Tanzania Rural and Urban Youth Alliance

THE 1^st SADC WATER WEEK

KUNDUCHI BEACH HOTEL March 11, 2015

THEME: FROM VISION TO ACTION-MAINSTREAMING CLIMATE CHANGE INTO THE WATER SECTOR WITHIN THE SADC REGION

NATIONAL YOUTH FORUM-DRAFT REPORT

ORGANIZED BY MINISTRY OF WATER IN COLLABORATION WITH TANZANIA WATER PARTNERSHIP AND GLOBAL WATER PARTNERSHIP SOUTHERN AFRICA.

1. SESSION I: OPENING SESSION-YOUTH & MEDIA

Invitation remark made by Dr. Victor Kongo, the chair of the Local Organizing committee (LOC) and Tanzania Water Partnership.

Dr. Kongo took the opportunity to welcome the participants to the forum and extend his gratitude to all people who have contributed for the success of the event, He specifically thanked the LOC for organizing the forum and shade light on the upcoming events. He inspired the youth to use the opportunity of attending the forum to learn and brainstorm and come up with positive ideas that can be implemented in the community, also he calls for the media to take advantage of the forum to learn on how to write constructive articles on water resources management.

He calls on participants who are youth and the tweet generation to share and spread the information about what is happening in the forum with the outside world.

He completed by inviting to the podium the next speaker Mr. Phera Ramoeli from the SADC secretariat.

Mr. Phera walked in the podium, extended his gratitude to the organization committee, partner organization and invited the participant in to the event.

Mr. Phera explained the background of national water week and emphasize on the need of youth empowerment by giving them information on water issues and call upon communication between stakeholders and training for youth and media in tackling water issues and challenges.

Mr. Phera finished his presentation by welcoming and thanking the participants for attending the event.

The chair person invited the National Youth Focal Person Mr. Alfred Emanoel in to the podium,

Mr. Alfred started his speech by briefing the participant on the increasing population, highlighting that out of the world’s 7 billion people, young people under the age of 30 account for more than half of this number (50.5%). In Africa 65% of the population are less than 35 and are vulnerable to poverty, unemployment, adolescent health issues, HIV infection, conflicts and lack of participation in decision making processes. He continue to say that in Tanzania, for instance, young people are heavily affected by country‘s urgent development issues with age and gender hierarchical societies reinforcing young people‘s exclusion in decision making from community to national level. In fact, the country has the tenth largest youth population globally. With 68% of the population is made up of young people aged between 15 to 35 years, and the figure set to rise significantly, under-standing young people and their situation is critical in Tanzania.

Mr. Alfred explained that because of the such challenges, the UN High Level Panel report on the Post-2015 Development Agenda released on 30 May, 2013 calls on the world to “leave no one behind”, a critical landmark in youth-led campaign to see the world’s new development framework inclusive of young people’s perspectives and aspirations. The Report outlines the importance of leaving no one behind, and in particular calls for creation of decent jobs and improving the livelihood of young people.

At the continental level, the 11th Meeting of the Executive Committee (EXCO) of the Africa Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) on June 2013 in Cairo, approved the AMCOW Policy and Strategy for Mainstreaming Youth in the Water and Sanitation Sector in Africa and directed the AMCOW Secretariat to implement the strategy by developing youth programmes as well as youth water prizes in collaboration with supporting partners, member countries and Regional Executive Councils.

He further explained that, at the regional level, the 2010 SADC Council direct the ministries of youth in the region to meet and coordinate regional policies and programmes on youth development, in 2011, SADC Ministers responsible for youth directed that their meetings should be preceded by a SADC Youth Forum. These initiatives resulted in the development of a draft of SADC Youth Strategy and Business Plan (2015-2020) and a draft Declaration that places emphasis on youth participation, empowerment and coordination to contribute to national development and the SADC regional integration and development agenda.

He continued that in the water sector, the Regional Strategic Action Plans (RSAP II and III) youth are identified as stakeholder, and this year, the SADC Water Division working together with Member States are holding National Water Weeks in all countries of the region. Among other activities lined up on the programme of these national water weeks is the National Youth Water Forum, These forums bring together youth as stakeholders at the national level to work together in mapping the way forward for youth involvement in the water sector. He also mention the main purpose of the forum which he said is to develop a national action plan for the implementation of the AMCOW Policy and Strategy on Mainstreaming Youth in the Water and Sanitation Sector and SADC Youth Strategy and to solicit input into the Regional Strategy Action Plan IV.

