| From the African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation (ANEW) & the German WASH Network (GWN):
We are pleased to invite you to a virtual kick-off meeting to launch the process of developing a stakeholder declaration for the 2026 UN Water Conference and beyond. Following the widely recognized success of the stakeholder engagement process leading up to the Dakar One Day Stakeholder Meeting, we have continued discussions with a broad range of civil society alliances, stakeholder networks, other stakeholder groups, the conference co-hosts, and UN DESA on next steps towards the 2026 UN Water Conference. Based on these exchanges, we have decided to move forward with the development of a Stakeholder Declaration for the Conference. The stakeholder declaration is a collective effort to ensure that stakeholder priorities, commitments, and recommendations are recognized and reflected throughout the 2026 UN Water Conference process and its outcomes. The process seeks to bring together the perspectives, priorities and recommendations of civil society, children and youth, Indigenous Peoples, local authorities, women, workers and trade unions, farmers, the scientific and technological community, business and industry, and water practitioners, while remaining open to all other interested stakeholders. Legitimacy and success of the process depend on broad ownership across constituencies. As in the lead-up to Dakar, ANEW and the German WASH Network (GWN) offer a coordinating and facilitating role for this process. Through dedicated support provided by the German Federal Ministry for Development (BMZ), resources and staff time are available to help convene meetings, facilitate consultations, coordinate drafting processes, and support communication across stakeholder groups. To initiate the process, we convened an in-person working meeting with key stakeholder networks at World Water Week in Stockholm. Building on the momentum and the outcomes of this meeting in Stockholm, the upcoming global kick-off marks the next step in the process. Together, participants will explore why a Stakeholder Declaration is needed, what priorities and messages it should advance, and how an inclusive and participatory process can be designed to develop it. The meeting will provide an opportunity to shape both the content of the Declaration and the process from the outset. GLOBAL KICK-OFF Virtual Meeting We are pleased to welcome the following speakers: 🔹 Dr. Amadou Gueye, Deputy Sherpa for the 2026 UN-Water Conference, Senegal 🔹 Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation 🔹 Naiara da Costa Chaves, Senior Sustainable Development Officer, UN DESA 🔹 Sareen Malik, Executive Secretary, African Civil Society Network for Water and Sanitation We look forward to working with you and would greatly appreciate your engagement in this process. Please contact stakeholder-declaration@washnet.de with any questions. With best regards, Sareen, Thilo and Johannes |
| MEETING AGENDA
The kick-off meeting will be designed as an interactive working session. Participants will jointly identify common ground, discuss the scope and level of ambition for the Stakeholder Declaration, and help shape an inclusive process that enables meaningful contributions from all constituencies. 1. Welcome and intro 2. Setting the scene: Why is a Stakeholder Declaration needed? 3. Defining scope and ambition 4. Designing an inclusive process 5. Next steps and opportunities to engage |
| EXPRESSION OF INTEREST TO PARTICIPATE |
| EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
To support effective coordination, we kindly ask stakeholder networks to complete the expression of interest form indicating: · Interest in participation in the virtual kick-off meeting · Interest in remaining engaged throughout the Declaration process · Designation of focal point(s) for future coordination and consultation rounds · Interest in taking on a more active role in the coordination, drafting, outreach, or facilitation of the process |
| African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation (ANEW) &
German WASH Network (GWN) The coordination of stakeholder declaration by ANEW and the GWN is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) |
