about. We're going to be explaining a bit more about the concept later I think no way he's going to talk about it as well. We're focused on identifying those gaps in youth inclusion so we asked the audience. What are your challenges that you're facing and we got some answers like well there's a lack of funding. The education system doesn't really allow me allow me to get straight into a job. I need to get experience somewhere first and then do like an internship. The job is not really aligning with the education system. And we also heard that that the barriers for youth inclusion are not only youth barriers but they are applicable to a lot of different people as well. And then we try to come up to come over these to overcome these challenges, for example with just George Newton who knows a lot about youth inclusion and jobs. So, together we had a great session. It was wrapped up by Mino Guli was very inspiring. And I will talk, I'll talk more about the contents of it later. This was my introduction. Thank you very much, Heise, for that overview. Without further ado, we will pass on to Isabella to to run the face panel discussion of the event. That will pretty much look at youth engagement at the United Nations Water Conference. And pretty much the objective is to really have very mixed perspectives. So over to you, Isabella. Thank you, Charles, and I'm quite happy to be here today, especially. Wow, we have representation from all over the countries, and I can see some interactions in the chat. And I'm really proud to be also responsible for the youth engagement of the NWA and this amazing fellowship that we have in partnership with Grampos. I am also a young water professional, at least for other two years. And I'm quite looking forward to continue supporting and promoting youth engagement in this high level decision making process on this. And taking this into consideration, I would like to invite Noemi and as well as Charles. I know that Noemi has already been presented this, but I'd like to say some words about Charles. Charles is one of our fellows. Part of the IWN Grampos Youth Action for SGG6, and he's a civil and wash engineer. And he's an author yet he's working an amazing book, and I'm looking forward to to read it soon. And he currently works at British Water, and he's had up with the British Water International Program. And considering this, let me move the slides here a little. Noemi, are you ready? Hello. Thank you again for the invitation. So we can already go to the second slide please. Okay, so this is our panel, we are going to focus on youth engagement at the UN Water 23 conference. Next slide please. Here we are. So I thought that maybe it would be interesting to show you the different ways that we have been contributing because none of us has been actually doing the same task in the World Youth Parliament for Water. Some of us, as Jacob presented earlier, have been joining some special event and side event as well inside of the UNHQ and outside of the UNHQ, such as the Waterhouse, as Haidt also just mentioned. So there was plenty of different ways of contributing, and I thought I will give you an highlight of my contribution. So the World Youth Parliament for Water, we actually focus from as well the global to local engagement, we have chapters at the national level, but also regional chapters. And I am more in charge of the global partnership, strategic partnership aspect of our advocacy journey for more inclusion of young water voices in water governance and water management decision making processes and spaces. So at the UN Water Conference, we joined prior of it because it was a long process, things happened before and after a conference in general or a COP. So we joined the task force at UN Water, the task force on World Water Day and World Toilet Day. And as we even became co-coordinator with APA Fed, Neil is here in the call, but also UNESCO and WHO and UNICEF. And then water quickly for some people that don't know, it's a coordinating mechanism based in Geneva and New York, but, and they focus on any UN agencies but also organization. So it's a really multi-stakeholder way of coordinating and making sure there's an open dialogue and space on different task force and experts. Thematic focus related to water, right? So our task force was on World Water Day World Toilet Day as I said, and this year was about accelerating change. As you can see, the narrative was around the hummingbird that we can all participate with our small drop. I really invite you to look at the website. You can make also your contribution. It was, again, prior to the UN water, but it is continuing because it's from World Water Day to World Toilet Day, the 19th of November. There, more concretely, what have we done? We received, thanks to UN Global Communication Offices, some origami birds, hummingbirds from schools, from Ghana, from Sweden, from, I think, Japan as well. We actually hang those hummingbirds in the, in some trees at the main venue and the main entrance of the UN water conference and the UNHQ, basically. And there we allowed people to read what the even younger generation than us here in this school, so children, primary school children, think about water and also see what could accelerate change. It was really cute, because some of them were really just being, I will listen mama when she said to turn off the tap while I'm washing my teeth. That's really things like that. But as we said the narrative, it's, there's no small drop to participate to save our most precious resources. And then it was also located near the SDG media zone and we also had the opportunity to give a talk at the media zone where you see this, this booth with all the SDGs. So I was obviously about SDG 6 and there how again, the inclusion of young people in institutional processes in the conference in general, it's important. So that's it for this one. Next slide please. Thank you. We also had the opportunity to join at the AU delegation. A side event organized about youth led dialogue in between Pacific Island and African African countries. So it was organized by the external partnership