Youth Grow Professionally with GWP

GWP promotes youth inclusion in water resources management. One of those ways is through a robust internship programme. Civil Engineer Axel Martinez, 26, from Nicaragua, spent five months with GWP Central America as a Young Professional Development Initiative Intern under GWP’s Water, Climate and Development Programme (WACDEP). He says the experience has helped him to grow professionally.

“I was fortunate to be selected as an intern for WACDEP’s Young Professional Development Initiative. As part of the internship I had the opportunity to travel through the region and work with experienced professionals, as well as young professionals, who like me, work every day for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6): Clean water and sanitation for all. I was tasked to document success stories in the implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in WACDEP pilot projects, and write case studies,” says Axel, who focused on studying the Central American “Dry Corridor” and Panama’s Arco Seco (dry region).

During his internship, Axel wrote a case study on Implementation of Rainwater Harvesting Systems with a Geomembrane Bag in Honduras and El Salvador, building on work done by GWP Central America. He also supported preparations for various events and workshops. Read his blog post on the work experience here (in Spanish, here).

Video - in his own words

GWP youth work is expanding

GWP is working on ways to include youth, and at the moment we are looking for a Youth Engagement Specialist to lead and build up the network’s global activities to mobilize youth for water resources management – the deadline to apply for this job is 17 February 2019.

You can find out more about GWP’s youth work by reading GWP’s Youth Engagement Strategy, learning about GWP internship opportunities – and by getting to know the Youth for Water and Climate initiative; an on-going project that is carried out together with Partners, aiming to help youth to turn their ideas into reality.