Introduction to the 2026 UN Water Conference and the Global Youth Movement for Water

Perfect. Muhammad is already here. >> Should we give it a go? >> Yes. Do we have a lot of participants? >> We have 100 people anymore. Just so you know. So, I'm gonna be talking to you. [laughter] >> No, it's okay. We have 159 and the number is going >> Okay. Up. Okay. >> Yes. So yes, we can go. [laughter] >> It's always strange to to share the screen because I'm talking to only one person, you know, and and now actually too. Yes. So um welcome to this webinar, Siri. Um I'm very very happy to see you all and a lot of people. We were always wondering whether the summer will be busy for everyone, but I'm glad to see uh the enthusiasm. So thank you so much for joining. uh we will be starting with a few introductions. So basically um uh there will be Isabella monitoring the chat and helping me moderating the session. Uh she actually I'm going to leave you to introduce yourself. It will be easier. >> Thank you Alex and thank you everyone for joining signing up for our first uh webinar as part of the capacity development series. This is something that we have been planning for quite some time and I'm very glad that you're all here. So for those that I haven't been able to to connect before, my name is Isabella Spindola and I work at the International Water Association IWA as a membership engagement senior officer responsible for the young water professionals commission. IWA is a membership based association and among our members we have the young water professional. because it's why we are also connected and supporting this capas development series organized by the global youth movement for water as well as the UN major group for children and new youth. Alex back to you. >> Thank you so much. So my name is Alex Dre. I work for the international secretary for water. I'm the youth sector coordinator and um the international secretary for water for those who don't know um is an NGO. Uh we are based in Montreal. Uh we we also have offices elsewhere in the world in France, in Scazborg, in Muldova and in Tajikistan. And uh we do a lot of different things uh from field work uh with uh building infrastructure and and and working on uh on on sanitation and access to water um up to advocacy and uh work with youth. Um in that pillar we are um hosting the secretariat of the global youth movement for water. Uh and I will talk about it later but we will also be the the operational secretariat for the youth for water flagship initiative which will be a big thing. So uh just a bit of a teaser. Um and what else can I say? Um it's we do a lot of different things right. We do some capacity building uh projects. We do advocacy. We try and empower young people um and but also partners, right? Working with youth is not only working with young people but also with partners that used to be young and that still remember how important um of a phase it is um and of a role uh you play. So for this series, we really wanted to um open the the the UN water conference to the public, right? Not only to people who will be able to join the in person the water conference or to follow online what's happening, but also for those who want to um understand what is at stake and how important it is to what exact to what extent it's important in the water sector. Uh so we're going to dive into it in the in the I forgot it was me with the slides. [laughter] So um we will also introduce some speakers along the way during the presentation um to not bore you with too many introduction and too much information at once. Um but then so the idea is to give you an overview of the of the series here in this introduction. Um and then to present really generally the UN water conference to talk to you about the global youth movement for water and its partners such as the UN major group for children and youth and to give you some concrete examples just a couple but some very important ones of opportunities for meaningful youth engagement towards so up until the conference but also beyond then we will talk a bit about the next steps and you will have time for Q&A so don't hesitate to use the chat to already ask some questions, but also I would recommend you to note them for yourself and then bundle them uh towards the end so that we can group and um and have everybody um know what they want to know. So let's start with the Oh, I always forget that it's me. It's usually not me with this like [laughter] sorry technical ities. Um so Isabella, if you >> Yes, of course. Thank you, Alex. And just before I started I go over this in terms of of the overview of the capac development cities. I will kindly request that everyone that has an AI that they remove the AI from the the meeting today from the session today because we have a lot of people register more than 700 participants. So if everyone connected with the AI we won't have space for all the young people that that are here. So please remove your AI from this. The meeting is being recorded. It's being transcribed and we are going to be sharing everything afterwards. So please if you have an AI remove it from the meeting. I will be doing a monitoring the attendance list afterwards just to make sure that we only have really like people following and not AI here. And the second comment is that I have been seeing a lot of people with the same name connected and please avoid doing this. If you can please ask your colleague that you have shared your link to sign up and use their own link so we can have access to to the information about who has really been joining the session. So coming back to to the overview of this webinar series uh if you saw the registration page we are planning eight webinars between July and November 2026 between every like two and three weeks. This is the first one is the introductory session and it's being led by ISW and then we will have other six uh online events related and align with the conference interactive dialogue. So water for people, water for uh prosperity, planet, investment for water cooperation, multilateral process and then the last one is going to be a youth positional session focus on the development and in this uh preparations toward our statements as young water professionals in the UN water conference. So here you can see the timeline in terms of what we have been planning for the session. So the first one today and then we have one already like planned for the 21 of August and we will be sharing afterwards the link to to register on this in case anyone has any questions regarding the webinar series. Feel free to reach out to me. I will post my MAO in the chat and then uh I can go over your question on this. Just a reminder again that the sessions all the sessions they are going to be recorded and they are going to be available online for your consultations afterwards and we also be going to be sharing the presentation slides and that's it Alex. >> Awesome. Thank you. Well, sorry too much of a click. uh just to complement uh what Isabella has been saying about this webinar series, I just wanted to raise the attention on the fact that it's a continuity from the global and its partners um engagement. Um we have already started some webinar series and I take this uh this time to talk about them because um my goal is not to repeat for some of you who may have been involved in the webinars um then it would be just repeating so I find it a bit of a shame also like we want to create always more content that that adds value from what is already uh out there uh available. So what I would really suggest for those who are interested in in diving more into everything is to have a look at uh the these QR codes and the links uh who are which are leading you to a blog post for each webinar. We have a web page basically with um content description summary but also the slides of the presentation that we have uh that we had made and um and a recording as well. uh it may be a bit boring to look at a lot of recordings but at the same time it's really valuable information out there. The difference between the series that we did before and the series that we are doing now is that the series before was really short right it was only three webinars. That being said, we were giving first a a thorough overview, I'd say, of the UN water conference and then we were diving into um different uh the different interactive dialogues. Um and and then we were more preparing for Dhakar, the preparatory meeting that I'm going to talk a bit uh about after. Um but so the idea with these webinars was that um it was not only youth organizations, it was also civil society which brings value in in the sense that the second webinar specifically uh we we had divided it in in breakout rooms per interactive dialogue to see a bit what was the what is the mood with civil society and youth organizations um and what can we get from um what what can we expect from the civil society and youth uh position and I think it's rather important uh to start from the from there to look at what we're going to dive into for each webinar of the Siri as we will be diving into um each of the interactive dialogue. So feel free to look uh I promise it's uh it's valuable it's it's really worth it. Um and um don't hesitate to reach out if you have questions for the global water uh governance overview and the general overview of the water conference. I wanted to take the liberty to give the floor to Emily Heights. Um