Why was FAN at the 4th World Water Forum?
International meetings offer opportunities for civil society to come out of the field and their local environments and be involved at the international level, to share their local experiences and influence policies. The learning potential is high with many opportunities for south-south learning and forging relationships with other organisations working on similar issues through networking with diverse actors outside of the meeting rooms.
Freshwater Action Network (FAN) was established after the 2nd World Water Forum in 2000, as a freshwater advocacy network for civil society organizations (CSOs), to ensure that Southern CSOs are strongly represented at the international level and that their voices are heard during the increasingly political water debates.
During the 3rd World Water Forum, FAN members from Africa met and decided to have an inception meeting in Kenya to create what is now known as the African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation (ANEW) in October 2003. The network has been developing steadily and three years on, convened their own sessions for African CSOs during the 4th World Water Forum.
The idea for a network of CSOs in Central America, Freshwater Action Network Central America (FANCA), was born out of the activities of FAN at another international meeting; the 2002 UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. FANCA was integral to bringing local actors into the Latin American process for 4th World Water Forum and a member of the Committee for Americas.
CSOs in Mexico were brought together as FAN-Mexico (FAN-Mex). FAN-Mex includes a growing number of diverse Mexican Organisations working in the sector. They worked hard to create spaces both inside and outside of the Forum to share their experiences. FAN is keen to continue to support the development of the FAN-Mexico network but currently does not have a budget to support them financially.
Advocacy and policy influencing should not be the preserve of the big international organisations; our work allows smaller, often marginalised, organisations to play their role. CSO participation in the Forum aims to progress the commitments made previously, particularly the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development, UN Commission on Sustainable Development and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), to ensure that good decisions are not reversed, but kept to the forefront of discussions within the sector.
NGOs are very diverse and dont speak or act with one voice. The theme and scale of 4th World Water Forum created a role for us to support NGO participation in all aspects of the Forum that respected the differing perspectives and strengths of CSOs by creating different spaces for participating, dialogue and showcasing their work from around the world.
We worked hard to create space for CSOs at the World Water Forum in Mexico, March 2006 and secured five CSO sessions in total. We were delighted to be able to support and facilitate the participation of a diverse group of over 25 members of civil society from three continents and would like to thank the Mexican Government for providing funding.
Read the timetable of activities that FAN, FANCA, ANEW and FAN-Mex members were involved in during the Forum in our special leaflet. The document is in English and Espaol (1MB)
We hope that our members experiences will be respected as important contributions to sustainable progress, focusing on the needs of people living poverty and on protecting the environment. Their actions are in urgent need of support if we are to address the global water crisis.
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