3 Priorities

1. Raise the awareness of the youth on water related problems/solutions and the public on the specific difficulties encountered by young people.
2. Create and extend global youth and water networks to help them carrying their messages on the international stage and enable exchanges between young people and decision makers (experts, politicians,…).
3. Encourage a wide and meaningful participation of the youth to the week of the Forum.

Preparatory process to the youth initiative for the 6^th World Water Forum:

The project is coordinated by the 6^th World Water Forum Secretariat. All of the major project leaders as well as major network representatives are involved in this process.
A first coordination meeting was held in Douai early November 2011, another one will be organized in Marseille late january 2012.  
This team will come up with a synthesis on the participation of the youth to the Forum.

Priority 1: French and international students between 18 and 25 (extended to some high school pupils and young professionals)

First target: Gathering and wrapping up contributions thematic contributions of the Forum from the youth in general and students in particular - enable them to be heard during the Forum.

Come and join the participants coming from:

Associations:

• Youth Diplomacy,
• Water Youth Movement,
• Water and Youth International Movement - Africa and Argentina,
• Réseau Projection,
• Union Méditerranéenne des Jeunes Ambassadeurs de l’Eau,

Universities:

• London School of Economics (UK),
• Université de Sao Paulo (Brésil),
• Vaal University of Technology (Afrique du Sud)
• Ecole Centrale de Lyon,
• Ecole Centrale de Marseille,
• IEP Sciences Politiques Aix-en-Provence,
• Réseau Méditerranéen des Ecoles d’Ingénieurs (60+ écoles membres),
• AgroParis Tech,
• Aix-Marseille University

Agenda:

• 07/12: Conference in Argentina “De los Problemas a las Soluciones, camino al Foro Mundial del Agua”, organized by « Movimento Agua y Juventud Argentina »

• December 2011, January 2011 and February 2012 : Participation to the Forum’s ministerial PREPCOMs (preparation meetings)

• January 2012 : preparatory events on the road to the 6^th World Water Forum

• February 15, 2012, a visioconference debate on the theme “Contribute to cooperation and Peace through Water”  will gather 15 to 20 universities from all over the world 

• March 2012 : Constitution of a youth vision on water

Join our network on Facebook

More information: wateryouthmovement.org/

Contact: youth@worldwaterforum6.org

Target 2 : Launch a permanent World Youth Parliament on Water

Participants:

Solidarity Water Europe, Agence de l’Eau Artois-Picardie, Société du Canal de Provence.
Open to young people age 18-23 (application closed), 85 delegates including 5 French (one from the PACA regional council), then 20 for each continental region of the Forum.

Agenda:

• Preparatory meeting: 7-9 November 2011, Douai, France (summary available on the Forum’s website).

• Preparatory meeting in Aix-en-Provence, 7-9 March

Young delegates will then be based in Marseille to attend the Forum week (12-17 March 2012)

• 10/03/2012: First plenary session, vote of the parliament’s charter

• 14/03/2012: Final declaration of the parliament articulated around 3 main themes: access to water, climate change and governance

• 15/03/2012: Presentation of the results of the delegates’ work during the opening of the Forum’s parliamentarian session

More information:
PMJE

Priority 2 : Schools (elementary, middle and high schools) - mainly from the Marseille area

Target: Enable the participation of children and teenagers (6-18) to the 6^th World Water Forum through longer term learning projects in order to share experiences, discover water related problems and solutions, meet and dialog with other children/teenagers

Participants (list being updated):

High schools: 10+ Local high schools, network of French agricultural high schools, PACA region Youth Regional Council, River & Watershed Environment Management (Japan based NGO)

Middle schools: 5+ Local high schools, Gers provincial council, Japanese ministry of environment, Seine Saint-Denis regional council

Elementary schools: around 40 schools from the Marseille area through a series of networks, noteworthy Mars’Eco (local network of environmental education for schools)

In Marseille on March 2012:

• “Drylands & Oasis Space” from the NGO CARI + animations inside (puppet shows, counts)
• Water expo,
• Water and Citizen’s house
• Movies
• Village of Solutions
• Outputs from the preparation process: drawings, contributions from elementary (water charters) and high schools (water handbook)

Agenda

• 31/12/2011 : last day for submitting projects to labeling, which is mandatory for schools willing to come to the Forum

• Friday, March 15^th: school day at the Forum

Priority 3: Young Professionals (2-10 years of professional experience)

Targets:

1. Facilitate the presence of young professionals and the integration of their contributions to the week of the Forum, and create meeting spaces
2. Recruit forty or so young professionals who will be in charge of the redaction of the Forum’s newsletter

Participants:

Coordinated by the Projection Network, international network of young environment professionals, focusing on North-South cooperation actions, helped by the partners listed  for the “students”  priority

Good to know:

Young professional discount rate see our Registration page

Agenda:

• January 19^th : young professionals meeting on right to water at the French Development Agency

• March 2011, Paris : Défis Sud Forum

• December 2011 and January 2012 : Participation to the “Eau Vive” NGO West African national fora

• March 2012 : come and join us in Marseille! Start sharing your solutions now: solutionsforwater.org