she is affiliated to different she has different hats. Uh one of them is Wavemakers United who is a dear partner of the global youth movement for water. and I'm gonna let you introduce yourself directly if that's okay for you. >> Yeah. Hi everyone. My name's Emily Laura Hines. So I am based in Toronto, Canada. I am the uh director of the forum for leadership on water but also a board member of Wavemakers United which I'm coming more in that hat today and I've been in the water sector for a few years now. So basically kind of want to look at like what got us to this point very quickly but why it's so important this year especially. So the big thing is I would say about in 2000 I think 2024 2023 we had the last water conference in New York. This is going to be the next secession from that. And why it's so important is that this is a pivotal year for water. We can see that kind of internationally. You had uh the world economic forum calling it the world water year or the blue year. And I think that we can all see around the world that water conflicts and conversations are coming to a head. So this kind of brings all these water leaders together from intergenerations. So from like the younger generations to the older generations to come together to discuss. So what we really want to do with the bringing people together is not only have youth come to the water conference but feel really confident in being a part of it before, during, and after. So I think that's what we really want to talk about today is that we want everyone to get there. We want you to feel confident and like be in the rooms and make sure that we're all kind of supporting each other. Think of this more as less competition, but collaboration. That's what we're really looking for. And that's why I'm so grateful for the uh global youth movement for water for bringing these organizations together. Um yeah, so I think this is a huge year for water. I hope we can all see you there. And Alex, if there's anything else you want me to speak to in terms of getting here, this is an amazing resource so I can kind of continue on. But yeah, you can see what's happening here. Uh the 8th to 10th co-hosted UAE and Sagal and uh Noah will pass it on next about the interactive dialogue. So really everything is being covered. So we're looking at people, planet, economy, innovation, and we really want to make sure that I think everyone who works in water knows that water is the central to everything. I really like the idea of having the SG6 at the the center point of all the STGS, but what we want you to do is that it's not just people working in water, talking to other people in water. We want to really involve youth who are working across the climate sector because water goes everywhere. When we look at farming, innovation, education, wash, everyone should be there to have these conversations and should be empowered that their opinions and personal lived experiences matter in these conversations. So, I really want to kind of ask you to like spread the message to your friends and to your colleagues and your peers because water has historically felt a little like a members club and it isn't. And I think that we really want to have all these different conversations and especially having youth from all over so it's not just you know people who are always at the conversation being there as well. And I have seen your chat and I know that we're talking about visas and funding issues and I know that we're all really facing this like every organization is having a hard time figuring that out. So let's really lean on each other, look for ideas, look for support. Um, I'll try to go into the chat a bit more and offer some suggestions. And like to let you know, I know that like getting funding is the absolute hardest part. So, quickly looking at youth and like what is so important is that we don't want young people to show up to this conference and then leave and go home like take a few pictures. That is absolutely not what what we don't want. And what we're doing and what we have done and like you'll see Mammud and Alex on the call and Isabella what we've all been fighting for is that youth are at every single part of this conference. So in the organization part um and what we're talking about in the panel discussions and then also being mobilized at the conference itself. So like for example, Wavemakers wants to make a hub that young people can come and talk and debate about what we're actually learning and talking about. But then what happens after the conference because I think a lot of the times sometimes youth can feel like a check mark and we are not that. I think everyone here agrees to that. We are not a check mark. We are so much more. Have us at the table. Have us making those decisions. And I'm really happy to say that the UAE, the planning committee and Senagal are really listening. So, this is the moment that we have been working for for almost 30 years and we finally have the ear. So, we have to make the most of it. Um, yes, I think that's all I have to say right now. Let me know if there's anything else about that, but happy to answer any of your questions in the comments. >> Thank you so much. I was taking the liberty to try and and see what you were saying and and seeing where it was fitting and did the slide best app that you were saying like click the button please. Um, but thank you so much for this overview. I think it it covered what I had in mind that I wanted someone else to say because I feel that I'm always repeating this and uh and and we always want to bring people in and to bring partners' views, right? Uh not only partners but also, you know, young professionals themselves. Um I think what I would want to add um would be for the very practicality the practicalities of okay the conference is in December this year in the UAE in Abu Dhabi. It's co-hosted by the UAE and Seneagalon. The thematic is to accelerate the implementation of SDG6. Okay. I'm not just reading the slide. I'm trying to also make you really assimilate all the details because each uh bullet point has its importance in itself. Basically for instance for the thematic it's important to understand that the uh 2023 water conference was already a huge uh step as well because it was the first time for a long time and there has been a lot of work from the Netherlands and Tajikistan who were the host of this conference to not only have a successful UN 23 water conference but also to provide um a lot of lessons learned for the UAE and Sineagal and that's also thanks to all of these lessons learned that the UAE and Seneagalon have purposely started the preparatory process very very early. It started if I'm not mistaken last year before I was actually at ISW. So that's why I have a a DA but basically they it has been very consultative and that's already um a first first for the UN water conference right because in 2023 Tajikistan and the Netherlands if you want to have a look at at the webinar where Hank um Hankovink water ambassador you should check it out because he always has a lot of um a lot of wisdom to share and a lot of lessons to for for everyone to learn. Um he was basically mentioning that they didn't have a lot of time and that they didn't have the road map right while the UA and Seneagal were able to rely on Tajikistan and the and the Netherlands to really see okay how should we do it. What I think I also wanted to uh mention again to really have people understand and and not have expectation that that are not um that will not be able to be covered is that it's not so it's huge right it's amazing we are all super happy to see that there is a UN water conference but what does it mean you know what does it mean it's the UN so it's big it's huge it's all the world but At the end of the day, what will be the outcome? The outcome is that we will have no biding result right so far we don't have the this mechanism is a diplomatic >> [snorts] >> uh space is a political space is a place of dialogue uh between member states that's the first objective of the UN water conference is to bring the countries together to talk the countries together, right? So it means that all countries will come and discuss and we as youth and civil society, we are observers. We are not the targets, the first target for this UN water conference. Of course, the idea is to not only have political talking together and just us, you know, like uh as as a little mouse on the as a fly on the wall, you know. Um so that's also why there are some interactive dialogues and that's really where observers like us and different companies and different organization can interact with member states about the different topics that Emily talked about um to say okay you politics you think about that but we also think this should be taken into account right and there are also parallel events special special sessions, side events. There are some pavilions for countries or organization. Emily was talking about the hub um that will be um in in a zone where everybody can access so that we can talk together. But coming to the last bullet point, there is an accreditation system and that's you know like linked to visa issue, linked to budget and everything. It's very important to understand what where we are here. We are at the UN water conference meaning member states conference primarily and we have to be accredited. So organizations have to be accredited in order to be able to observe