relation of the AU. The goal was to have an open dialogue in between with different, sorry, region perspective on the five thematics dialogues of the UN water conference. And she asked me here on the left with the president of the European youth parliament for water. She focused on the water and cooperation dialogue and her contribution was really to strike the importance stress the importance of the peace aspect of the trans boundary management of the water resources and the cooperation between riparian states. She is from Armenia. So obviously she could share some experience in between this topic and how also important it is that young people as mediator catalyst of change and the next generation of course should be included in this. And for myself, I was focusing on the water action decade dialogue and my contribution brought up the attention on our demands to fill up the glass campaign demands that some of you probably contributed. IW is certainly contributed in this process on the 30, 30, 30 youth targets so making sure that we have a clear target of inclusion of young people in different level and different decision making processes. So, for example, at river basin level for sure, but also on government delegation going to conferences panel discussion. See we is already doing this they have a golden standard when they make sure that they include one young professional or one young advocates in their, in their panel as a speaker. So yeah, and also of course sorry I forgot the second part of it, a line with the demands of the states and what the states pushed the demand of youth envoy on water collaborating with the future UN special envoy on water. Next slide please. Yeah. And so it links to also the previous point about the global youth movement for water. We, it was a ongoing process. And in a long, long month and years of preparation it started with the ninth water forum in Dakar where we launched this idea of merging and building a global youth movement for water with also the midterm review at the Dushan Bay. And of course the UN water conference and now we are preparing for the 10th water forum in Bali. So with the global youth movement, what did we do. We participated to position some young people as speaker with also the strong partnership and support of the international secretariat of water. And I and myself participated to daily briefing at the waterhouse so we gathered some young people to make sure that for some who experienced this sort of event for the first time that they they seek guidance and some capacity building to make sure that we were all aligned to make sure that they will know where to go. Any question they had, etc, etc. And then of course the production of our policy paper with according to our youth perspective on the five interactive dialogue of the conference. And, yeah, I think this is it for me. As you can see on the last picture. Most of the young people were there in this picture so it's quite impressive and if Joe if is in this cold to notice. And young people because, yeah, unlike a cop and convention, we didn't have a strong youth institutionalized body, right. It was all diverse network and and here it's again the continuation of this collaboration. And, yeah, so it's quite noticeable. And thanks to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Tajikistan for their support and, and, yeah, this is quite accomplishment. That's it for me. Thank you. No, I mean, no, I mean before handing over to Charlie's on this show text and have you met your objectives to influence decision makers during the event but a conference. How were you many. How do you see this process. Do you believe that you have achieved it, your objectives. I mean, you can always do more. That's one thing. But we have to acknowledge especially the last point that I, I stress and I like. Usually when you see some younger pictures or given pictures like most of the time there's really less people who receive sponsorship and accreditation and, and we're being able to be in that picture. So, you know, that's one of the events. And I really think this is also in terms of diversity, of course, some, as always, but not only because they're youth or so because this is the case it was in the US so experienced visa issues, but there was quite a lot of representation and inclusion. Also, before for the one who couldn't be there, the secretariat. It's not in my slide but organize regional preparatory process of the conference and and gather the opinion, doing in advance that it will be more complicating from others for some other, sorry. So in terms of our low being. When we started in Dakar. I don't like you can never know if the country organizing wanted to have so many young people involved. I do know because we had several talks with Hank oving and this this man this envoy on water of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands sorry really believe in in young people. Voice in the water sector and other water related sector. But yeah, it's quite an accomplishment. I w a and grown force and also participated in that with their call for the, the, the, this grown force fellowship. So, yeah, we succeeded I think in making sure that young people should be included and we can always do better but we have to acknowledge as well, our little win, in my opinion. Thank you for this and I do agree with you on this. So, Charles. I have already done your introduction part and but I do have also a question for you. You're originally from Zambia and you're currently living here in the UK, quite close to London by the way, and you attend the conference as part of the fellowship. How was your involvement at the UN water conference conference meaningfully to your work and career objectives. Were you able to explain your network of African professionals at the conference. Yeah, no thanks thanks Isabella. I think you to kind of really tackle that question in two parts. So, with regards to my involvement. In the, in the conference as part of the IWN ground force fellowship. I'll say that it was in many considerable ways very meaningful to my work and career objectives in that I