Water Governance

Water Governance 

WYN broadly defines Water Governance to constitute the political, social, economic, technical and administrative processes that influence the way in which water is distributed and managed. Underpinning these processes are the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability and equitable access to water and sanitation. This is also why WYN supports the implementation of the Human Right to Water and Sanitation, that was accepted by the UN in 2010.

 

Aim and projects

The Water Governance aims to be the focal point on issues that relate to Water Governance and Youth both within and outside of the Water Youth Network. This translates into 2 overarching topics:

 

• Young people and the Sustainable Development Goals

 

Youth is recognised as an extremely well-placed actor to make a difference by adopting innovations and raising awareness, and are an important actor to invest in as they are the next generation of decision makers and implementers. Therefore, young people are an extremely important actor in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals over the course of the next 15 years.

The Water Youth Network is well placed to support the implementation of the SDGs by developing the capacity of young people in the water sector worldwide, sharing best practices of implementing the SDGs, and facilitating the development of consortia of youth organisations both at the international and local level. We have strengthened, and are strengthening the relations between youth actors at the UN level, such as the Major Group of Children and Youth, for which the WYN has the role of providing input on water and the Young Leaders on SDGs, as well as to youth organisations at the national and local level, with the support of the aforementioned YouKnoW platform.

We want to build on these strong and large networks, and the YouKnoW! platform to support young people to contribute to the implementation of the SDGs related to water and improve the acknowledgement of the contribution of young people.

Find more information about the SDGs below:

• Knowledge hub on SDG goal 6Goal 6 – Clean Water & Sanitation, with articles, policy briefs, updates and information about relevant events.
• UN website providing an overview of the Goals, background information and the targets set for each goal.
• UN Water website with information about monitoring of progress and sharing of information to the UN.
• World Bank “Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals 2017″ uses maps, charts and analysis to illustrate, trends, challenges and measurement issues related to each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

 

• Role of young people in water cooperation & water diplomacy

 

young people are an important force to support the implementation of the SDGs. Already the size of the group is convincing: More than 40% of the people on this planet are younger than 25, and more than 55% is younger than 35. Investing in this group of young people, that can contribute now to the implementation of the SDGs, and who will be responsible for taking the next steps after the finalisation of agenda 2030, is a smart thing to do. However, how to include, support, facilitate and enable this participation is not a clear-cut case. Especially linked to SDG 6.5, focusing on transboundary water cooperation, which is often seen as ‘the thing diplomats do’. Through identifying and assessing cases where young people contribute to transboundary water cooperation, we deduct how young people can effectively contribute to water transboundary water cooperation, and distill practical ways for institutions and governments to facilitate and enable these contributions.

 

The team

The Water Governance team focuses on SDG 6 and cooperation and conflict over water. You are welcome to join the team to work on these topic.

Please contact Tim and/or Juanita, if you like to join. Also feel welcome if you have ideas for actions outside of SDG6 or water cooperation, and don’t hesitate to share them with us!

 

Governance Coordinators

Tim Nolden

 

Tim joined the Water Youth Network in autumn 2018 after participating in the 9^th Conference on Empowering Hydro-Diplomacy in The Hague. Currently, he is part of the MSc Water Management and Governance program at IHE Delft focussing on water cooperation and conflict management and holds a bachelor’s degree in Water and Energy Management specialising in economics.

He has 1,5 years of professional experience in working on project management, human resources and institutional development within several international water and infrastructure projects under the umbrella of the German development cooperation.

 

His LinkedIn profile can be found here and his email address is t.nolden@wateryouthnetwork.org.

 

 

 

 

Maitreyi Koduganti Venkata

 

Maitreyi joined WYN in early 2019 and has been an active member within the Governance and the Communications group. She is a climate science researcher with over four years of experience in working within the fields of climate sciences, water governance, human ecology and development pathways. Maitreyi supported and represented the Network at the Stockholm World Water Week 2019.

She is currently finishing her Masters in Water Management and Governance at IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft.

 

Her LinkedIn profile can be found here and her email address is m.koduganti@wateryouthnetwork.org.