all of these intergovernmental sessions. Right? For those who want to be part of it, I would first and that's coming back to uh my slide on on youth the slide on youth involvement to complement what Emily was was saying. It's not only about going there. You don't need to go to the conference itself in order to participate. You don't need to be there uh to do the heavy lifting and the work. I have uh taken um from the UN 2023 conference this infographic because I find it really cute and I think it's really accurate. Um and also we should always you know capitalize on what has been done and not redo it all over again but still give credit to the the hosts and and and all the people who have worked on the UN water conference in 2023 you everyone is part of the mechanism somehow right so you don't need to go there and to be there in person in the sessions and everything because in any case you won't be able to talk to um the to the general assembly president if it's the the if it's the intergovernmental session or if it's a country that has the lead, right? You cannot just like say, "Hey, hey, I have something to say." you know like so I think it's important to to to understand that you are a part like the water sector is part of the water conference no matter if we go in person or not and we can influence the water conference even back home because it starts at country level right because it's a member state conference it start at country level that's where that's that's the the part of the slide that says the different levels of engagement. You can engage with your local communities to have impact. You can engage with your governments at national level but also at local level to have impact. You can engage globally with a lot of different partners to have impact. But it depends on what you want, right? If what you love is just learning about the water conference, it's fine. You have your place here. Everyone has its place basically. And it's very important to understand all of this because I hear so many people saying like, I want to go. I want to go. How how can I go? But why do you want to go? I'm going to be the a bit of the the devil's advocate, but like why do you want to go? Is it to learn? Because you can learn from your home, you know, like and traveling is expensive. It's far, it's tiring. Uh, of course, it's super invaluable, you know, to be there and to understand the dynamic and everything. But there are other types of conferences as well. There are conferences at local level, at regional level, at global level. There are several. So there are multiple ways of going without accreditation and and and without going in person, right? You can definitely engage and have impact while staying at home as well. I'm not trying to discourage everyone, but I'm also trying to kind of um level the expectations because a lot of young people are frustrated to not be able to go while you don't have to go to be part of the change and the impact and the change that you want to see in the world to quote Ben. So that's what I wanted to say for the youth involvement and where you will be able to fit. But we will give you more information about more concrete ways than just me saying like you can go everywhere and you can do everything. Um for now I'm just going to leave the floor to my dear colleague uh Shalen if you're around. Thank you so much and I'm going to leave you to introduce yourself as well. >> Yes. Good morning, good afternoon everyone. My name is Charlen and I'm a project assistant for the youth sector at ISW. It's a pleasure to be here today and to introduce the global youth movement for water. Uh before explaining what the movement is, I'd actually like to start with why it exists. Um over the last 10 to 15 years, we've seen an incredible growth of youth engagement in the water sector. Around the world, thousands of young people have been leading projects, creating organizations, developing innovative solutions, and advocating for stronger action on water. The challenge wasn't a lack of motivation. It was fragmentation. So many youth organizations were working on similar issues, often facing the same challenges, but they weren't always connected to one another. As a result, young people had many individ individual voices, but not always one strong collective voice capable of influencing global water governance. the re the that re realization led to the creation of the global youth movement for water. The movement was officially launched during the night world water forum in Dhakar in 2022. Bringing together youth youth organizations and in institutional partners around a common vision to better coordinate action, strengthen collaboration and make sure young people are recognized as meaningful partners in shaping water policies and solutions. Today the movement has grown into a global coalition bringing together around 400 youthled organization, professional networks, institutional partners and regional youth platforms all working together to strengthen youth engagement in water governance and action. ISW serves as the secretariat of the movement, but it remains fundamentally a collaborative movement built by youth, for youth, with youth. And one thing that's important to understand is that joining the movement doesn't mean joining another organization. Every member keep it keeps its own identity, its own projects, and its own priorities. The movement exists to create connections between organizations, encourage collaborations instead of duplication, share opportunities and amplify the collective impact of youth working on water around the world. Our work is organized around a few key objectives. So we connect youth globally. Uh we strengthen their capacities through training and peer learning. Facilitate collaboration with institutions and water professionals. Increase access to opportunities and most importantly ensure that young people have meaningful opportunities to uh contribute to water decision making not just as participants but as partners. Over the past few years, the movement has also become increasingly active in major international water processes. Many of you may remember the fill up the glass campaign during the 2023 UN water conference which united youth organizations worldwide around five key demands for youth inclusion in water governance. More recently, youth organizations worked together to develop the Bali Youth targets during the 10th World Water Forum. And last year, together with UNESCO, we co-develop the water youth strategy, the first global strategic framework dedicating to strengthening youth engagement in the water sector. Today, all of this work is feeding into preparations for the 2026 UN water conference. So the global youth movement for water is working alongside the UN major group for children and youth UN agencies governments and many partners to help coordinate youth engagement throughout the conference process and ensure that young people's contribution are meaningful, coordinated and actionoriented. And that's exactly why this webinar series is so important. Meaningful participation doesn't happen overnight. It requires knowledge, collaboration, opportunities to engage. So through this capacity development series, we hope to strengthen all of those dimensions and prepare young people to contribute effectively to the road towards the 2026 UN water conference. So finally, if you're joining us today on behalf of a youth organization or a partner organization working with youth, we warmly invite you to become part of the global youth movement for water. Just to be clear, individuals cannot join the movement. You need to be part of an organizations. So either a youthled organization or an organization supporting youthled actions. Um so you can use the the I'll put the link in the chat uh to uh join the movement. And uh thank you and back to you Alex. >> Thank you so much. There's always a bit of a latence when you start the videos. Thank you so much, Shalen. Um, what I really like with Shalen intervention, it's like the first time that I uh hear the full story like a bit narrated, you know, like it's silly to say, but I often uh give the the pitch to okay, what is the global use movement for water? Um, who are we? Uh, we are a lot of people. We have a lot of we I I say we because it's it's a it's a coalition, right? Um it's supposed to be collective and we have many many partners. By the way, Shalen has done amazing work with looking at a database trying to refresh it. Um and we will be trying to um update it in a sense that we are going to try and see the people that are the members that are less active why they are less active. Is it because they're not operating anymore? And and that's fine. uh but for now the the number that we have the number of members that we have is 400 approximately um and if I don't know if you've been following us but for the past years we have been saying uh 370 plus organizations uh we have reached the the 400 you know so I think it's a milestone uh to also see the level of engagement and level of interest uh because it's again as me as Shalon mentioned is not only youthled organization, it's also youth serving or organizations. So for instance, UNESCO is not youthled but they have uh they have been supporting youth for a long long time and same for a lot of different partners like UNICEF uh who is also uh looking at um and and looking at the the children landscape and bridging the youth and