The Butterfly Effect at the 10th World Water Forum
From May 18 to 24, 2024, we took part in the 10th World Water Forum, held in Bali, Indonesia.
As this was an opportunity to bring different stakeholders together around our most precious and limited resource, water, the Butterfly Effect mobilized to make the voice of civil society heard at this Forum.
Discover some of the highlights of this mobilization here.
The Butterfly Effect coalition reminds the international community of its commitments and calls for urgent action to tackle the water crisis!
As part of its participation in the 10th World Water Forum to be held in Bali, Indonesia from May 18 to 25, 2024, discover the coalition's political positioning document.
Discover our positioning here!
This policy document represents a combined effort, merging the ideas and demands formulated for the Dakar World Water Forum (March 2022) and the 2023 UN Water Conference. Building on the foundations laid in these documents, this iteration incorporates additional requests tailored to the specific needs and context of the 10th World Water Forum. By synthesizing the priorities identified in previous versions and integrating new considerations relevant to the next Forum, this document aims to provide a comprehensive and coherent framework for addressing the global water crisis on the international stage.
The Butterfly Effect calls for urgent action against the weaponization of water
As we reflect on the events that have marked the world in recent years, we express our profound solidarity with communities facing tragic situations as a result of conflict.
We strongly condemn the use of water as a weapon of war.
Preparatory meeting of the political segment of the 10th World Water Forum
- the human rights to water and sanitation,
- promoting transboundary cooperation,
- aligning commitments with UN processes and strengthening the multilateral framework,
- including civil society in the next stages of the process,
- condemning water as a weapon of war, and
- stressing the need for a coordinated approach, particularly in humanitarian contexts.
Open letter to the organizers of the 10th World Water Forum
We call on the World Water Council and the National Organizing Committee of the 10th World Water Forum, to be held in Bali, Indonesia, from May 18 to 24, 2024, to ensure the fair and equitable inclusion of civil society in the next Forum.
As the main platform for multi-sectoral discussion, the success of such an international process can only be guaranteed if it involves all stakeholders, including civil society, to ensure that people's voices are heard, including those of people in vulnerable situations, for their equitable, inclusive and affordable WASH services and to be a force of proposal.
- Read the letter here
- Sign our appeal here until January 25, 2024
Civil society mobilizing towards the 10th World Water Forum
On December 6, the International Secretariat for Water, through the NGO coalition l'Effet Papillon, and in collaboration with Simavi, organized an online information workshop entitled "Civil society mobilizes towards the 10th World Water Forum - how to get involved".
The workshop, held in English with simultaneous interpretation into French and Spanish, aimed to:
- Take stock of preparations for the World Water Forum and share thoughts on what we can expect from it
- Discuss civil society participation in the event, and in particular the call for contributions
- Provide information on advocacy initiatives and the main messages we need to convey to the international community at the event.
After a short introduction underlining the importance of a strong mobilization of civil society as a lever for action to achieve good governance objectives, the organizers presented the history of the World Water Forums and the organization of its 10th edition, to be held in Bali, Indonesia from May 18 to 24, 2024.
This was followed by a lively exchange between 80 participants from some 15 different countries, during which the organizers answered numerous questions on the Forum's themes, practicalities of obtaining a visa for Indonesia, the existence of financial support mechanisms, participation procedures including registration fees, etc.
Mobilized to pave the way for a coordinated and ambitious response to the water crisis, and to contribute actively to this 10th World Water Forum, l'Effet Papillon is committed to bringing the voice of civil society to the 10th World Water Forum so that it is as inclusive as possible and leads to concrete and clear commitments in favor of water and sanitation.
Find out more :
- Our powerpoint presentation in English, French and Spanish
- The video recording of the workshop
- Key information from the workshop in English, French and Spanish
- Information on the call for contributions and the civil society contribution mapping tool
Water needs a home
To ensure concrete action on the commitments made at the United Nations Water Conference 2023, the Butterfly Effect NGO coalition launched a call to finally give water a home through an open letter addressed to the Secretary General of the United States and other UN personalities.
Together we can move things forward to accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6 and remind governments and international bodies of their commitments.
More than 130 organizations from all over the world have joined our appeal and we are glad to know that our common goals for a sustainable water sector keep our enthusiasm awake. There can be no progress in the water sector unless global governance is strengthened.
The Butterfly Effect at the 2023 United Nations Water Conference
From March 22 to 24, 2023, we took part in the United Nations Water Conference in New York - the first in almost 50 years.
As this was a unique opportunity to rally states and the international community around our most precious and limited resource, water, and to give us the chance to solve the water crisis, the Butterfly Effect mobilized to move the lines and influence the outcome of this conference.
