The Water Youth Network, Disaster Risk Reduction team are excited to announce the appointment of two WYN focal point volunteers to facilitate more cooperation on integrated flood management and early warning systems under the auspices of the Associated Programme on Flood Management – a joint programme under the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the Global Water Partnership (GWP). 

The WYN Disaster Risk Reduction team has previously cooperated and engaged with the World Meteorological Organisation and the Global Water Partnership on numerous occasions:

• Joint WMO-GWP-WYN competition on youth-led projects on integrated approaches to flood and drought management 2017 (see link) – see toolkit developed by competition winner here.
• WYN published an article in the WMO Bulletin 2019 on the role of young professionals in driving the integration of EWS (see link).
• Joint WYN-WMO side event at the 2nd Multi-Hazard Early Warning Conference, Geneva May 2019 Geneva (see link) which launched the Young Professionals EWS network. 

WYN participated in the WMO-GWP Associated Programme on Flood Management annual meeting in Stockholm August 2019 (see Figure 1 below) and will soon sign a Letter of Engagement to become a Support Base Partner supporting young professional engagements in Integrated Flood Management (IFM) related activities.

Figure 1: Water Youth Network participation at the Associated Programme on Flood Management Annual meeting with Support Base Partners in Stockholm August 2019 (source: APFM/WMO)

Who are the new focal points? 

Ana Escalera is a young professional who worked for the Bolivian Ministry of Environment and Water on the implementation of the Flood Early-Warning System FEWS-Bolivia and other topics related to extreme climate events, disaster risk reduction and Integrated Water Resources Management. She is now studying her MSc. in Hydrology and Water Resources at IHE-Delft, the Netherlands.

Anthony Cario is a young professional based in Colorado USA. His past research and consultancy work centered around risk communication and disaster management.  He is currently working on developing IT tools for All Hands and Hearts, an international disaster response and recovery nonprofit organization. Anthony participated in the Understanding Risk Pressure Cooker event and has since actively engaged in the WYN DRR team.

What will the focal points do? 

Initially the focal points will provide support on APFM communication and outreach activities, in their capacity as volunteers. This mutual cooperation will later expand in line with WYNs role as a Support Base Partner to support innovative project development, training activities, and capacity building workshops on flood management and early warning systems. The focal points will play a prominent role in facilitating the WYNs role as a SBP bringing their unique perspectives and insights as young professionals and researchers.  

What are the benefits?

The appointment of two individual volunteers allows WYN and WMO to identify more joint opportunities and in particular to focus on knowledge exchange, engagement with and outreach to young professionals and researchers in the DRR and water sector.

As described by one of the new focal points, Anthony Cario – 

“I look forward to engaging support base partners as we collaboratively bring attention to the projects and opportunities for joint implementation of integrated flood management strategies and approaches at local, national and regional levels” 

The WYN can benefit from the cooperation by strengthening their access to knowledge across WMO and APFM partners, to support the development of our Disaster Risk Reduction team and the EWS young professionals network. 

The WYN is excited to see the partnership strengthen with the World Meteorological Organisation and Global Water Partnership through the appointment of these focal points and is looking forward to further formalising this by signing the Letter of Engagement later in the summer. 

For more information:

The newly appointed focal points can be contacted as follows:

Anthony Cario a.cario@wateryouthnetwork.org 

Ana Escalara Rodríguez a.rodriguez@wateryouthnetwork.org 

For any general enquiries about the EWS Young Professionals Network please contact Lydia Cumiskey at l.cumiskey@wateryouthnetwork.org.

WYN Side event at MHEWC conference Geneva with panelist Giacomo Teruggi from WMO May 2019