and and children landscape. So there are many many very interesting things. Apologies for all the members that we couldn't put on the slide because 400 is a lot. Um but don't hesitate to reach out. Um but just keep in mind that we have limited capacity. We are only um two people to try and manage the secretariat. Uh so the idea is to have a newsletter regularly and to bring people together like this but it's really collaborative. So that's why it's also Isabella from the movement that is you know orchestrating all of these webinars. So it's, you know, it's everybody's work. It's everybody's boat. Uh so don't hesitate to take a piece and and own it and uh and and share the load with us. But that being said on the movement, um I wanted also to share some concrete things that we do because okay, having a broad coalition of a lot of members is important in terms of sharing opportunities. for instance um as soon as we have something to put in the newsletter we consolidate and and and and reach out to that many members. So sometime it's about you know a job offer or um or an opportunity for a funded fully funded uh participation to the conference wink wink to the global youth uh water and voice program. So, I'm going to we're going to dive into some of the big joints uh initiatives that are currently taking place, but I wanted to give you an overview of what is being done lately because we have this youthful for 2026 UN water conference task force uh which is basically a bi-weekly meeting with a lot of different partners um where we try and and see um what everyone wants to do, how can we have complimentarity and synergies is and how can we support one another? Uh we try and and jointly plan so that we wouldn't duplicate or interfere with one another but really strengthen the the workload and and the and and the the capacity and the power of what we are trying to do um with this task force. it's unfortunately often the same um the same actors that we see also because I don't know if it's also a matter of algorithm you know that's also something that I want to look into but um not a lot not everybody can be part of a bi-weekly meeting it wouldn't be really structured so thank you very much I was going to say thank god but no thank you very much to the UN major group for children and youth that I'm going to leave the floor to in a it um because they are also um helping a lot with a youth organizing committee that maybe a lot of you have applied for. Um the idea is to really complement this task force with more people with more power right uh so that we would all coordinate even better even you know in a more powerful way um and the way it's structured is six different thematic working group align with the interactive dialogues and six functional subcommittees which will allow us to dive more and to have more capacity right because with a bi-weekly meeting with a lot of efforts we still cannot do as many things that we would like. Uh so the UN major for children and youth uh representant will um who is here on the call today. I don't see the person I I don't see you guys so I'm talking by myself but uh you will have more information about that. And the goal of all of this is to build on what has been done before. As Shalen has mentioned it has been years that we've been working on a lot of different things. um different fears uh like the climate for instance fear is more organized than the water sector when when it comes to participation of youth and we really have to look at all those different sectors that are doing something different uh something that works more or less it depends on the on the thematic on the on the subject um but we really have to look at what is being done elsewhere and how can we improve youth participation and engagement in the water sector. So I'm going to stop here but basically like we are exchanging a lot to see like okay who is applying for a side event and don't hesitate to let us know in the chat or uh to send us an email to say that you are planning a side event because we are really trying to bring everything together to assemble the information so that everybody can be informed um and not be clueless you know like it's the power and what we want for the global youth movement is also to have one voice right So that if uh a big uh an important big company, a big organization, an important person at the conference or in another conference or in another space uh talks to youth um the person will then um have also the information about the rest of what is done so that we would be a collective and not just individuals and individual organizations. Um, I'm going to dive directly into the youth organizing committee if that's okay. Going to check who is here. I see that Rashana is here. Rashana, would it be okay for you to to say a few words about the youth organizing committee? >> Yeah. >> Awesome. Go for it. Thank you. Hello everyone and thanks Alex for giving the introduction on the youth organizing committee. Uh it is an official mechanism through which the young people are being brought into the 2026 UN water conference. It is led by the UN major group for children and youth. Um and water youth network which is the HDG6 constituency lead along with our partners with global youth movement for water. Um the response uh we did call for an application from youthled and youth serving organizations. The response has been fantastic. We received more than 400 applications and we've been sorting through it um ever since the deadline has been closed. Uh we're building a group of more than 60 organizations uh who will be divided into the 12 subcommittees that we have designed. Six of them would be on the thematic uh working groups which are aligned with the interactive dialogues of the water conference and the six of them would be functional uh subcommittees which will handle the coordination, communication and the operational side of our work. Uh looking ahead uh the expected deliverables and what we hope to achieve from the youth organizing committee would be to have a global consultation to gather inputs from all of you across the regions on what are the priorities of the young people aligned to the interactive dialogues and also youth position papers reflecting our shared priorities and capacity building session such as this one to help uh young people to understand the process and uh how they can engage meaningfully. Um, and I think it's a great place to be to be working with all of these youth organizations who have been in this field for so many years. And I think this is one of the activities that is focused on engaging young people. But there are I'm sure uh through the session you'll know a lot more about other initiatives and we're looking forward to engaging with all of you and uh yeah making the youth voice heard in the conference. Thank you. And um one more note uh for the people who have applied for the youth organizing committee, you will get the selection emails if you're selected in a few days. So please keep an eye on your inbox and uh yeah and let's get to work. Thank you. >> Thank you so much Kashana and thank you so much to your team for the incredible work. Um for those who may wonder um the structure is limited to 50 60 uh youthled organizations not because we don't want more people. It's really because we want to be realistic in the in the messiness of some meetings and sometimes more people does not equal um better outcome um even though we want to be as inclusive as possible. Uh so what we had in mind uh what I had in mind at least was really to to at least also for the for the world you parliament for water chapters for instance that I haven't mentioned yet but I I will in a second um to to say that you may know someone who will be part of this committee and feel free to organize yourself right we are a lot of different partners trying to provide a structure and and a way for us all to collaborate But that doesn't mean that um that you cannot do more and further. Uh for instance at local level uh we cannot we cannot have everyone from every single place of the of the planet right. So you you can organize yourself definitely within regions and everything to so that if you know uh one of the organization um part of your region is part of this committee then you still have a voice through this person who is part of the committee there's always room to um to have participation and engagement as I was uh saying with this little in infographic before uh you can be part of this uh no matter if you're a part officially of you know the task force or the youth organizing committee or another um another opportunities that we will share after um yeah so for instance for the world you use parliament for water that ISW has been supporting as much as we can um a very successful example that I often give um I apologize to always put the spotlight on on them but I really uh admire all the young people from from from many organization and especially from the the world parliament for water chapters that uh we talk to on a daily basis Shalon and I um for instance the the Latin America and the Caribbean region they have organized themselves in they have a national focal point and then the regional focal point and then uh they speak directly with the with all the uh chapters regional or local or national from the world parliament for which means that they really have um a structure to bring together the Latin America and the Caribbean voice