Your Voice Platform: The Brazilian experience at the World Water Forum
By: Pnud Brasil
Tags: Brazil, Undp, Sdgs, Water

THE 8th WORLD WATER FORUM

The World Water Forum is the largest water-related event on the planet and is one of the most important opportunities for international debate. Since 1997, the event has been organized every three years by the World Water Council along with a host city. The event contributes to the dialogue on decision making processes concerning global water issues, aiming for its rational and sustainable use.

The previous editions of the World Water Forum established the basis for global collaboration on water issues. The Forums’ outcome documents show a growing concern with the integrated and sustainable management of water resources and their implications for water, energy and food security, in order to cope with climate change, natural and anthropic disasters, and with the challenge of meeting sustainable development demands.

The Forum seeks to: increase the importance of the water theme on the political agenda; support deeper discussions about water-related problems; formulate concrete proposals and mobilise global attention around water; and generate political commitment relating to the Forum’s agreed upon terms.

In 2012, Brazil presented its candidacy to host the 8th World Water Forum in 2018 (through the Federal Government, the Government of the Federal District, the Brazil Section of the World Water Council and the National Water Agency) and suggested Brasilia as the host city for the event. The proposal was presented during the 6th World Water Forum in Marseille, France and was approved in February of 2014, initiating the planning phase for the event. The Forum would be held in the Southern Hemisphere for the first time in its history.

The 8th World Water Forum was held in Brasilia, on March 17–23, and was the largest Forum to date, with more than 120,000 participants, about 10,600 registrants, and approximately 109,600 visitors to the public spaces.

The eighth edition of the Forum had “Sharing Water” as its theme and was the first Forum held after the 2030 Agenda was established and the negotiation of the universal and legally binding global agreement on climate change. Together these events show unprecedented potential for impacting national and international policies on water resources, and for elevating the importance of their integration and transversality within a sustainable development context.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL PARTICIPATION

The Brazilian proposal to host the Forum presented the initiative of expanding social and citizen participation as one of its biggest innovations. Historically, the Forum originated from a meeting between experts and technicians with the goal of making the technical water agenda reach and influence political decisions. The World Water Forum aims to increase the importance of water in the political agenda and to promote deeper discussions, exchange of experiences, and the elaboration of concrete proposals for tackling water-related challenges.

Traditionally, the Forum included the main specialists, managers and organizations involved in water-related issues. According to the Brazilian organizers, the previous Forums involved the main institutions and researchers connected to the water theme, but there was no space for people to inform themselves of the discussion.

Inserting social participation in the Forum’s thematic structure was one of the priorities for the eighth edition. The Brazilian Government was assisted by UNDP in creating the Your Voice platform, a global on-line tool conceived as an integrated solution to support open discussion and the prioritization of issues by social participation for the 8th World Water Forum.

Through the Your Voice platform, the Steering Committee aimed to bring contributions from the entire society to the event, including voices not usually heard in these spaces. The Brazilian proposal was to better understand what were society’s concerns and increase participation in the discussions held at the Forum. The Your Voice platform was used to promote a wide debate on the Forum’s central themes. It has facilitated the transition of very technical discussions into issues that populate the daily lives of citizens around the world.

The planning for the event was carried out with the aim of breaking down barriers and broadening social participation. The Citizen Village, another innovation of the Brazilian application, was a public space that enabled the participation of the host city’s residents. However, there was still the geographic barrier and the associated travel costs for other Brazilian citizens. It was through the Your Voice platform that geographic barriers were removed and multiple voices were engaged into the debate.

THE YOUR VOICE PLATFORM

The Your Voice platform was an online open consultation space for people all over the world to contribute and influence the discussions of the 8th World Water Forum. The Your Voice platform organized discussions on relevant themes into six debate rooms, according to the Forum’s thematic dossier. The themes were:

In order to contribute to the discussion, volunteer moderators from different parts of the world and representing different sectors (public sector, civil society, etc.) followed the debates and organized the suggestions.