Mr. Alfred concluded with the quotation from William fox which says that: “in spite of the devotion of officials towards the best interests of citizens, no elected or appointed public officials is able to do much if citizens themselves do not care, are apathetic, cannot be reached or expected someone else to ensure the quality of their lives”. And call upon the participant to question themselves on who they are and why they are at the conference. He said we are in the forum for a reason, to make this planet a better place of living and youth can bring big changes in this world if we play our part.

He invited the government, developmental partners and private sectors to believe on youth and invest heavily on them. He said changes must come today, tomorrow is too late and together we can make a family.

After Mr. Alfred, the chair person invited the regional director inter press service Africa Ms. Kudzai Makombe in to the podium.

Ms. Makombe introduced the forum to the engagement of the media in the water management, as she commended that water is something special and it is everybody story considering it significant to the livelihood of any community, she urged the participant to tell water stories often as media or individual, Stories on how water bodies that we share regionally are managed, she said that stories could be an environment story but it link with water.

The challenges can be minimized since through media lots of issues can be addressed by all the stakeholders as each media has its own audience.

The assistant director for transboundary section from the ministry of water, Mr. S. Matemu, took the podium to have members know each other by introducing themselves and welcoming participant in to the forum which he officially opened the forum.

Mr. Materu started his speech by expressing his sincere appreciation to the ministry of water, LOC, SADC secretariat, GWPSA and Tanzania country water partnership for the success of the event.

He continued by reminding the youth and member of the media on the role to play in water resources management by referring Tanzania National water policy of 2002 which clearly recognize youth and children as key stakeholders, he said youth and the media all have a role to play in dissemination of information to the public. He emphasized on training support of youth and media members so that they can access a variety of information and assure accurate reporting of issues surrounding water resources and the environmental.

Mr. Matemu also elaborate the background of SADC Water Week and said, the last event was held in the year 2000 and resulted in to the development of SADC water vision for water “Life and the Environment”.

Mr. Matemu identifies the following as the challenges that are water related at national, regional and global level;

· Water resource has direct impact on the quality of life of the community.

· Climate change has made water resource availability unpredictable

· Global warming has caused disasters of high intensity

· Melting glacier raising sea levels

· Industrialization and urbanization has taken a toll on water resources through pollution degrading water quality

Mr. Matemu in addition inform the participant that water accessibility and availability remains the core government priority as government demonstrated the commitment by establishing legal framework which includes national water policy (2002) and water resources management act (2009) beside that the government also in its effort, establish a national water board and nine basin water offices operated by respective basin water boards.

Despite the effort done by the government, Mr. Matemu acknowledge that there still gaps which remains, specifically to strengthen the information base on existing water resources, improve capacity and tool to use that information to inform the decision making process in all sectors, hence he called on concerted effort of all stakeholders to address the identified challenges.

In concluding his speech, he reminded the participant that they all have a major role to play in water resources management and he expected that the training to guide the participant to understand better issues of water resources management. And he was looking forward toward the outcomes of the training so action can take place for the benefit of the present and future generation.

After finalizing his speech, Mr. Matemu declared the youth and media seminar officially opened.

2. SESSION II: PRESENTATIONS AND GROUP DISCUSSION

First presentation: Findings from the National Scoping Study

Mr. Alfred (National Focal Person) presented the findings from the National Scoping Study.

In his presentation, he pointed that the study was meant to incorporate groups, NGO’S and other stakeholder to have a spectrum of their involvement in the management of water resources in the country. The objective of the study was to provide a situational analysis that includes a detailed outline of role players involved in youth involvement in the environment, water and sanitation sector at the country level.

The methodology adopted for the study revolved around literature review, policies, legislations, reports and telephone interviews and document analysis was adopted.

Mr. Alfred identified that the environmental challenges have sky rocketed from what was described in the National Environmental Action Plan of 2013. The report went further to assess the policy and legal framework as well as institutional framework for environment, water and sanitation in the country. The legal framework was provided from the global perspective that is international treaties and protocols.

At the national level, he mentioned legal framework such as the national environmental policy, national water policy, national strategic for growth and poverty reduction of poverty, national environment action plan, environment management act, water resources and management act all enacted in conformity with the Constitution of The Republic of Tanzania. In the report, some of the youth inclusive interventions include strengthening access to clean water and sanitation in rural communities and enhancing social innovations by engaging in reduction of food waste to produce biogas and fertilizer, behavioral change and quality and affordable healthcare. However the process is limited by funds and lack of enough knowledge, some problems are also legislative. Mr. Alfred recommended that a policy review is necessary and sourcing funds and support for implementation of the ideas and dissemination of resources to facilitate the initiative.