and and so don't hesitate if you know someone from uh there to reach out to see how can you um be uh informed at least you know uh with what will be happening and that's also why it's it's um it has value to to be a member of the of the global youth movement for water as well is because through the newsletter you also have some information spreading as much as possible and that's also why we wanted to have this infographic um that I'm going to come back to if my yeah oh sorry um so you see the youth organizing committee is really one part of the puzzle right and now we will go to um a specific initiative uh from the launched by the Arab youth center the global youth water invoice so I'm going see who is in the call but it's one example of a very successful initiative as well that is launched uh thanks to the momentum of the world um of the UN water conference and um I'm going to leave the floor in a second if I see the person Mariam I see you are you yes nice to meet you all thank you so much Alex for inviting us to be part of today And thank you to every young person who logged in to the capacity development uh series. It's congratulations for making it here because it means that you really want to create a change in your respective communities. So thank you for taking the time. Uh today I want to walk you through a very meaningful opportunity uh in the leadup to the uh UN water conference that will be happening in Abu Dhabi. My name is Mariam Abdam. I lead communications with the Arab Youth Center. And before I start, I want to utilize the reactions feature here on the chat for you guys to tell me how many people of you have struggled with funding before and find funding a struggle for joining the UN water conference. Feel free to like react using a raise of hand or a thumbs up on the chat. So many actions coming in. Okay. Okay. It's raining. Uh well, it will be raining even heavier when I ask you the following question. So do you feel as Alex was saying that you are ready to participate like even if funding is there do you have enough knowledge that puts you on the table writing and writing policies discussing sharing with uh experts what you really think I think both those things uh are a challenge so this is what we're solving here with the global youth global water youth and voice program it's a bit long the program basically is a flagship initiative by the Arab Youth Center. Uh if you're not familiar, the Arab Youth Center is the leading uh platform for young people in the Min region when it comes to youth programming and youth empowerment. And uh today we are doing something that's outside of our skin a little which is launching a global program because we really believe in the power of youth and we believe that water is a global conversation. It's not just a local conversation or a regional conversation. We all deserve a seat on the table. So basically the program will select 100 of the best uh young leaders when it comes to the water and particularly you do not need to be an expert but you need to showcase that you really want to learn. Uh it's a capacity building program at the end of the day. Uh you can find the application uh link through this QR code. Uh more details on the program is that first of all the deadline is not pretty soon but it's coming up. It's on the 13th of August and what you will get to learn is first of all uh foundational and specialized training in water governance. It will run from September to November. It will be entirely remote with funding to attend the UN water conference in December. Um secondly, you will directly engage with policy makers, national delegations and international experts. You will be part of a network of 100 people and even more. uh because as Alex was saying the network is so huge and so many young people are doing so many incredible things. So it will be um it will be very diverse and thirdly uh funding to attend the UN water conference and not just attend but meaningfully participate through the knowledge that you have already acquired with the capacity building program [snorts] and finally that you will be a part of an international cohort that's very very diverse and with ongoing opportunities for collaboration and engagement. What I'm going to do now is that I'll drop on the chat the application link and also if you want to reshare this opportunity with your network because I know that even though there are only 200 people there uh I know that each of you has like 20 30 other people that would be interested to join this program and we are really keen to uh like to expand its reach as wide as we can to ensure that young people from all around the world particularly water scarce regions have a seat on the table that's one and two uh I will also share with you a partners kit since all of you now have become our partners that you can use to create original content. If you want to share with your networks, if you are like fellow content creators and you want to share that with your fellow youth networks, please feel free to do that. Um, also feel free to follow us at the Arab Youth Center on Instagram or LinkedIn. If you have any questions, I will send all the link here on the chat. And if you have any other questions, feel free to drop them on the chat and I will be taking a look. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um you know like with these two uh opportunities um I I I think it's already a success to see that something is popping with concrete engagement opportunities right uh congratulation to the UN major group for children and youth to the Arab youth center and to so many more organization that have said like I have an idea and I want to follow up on it. I want to uh create the structure for it. I want to find the way to make it happen. Uh and and let's do it. You know, it's uh it's it's a lot of work. Uh so congratulations and thank you so much because it's um it's really meaningful and and that's how we build meaningful youth engagement, right? So thank you so much Mariam. It was great. Uh and apologies for sleeping the slide. I actually wanted to react myself cuz myself as well I have tried to go at a conference uh when I was younger and I and I couldn't sometimes because of funding as well and everything even if it was not related to water conference just academic conference or anything so I think everybody can relate to that um so thank you again and uh let's go to the next opportunity uh yes the next opportunity is the UNESCO uh first report on meaningful youth engagement in the water in water governance. It's huge as well. It's super important as well. All of them are super important. But I'm going to check if M yes mood is here. So feel free to take the floor. Thank you so much. >> Uh thank you so much uh Alex for the invitations and thanks to IWA and major group for youth and children for uh organizing this series. It's really very very very important to have it at the moment and uh and just I want to share my objection like I like I I don't think I can present just just after Mariam. Uh like it's very very unfair. I don't think I will be able to match her energy but uh let's let's see. Uh so maybe Alex if you don't mind I can start with the following um slide and then I come back. Yes. Thank you so much. So thank you uh again and mainly what's UNESCO doing in the water space uh will definitely UNESCO has been uh very recent been engaging in this space since 2022 and uh since then maybe some of you have been hearing about our water youth networks. Uh maybe you have heard about the groundwater youth network or the ecohydrology youth network. We have been trying really to uh see how can we engage through different thematics that UNESCO is really uh well known for. But then it goes back to 2025 where things starts to shift a bit when we collaborated with ISW into organizing the first UNESCO water dialogue. It was in June celebrating the 50th anniversary of of IHP uh the intergovernmental hydological program of UNESCO. And uh since then we invited I think like 60 youth organizations, presidents and leaders to ask them how can we do better and how can we really engage youth in a different way than what has been done at the moment and uh that led to the um creation or development of what we call water strategy. Alex has mentioned it at the really at the first words of this webinar and mainly the youth networks and organizations has like they have highlighted three different priorities. The first priority they mentioned that we are really lacking uh opportunities to have water education. We don't have enough scholarships that would allow us to be more uh rigor and more strongly engaging in the water sector. We need scholarships for undergrad water programs and postgrad water programs whether a masters or or a PhD. And that doesn't mean that only for engineers. But water is is really as you know it's multifaceted type of uh engagement. It needs water politics, water diplomacy, water water and social human sciences. Um it it's very very interdisciplinary topic. So this is what they mentioned. They mentioned also that we need capacity development to be able to engage in the water sector properly. The second priority area they mentioned we don't have enough career opportunities uh for early career young professionals and uh that was the second uh highlighted area and they mentioned that we are having a lot of innovative ideas and solutions that we want to provide uh uh to be