was able to be part of a range of thematic discussions. From youth engagement to gender, for instance, as part of discussion that looked at the nexus on pollution, sanitation climate change and water quality, all the way to the economics of water and and water diplomacy. So, these then create an opportunity for me to be able to contribute my ideas, but as well as be able to learn. And as a result, it really was able to, you know, really give me that kind of exposure to be able to meet what leaders have a conversation on on pressing issues. And I think very broadly and significant as well I believe was that I was able to, you know, make my voice known, but also at my presence, you know as a person as a form of advocacy for the water wise future to which young people are actively and as a part of as a future water leaders. So I think that was a key aspect and I think of my mind, one key session that comes to mind was a session on the economics of auto, when the economics of water for instance that was being shared by the United Nations, major groups, and as well as the global commission on the economics of water. And that session in its in its respect, saved as a consultative process to be able to gather thoughts and ideas, which would then result into a final report for the global commission economics of water which pretty much captures the value of water. The document which is earmarked to be released next year 2024. We use that will then serve as a basis for governments as well as private sector pretty much plans in the water sector to be able to use, and be able to implement across across different sectors where water is of really, really great importance. So that was, that was my involvement. I was part of other discussions on youth engagement and gender as well. So that was really good. But then, getting on to if whether I was able to expand my network, you know, African young water professionals and pretty much the broader network as well. I would say that to a considerable degree, I was, because that week in New York was pretty much intense week. And it was more likely that you were able to have more meaningful interactions and discussions with the people that part of the sessions where you will participate in either you were speaking or you were a raptor. But I did, I did manage to meet a couple of really amazing people doing great stuff on the continent, which was really good. So, all the way from, you know, people from the African youth parliament for water to to all the way to you know young water professionals doing great stuff in South Africa, in Mali as well in Senegal. So, so I had pretty much really good network of people to meet out there. And that's how I would really frame my engagement as well as being able to build a network. I recognize that I think the key aspect here is as everybody's mentioned Naomi has echoed that in excess mention as well. I think inclusivity was a really important aspect of the conference and really getting the youth at the full really getting the voices on the table and being able to have those main for discussions, and then being able to contribute the ideas. I think that was pretty lovely to see all together. So, yeah, that was pretty much my engagement, I would say, and how I thought my network. Thank you Charles on this. I'm checking our time and as we do have some sometime left in this panel. I would like to check some of the questions that we have received in the shed and past then to Charles and I mean, we received another question on how are you measuring the success of your participation at the conference. So Charles and I mean, how do you measure the success of you during the conference. I think we can go first question. I think the success, which regards the conference itself as I mentioned, would pretty much be the active participation across thematic discussions the water conference. So seeing young people really being part of the discussions was really good. But obviously, it goes beyond discussions. You can see young people, you know, learning a shoulder to the wheel and really kind of making decisions that we're able to influence the water sector, but at the conference specifically my, the metric for me would be the level of engagement, and the recognition those are very sweeping recognition to be able to have young people at the table and have discussions here what they have to say, and then carry that forward. I think that would be a book you could write about it, Charles. But in my opinion, it all depends what you were trying to to achieve again like, you know, I think that would be a book you could write about it Charles, but in my opinion, it all depends what you were trying to achieve again like, you know, we started from, from, from far I would say not not making sure that we will have that much of young people being included I actually asked and I would be very curious in terms of data, if it has been one of the conference with the most representation of young people. But I guess we'll have those numbers in some reports from UNDESA soon to, but it would be interesting that they desegrated the participation in age. Right, because it would give us some information, because not all young people were also in the global youth movement as advocates, I'm sure there was some national delegation that brought up with them some young professional and under 30 or under 35 years old. Also, I think it might be too soon because if we look at the water action agenda, and you are the best advocate because I know this question came from you. Yeah, what are the results? Who is advocating on what now who is putting effort on achieving the commitment that they put in this agenda, water action agenda, and everything needs to be built. In my opinion, I mean, some commitment, for example, I'm thinking of the one of Swiss water partnership, I don't know if I don't think I've seen anyone from them, but it includes the 30 30 30, they said that they will put 45,000 Swiss franc on this initiative. So we need to follow up on that. And we need to see with them. I said me because the word department for water sign this commitment to an