Discover some of the highlights of this mobilization here.
Civil society and youth organise towards the 2023 UN Water Conference
In December 2022, the Butterfly Effect Secretariat - provided by the International Secretariat for Water (ISW) - in collaboration with End Water Poverty, the Coalition Eau, Sanitation and Water for All, Simavi and the Global Youth Water Movement organised two online workshops to :
- Inform about the conference and share reflections on what we can expect from it
- Discuss civil society and youth participation
- Inform about ongoing advocacy initiatives
- Discuss the main messages we need to convey to the international community at the event
Results
The +150 participants from +70 countries made some recommendations, such as
- Select cross-cutting points between civil society and youth messages, amplify each other's messages and strengthen some of them;
- Prioritise access for marginalised groups, including refugees;
- Prioritise the human rights issue of water and sanitation,
- Integrate water and sanitation into climate change actions;
- Support the intersection between access to water and sanitation, gender and health
- Combat the profit motive
Perspectives
Mobilized to pave the way for a coordinated and ambitious response to the water crisis and an effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda, in particular MDG6, the International Secretariat for Water, the Butterfly Effect and the co-organizers of these workshops are committed to bringing the voices of civil society and youth to the 2023 Conference so that it leads to concrete and ambitious actions for water and sanitation.
Useful resources
- Find the recording of the first workshop here
- Find our powerpoint presentation in ENG
- Find the presentation of UN DESA
- Find the presentation of UN Water
Report of the Butterfly Effect at the 9th World Water Forum - Dakar
From 21 to 25 March 2022, we participated in the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar !
The world water forum ended on March 25, 2022.
On the occasion of this flagship event of the water sector, the coalition of NGOs and CSOs for water - the Butterfly Effect - mobilized through its members to support an active involvement and participation of civil society both in the preparatory process and at the World Water Forum.
Discover some of the highlights of this mobilization here
World Water Forum : Civil society calls for a global political awakening
While the World Water Forum is taking place in Dakar from March 21 to 25, seven representatives of regional and global networks, bringing together more than 850 organizations, are calling on the leaders of the five continents to tackle concrete measures to tackle the global water crisis.
Water is the major social and ecological issue of the 21st century.
Our organizations and their members, from five continents, call for five major policy changes to address the water crisis.
Meeting the challenges of water and sanitation is not impossible but requires urgent political action. Forty-six years after the 1977 conference, the United Nations will hold an intergovernmental conference on water in March 2023 in New York. With one year to go before this major event, we need a global surge for water!
This op-ed has been co-signed by more than 130 NGOs and international civil society organizations, the complete list of signatories can be found here
Thanks to our partners Swiss Development & Cooperation, France Diplomatie and the European Commission for making this global effort possible.
Category: General
Our wake-up call to tackle the global water crisis
Water is the major social and ecological issue of the 21st century. All stakeholders acknowledge the significant challenges we face in implementing the human rights to water and sanitation and in managing our water resources in an equitable and sustainable way.
Although water is primarily managed locally, the water crisis is GLOBAL: the entire international community is concerned. The World Water Forum, to be held from 21 to 26 March 2022 in Dakar, Senegal, is a key step towards the United Nations Water Conference in March 2023, where all States will be gathered.
Our recommendations to the States and the international community:
The members of the Butterfly Effect NGO coalition call for a global response to the water crisis!
5 concrete political changes are necessary:
- A stronger political will
- Stronger water governance
- Actively involved citizens and civil society
- Strong and transparent financial commitments
- A renewed multilateral framework
Our process:
These demands are the result of a participatory advocacy process led for almost a year by the international NGO coalition of the Butterfly Effect. This process, which was conducted from the local to the global level, mobilized more than 200 participants from civil society in the water sector from all 5 continents.
Our messages were developed through a consultation of our members and 6 online workshops coordinated by regional water civil society networks. The results of these workshops are compiled in a detailed synthesis.
Our final proposals are gathered in this policy position paper.
With the World Water Forum approaching and the UN Water Conference just one year away, we expect a global awakening of States to face the water crisis!
Thanks to our partners Swiss Development & Cooperation, France Diplomatie, the European Union and the Agence Française de Développement for making this global effort possible.
The views expressed in this document do not in any way represent the official views of the organisations providing financial support.
The Butterfly Effect publishes the results of its regional advocacy workshops!
In November and December 2021, members of the Butterfly Effect were co-organising a series of workshops to formulate a set of policy demands.
During these workshops, nearly 180 NGO representatives discussed the question: What policy changes are needed to realise the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation and for sustainable and equitable water management?
