Make youth the climate gamechangers of today
World Water Week was again the platform to acknowledge, share and tackle the global water challenges that lie before us. One way to make waves and create a stir towards finding solutions is by involving youth. Wavemakers United launched its UN2023 Gamechanger Challenge in Stockholm to actively engage with students worldwide, create sustainable partnerships, and find local solutions.
The Goal of the Gamechanger Challenge is to develop an innovative and implementable idea that takes on global water challenges and ensures a climate resilient future. Who is the Challenge’s target group? Students with a passion for water. The UN2023 Gamechanger Challenge is all about the connection between youth and water, and looking for out-of-the-box ideas, inventions, and innovations. The Challenge is a collaboration between Wavemakers United and NWP member IHE Delft Institute for Water Education that works to create a united global movement related to the Sustainable Development Goals involving youth, students and young water awareness experts.
In early 2022, NWP signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Wavemakers United to create an international youth platform to inspire, enthuse, and activate young people, and make water, food and energy innovations visible, thereby creating awareness around the various global challenges we are facing.
NWP supported Wavemakers United to present its UN2023 Gamechanger Challenge in the Government of the Netherlands booth at the Stockholm World Water Week exhibition floor. Now that the Challenge has liftoff, what are the next steps to create local impact? We asked Tilly Stroo, founder and Managing Director of Wavemakers United.
- This competition does not shy away from one of the biggest challenges we face today: the Paris Climate Goals to ensure a climate resilient future for all. What is the plan?
Our aim is to create awareness of the Paris Climate Goals together with the next generation through water and positive energy. We work with many youth networks worldwide and inspire them to come up with solutions to make our future climate resilient. Our plan is to bring together as many people as we can in this Challenge who work with rather than against each other. This approach enables us to reach communities that are normally hard to reach with sustainability initiatives. The UN2023 Water Conference in New York must be the catalyst for a global community of changemakers!
- The challenge is primarily focused on creating partnerships and awareness, supporting SDG 17, and creating local youth participation. How do you make young people heard and their ideas viable?
During our Challenge, the youth bring their water-related knowledge to local communities to increase their impact and gather new ideas for innovations. We connect them to experts that organise masterclasses, companies that become their case-owners, and knowledge institutions that offer interesting fields of future studies. Our network of public institutions, the private sector and NGOs support them in their mission.
Along the way, our community serves as a platform for changemakers. We engage in local and global events where we connect sports to science, and make their voice heard on the global stage. Apart from this, our community is present at global climate events such as COP and the UN2023 Water Conference to encourage policymakers and other stakeholders to create a climate resilient future.
About Wavemakers United
Wavemakers United is a global youth organisation that inspires youth and their families to work in a positive way on finding solutions to achieve the Paris Climate Goals. They use water, education and sports as ways of finding connections. Learn more on the Wavemakers United website.