ISW to what is it going to look like right in terms of inclusion and where this money is going. Not only this one, there's all type of commitment that we need to look further and it's going to be the also some part of the answer will be in the panel too, because it's the post UN water conference and we are going to talk about some some path that we should explore all of us. So, can you stay for panel two. Thank you, Charles and me for this. And so considering that now we're right on time. I'd like to pass over to Jacob, and Jacob is going to introduce and call for the second panel. Great. Can you hear me. Yes, Jacob, we can do you. Thank you. So having heard from our panelists on how various organizations engaged in the conference. Now we're going to hear from our second panel about how we're going to move forward from the conference. What are the lessons that we learned from the conference the lessons that we learned from the youth engagement with all the other people across different countries, different sectors, different organizations. All those ideas, all those amazing contributions that we picked from the conference. How are we going to use it moving forward. Help me welcome Naomi again. Christian and heist to dive deep into this part. So let's continue this please next slide. Now I see them. Okay, so for us. We will continue our advocacy work working with the partner with already have. Yes, I say a word you've parliament for water but also European you've parliament for water African you've parliament for water and all our chapter as well on making sure that we continue to decimate the same in eight. Decimate, no, the same in eight, the key messages and the demands at national level and that we properly lobby government or institution because at the end of the day it's the member state that also we need to convince to put more effort on on youth as a general on water in in general as well, and SDG6 efforts to fill up the glass, but also to fill up the gaps, because there's a lot of gaps on this. So after New York, what we've been doing is that we participated to the ECOSOQ forum, more specifically the SDG6 event. We are also all working with IWA on the youth segment of the HLPF special event on SDG6. That's going to happen in July. We are preparing youth side events with the Valuing Water Initiative too. IWA again, WaveMakers United, Global Youth Movement in general for Stockholm or Water Week. And more specifically, World Youth Fundament for Water, we joined again the Water Day, World Toilet Day task force for 2024, because even though 2023 is not over, we are already preparing the next topic, which is leveraging water for peace, and it links for water cooperation for peace and prosperity. I forgot to mention that earlier, but it always go entangle and do with the publication of the UNESCO WAP team on the UN Water Development Report. So last year, it was about accelerating change through cooperation and partnership. And this year, it's about peace, so it will focus on trans-boundary cooperation among other subjects and cooperation. And then finally, we are also applying to be a lead on the thematics of the 10th World Water Forum, more specifically, considering the agenda again and what we do with the Bluepeace Working Group on water and cooperation at the trans-boundary level, but not only. And also, we are preparing some side event at the 10th World Water Forum in Bali. We will have our General Assembly, like it's been going on for a couple of years now, almost since actually the creation of the World Youth Parliament for Water. We always have our General Assembly happening at the same time. And yeah, this is my morning coffee cup there. So for people to keep hope, it's not everything ends at New York. Actually, it's just the beginning, and we really need to push our efforts. So the best is yes to come, as we say. With the ISW, that's some survey. And after the UN Water Conference, where we ask people who attended in-person, but not only in-person. And to answer a question from Joe earlier in the chat, over 100 people responded that they considered that youth involvement was really significant in the preparatory process at 81.7%. And during the process at 83%. So which is kind of a very high rate and positive feedback. Also, in this survey, sorry, we asked them, how do they think we should continue the effort after the UN Water Conference. And people suggested that they should be more regional and local events related to water and youth. There should be also a focus on multiple ways to advocate. But there, I would like to add a small comment in terms of not duplicating the efforts. We all have our different identity as network or view for organization. And I think with events like this one, we need to keep good communication and good cooperation between all of us. And make sure that together we are stronger in to make the voice of young people in the water sector professional, non-professional activist advocate and also link to climate, of course, looking a bit outside of our SDG ocean too, when you think about the approach of the source to the sea. Yeah, so to make sure that we are all in the same solution and efforts. And I think the last point, yes, sorry, it's to push effort. It was already mentioned for the UN envoy for water, because having a UN special envoy for water would allow us to would allow water, sorry, to have a stronger mandate. And then us as young people to also have another ally to our side that has a political strong mandate too and strong voice to work with. And so this is why we are in strategizing on the different upcoming important events for the water agenda, such as COP28, Stockholm Water Week, the Next World Water Forum, as I mentioned, the SDG summit, HLBF2, yeah, that we are aligned in our messages and what we would like and that we are all clear and we know what our strategies are. So that's it. I hope you'd answer some of your questions. Thank you very much, Naomi. Yeah, so we move on to Ais. Yes, thank you. So we can directly go to the next slide, actually, because I would like to start with a question for the audience. If everybody