A youth-led ecosystem
Get to know our 'Waves'!
The “Wave” consortium represents an innovative element in the global initiative of Wavemakers United. This initiative was born from the commitments made to the Water Action Agenda during the UN Water Conference held in New York. The commitment is to educate 1 million youngsters annually about water and sustainability while working on global capacity building. The name “Wave” is used for the identity of the local consortia.Â
Origin
Wavemakers United started this journey with a vision to address critical issues surrounding water and sustainability through education, awareness, youth involvement, innovation, job access, advocacy, and enhancing local frameworks. The realization that effective action requires local involvement in communities led to the formation of local consortia, named “Waves”, in various countries. Each “Wave”, eg Wave of Indonesia to others around the world, contributes to the global mission.
The “Wave” consortium is shaped as a youth-led ecosystem that works on internal growth and produces tangible external outcomes
Core Framework of Stakeholder Engagement
The success of each “Wave” relies on a framework of stakeholder engagement, creating the way for students:
- Local Authorities: By partnering with ministries and governmental agencies, “Wave” ensures youth participation in decision-making processes, facilitating access to essential facilities, schools, and events.Â
- Universities: As an academic institution, universities offer the capacity for training students to become “Wavemakers” – ambassadors for water and sustainability. Their programs in innovation, community engagement, and international relations align seamlessly with the “Wave” mission.
- Private Sector: Focusing primarily on the water sector, private companies play a crucial role in decision-making that affects ecosystems. Youth involvement in these organizations is vital, as is leveraging their in-house expertise.
- Local NGO’s: These organizations benefit from and contribute to the capacity built within “Wave”, providing support through infrastructure, expertise, and funding for projects.
- Innovators: Connecting young professionals and students with initiatives aimed at solving water and sustainability issues is crucial. “Wave” serves as a platform for support, leading to innovation and solution development
Mission and Outcomes
The “Wave” consortium is shaped as a youth-led ecosystem that works on internal growth and produces tangible external outcomes. Internally, “Wave” focuses on training youngsters to become “Wavemakers”, who then engage in guest lectures, presentations, and workshops at schools, companies and events.
This educational outreach aims to inspire and educate the younger generation about water-related topics, creating a culture of sustainability from an early age. Through these interactions small kids will become interested in water topics and educated about it. These kids will nudge their parents and change on microlevel. The older children will be invited to take on a water study or work on a water related issue. When they are older they will be the Wavemakers giving back to children and students. In the meantime the Wavemakers who trained them will be working as professionals in organizations and still giving back to the community by collaboration.
This creates an ecosystem of youth that sustains and improves itself.
Athletes
Sustainable development requires bold ambitions, the right tools and inspiring collaborations. Sounds a bit like winning a gold medal, right? Who better to inspire the next wave of sustainable impact than an athlete? Explore and join the story below!
Young professionals
We need the brightest minds available to accelerate water action. Therefore, we work together with young professionals and their organization. They provide us with their ambition to innovate, we offer them a great network of likeminded change makers.