provided with a space to be able to share them and uh this is uh basically the second priority on career opportunities and innovation and the third one they said we don't feel that we are meaningfully engaged in the water spaces in the water global water processes with local governments with national governments with regional uh governments or uh river business organizations they don't think that they are actually um supported enough and uh and basically maybe I would just go to how UNESCO is trying to work with youth organizations to implement this we as UNESCO we work as our interface is directly with governments so what we worked with is that we work with UAE into um initiating this shell let's call it an umbrella organization that would allow a stronger collaboration with governments because the UN system when you work with governments that ensures that they really they trust the work that will happen and they they want to engage more and UAE has provided um like a request to all member states of UNESCO like 193 different countries asking them whether such program into engaging more youth into space would it be something of interest to to different countries and the the the answer was absolutely yes. So last month uh we adopted the first um flagship initiative under UNESCO's um program uh that's really working in on imple implementation of the three different priority areas. How are we implementing this? Basically we're working with you with youth networks with the global system for water and ISW to ensure that youth will be integrated to the water spaces in three different ways. The first one is the first slide if you can go back sorry to the first slide is on the meaningful youth engagement. So we tried to map out how youth are being now engaged in the rotary space. We don't have any data. Um will you if you go online like try to find like some reference documents. You won't find anything that's really based on uh major data that can be um that we can work with to to be able to develop some programs or initiatives. Uh and that's why UNESCO has launched a survey that was I think published two weeks ago on UNESCO's website. And uh I can send you in the chat the survey. The survey really aiming to collect as much as possible different views from three different actors. First one is the youth. We really aim to have like huge responses in order to be able to understand more the dynamics of youth and youth needs and and the current engagement level. The second one has been sent to governments. We are asking different governments how they are engaging with youth in their um in their territories and their programs. And the third one we sent it to the UN system. We are asking how UN system can be supporting such initiatives to ensure that youth when they are engaged they are actually meaningful engaged not tokenized not simple symbolistic type of of requests. So that's like like Mariam was mentioning at the moment like really when you go to the conference we wouldn't want you just to be there like having some few like words and and just leave the conference no how can we ensure that we are using such capacities for what's after the conference and beyond uh December. Um so uh after we are really getting all the different inputs from the survey we we will be uh sharing um we will be working on drafting this report. This report is planning planned to be uh launched at the conference as well. So we'll be very delighted to share with you what are the different insights what where are the gaps and where are the different opportunities and how can we engage more partners into implementation of the water use strategy. Moving to the second and third pillars, we are working with a couple of partners now on two different initiatives in order to really work with governments to increase the number of available scholarships uh to both the like local and international students within both global north and global south. This is the first initiative program that we're working on. The second one we are working with a coalition of private sector in order to develop capacity development program uh that can uh strengthen the pipeline uh that's connecting between just a fresh graduate and being um the first uh job opportunity that they are getting in the water sector. So basically most of the insights that we are getting that most of the French graduates from the water programs are not really ready for the job market and uh this is we are taking this really really seriously and we have been in touch with couple of private sector that we have seen very interested to develop such programs to make sure that there will be more internships more placements more fellowships more graduate programs that can prepare more youth to be ready to jump directly into the job market and of course we're trying to design the such programs now so that we can hopefully announce It's launching by the conference but of course we will need your support. The more that you are sharing insights with us I think the stronger the programs that we are developing will be. Uh I think this is all from my side Alex in case uh you wanted me to highlight on something else. Back to you. >> Thank you so much Marmud up reconnecting. Thank you so much. Yeah, it's it's a lot but it's exciting, you know. And uh basically what uh what this overall uh presentation gives you, it's like there's a lot of homework to do if you want to engage in the conference, right? But there are a lot of ways uh to connect to um to take part uh from taking a survey to to you know give data uh to consolidate all the information at there up to um joining a committee uh and and applying for a youth seat at the conference uh with the global youth envoys um and also joining us for the next few years because that's will be that will be the next few years with the flagship. There are many many opportunities. Um we want to cover as much as possible the water sector. Um we do what we can. Uh but feel free to uh do something as well and let us know that you do it and uh and and take part in in all of this. Um that's also why we are called the global youth movement for water is because we want this to be a movement. you know, we want to, you know, have a dynamic a process of uh engagement and uh and and making change and impact. So, there's a lot and there will still be a lot to cover. Um but we wanted to not only give you um with this presentation uh some information about the about the the conference itself um about how much you don't know because even ourselves we don't know everything uh but we also wanted to give you concrete opportunities of okay that's where I can start you know because sometimes with with a huge workload in front of you you don't know where to start uh feel free to start small and um and and go from there. Um, for the next webinars, I I was trying to look at the chat to see uh what was the kind of uh question that we may have in the Q&A. Um I see that some people are asking about the webinars link um links uh and so you will have you have on the screens now on the screen now uh the the QR code to the for the second session that is water for planet the interactive dialogue water yes um and so don't hesitate to um feel free to register because it will be a very important session with our dear partner the International Institute for Sustainable Development. Um so we are very keen on on hearing from you now. Um let's see hold up the slides. Uh let's open the floor. Maybe I will stop sharing my screen if that's okay so that I can see you all and uh let's bundle some questions together. I'm going to try and look at uh while some people take the take the courage to to take the floor for a question. Maybe we can um I can go through some of them um so that we can see how to bundle them and and how to reply to some. But Isabella, don't hesitate to let me know if you want. >> No. So most of the questions I was already typing in the qu in the chat, sorry, in the Q&A, but I see that we have one question from Ayomiji Lori. I'm going to allow you to talk so you can make your your question can you please unmute yourself and make your question otherwise I will ask the other should put the questions in the Q&A so we can have a look and I can make the questions on your behalf. Okay. So we have a question from Alons as a school to share their volunteer opportunities. So Alons I would recommend that you apply for the program that was shared for the Arab youth center. So maybe you can be selected to become one of the the participants of the program. Okay. So, we have another question from Audrey. Audrey, yes. The the movement we can uh have others that are not water professionals to join. I am not a water professional from my background on this. I can Yes, my major is international relations and economics. I'm working in the water sector. So I will definitely recommend that you to join and become part of it. Okay. So this was answer and answer. Yeah, you're AI so you can definitely join. Um it may be a bit boring to look at uh other people's questions but Isabella has answered to a lot of them. Uh so don't hesitate to read other people's questions and and read the answer uh because they are uh very important um information there. >> So this is answer. We have one question from Nini. She's asking how can we be part of this movement and report our work and get support and collaborations. I would say that one of the starts you're already done. You're