could close your eyes for 30 minutes, 30 seconds, of course, and future your future dream job, think about things like, is it the big organization? Is it small? Do you work alone or with others? What is your role exactly? And how do you make impact that you want to follow up on? Just think about that. All right, I think we had some time to think. Is somebody willing to share the question that is on the next slide, please? Yes. Could somebody tell me what do you see when you close your eyes? I just need one, or I'm going to be pointing somebody out. Nobody wants to share. Jacob wants to share. OK, please go ahead. So when I close my eyes, I saw myself in a big organization trying to get people from different backgrounds, from different organizations, from different countries to work together to solve the water and sanitation challenge that we have now. All right, that's nice. Somebody else with something they saw, Noemi? For me, it was not a big organization. It was rather a small organization, but making sure that you focus on what you're good at and what you know, to, again, not have this duplication of efforts. Because I know I've done my background in human rights. So for me, now I'm going to focus on the human right to water and sanitation with a small organization. And this is how step by step. Yes, you need big targets. We want a big dream big, sorry, and big dreams too. But on everyday life, we try to, I think, more have achievable targets and impact. And I think this would definitely be also an advice for us to the continuation of the water action agenda, which commitment we want to target maybe and make sure that we achieve it. And then, yes, there's a big vision and a big mission for all of us, but work together in really specific projects and programs. Yeah, that would be my dream. All right, thank you. But 30 seconds. I can imagine. Everybody is free to think about this like before they're going to bed tonight, obviously. So next slide, please. Same question about your vision. Jacob, Noemi, you can follow up. Maybe somebody else wants to join in as well. Were you doing what is important to you, Charles? Hi, yeah, thank you. I think just to start off from the beginning, from the outset, I think what I saw for me was neither a big or small organization, what I saw as an organization, either big or small, that is very much concerned with the social aspect of water because I believe water means different things to different people. And if I can be part of an organization that works around ways in which people can be able to build capacity and be able to deliver on the water issues within the environment, because I think everything ties into either the social, economic, culture, and political aspect of water as well. So were we doing something that's important? I believe so, because I think that's pretty much a really good way to be able to accelerate progress towards achieving SDG6 when you put people at the center of what you're doing. We talk about citizen science today. I think that really ties in really well. And when you look at the majority of population that is suffering from the impacts of climate change and is really bearing the biggest brunt, is the people that on an economic spectrum or basis are not really doing well. So you want to build solutions that we're able to be able to help them alleviate the challenges based on their resources and how best you can build capacity in the communities. That's a bit of a long answer, but yes. And to answer this one, then you're doing what's important to you? Yes. So in that regard, I would be definitely doing what I think is the right thing for me. Next slide, please. That's good. And Charles, while we're talking now anyway, is there somebody who can help you get to such a position in which you feel you're doing important work to yourself and to the world and which you envision as your dream job? Absolutely. I think on a career basis, pretty much all of us are more inclined and very open and keen to be able to find ourselves in spaces where we can find opportunities and very supporting people. So obviously, different kinds of organizations that we have on this core as well do provide platforms where people can help you to get there. I think, and that's the key thing, why we have such kind of events because they really help to create that kind of connection. You never really know who can provide that springboard for you to be able to get to where you want to go. Noemi, Jacob, do you see some specific persons or roles that can help you get your dream job? Yes. Someone helped me get there. Yes, I think everybody has a role to play to kind of support me to get there. And I can't really point to one person or one system. But I think everybody that you meet within the sector has a way that they contribute to your progress. It could be the ideas that they share with you. It could be the opportunities that they share with you. It could be the motivation or the encouragement that you get from the seniors. So I think it is the whole water sector that supports each other to get to where people want to get to. All right. So that's also why the UN Water Conference was important, for example, to make these linkages. All right, so thanks for your stories. It's inspirational. Could we go to the next slide, please? And then the next slide again. So we are going to need to talk about why do we need you in the water sector? And well, I'm working. I'm doing technical work in the water sector, so I use this UN perspective in a technical way as well, because that's kind of how I think. So next slide. There's global water resources that we have there on the pressure, for example, economic development, population growth, and climate change. So these are huge challenges, which are even getting worse, which ensures that there's going to be, in the future, a huge demand for skilled people to solve those challenges, because the challenges are getting bigger and bigger, and we need to ensure that there's plenty of water for everybody. So that means that we have to start now by giving you the opportunity to achieve those positions that they