8th World Water Forum, Citizens' Process

What we did

As coordinator of the Citizens' Process, GIWEH convened civil-society organisations, youth movements and community representatives from every region to prepare a shared position ahead of the Forum in Brasília. The process ran for more than a year, with online consultations, regional preparatory meetings and a film festival that brought lived experience of water insecurity into the policy conversation.

The recommendations produced by the Citizens' Process were carried into the Forum's thematic sessions and reflected in its final declaration, ensuring that the priorities of communities, not only governments and utilities, shaped the global agenda on water security, sanitation and climate resilience.

Why it mattered

Multilateral water diplomacy too often stops at the level of states and large institutions. By building a credible, organised civil-society stream, GIWEH demonstrated a model for inclusive water governance that the institute has carried into every convening since.