New York presents international stage for Young Experts and innovation
During the UN 2023 Water Conference, the city of New York was the scene of activities for a dozen Young Experts from YEP programmes led by NWP. NWP was also involved in hosting the Innovation Pavilion at the UN 2023 Water Conference. The Pavilion was held from 22-24 March and was located at the UN Building in New York. The activities that NWP undertook at the New York Water Week presented an excellent opportunity to promote some of the things the Dutch Water Sector does best.
Being in the limelight on the biggest international stage at the UN Water Conference was perhaps not something Loay Alatrash and Hadi Toure had foreseen when they started their YEP trajectory three years ago. But they nailed it and their accomplishments did not go unnoticed.
Hosting the Wetskills Challenge
As the host of the Wetskills Challenge, Loay Alatrash (Batch 20) guided an intercultural group of young experts towards innovative solutions on clean water. His supervision and guidance during the 10 day Wetskills Challenge programme came to a close on the Youth Day in the Water House where Loay moderated the presentations of all Wetskills groups.
Inspirational keynote speaker
New York Water Week’s Youth Day was one of the stages where Hadi Toure (Batch 19) was a keynote speaker. During IUCN and YEP’s panel discussion on ‘Obstacles to Youth Engagement’, she inspired the crowd and demonstrated how young people and the established generation can best work together. Further, as a Fellow of the International Water Association (IWA), she engaged in numerous youth action initiatives at the UN 2023 Water Conference.
Young Expert Programmes consists of YEP Water, YEP Agrofood, YEP Energy (the ‘Nexus’) and YEP Tailor-made. The main goal of the Programmes is to offer young Dutch professionals the opportunity to gain experience abroad and young international professionals the opportunity to gain experience in working in an international environment through Dutch organisations. YEP Programmes is coordinated by the YEP Programme Bureau, and NWP acts as the Programme Bureau's lead agency. NWP is striving for YEP Programmes to rejuvenate the Dutch international cooperation sector by providing organisations with highly skilled young professionals.
Innovation Pavilion
Another activity that NWP was involved in at the UN 2023 Water Conference was hosting the Innovation Pavilion. The Pavilion was held from 22-24 March and was located at the UN Building in New York. The participants in the Innovation Pavilion showcased transformable and scalable solutions to water efficiency, improving water quality and increasing access to water, sanitation & hygiene (WASH). Six participants exhibited their solutions on one of these issues three themes every day.
Contribute to the global effort to ensure water security
“The 2023 UN Water Conference was an amazing opportunity to promote Waterplan’s mission and contribute to the global effort to ensure water security for all,” said Nico Wertheimer from Waterplan. “Our innovative platform at the Innovation Pavilion helped us increase our visibility among key stakeholders, implementing partners, and clients such as AB InBev, Danone, WWF, The Nature Conservancy, and Fortune 500 companies that are working with Waterplan to accelerate the transition to a water-secure world. This event helped position us as leaders in Climate Water Resilience, a new category that we are building, and provided an excellent opportunity to identify and meet new talent dedicated to our mission.”
As an innovative tech start-up that leverages science and technology, these events are crucial for us to create new avenues for growth and expansion, and most importantly, to drive collective water action for a sustainable future.
Nico Wertheimer
Waterplan
22 March: Water Quantity participants
- Aquifer Recharge – Acacia Water
- Supply Chain Risk – Waterplan
- Innovative Finance – World Bank Group
- Circularity – Van der Hoeven Horticulture
- Urban Climate Resilience – Wavin / Global Compact
- Quantity Challenge – 100+ Accelerator
23 March: Water Quality participants
- Climate Smart Agriculture - NFP, SeedNL, HZPC
- Decentral Drinking Water – Source.co
- Small Islands – Genu / Wavemakers
- Nature-Based Solutions – The Nature Conservancy
- Limiting Waste – What Design Can Do
- Quality Challenge – WEF & Uplink
24 March: WASH participants
- Sanitation Challenge – Toilet Board Coalition
- WBG Innovations – World Bank Group
- SDG 6 Monitoring – SDG6 Group / UN Water
- Nature-Based Solutions – Safe Water Gardens
- Results-Based Funding – Uptime Water
- Innovative Finance – Aqua for All
Other NWP activities in New York
In addition to the YEP programmes and Innovation Pavilion, NWP also fulfilled a role in both the Innovation Pavilion (at United Nations Headquarters) and the Waterhouse (in the building that houses the Netherlands Consulate General in New York). Read the full report on these activities here.