joining the session that we have in the capacity building. So this is a good start on this. I would definitely recommend that you register with the link that Charlene has posted in the chat and that you also register to receive the newsletters. Another option is to follow our social media platforms where we post a lot of information in terms of what each one of the organizations are doing. So follow the social media from IWA from uh from UNESCO from uh international secretaries for water and the other partners because we are always like posting the activives that we have uh in the case from IWA for example we have our learning platform where you can sign up to our free webinars and the events that we are hosting the ones in person they are mostly like paid so you have to consider if you can afford to join And uh in terms of other collaborations, I would say keep an eye open for what comes next. The UNESCO platform is also a very good platform that you can use and definitely like I recommend to fill up the survey that Muhammad has shared. Alex, are you seeing any other that is relevant to >> I see that he has her hand raised and I'm the liberty to give. >> Hi, I just wanted to say to everyone in the chat, one thing I think is really important when you're looking to join these organizations is what do you offer and like what do you enjoy doing? So, there's that list I believe Charlene showed of all of these like 300 organizations in the global youth movement for water. I highly recommend you look through them and then think of like do you want to help with the communications? Do you want to help with the diplomacy? Do you want to help with the collaboration on the ground, the science? Because it's so great to see everyone so excited and like you all have different and important skills across the water sector. Like one thing in water like honestly communications, we always need more comms people. Always, always, always. if you want to be somebody who's like making Tik Toks, making stuff, I think that's really important because you have so much to join. So, I just want to say that's like my practical advice for getting into these organizations and making a real difference. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. It's it's actually what I was like I was going to say something that would would complement it's like exactly look at what you like uh look at where you are, right? because it's uh sometimes nice also to have an to join an organization that is uh not too far from your home um and and not too far from your time zone. A little tip, don't [laughter] don't don't start engaging with someone who is in New Zealand while you're in in North America because it will be painful for both of you. Um but yeah, so basically there are so many partners um in this global youth movement for water. Um, every partner is doing something uh different because that's what we want, right? We want complimentarity. Um, and you can definitely also wear m multiple hats. Um, but that being said, uh, don't overload yourself too much. Be careful of the time that you uh want to spend on this. Um, is it that you want to spend time because you want to look for a job? Then it's different than just volunteering some time, right? Uh if you want to look for a job then it's an investment then okay to spend a lot of hours but if it's a volunteering job uh be careful with your mental health and and um and the workload that you have uh and work life balance and all of these things but overall yes we definitely need a lot of different um profiles uh from a lot of different sectors um as Isabella was mentioning she's not at first from the water sector but we need people who are from different sector and learn about the water sector to then make the bridge. You know, as same as we need water engineers to understand uh global politics and economics to then understand why it's not that simple as just um building a well, you know, uh we have the science, we've always had the science um and and it's not enough. we really need to merge the disciplines, the background, the profiles, the the sectors um to you know we are a whole system especially when you look at the UN water conference it's global right and it's okay also to discover that it's not for you right if if it's too many people too much politics or you know too many okay what are we doing too too much coordination it's fine as well you you're also part of the impact uh being on the ground um and and and doing something a bit more in in your um in your sphere in your niche. Um, Alex, we received a question regarding um engagements in in local communities and I think that this is relevant to bring because first like thank you for a question that that has been posted in in the Q&A and and I think that this question highlights a very important aspect of turning global discussions into local impact and this is almost what what we are doing here this uh capac development series is designed to equip young water professionals to equip like young people with knowledge skills and the network the meeting like the peers that you have been meeting during like the session today that I needed to engage um in a very efficient way before during and after the the UN uh 2026 water conference and while this series itself does not implement projects this is again a capac development series. I believe that this uh this online webinars they help all the participants that are here that are attending the sessions to become better prepared to lead and collaborate within their their own communities. And Alex, this is also related to what you said in terms of what someone wants by joining this session, what someone desires by joining one of the groups that are part of the organizations here. What is the availability? What is the commitment? what is the time that you have because joining by joining it it doesn't make sense at all. Everyone here has several commitments. Life happens we need we have jobs and becoming a volunteer in these organizations they demand uh they demand like time and resources. So reflect a lot in terms of your engagement and what you really desire by joining this. If you want to implement like local project, this could be all the technology that you need by for example building uh a better understanding of global water priorities and how they can relate to your local reality, your local challenges and also how you can use this this capas development series to learn how to engage with other uh from all over the world. So we have people from from Somalia, from uh South Africa, from Brazil that I saw. We also have from Tajikhan. So it's a very global community and maybe by joining this online series, you can learn to connect with all these young leaders that we have here. So just some some suggestions >> if I may just complement what you mentioned about the different layers of engagement is is in my head really important in the sense that uh we are trying to provide uh a lot of different partners are trying to provide um activities whether it's capacity development or concrete projects at different level or advocacy campaign or anything right um at different levels uh but the goal Our goal is also to bridge the levels, you know, uh to to make people to to make people understand what are the differences between those different levels of engagement and to connect them so that um the local level would be informed enough about what's happening at regional and global level um and so that they would be able to make their contribution matter to other level and the other around as Right. It's important that the global level knows about what's happening at local level so that um people know what it's what it is you know the real life struggles and and the real life issues and challenges or the real life successes you know in the water sector what works and what doesn't work. um so that it can inform global policies right but it's very different um it's a very different approach if you work at local regional or global if you work between two or between the three um and understanding the difference is crucial as well. So that's also why capacity development um it's not just lessons you know it's it's meant to build capacity to build your understanding so that you can be capable of understanding the differences and turn this knowledge into something practical and something impactful for yourself for your community and for the world like not to finish on a you know on a too big of a of a picture but that's basically it. >> Yes. Um I have been seeing like questions about um certificates of participation. So just highlight that we will not be providing certificates of participation for the webinar series. So we won't be sending any of those. Uh again uh the presentation slides we will be sharing alongside the recording from the session. Everything is going to be posted online so you can access the website and download them. So let me dismiss this one. Um if you're not from the water sector you can should join. Yes I I saw a question from someone from the health sector. Health is very much connected with water. So water and sanitation and health. So hygiene is also like connected to this. So yes you can you can be part of it. Um and we have one question from regarding yes we are building a youth hub for the UN water conference and uh most of the organization that are present here today we are preparing a youth um side events that are targeting young people on