want and they feel that they contribute to these solutions. And that is to say, we have to start giving internships, more internships. There has to be more funding available for you, and there have to be more education for you in order to solve those challenges. So that is what I mainly took away from New York is there is going to be a huge demand for those skilled people. And we have to start now by ensuring that they get to the right positions in the right time. That's my main takeaway. Next slide, please. Yes. So we already talked about the 30, 30, 30 youth target event. I will briefly explain this for those who don't know. The 30, 30, 30 target was followed by Noemi, who's in this call as well. I'm presenting it now, but it was her idea. And this entails that 30% of all people working in the water sector are below the age of 30 by the year 2030. And this is just one step that we can ensure that we have those positions filled to combat the future challenges in the water sector. So right now we are working together with World Waternet and Amsterdam, WaveMakers, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and yet working together on a task force. Next slide, please. So these are the organizations that are now that have signed the idea that they support the 30, 30 target event. So the Water Youth Network, Central AGU for Water, World Waternet, PHY, for which I'm working now here in Uganda. So we have a great set of organizations that should be able to take this forward and also are concerned with meeting the challenges ahead. So next slide, please. And what we are doing now with this 30, 30, 30 target is that we are applying for funds to have more work on this, to make it like a real tangible target that organizations are going to be trying to meet. We have a pilot in Waternet Amsterdam. They're a utility and they are also very focused on attracting more young people. So we are looking how that is going there and which lessons we can get out of this. And we will be presenting those lessons at, for example, Amsterdam International Water Week in Stockholm, probably in Bali as well. We need to get more people on board as well. So that's what we're doing now. I think this was my last slide. Yes. And one other, no, that was it. I'll come back to it later. Thank you. Thank you very much, Ice. We'll move on to Christian. So Christian is also an IWF Group Force Fellow and currently a control specialist at the Group Force. So Christian, the floor is yours. Thank you very much, Jacob, for the introduction and thanks for mentioning that I'm mainly a technical guy. So I don't have a political or social studies background. So for me, participating at such events as the United Nations Water Conference was a big learning and a big insightful event where I could get another side of this whole water agenda and the water action and I could get insights, for example, of next to solving the problems by technology. How big of a deal it is in certain parts of the world, in certain communities, for example, to manage water with culture, with considering tradition and even religion in some parts of the world. And one of my takeaways at this conference was I mostly participated in technical events and there was a lot of focus on using tradition and experience to learn from seniors and build this into solution, this experience that they can pass to the next generations of water professionals, but also a major highlight was to use more data-based and evidence-based scientific approaches. And so one of my main, so to say, concerns was after attending these sessions at the United Nations Water Conference was that I participated in one interactive dialogue and in many discussion sessions. And there was a lot of talk about projects on country level, on community level, on even in continental level, a lot of talk about funds and how different countries collaborated. And after the conference, I started to look up these projects and I started to research a bit. Are there something available for me? I could use in my own work, in my own research. And in many cases, I found very insightful data and very insightful ideas, white papers, contributions to conferences, scientific papers. But in most of the cases, these projects, I could read what they are solving, what it is about, but I couldn't really reuse it and reuse the material from these mentioned projects. So basically, I started to look at these projects and one of my main concern is that it's also been mentioned that the lack of transparency and promotion of data in the water sector is slowing down the process of achieving the SDG6 goals. And I think that this is something we need to keep going, promoting and we need to learn how to kind of unlock this conflict of interest between the private sector and public stakeholders and also research institutions. So that was from my side. I don't have a representation, Jacob. Thank you very much, Mark, for your contribution. I think I'll move on and go back to Charles. Yeah, thanks, Jacob, and thanks to the panelists. I think that was a pretty, pretty good discussion, but we cannot perspective post the United Nations to the conference and whilst we're forward. We could, I think we could pick up a few questions from the chat box. I'll pick up one here and please feel free to be able to answer the questions. I reckon, Jacob, you did answer one of them, but I think it'd be good to hear from the panelists as well, what to have to say. So there's a question here that says, yes, it's pretty much around asking, where do you think young people play a more vital and important role on the international side of things to be able to influence progress in the sector? So it would be good to hear from you, Chris, to start off. What do you think young people would play a more pivotal role in terms of how we can then be able to be able to accelerate progress and influence change in the sector? Yeah, so I'm a very practical guide. I would say, in my view, I would take it down to the utility level. So what my experience is when I go out and I talk with utilities and I discuss solutions with them, are you digitalized? Are