From December 8 to 10, 2026, Abu Dhabi will host the third United Nations Water Conference, co-organized by the United Arab Emirates and Senegal. For more than a year, the International Secretariat for Water (ISW) has been mobilizing its networks and partners so that youth and civil society can not only take part in this global gathering, but genuinely contribute to the decisions that will shape the future of water governance.

Connecting local realities to global decisions

For more than thirty years, the ISW has acted as a catalyst, facilitator, and amplifier for civil society and youth in water governance.

This mission relies in particular on two major international coalitions facilitated by the ISW:

• the Global Youth Movement for Water, which brings together more than 420 youth organizations;
• the Butterfly Effect, a coalition of more than 160 NGOs, civil society organizations, and community-based organizations.

Through these platforms, the ISW builds bridges between realities on the ground and international decision-making spaces. Our ambition is simple: to ensure that the people directly affected by water issues can contribute to the policies and decisions that concern them.

Our message for Abu Dhabi: participation, accountability, and the means to act

The 2026 Conference is only the third United Nations conference entirely devoted to water, after Mar del Plata in 1977 and New York in 2023. It takes place in a context marked by multiple crises: growing pressure on water resources, increasingly severe climate impacts, weakened international cooperation, and mounting conflicts and tensions. In this context, the ISW holds a firm conviction: water must remain a space for cooperation, dialogue, and peace.

Abu Dhabi must also help move from commitments to implementation. This requires financing, strengthened capacities, accessible data, solid partnerships, and mechanisms to track progress.

The ISW and the coalitions it facilitates are putting forward five priority messages:

1. Institutionalize the meaningful participation of civil society and youth.
   Participation must go beyond consultation: it must cover priority setting, decision-making, implementation, and follow-up of commitments. For youth, Abu Dhabi must help move from the status of stakeholder to that of a true partner in water governance.
2. Invest in capacities and leadership, particularly those of young people. Meaningful participation requires resources. Dedicated and accessible funding must enable youth and civil society organizations to act and develop their leadership. The 30x30x30 ambition proposes in particular that, by 2030, 30% of people in positions of responsibility in the water sector be under the age of 30.
3. Create an inclusive advisory mechanism for the United Nations Special Envoy on Water.
   A permanent mechanism, including structured youth representation, would anchor the contributions of civil society and youth over the long term, beyond major international conferences.
4. Strengthen global water governance and accountability.
   The ISW advocates for continuity between the 2022 World Water Forum in Dakar, the 2023 Water Conference in New York, Abu Dhabi 2026, and the 2028 Water Conference. Regular intergovernmental meetings are needed to monitor commitments, keep water at the top of the international political agenda, and gradually strengthen global water governance.
5. Build the post-2030 agenda with civil society and youth.
   The 2026-2028 period will be decisive in preparing for the post-2030 era. The ambition of universal access to water and sanitation must remain central, with clearly defined responsibilities and mechanisms to measure progress.

These five messages reflect a single conviction: civil society strengthens accountability, youth bring continuity, innovation, and renewal, and institutions must create the spaces and mobilize the resources needed to turn this participation into real influence.

• Read our full position paper here.

Informing, building capacities, and developing common positions

The mobilization began in November 2025 with a series of webinars led by the ISW, “On the road to the 2026 United Nations Water Conference,” organized by the ISW with the Butterfly Effect, the Global Youth Movement for Water, and the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth, with the support of UN-Water and UNDESA.

The objective: to enable young people and civil society organizations to better understand the Conference’s six interactive dialogues, strengthen their capacities, and gradually build common positions.

• Click here and here to learn more.

Dakar: moving from consultation to co-creation

In January 2026, the ISW was mobilized in Dakar for the high-level preparatory meeting and the stakeholder day.

Through the Butterfly Effect, more than twelve civil society organizations were able to take part in the process despite obstacles related in particular to visas and funding. With its youth partners, the ISW also helped organize the interactive youth days and facilitate the discussions on “water in multilateral processes.” One message stood out: young people and civil society no longer want to be merely consulted. They want to co-create solutions.

• Read about our mobilization here

Bringing youth perspectives into the international debate

Throughout 2026, the partnership between the ISW and The Water Diplomat has helped bring young people’s perspectives to the major issues of the Conference: universal access to water and sanitation, financing, capacity building, climate and biodiversity, cooperation, water diplomacy, and the future of global water governance.

• Youth Call for Concrete Action, young people’s expectations of the Conference
• Interactive Dialogue E, “Water in multilateral processes,” on the importance of intergenerational dialogue
• Interactive Dialogue A, “Water for people,” on universal access to drinking water and sanitation
• Interactive Dialogue F, “Investments in water,” on expectations regarding financing
• Bridging the capacity gap, on the Youth4Water initiative and capacity-building gaps
• Interactive Dialogue C, “Water for the planet,” on fragmentation between climate, biodiversity, and water
• “From dialogue to implementation: what young people expect from water for cooperation,” on cooperation and trust

In parallel, the partners of the Global Youth Movement for Water are continuing an international process of capacity building and consultation around the six interactive dialogues in order to build a common youth position.

The ISW also plays an advocacy coordination role within the Conference’s Youth Organizing Committee, which brings together more than 60 organizations. The messages emerging from this process will feed into the new phase of the #FillUpTheGlass campaign, launched on the occasion of the 2023 United Nations Water Conference.

• For more details, see our article on youth initiatives here.

Making regions heard: Latin America and the Caribbean

On October 28 and 29, 2026, the ISW and its partners will hold the online regional conference “Fortaleciendo las Políticas del Agua en América Latina y el Caribe – Hacia la Conferencia del Agua de la ONU 2026.”

Governments, civil society, youth, academia, international organizations, and the private sector will come together around the six interactive dialogues. The goal is to bring out common positions from the region to contribute to the preparation of Abu Dhabi, with particular attention to vulnerable groups, youth participation, and the building of a shared agenda.

• Register for the webinar here.

Giving water a permanent place at the United Nations

The ISW’s mobilization also runs through the Butterfly Effect civil society coalition.

Following a broad consultation of its members, the coalition carries the message “Water needs a permanent home at the UN,” built around three demands: establishing regular United Nations meetings on water, creating an official mechanism for civil society participation, and preparing an ambitious post-2030 framework starting now.

The Butterfly Effect is also contributing to the Stakeholder Declaration of the 2026 Conference. It is leading in particular the work on the creation of a permanent intergovernmental process on water and contributing to proposals for a structured stakeholder participation mechanism.

• Read the Butterfly Effect position paper here.
• Click here for more information on civil society mobilization.
• Visit the official website of the Stakeholder Declaration and find out how to contribute here.

See you in Abu Dhabi

In Abu Dhabi, the ISW will continue this mobilization with its partners.

On December 10, the event co-organized with Finland as part of the Conference’s official program, “Youth4Water: from learning to work – mobilizing education, careers and meaningful engagement for SDG 6,” will bring together Member States, universities, youth networks, United Nations entities, and partners around a decisive question: how can a new generation move from education to employment, leadership, and real participation in the water sector?

Youth4Water, a flagship initiative adopted at the 27th session of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme and for which the ISW serves as operational secretariat, is meant to turn this ambition into concrete action starting in 2027.

From Dakar to Abu Dhabi, and already looking toward 2028 and the post-2030 period, our commitment remains the same: to connect communities with decision-making spaces, strengthen the capacity of youth and civil society to act, and make water a vector for cooperation, solidarity, and peace.