this. We don't know yet if the sessions the side events proposal they are going to be accepted but if they are we are going to be promoting then accordingly to make sure that we have a lot of participations on this. So yes um we will be notifying and promoting our social media in case the sessions are going to happen. Alex any other question that you that you saw? I'm I'm trying to browse uh through them so that I can see some patterns. A lot of people are asking how uh can I join um how can I join chapter from EWA or from the world parliament for water um or from you know a wave wavemakers united also has waves around the world. um look online I if there's like I'm sorry to say Google it but [laughter] I've I've heard that a lot during my PhD and at first I was a bit frustrated but then I I understood that it was making a lot of sense um because you you really need to to look at the landscape that you have around you uh before wanting to launch something right uh that that would be my my recommendation uh so do have a look at at the chapters that are already uh there because you can definitely find find them on the internet, right? Uh you can look at the EWA chapters on the internet. Um and uh and and same for the wave makers, United Waves. Uh same for the World Youth Parliament for Water chapters. Um you have a lot of information there already. If it's not there um then I would recommend looking at uh I don't know how it is for EA for IWA um but for the world parliament for water we do have different sizes uh different levels of engagement we we not only have country chapters but also regional chapters. So if there is no um country chapter in your country, uh you can maybe have a look at um another partner as well who may have you know an IWA chapter or a wave um depending on what you want how you want to engage and what you want to do as activities as well. Um or you can join a regional level, you know, if that could be of interest for you as well. Um and and I'm sure you can also go uh to um to another NGO or association of the water sector that you find in your city or in your country and tell them like hey do you know about the global youth movement should we join? So that's also could be a way you know to bring everyone together. Um so there are many ways um I usually say uh please connect with us and and and we can answer uh to and guide you. However, I'm I'm really starting to see that that the the limited capacity that we have and unfortunately and I'm I really want to apologize to all those who send messages that I cannot reply to. Um it's it's really not because we don't want to reply or that we are gusting you. We will reply one day promise. Um but that's why I'm I'm really suggesting to um to keep digging to be stubborn. You know when I was younger I wanted to be a volunteer for an association and they didn't reply that time. So I I became volunteer for another association and in the end now I I understand why they didn't reply. It's not because they didn't want from me but it's because just they had limited capacity and uh and welcome to the to the associative >> sector. [laughter] Definitely but Alex you're right on this in terms of the engagement and ina in the case of IWA as a membership based association for the young professionals we organize then into country chapters we don't have regional chapters but we also have other communities that are based and related to your interest in the water sector. So these are the specialist groups and those uh they are global so it doesn't matter where you are based you can simply like join them and they're like groundwater uh water loss water he use sustainability in the water sector so they're more niche I would say and um I believe that we cover most of the questions that we have like received again if anyone has any follow-up question feel free to reach out by to us like by Oh, careful with this. [laughter] >> Yes. >> Maybe just to finish uh I see that one question was was repeated um and and maybe it's worth um mentioning like answering um again from another angle because I feel that we replied to the question but I see that it's repeated so maybe it wasn't clear um and and I really want uh people to understand what we mean. So um the global youth movement for water uh capacity development series is meant this series is meant for people to understand the UN water conference and to see where and how they can engage at different levels. However, we will cover a lot for instance the the the interactive dialogues. So we will dive into the interactive dialogues and in each interactive dialogue see um what are the trends what are the the the important issues of the moment. Um and so for some dialogue it may not relate to every single country and every single person and situation right um I see for instance a question from Somalia um maybe uh the what will be discussed uh won't be similar to the challenges that you feel on the field on the ground um and that doesn't mean that everything uh should be put on the garbage for you you know like it's it's still valuable but it means that it's not your angle right if you feel that what we will provide and and what the UN water conference provides um is not enough to um to deal with the challenges that you see on the ground. It's potentially normal in the sense that it cannot cover everything and we cannot solve every challenges um every challenge with one conference. It's a process and this webinar series will help you understand part of this but it's really a process right there are a lot of things to uncover to um to to understand the intertwinment of um so it's really about okay you have a challenge and and there is this big system of coordination there are some things being done there are some some people working on these issues Um, and it's a process. It's um, it's step by step. It's incremental and and don't lose hope. Um, it's it's really important to to continue the good work, to not leave the water sector altogether because we need people to stay and to fight for those challenges. Um, and to find the help that that will really help you, that will have an impact and a change, right? It may not be coming to the water conference that will help you and the local communities, you know, like sometimes it's not the global conferences that that solve the immediate issues, but you can connect, you can do some advocacy, you can uh raise the voice of your local community. Um, it's also important to know that the conference is a busy busy time, right? It's a lot of people talking a lot about a lot of things. Uh so it's a bit overwhelming even for professionals that are uh in this space for a long time. It can be really overwhelming. So it's normal it's totally normal to not really understand how our capacity building series um deals and and and and solve challenges because we don't solve challenges. We try to make the bridge between what is the challenge, how can we solve it and how can we not solve it. And we can definitely not uh dive into um each country and each uh each local community. Um but we tried to just give you some overview, some perspective, right? I think you're muted. >> I don't know why, but yes. So uh I was saying that it's important to highlight that this capac development series we are not responsible for approving any side event that is being um discussed permitted in in towards the UN water conference. We don't have any power over this. So I I saw a question regarding a side event focused on uh water advocacy and refugee. I don't know if we're going to have any topics on this. Once the approved side events are out, then we're going to have a better overview in terms of what is happening, what is the agenda of the of the side events of the UN uh water conference. Again, this is not under our responsibility and our organizations. We are submitting side events to the UN weather conference and we don't know if they are going to be approved or not. So Mercy the registration fee to to join uh the webinar series. No, there is no registration fee to to join the capas development series. And if you are planning to attend the UN uh water conference, I believe there is no fee, but you have all the costs to to travel and and to attend it and and hit regarding collaborations to the UN, what are side events? uh once they are approved we are going to have a better understanding if they approve it and if we have the list we are going to have a better understanding where young people can be placed on on the event. So for now I will keep a holding to your questions regarding collaboration for yeah IWA. Yes IWA is a membership based association. Uh if you want to become a member there is a fee that you need to pay to become a member. If you are a young water professional, there is a discount code that you can use it to to join and I'm going to be typing in in the chat for for this. So, yes. Uh, so this is done. Alex, we only have like two other minutes. I think that we are done with the questions for now. So thank you everyone for for coming up and for sharing. I I will share the rest of the questions with the other organizers and then we can also try to submit and reach out to those and again thank you very much Alex. Thank you also on this and I shared in the link uh for the next webinar. So feel free to sign up. Thank you everyone. Have a nice day. Thank you so much Isa and thank you for everyone who's joined and thank you to the speakers and see you soon.