In order to open this process to civil society engaged in water issues, the Butterfly Effect has compiled the priorities formulated during these workshops into a synthesis, open to consultation.
The consultation form is available in English, French and Spanish
The different inputs collected from this consultation will contribute to the production of a short policy paper that will be submitted to decision makers in the water sector, notably on the occasion of the 9th World Water Forum and the UN Water Conference in 2023.
An updated version of this paper, incorporating the comments and remarks collected, will be published later on the Butterfly Effect website.
Thanks to our partners Swiss Development & Cooperation, France Diplomatie, the European Union and the Agence Française de Développement for making this global effort possible.
The views expressed in this document do not in any way represent the official views of the organisations providing financial support.
The regional advocacy workshops
The international civil society coalition - the Butterfly Effect - co-organized a series of regional advocacy workshops for NGOs and CSOs working in the water sector between November and December 2021.
These workshops are part of a broader influencing process carried by the coalition and aiming to enable civil society to speak with a strong voice and influence decision-makers for positive, ambitious and concrete changes in favor of better water resources management and sanitation and a concrete implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda, in particular the MDG6 dedicated to water.
These workshops allowed to deepen the messages identified during an online consultation conducted by the Butterfly Effect during the summer 21 and to bring out concrete political demands are the main objectives of these workshops. They were also an opportunity to bring together many NGOs and CSOs working to improve access to water and sanitation for all in their respective regions and highlighted region-specific issues that can be used by the different actors later on.
- The Europe workshop was coordinated by the European Pact for Water.
- The North American workshop was coordinated by the North American Youth Parliament for Water and brought together 15 NGOs.
- The English-speaking Africa workshop was coordinated by the African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation (ANEW) and involved several breakout sessions, some of which took place during Africa Water Week.
- The Francophone Africa workshop was coordinated by the Platform of Civil Society Organizations on Water and Sanitation of Senegal (POSCEAS) and brought together 25 civil society organizations.
- The Asia workshop was coordinated by the Freshwater Action Network South Asia (FANSA) and brought together 70 participants from 7 different countries.
- The Latin American workshop was coordinated by the Red de Acción por el Agua en México (FANMEX) and brought together 28 CSO representatives.
The Butterfly Effect is currently working on a synthesis of the workshops compiling all the demands and policy priorities expressed by civil society. This synthesis will then be published and opened for consultation and feedback.
Follow us on the networks so that you don't miss the next steps of our influence process!
For its influence work, the Butterfly Effect has identified two main targets:
-The Heads of State Declaration (Dakar, March 2022): the organizers of the World Water Forum that will take place in Senegal in March 2022 want to give a very strong political scope to this forum and connect it to the UN processes.
-The 2023 UN Water Decade Conference (New York, March 2023): the first global intergovernmental conference on water since 1977 and a most strategic platform for states' commitment to achieving the goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
If you are an NGO or CSO active in the water sector or interested in water issues, join us and help shape the political demands of civil society!
The organization of these workshops is made possible thanks to the support of the NGO coalition Butterfly Effect, coordinated by the International Secretariat for Water
Thanks to our partners Swiss Development & Cooperation, France Diplomatie and the European Union for making this global effort possible.
Synthesis of the advocacy consultation
The Butterfly Effect launched a consultation process this summer 2021 to gather a set of advocacy messages representing the voices and priorities expressed by NGOs and CSOs active in the water sector at the global level.
In total, 44 contributions from NGOs and CSOs around the world were received. The following synthesis presents the results of this consultation, and is structured as follows
- Part 1: The current situation of the water and sanitation sector worldwide
- Part 2: Policy changes and actions needed
- Part 3: Messages to decision makers
- Part 4: CSO/NGO actions in the water sector
- Part 5: Role of the international community
A few strong propositions already emerged, amongst them: show a strong political will in the field of water and sanitation, strengthen legal and institutional frameworks and water governance, make concrete financial commitments for water and sanitation, strengthen civil society and ensure citizen participation, deliver on commitments and be accountable, improve international cooperation and the multilateral framework for water and sanitation.
This consultation is part of an advocacy strategy to support its members and other CSOs and NGOs active in the water sector to express their views at a high level and influence decision-makers for positive, ambitious and concrete systemic changes in the way water and sanitation are managed, while contributing to the implementation of SDG6.
The Butterfly Effect has identified two major overarching goals for its advocacy process:
- 1. The Heads of State Summit of the 9th World Water Forum (Dakar, March 2022)
- 2. The UN Conference on the Water Decade 2023 (New York, March 2023)
This consultation will be followed by regional online workshops and will lead to the development of a policy paper compiling the policy demands expressed by NGOs and CSOs.
Download the Synthesis here in English, French or Spanish