you using sustainable solutions? What I face, what I'm faced with is that the average age at these utilities is very high. So I talk with senior engineers who are close to go on pension and close to retire and they would just disappear. I would say that I would fill these gaps at the utility levels. And in my view, that's the place where you can make real impact because that's close to implementation and practice. Thank you, Chris. I think I do very much agree with you on COPS utilities as well because statistics at the minute with the international labor organization, they estimate what they're feeling similar to an army in the water sector. And it's believed by 2030 for the United States only that at least about 35% of utility providers, workers within the utilities will be retiring. And that means that there will be need for more people to be able to take up those jobs. And when it comes to water sector itself, the water sector only represents about 1% of the level force across all sectors. So that really shows you what the challenge looks like. And that's why we need more young people. And especially also I think young people with the dynamism that they bring to the table and the innovation as well, that really helps to be able to scale up technology and be able to really help improve the sector. We thought really going very deep in that, I just want to also double check what Naomi thinks in that regard. What do you think we can have more young people to make a difference? Well, with my position at the World Youth Parliament for Water for the last two years, I've been focusing on really the policy and governance and institutional level, right? So, but all answers I think and angles that we are going to bring are valid as an individual at your work in your company or as a young activist in a global organization or a national chapter of IWA or World Youth Parliament for Water. In all the aspect of our engagement, I would say, we can contribute. We just need to find where we want to put our effort, I would say. And there's also one that we cannot neglect. It's education because it all starts with education. And this is where also WaveMaker is doing a good job by bringing the water and climates more attractive with sports and a more positive narrative around it. Same as art, like there's a really big need of a transdisciplinary approach to reflect on all the values of water again because as a water diplomat as well, you can become a specialist on water and peace. So we need all of those aspect of water, agriculture, energy, et cetera, et cetera. But yeah, so for me it was trying, it is not it was, it is trying to influence at the UN level, UN institutional level, the importance of young people and making sure that whenever they need a young person that it's not just tokenism. And I help them to make sure that they have the most appropriate speaker on the panel or the most appropriate person giving feedback on a report, on a document that it's not just because we have our at of youth or under 30 or under 35, but because we are a professional and expert on that topic plus our at of young people, which is different. We need to really flip this. And so they have this shift in their mind that we want to be included as professional and young in my opinion, and not just young professional, but yeah, it's a little bit difficult too. And it's also a conversation we had that water Europe innovation last week that the innovation is also to come from the social aspect and not only the technical aspect and the scientific aspect. And this is what we need to push forward. Fabulous. I do very much agree with you on the policy aspect of things. I think the political aspect of water itself which really underpins policy is a very great significance. So if we can get young people to be able to influence policy and I do very much agree with Rafa in the chat box, as well as Jacob who did highlight the fact that they need to be able to create opportunities around people to build capacity and be able to contribute solutions. They'll be able to help solve the log challenges that they are facing. So I think that's very kind of ties into education as well which is a very important aspect that you talked about. So yeah, definitely those are very valid points but before I move on to a quick summary maybe we get to hear from Ines what you think your thoughts are on where we can get more people to do good in the sector. Yeah, thank you, Charles. Well, I'm always impressed on having these conversations and listening carefully. I can feel that there's such a huge momentum and let's keep that attitude to be honest what I feel over time because I'm right in the limit, right? I'm 35 now. I'm turning 36. What I can tell you is that I am sure that I will enter my serenity, seniority with the intention of making youth visible and to ensure that the activities that are being led by youth have a place in water. I'm very much aligned with Noemi and Gis here with the wave makers on the need for going beyond the water sector. Actually, yesterday I was like, I almost feel like I should stop calling it sector. I think that we should have an attitude that is more water is present everywhere and of course there's a part of it that works kind of as a sector but it's impossible to explain the value of water and then try to discuss the implications to society if we keep limiting water conversation to water sector. It's not water sector trying to connect with energy sector is water is in energy and water is in health and water is in and water is in. It's not part of or side of. And I feel like for that we need to make sure that when we discuss climate we discuss water and I feel like we have a long journey there. So if in one way, I do believe that the water conference in New York was a huge boost for us to identify who are the partners, give us some literacy on diplomacy as well. I also think that we need to put more effort into the climate agenda and make water visible there because it is and that's actually what I thought about when I close my eyes. It was, I was in a room and someone would come in and I would explain