The presence of different languages, which might have been perceived as a barrier to participation, has not prevented the interaction between people from different parts of the planet, since one of the features of the platform was automatic translation to more than 97 languages, facilitating the exchange of ideas and experiences between people from different countries.

ROUNDS OF DISCUSSION

The online consultation was launched on 2017 and divided into three discussion phases.

The first round of discussions was held between February 13th and April 23rd of 2017. This round had 916 registrants, 555 public comments and more than 20,000 accesses, specially from Brazil, the United States, France, Mexico and India. The top 10 water-related issues were identified, and a vote was held for prioritization. About 36,200 votes were received from 116 countries. This allowed for the identification of the issues that society would have a greater interest in discussing at the 8th World Water Forum. The themes were referred for consideration at the Second Consultation of Interested Parties Meeting and served as a basis for defining the 8th World Water Forum’s thematic sessions.

The second round of discussions of the Your Voice platform, addressed the following cross-cutting water-related themes: Capacity-building, Sharing, Governance, and Sustainability. This phase was carried out from June 12th to August 13th of 2017. It had 1,409 registrants, nearly 22,000 accesses, and 137 public comments, especially from Brazil, the United States, Mexico, Colombia and India. The Brazilian cities that stood out in participation for this round were: Brasília, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro.

The third round was held from December 4th of 2017 to March 12th 2018 and focused on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The discussions addressed the challenges and opportunities for the sustainable development of water. This round aimed for a wider dissemination of the SDGs agenda. There were more than 180,000 accesses and 760 public comments were posted. The 10 countries with greater participation at this round were Brazil, the United States, France, Japan, India, the Netherlands, Portugal, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom of Spain.

PROFILE OF THE PARTICIPANTS

The Your Voice platform participants had distinct and varied profiles and participated in different ways. There were users who indicated concerns regarding the right and access to safe drinking water and the need for preservation of the springs, but also scholars who made technical contributions.

The platform allowed for interaction between people from different parts of the world who are interested in and have concerns related to water. Over 240 countries were represented.

In regard to the age groups, 61% of the users were adults from 30–59. The second largest participation was from young people from 16–29, with 27.89%. The participation of the elderly, with over 60 years of age, represented approximately 9.28% of the users.

When it comes to gender identification, there was a slightly superior percentage of men participating (56.88%) if compared to women (42.91%). Approximately 0.21% of the participants identified themselves as others.

Given this diversity, it was possible to identify local aspects, diverse opinions, and observe the relationship between the issues presented by the users and the discussions proposed by the Forum.

MODERATORS

Each thematic room had a group of moderators, at least one of them was Brazilian. The moderators posed questions, helped guiding the discussions and gathered results that contributed to the planning phase of the Forum.

In the VIII International Steering Committee of the World Water Forum (ISC) in Marseille (November 2016) it was decided that a call would be launched for expression of interest in being a moderator at the 6 public discussion rooms. The call was sent by the Executive Secretary of the 8th Forum by e-mail to its database of contacts, and by the National Water Agency, to the Brazil Session of the World Water Council.

Therefore, the selection process involved a public consultation on the interest to act as a moderator. The following criteria was adopted for moderator selection:

a) Regional representation (on both global and national levels)

b) Balanced backgrounds (academia, NGOs, civil society, professional associations, private companies, governments, etc.)

c) Curricular evaluation (academic training and professional experience, experience with consultation/moderation)

d) Specialty areas related to the planning phase of the 8th Forum (for discussion)

e) Limit of one moderator per room

The platform included the participation of 30 moderators from 11 different countries and with diverse backgrounds.

Before each round of discussion, a webinar was held or individualized support was offered to the moderators for discussing guidelines, the dynamics of the round, and expected results. The Platform also offered a private space known as “Moderator Space” where the ANA and UNDP teams had direct contact with the moderators for guidance and suggestions.

RESULTS OF THE ROUNDS

THE FIRST ROUND OF DISCUSSIONS

After the end of the first round, the main moderator consolidated the submissions received and prepared a report, which was used as input in the voting process. From that input, the ANA team drew up a list with the 10 main issues discussed in each room, that is, 10 points each for: Climate, People, Urban, Ecosystems, Finance and the cross-cutting themes: Sharing, Governance, and Capacity Building.

