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How has the YWN been created?
In 1999, 2001 and 2003, Youth Water Congresses have been organised in France, Hungary and Belgium. The participants of the Congress in Geel (Belgium, March 2003) wanted to continue working together on water related problems. Therefore, on a meeting in Bouillon (Belgium, July 2003) they created the Youth Water Network. In the beginning, only participants of the three Youth Water Congresses were members of the network, later on, other motivated youngsters joined the group.
top How is the YWN organised?
The YWN consists of 3 kinds of members:
- Youth Water Representatives (YWR): elected youngsters (5 each two years), coordinating the network and working on international level
- Youth Water Delegates (YWD): youngsters working on local level, with the support and within the framework of the network
- Youth Water Network Associates (YWNA): people that are older than 26 and/or have a professional link with water, these people (and organisations) support the network with their knowledge and experience
The YWRs and the most active YWDs form the 'board' of the YWN, they take the lead and define the direction of the evolution and actions of the network.
top Has the YWN relationships with other organisations?
Yes! The main partner of the YWN is GREEN Belgium. This Belgian NGO was one of the mean organisers of the Congress in 2003 and its efforts resulted in the birth of network. Now, the staff of GREEN Belgium (GREEN for short) supports the network by providing assistance on many points: their webmaster keeps the YWN site online, they organise the water congresses, they look for possibilities to obtain financial support,...
Besides GREEN, the YWN has also a very solid relationship with Eau et Citoyenneté, a French NGO. In 2004, they organised the Blue Pilgrims march for our network, to celebrate five years of Youth Water Congresses. In Morocco, Eau et Citoyenneté was represented by Jean Venturin.
top Are there YWN offices?
No, the YWN has no offices. The administration of the network is done by the YWRs and by GREEN. The offices of GREEN are located in Brussels (Belgium).
top How can you become a member of the YWN?
Interested youngsters can join the network as a Youth Water Network Member by filling in the form that can be found here. Adults can join the network as Youth Water Network Associates, by sending us the YWNA candidature form.
top What are the activities of the YWN?
The YWDs have their own local projects. By communicating about their actions, experiences and ideas, the network members help each other to realise those projects. The YWN also organises water congresses together with its partners, like e.g. the Water Ambassadors Congress in Rabat in September 2005. Besides those things, the YWRs also try to lobby politically, e.g. at the European Parliament level, for sustainable water management.
All the activities should fit in the framework of the Mission Statement:
"Our mission is to increase youth participation in order to achieve sustainable water management through the processes of democracy, education and solidarity."
and the basic goals of the network:
- Building an efficient network
- Organise Water Congresses
- Raise awareness
- Lobbying (e.g. access to Water as a Human Right)
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How can YWN members exchange ideas?
In general, the YWN members exchange their ideas by writing on the forum and by publishing articles on the network's website. The many water congresses stimulate the exchange of ideas, also with people that are not part of the network.
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How many members has the YWN?
At the first of October 2005, the YWN had 15 Youth Water Representatives, more than 50 Youth Water Delegates and about 20 Youth Water Network Associates.
top What can a YWN member do?
On the various congresses, the members of the network get to know each other. By communicating via email, via the forum, via chat and via the website; the members can assist each others to realise projects at local level. The YWRs try to bring the voice of the members to the international institutions, like the European Parliament.
The key task of the YWDs is to develop their own (mostly small-scaled) projects within the structure and with support of the network.
To achieve this cooperation, its necessary to create a strong network. It's everybody's duty to stimulate that process as much as possible, a few examples of possible contributions:
- participating in forum discussions
- writing reports on your activities to inform the other members
- helping colleagues that have language problems
- translating
- .... and many many more
Be creative!
An example of the YWN's function: somebody in Bulgaria creates a poster for the Big Jump campaign, a member in France can use the same poster (after translation) for his own campaign. The person in France exchanges ideas about the practical organisation of a 'Big Jump' with people in Hungary who already organised it a year ago...
Work together, to be strong!
top What has the YWN realised already since its foundation?
In its first two years, the YWN members spent a lot of effort to build the network structure, to gather new members and to create our website. Apart from the network building, the network members participated in various congresses and the network co-organised a congress in France (2004) and Morocco (2005). These organisations fit in the network's goal to raise awareness about the water problems in the world, the network wants to inform the (European) youngstes about those problems by letting them participate in such an international event.
Another important activity of the network, that we surely have to develop in the future, is the act of lobbying. This has got already concrete results, like e.g. a parliamentarian question to the European Commission about a dangerous water situation in Slovakia.
A third important topic is the exchange of ideas to organise local projects. The best example is the congress that Pro Natura (Alexandra, Andreea, Iulia and Maria are the key persons of Pro Natura and all members the YWN) organised in Romania in March 2005. Local youngsters gathered to participate in several workshops about the water situation in their region. GREEN Belgium, represented by Jo and Jean-Marc (YWNAs) attended the congress to provide their assistance. The strength of a network is to cooperate and to share experience!
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