GWP SAS, Youth and Young Water Professionals Platform (YYPP) and Brandix Apparel Limited jointly launched the “South Asia Youth Water Challenge 2023” on 21 March targeting youth in South Asia and calling for ideas and innovations that would catalyse the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: Ensure Availability and Sustainable Management of Water and Sanitation for All in 2030. Through the competition, the youth will be assisted both financially and technically to implement their ideas and initiatives to generate meaningful change in the water sector on the ground. The challenge was launched in line with World Water Day 2023 with the theme of “Accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis”.
The last day for the concept notes submissions was 22 May, and we received 31 applications made by different youth groups. The application process engaged over 100 youths from across South Asia. A group of panellists consisting of Brandix Apparel Limited, GWP SAS and YYPP screened the initial set of concept notes and shortlisted eight at the first round of selection.
The selection criteria are as follows.
- Concise information on project requirements and implementation plan
- Clear identification of the problem and demonstration of project impact
- Feasibility of the project
- An interdisciplinary approach to address the thematic areas of water and its interconnections
- Special consideration and inclusion of gender, youth, and indigenous communities
The second round of selection was based on the presentations made by eight shortlisted candidates that were held on 28 June with the presence of a wider audience consisting of GWP SAS Country Water partnerships, members of YYPP and a special Jury. The Jury comprised Researchers and Technical Experts coming from the Sustainability and CSR teams of Brandix Apparel Limited, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), GWP SAS and a young Civil Engineer specialising in Water Resource Engineering and Management representing YYPP.
The selected four concept notes are,
|
Proposal title |
Name of the Team |
Location |
|
Stand-alone wireless water quality monitoring and automated rainwater harvesting system |
EDIC Team |
Electronics Design and Innovation Centre, the Department of Physics and Electronics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka |
|
A Community-Centric Approach to enhance water quality and capacity of Kotmale Reservoir, Sri Lanka |
Water Guardians |
4th Year Students, University of Rajarata, Sri Lanka |
|
Promoting Sustainable Practices for Sustainable Management in Andhra Pradesh: A Community-Based Approach |
GBM Basin Ambassadors |
Bangladesh, India and Nepal |
|
Fostering meaningful youth engagement for wetlands conservation and management in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, India |
Wetland Crusaders |
Now the selected four youth groups are approaching the third and final round of the South Asia Youth Water Challenge 2023 and which the final presentations are planned for early August. The winning proposal will be awarded a grant of USD 2500 for project implementation.
Arrangements are being made to provide the youth groups technical support depending on their requirements to support their concept note development into full proposals. A curated mentorship process will be developed for each team. The objective of the program is not only to provide participants with financial support to implement their initiatives but also to build their capacity in proposal formulation for the future and allow them to expand their professional networks. We are very excited to work together with these youth teams!