The issues identified were part of a voting process for prioritization. 36,200 votes were cast from 1,180 participants in 116 countries. The vote helped identifying the matters that society would have a greater interest in discussing at the 8th World Water Forum. The themes were referred for consideration at the Second Consultation of Interested Parties Meeting and served as a basis for the definition of the thematic sessions at the Forum.

THE SECOND ROUND OF DISCUSSIONS

The second round had a dynamic that was a little different from the previous one, and addressed the following cross-cutting water-related themes: Capacity building, Sharing, Governance, and Sustainability.

Each one of the themes was the object of discussion for the period of two weeks and the topics of discussion were similar in each of the rooms, according to the transversal theme debated.

For each of the stages, motivating texts and a list of main issues to be discussed were prepared. The word cloud at the side displays the items that were most discussed in the rooms for the second round.

Even with different themes, we can observe that some issues related to management, education and capacity building have been addressed in several rooms. The consolidated discussions of this round were referred as reference material to the Forum’s session coordinators so that they could prepare their presentations.

THIRD ROUND OF DISCUSSIONS

The goal of the third round was to disseminate the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The debates were centered around the challenges and opportunities for the sustainable development of water. This round had as a goal the dissemination of the 2030 agenda.

The third round represented the greatest number of accesses in the entire process, and succeeded in increasing the population’s knowledge about the 2030 agenda.

OVERVIEW OF THE THREE ROUNDS OF DISCUSSION

CLIMATE

Adaptation, integrated to social vulnerability, appeared as the biggest concern for this round. Then, came the necessity of greater dissemination of scientific knowledge, the need for empowering communities to assist in the elaboration of public policies for tackling climate change and, finally, the importance of expanding monitoring networks.

PEOPLE

Social control through monitoring, capacity building, environmental education and broadening of the water management social base, focusing on the capacity building of less educated communities and in sectors of society other than the technical sector, so that these sectors can contribute to the elaboration of water management plans, were all among the contributions.

DEVELOPMENT

The integration of planning tools, sectorial and municipal policies, and greater access to technology tools were among the themes discussed in the room. One of the proposals was the adoption of strategic environmental assessment as a tool for water management.

URBAN

The suggestions for the urban theme were related to the reuse and collection of rain water, integration of the basic sanitation system to the management of water resources, and reduction of losses. The relationship between the urban and the rural environments, and the regulation of services according to ethical standards were also among the main concerns.

ECOSYSTEMS

The concerns were related to the conservation and recovery of the basins, the elaboration of financial instruments to encourage conservation and especially recovery, the mapping of springs and the replenishing of watershed areas. The definition of water resource protection areas, the integration of environmental licensing with water resource management, and one proposal to consider water ecosystems as water users was also mentioned.

FUNDING

In the Finances room, the tariff, the misuse of water, the creation of funding lines for the system, and the discussion and support to public-private partnerships were among the themes discussed. Support to sustainable enterprises in order to promote sustainable development, a greater destination of public resources to water management and the necessity of finding alternatives to the current development model were also discussed.

IMPACT OF THE ROUNDS

The Second Consultation of Interested Parties Meeting held on April 26th of 2017 at the Ulysses Guimarães Convention Center in Brasilia, allowed for the Thematic Commission to assess the content produced since 2016 and establish the next steps in preparing the 8th World Water Forum sessions.

Group discussions were held at the meeting with the specific purpose of collecting contributions from the participants. Over 3,000 people from all over the world participated in the event, which also aimed to align the Thematic Process among members with specific roles, Thematic Commission members, and Coordinators of Themes and Topics. The titles of the sessions and their objectives were proposed in the meetings and were later discussed in the coordination groups.