how water is visible in your world and then the person would go up and then the person would come in and ask it. So this is where water is in your world. And I feel like that is the work that all of us will need to do as water ambassadors, let's say. But thank you, Charles for giving back the word to me. Fantastic. Those are really, really good reflections in Ace and I could not agree more. I think we really need to be able to take initiatives forward and really get ourselves out there, especially the young people. Today we talk about this QSCAP in the sector which is a really big challenge. So yeah, thank you very much for the contributions, everybody. We will quickly crack on, I think right on time, probably just two minutes over. So to just attempt to just give a really quick summary of our discussions today, it's always really good to give a recap of what we talked about. And that really helps to pinpoint a couple of takeaways from the discussions. So we need obviously kick off with a little bit of a novel view or an introduction to the United Nations Water Conference. I think the key objectives there for the conference as Jacob put it succinctly and really well was that the objective was to make sure it was inclusive, to also make sure it was action-oriented and very cross-sectoral. And the next did echo that as well, saying water underpins everything. I love to say that water is always a nexus to pretty much every sector. It's part of our life every day. So we did kick off on that note and then we did quickly move on to look at an overview of the organizations. We looked at what WebMakers United is doing. So heist did give a really good overview there of their activities in the sector. And I think it was really good to see, to really touch on the challenge, the United Nations Water Conference challenge that you talked about and all the amount of people that you reached. So that was really, really good to see. You talked about reaching 62 nationalities and as well as 201 teams. I think that was really good to see. Heist also talked about 30, 30, 30 commitment. That's more focused on identifying gaps in the sector. I think that was really good to see as well because I think the underlying issue here is unless you understand what the challenges are and what the future looks like and only can you be able to devise solutions or be able to respond to those challenges. So that was really good to understand what the world is going, what the stats look like in the future and how young people can be able to contribute. Ines also did pretty much take us through an overview of the International Water Association, pretty much highlighting that there are 41 country chapters. So I would advise the audience, please be able to check with International Water Association where you can be able to be part of a conversation, whether it's a country chapter or the wider youth community that we have that's ongoing, I think it will help you to build yourself professionally and be able to be able to build networks as well, which really helps to be able to create that exchange of knowledge. So then we had a face panel session where we looked at youth engagement at the United Nations Water Conference. Naomi did share briefly how the while Youth Parliament for Water was highly engaged at the conference. So I think that was really good to hear as well. I did come in briefly as well, talked about my engagements at the conference across a number of thematic discussions. And I think the key discussion was that the conference was a platform for young people to be able to contribute ideas. And I think the key thing was to make the voices heard as key stakeholders in the sector and as obviously future water leaders. We did then move on to a second panel discussion that looked at what are the post-perspectives after the United Nations Water Conference. So I think the key discussions were around the fact that I think Heist did highlight that, I think moving forward, it would be very key that there is sustainable finance for announcing for projects and initiatives that will be able to get more young people to make a tangible contribution in the sector. And I think education as well is a very key aspect because capacity building is everything. Without capacity building, we can't really make a progress. And I think that pre-massumerizes our discussion for this event. And with that said, I would then like to pass on to Isabella to give us a closing remark and a bit of an update on what's the next steps. Obviously, Isabella. Thank you, Charles, on this. And thank you for everyone that joined us today during this IWA-YWP Get Together as well as the speakers that were present here today. So I would like to invite you all for some of the upcoming IWA events. We have a regional call next week that will be focused on young water professionals in the Americas. So if you are from Latin America and the Caribbean as well as not from America, please feel free to join. You just need to scan the QR code to register. And we also have a webinar on compliance with water supply and sanitation laws that will be offering some insights and best practices. And this is in partnership with Vietnam Water and Sanitation Agency that we have as partners. And of course, I would like to invite you all to attend, especially if you're based in African countries, our Water and Development Congress and exhibition that will be hosting in Kigali in December. Again, do scan the QR code and check the latest updates regarding this Congress. Finally, if you have any questions about membership fees, I have some information here. I'll be sharing this PowerPoint presentation online. So you will be able to download it and check it. And if you are a young water professional, remember to use the discount code that we have, especially for you. So it's IWA-YWP 23. And you have to end of December to register and use this. And also, Gwen, thank you all for coming. And it was a pleasure to be here with all of you today. So thank you and bye-bye. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye, everybody. Thank you for joining. Thank you, everybody.