EWP at the People’s Water Forum
The secretariat has selected three members to be part of the coalition’s member delegation at the Forum:
- Durga Sob – Feminist Dalit Organisation (FEDO) | Nepal
- Syed Shah Nasir – Integrated Regional Support Program (IRSP) | Pakistan
- Khadiza Ahmed – Development Organisation of the Rural Poor (DORP) | Bangladesh
Durga, Shah Nasir and Khadiza will be joined at the PWF by EWP’s acting global coordinator Nathalie Seguin, who will represent the coalition, exchange knowledge and connect with fellow water justice activists.
The Forum promises a packed programme with plenaries on a range of topics featuring a number of EWP members. On Tuesday at 10am local time Kenya Women Collective’s Ruth Mumbi will speak at a session on the state of the human right to water alongside the Special Rapporteur Pedro Arrojo-Agudo. At 3pm the same day the Africa Water Justice Network will discuss the power of social movements, while Public Services International will be part of the panel for a session on building solidarity with other social justice movements. The final day of the Forum will be devoted to a People’s Tribunal, where communities whose water rights have been violated give testimony in front of a jury of peers and water experts. The People’s Tribunal will present powerful cases, including the people of Rembang vs. Indonesian cement company PT Semen and the people of Palestine against Israel’s national water company Mekorot.
In addition to plenaries there will be parallel workshops and online webinars both before and during the PWF. EWP has highlighted three sessions that are particularly pertinent to members’ work:
- 15 May @ 12pm UTC: Civil society from Bolivia, Mexico, Uruguay and Spain share experiences of water scarcity. Register here (Spanish only).
- 21 May @ 6am UTC: Lessons from the decade-long resistance to privatisation in Lagos, Nigeria – Corporate Accountability & Public Participation Africa.
- 21 May (time TBC): Transboundary cooperation for the protection of Andean wetlands – Asociación Interamericana para la Defensa Ambiental (Spanish only).
We will share further events and streaming links when we receive them via EWP’s Twitter account. You can also find the PWF programme overview online and register to receive email updates directly from the Forum organisers.
EWP at the World Water Forum
End Water Poverty will also be strongly represented at the World Water Forum (WWF). After attending the People’s Water Forum from 20 to 21 May, Nathalie Seguin will travel to the official World Water Forum on 22 May, where she will speak about policies and approaches to implement the human right to safe water.
On Friday 24 May EWP and ONGAWA will co-host a side event at the Spanish Pavilion to present the ‘Leave No One Behind’ policy brief, an advocacy tool that distils community calls collected during last year’s #HearingTheUnheardHRWS campaign into recommendations to governments, INGOs and the UN. The Special Rapporteur Pedro Arrojo-Agudo will introduce the event, framing the conversation through a human rights-based approach while marginalised communities give testimonies via video and in person. MUDEM A.C.’s Patricia Silva Lopez, who participated in the #HearingTheUnheardHRWS campaign, will share her experience as an indigenous representative of the Mixteca Oaxaqueña community in Mexico. There will then be responses from government officials and duty bearers, including Eau de Paris’ deputy director Anne Sophie Leclere.
On Wednesday 22 May at 1pm Simavi’s Sandra van Soelen will present the policy brief at a separate WWF session titled ‘Hearing the Unheard: Water Justice for Humans and Nature’. During this event Nathalie Seguin and Redes del Agua’s Fermin Reygadas will discuss the effectiveness of public-community partnerships in increasing water and sanitation access in dispersed rural communities in Latin America. Amaka Nweke will also share the Network of Water Rights Initiative’s remarkable success in advancing people’s rights to water in Enugu, Nigeria, through the Claim Your Water Rights campaign.
NEWARI, Redes del Agua and Simavi are among members showcasing their work at the World Water Forum with Coalition Eau, FANSA, KEWASNET, WaterAid and Water Integrity Network also hosting or speaking at WWF events. EWP will share information and summaries from members’ events via our social media.
Road to Bali exchange
Join us on Thursday 16 May at 1pm UTC for a special exchange ahead of the People’s Water Forum in Bali. Members from different regions will share stories of resistance in the struggle for water justice: from calling out the impunity of extractive companies, to navigating crackdowns on civic freedoms, and blocking pro-privatisation law. We will have 30 minutes for open discussion with simultaneous interpretation available in English, French and Spanish. This webinar is open to non-EWP members so please share this invitation widely with your networks.