The results of the Your Voice Platform vote were brought to this meeting and distributed to the Theme coordinators who discussed them with the participants, so that the sessions would consider this data in its initial design. 95 thematic sessions were proposed for the Forum (as a result of this meeting and of later stages) out of which 51 had a direct relationship to the themes identified in the Your Voice Platform, and 32 were indirectly influenced by them. Therefore, about 88% of the thematic sessions of the Forum were related to what was discussed in the Platform. It is important to note that the issues approached in the platform are reflected in different sessions, not always on the same theme.

For the purposes of this survey “direct impact” represented sessions that had a virtually equal title and “indirect impact” sessions that had a title with a partial connection to the session’s objectives.

It was verified that 41% (37) of the themes directly pertained to the issues voted on, and that 29% (26) of the themes indirectly pertained to them. As for the sessions influenced, 55% (51) out of the total sessions of the thematic dossier were directly influenced by the platform and 32% (32) were indirectly influenced by the platform. It is worth highlighting the “People” theme, where 89 percent of the sessions were being directly influenced by the Platform’s discussion, followed by Climate (75%), Finance (78%), and Urban and Governance (67%). It was observed that the online discussions had more influence on Themes where the moderator also had a role within the thematic process, facilitating the flow of information between the formal elaboration process and the online discussion. A breakdown of this information is presented in the table below.

As for the cross-cutting themes, issues related to inclusion and social participation had the most impact, appearing in several sessions but relating more to the Forum’s Citizen Process.

According to the Brazilian managers the Forum’s discussions had a great degree of adhesion to what was discussed in the Platform. The Civil Society responded, participated, took ownership and contributed on how they would like each issue to be addressed. The platform allowed for the discussions to be more comprehensive. It was not a model in which society was informed of expert discussions, on the contrary, it created a channel in which the experts were informed on the population’s interests. Some themes emerged, such as water in the conflict zone, which up to that moment had not been tackled by the experts.

RESULTS ACHIEVED

The results of the Your Voice platform discussions were presented during the 8th World Water Forum in a session entitled “Contributions of the Your Voice platform: identifying the challenges and opportunities for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS) in the promotion of water management”, which included a summary of contributions and its implications on the water-related SDG themes.

According to the Brazilian managers the Forum’s discussions had a great degree of adhesion to what was discussed in the Platform. The Civil Society responded, participated, took ownership and contributed on how they would like each issue to be addressed. The platform allowed for the discussions to be more comprehensive. It was not a model in which society was informed of expert discussions, on the contrary, it created a channel in which the experts were informed on the population’s interests. Some themes emerged, such as water in the conflict zone, which up to that moment had not been tackled by the experts.

According to the platform moderators, the discussions were a great tool for exploring the issues subsequently discussed in the Forum. Climate change and how people were experiencing the problems generated by it were widely discussed subjects. The diversity of issues presented by people from different localities also contributes to qualify the event.

The relevance of the Your Voice platform experience was a consensus between the Brazilian moderators and managers. It was agreed that the process can be improved based on some of the lessons learned by Brazil, such as: formal hiring of the moderators, adoption of the thematic voting model for defining the Forum’s program, and greater dissemination of the platform and its goals. In spite of the suggestions for improvement, the use of the platform was considered a major breakthrough in ensuring greater social participation. It was agreed that it is no longer possible to hold an event of this magnitude without ensuring citizen participation.

At the end of the Forum, delegation representatives from over 100 countries approved the Ministerial Declaration entitled “Urgent call for decisive action on water resources”. In this document, the need for cooperation at all levels and between all sectors and interested parties was pointed out. It was also added that the sharing of knowledge, experiences, innovation, and, when appropriate, solutions, is fundamental for promoting the sustainable management of water and for exploring the synergies between the various water-related aspects of the 2030 Sustainable Development agenda.

Item 2.3. of the declaration also indicates the need to take advantage of the networks and partnerships formed during the 8th World Water Forum and its various processes, to promote the implementation of the Forum’s agreed upon terms.

The Your Voice platform was one of the greatest innovations implemented in the Forum and it has demonstrably led to the expansion of social debate. It has also proven to be a useful tool for strengthening networks and partnerships on water-related issues and on other themes.