Michèle Okala coordinates the work of RECOJAC – the Network of Water and Climate Organisations of Central African Youth. She is one of the founding members and she is also in charge of youth issues for GWP Central Africa. Michèle has been volunteering for over 8 years, and she shares some insights to what she has learned – and what she hopes to leave as her legacy: “I created RECOJAC for the generation that will come after me. I am only laying the foundation.”

“Connection leads to protection because when you feel connected to something, you feel a responsibility to care for and protect it,” says Stephanie Woodworth as she reflects on her experiences over the past few years – from winning the 2016-2017 edition of the Great Waters Challenge, to working on a number of water-related youth projects and finding her motivation to reach her goal of connecting people to water, especially the younger generation.

Young water leaders from Central and Eastern Europe attended COP25 in Madrid as part of the GWP youth delegation to continue the efforts of GWP to engage and empower youth in water and climate governance.

For our third and final youth voice on water for 2019 we go to the warm Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago to meet Khadija Stewart, who shares her water journey and how social media and communication has guided her to where she is today: “A simple Facebook post changed my life”, she says. The story is part of a collaboration between World Youth Parliament for Water (WYPW) and GWP to make sure the voices of youth are heard.

In Autumn 2019, GWP CEE and emerging young water leaders organized 8 National Dialogues between youth and decision-makers in 8 Central and Eastern European countries.

Meet Kareem Hassan, an international innovation expert, sustainability entrepreneur, Director of Youth and Innovation at the Global Institute for Water, Environment, and Health (GIWEH), and Managing Director of BENAA Foundation, which aims to build the capacities of youth in order to build up sustainable WASH projects in Egypt.

Budapest Water Summit 2019 took place on 15-17 October, and GWP took the opportunity to ask youth about their experience with GWP. Joanna O’Keefe from Poland said that GWP introduced her to a completely new world: “I knew scientific conferences, but now I also get involved with policy making events and political events.”

The Global Water Partnership Southern Africa (GWPSA) will be launching its Strategy for 2020 – 2025 themed “Mobilizing Investments for A Water Secure Southern Africa”, to its partners in Pretoria, South Africa. The Strategy, to be launched at a meeting to mobilize investments for a water secure southern African region, will guide how GWPSA will focus its work between 2020 and 2025 in line with the GWPO Global Strategy.