The regional Water Net IWRM masters programme

The presentation was made by Eng. Ngwisa Mpembe who is a beneficiary of the program. The objective of the program was to build regional, institutional and human capacity in water resource management through education, training, research and outreach by harnessing complementary strengths of member institutions in the region. The program which is sponsored by Water Net is run in 6 universities (2 core and 4 specialization) with 6 specializations based on research themes. The program also offers a link in practice between engineering and management of water in the society.

The program has 300 graduates to date and Eng. Ngwisa appreciated the privilege of having gone through the program successfully and urged the qualified youth to consider acquiring the programs benefits.

The AMCOW Policy and Strategy on Mainstreaming Youth in the Water and Sanitation Sector in Africa

The presentation was done by Mr. Phera Ramoeli from SADC secretariat. Some of the highlights from the presentation is that it focused on the gaps in AMCOW and the challenges in mainstreaming the youth in the water and sanitation sector. He disclosed to the members how the process has taken 6 years in developing strategies to incorporate youth in water and sanitation management. The strategy was launched in 31^st may 2014, in Cairo, Egypt, whose strategic objectives are;

To ensure youth engagement for the sustainable development and management of the water and sanitation sector towards social and economic prosperity for Africa.
Enhancing social and economic development by investing in the youth
Promoting innovation through recognising and supporting the contribution of young people in the sector
Improving governance and leadership
Building cross-sectoral linkages and broadening the sector

During the discussion session the following concerns were raised

· It was not clear to members what has been done to increase pace towards implementation of the water and sanitation management. This question was not conclusive because since the strategic plan had an objective to improve on resource management and sanitation and a challenge was faced in the legal framework, funding, skills and coordination of the youth in the development.

· Given the time invested in the scoping study, has the organization come up with a list of active youth groups in the sector and their interventions in promoting water and sanitation, this was responded as a recommendation for the continuity of the study to identify the said groups.

· Other members were seeking clarification on what Tanzania water partnership as an organization is about and the organizational structure. Being an independent organization, the chairman responded that the participation can be organizational or individual and protocol was as stipulated in the brochure.

· A question was raised on the procedures for enrolment into the Masters program in IWRM. It unfolded that the whole procedure is done online and access to information was also available in the website. One of the core hosting institutions of the program is university of Dar es salaam which is in Tanzania. It also came to light that there exists an alumni program for the graduates of IWRM program.

· A concern was raised on the data reflecting the current sanitation and water resource statistics and the standard within the country. It was recommended that it should be updated such as to encompass newly introduced infrastructure such as improved latrines.

The next session involved group discussions where the 5 groups were to solicit participants input on the developing action plans. Each group has to come up with priority issues revolved around water and sanitation and reasons for its entry into the action plan. The issues are to be identified within the 5 key areas that are the objectives of the AMCOW Policy and Strategy namely:

· Enhancing social and economic development by investing in youth;

· Ensuring sustainability by empowering youth through knowledge;

· Promoting innovation through recognizing and supporting the contribution of young people in the sector;

· Improving governance and leadership

· Building cross-sectoral linkages as well as broaden the sector

Group discussions were facilitated by Mr. Alfred and each group presented the results of their discussion.

The discussion however proceeded with members screening out the priority issues that directly affect the country. With the activities proposed, the following issues were also identified as priority:

1. Establishment of a forum, which will give youth an identity in the sector, in the process of establishing the forum, participant agreed on development of a Task Force (National Steering Committee for Engaging Youth in Water Sector) that will lead the effort and the task force established will be under Tanzania water partnership.

2. Propositions for the structure of the National Steering Committee for Engaging Youth in Water Sector which at the current time will be handling issues concerning the planned youth forum, the following are the members;

NAME PHONE EMAIL

I. EMANOEL ALFRED (Chairperson) 0767693755 emanuel.richard12@yahoo.com

II. EZRA MWACHA 0717947817 ezramwacha@gmail.com

III. ELISEKILE MBWILLE 0756272440 ElisekileMbwille@wateraid.org

Tusekile_mbwile@yahoo.com

IV. EDWARD F. RUHINDA 0757026908 frontruh@yahoo.co.uk

eruhinda@aru.ac.tz

V. MIRIAM ESANJU 0654018782 esanjumiriam@yahoo.com