For the past three years, the World Youth Parliament for Water has been led by a group of inspiring and hard working young people. As their mandate will soon come to an end, it is time to elect the new President and Vice President of the network and to form the leadership team who will guide the network from 2024 to 2027.
This year, the elections will be held online in November 2023, ahead of the physical 6th General Assembly, which will take place in Bali, Indonesia in May 2024. After a transition period, the mandate of the newly elected board will officially start at the 6th General Assembly.
This page will give you all the necessary information regarding the election process, which allows all members of the WYPW to apply for a leadership role and to vote to elect their new President and Vice President. Other members of the board (regional focal points) will be elected at a later point, during a second election process.
This process is supported by the International Secretariat for Water, thanks to the financial support of the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation and the Agence de l'eau Artois-Picardie.
Leadership role descriptions
Putting yourself forward for election to the positions of President or Vice President of the WYPW represents a commitment beyond anything else in our organisation. The President and Vice President are expected to give a significant portion of their time and passion for the growth and representation of WYPW in the water sector.
The lists of respective tasks listed here for each of these roles is a suggestion of responsibility distribution between the President and the Vice President of the WYPW. During their application and campaign process, candidates are free to adapt this list and should discuss a role distribution that matches their skills, profiles and preferences.
Essential skills for leadership roles include:
- Excellent communication skills (you are an active listener, great at public speaking, and are comfortable to facilitate group conversations)
- Ability to build up and motivate teams (you are a strong mentor, you enjoy team-building, and inspiring your peers)
- Ability to work collaboratively (you are good at accepting feedback, work well with your team, and have the ability to manage your time wisely)
- Remain positive in stressful and demanding events and projects (you have great interpersonal skills)
- Provide creative solutions (you are innovative, open-minded, a critical thinker,, and are quick to respond to problems with a solution)
- A great project manager (you enjoy managing multiple projects at one time)
- Honesty (you aim to be transparent in the way you work and are honest with yourself and others with whom you work)
- Commitment (you are one that perseveres in difficult circumstances and is willing to prioritize for the good of the organization).
Eligibility criteria
- Age: Must be between 18 and 32 years of age upon application
- Experience: At least 2 years of relevant experience, gained in professional or voluntary activities; experience in youth mobilisation and/or water resources management; experience in coordination within and between organisations;
- Language: Full fluency (written and spoken) in English (at least with professional working proficiency) and fluency in another language
- Availability: For this role, each candidate must be available to volunteer 10 hours of their time per week for a period of 3 years, with increased flexibility during flagship events
- We encourage the President and Vice-President to represent diversity in terms of geographical representation, educational background, sectorial experience, gender, etc.
- Each candidate must present two letters of support (for example from teachers, members of the network, mentors, etc. but excluding family members), a curriculum vitae/resumé and a letter of intent
- All documents and material must be presented in English
- Both candidates must be members of the WYPW (if you are not a member yet, please fill in the membership form before applying)
- The team must have submitted a 2-3 min video which outlines their vision for the WYPW
- The candidates must not be politically affiliated to any group that does not share the values of the WYPW (peace, equity, environment)
- The candidates must not have publicly promoted racism, sexism or incited to violence or hatred and discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnic origin, or religion
- The application is submitted before 13 October 2023
- The candidates do not have any apparent or declared conflict of interests
- If the candidates held previous roles within the WYPW or other organisations, they must have fully committed to the responsibilities of the position for the duration of the mandate (excluding extraordinary circumstances)
You will find the full terms of reference for each position here.
How to apply
The President and Vice President must apply as a team. The pairs shall be formed by the candidates themselves.
We invite you to use this virtual bulletin board to announce your intention to apply for one of these roles, introduce yourself and find a partner. The password is "Matchmaking2023". A networking session for all members interested in these roles will also be organised during the Virtual Assembly of the World Youth Parliament for Water (September 27th & 28th). A registration link will be posted on this page shortly.
It is not possible to be re-elected to either of these roles. Please read carefully all criteria described above before submitting your application. Each member of the team must submit a letter of intent for the role, as well as a curriculum vitae and two letters of support. We encourage the applicants to include a support letter from a WYPW national chapter or other partners/organisations. We also ask that you submit a short 2-3 min video, explaining to us what your vision for WYPW is for the next three years. Be creative and dynamic! One video per team must be submitted. All documents and material must be submitted in English.
To apply, please fill and submit this form.
The deadline to apply is 13 October 2023, 10 PM GMT.
If you have any questions, we invite you to contact: election@youthforwater.org.
Election process
Once the application deadline has passed, the current President and Vice President, assisted by the International Secretariat for Water, will begin to review applications for the role of President and Vice President.
A list of eligible applications will be made based on the set of eligibility criteria listed above. The election material of all eligible teams will be shared with all members of the network.
If there are over 6 eligible teams of President and Vice President:
- The eligible teams will have 10 days to communicate their plan and promote their vision and their candidacy to the WYPW members.
- WYPW members will then vote during the first round of elections which will be held online through Election Runner.
- The 4 teams with the most votes will then have another 10 days to communicate their plan and promote their vision and candidacy to the WYPW members. Two debates will be organised.
- All WYPW members will then vote during the second round of elections which will be held online through Election Runner.
- The team with the most votes will be selected as President and Vice President.
If there are 6 or less eligible teams of President and Vice President:
- Each team will have 20 days to hold their campaign (communicate their plan and promote their vision and their candidacy to the WYPW members).
- All WYPW members will then vote during the election which will be held online through Election Runner.
- The team with the most votes will be selected as President and Vice President.
Every member of the World Youth Parliament for Water can vote in the election
Please note that only members who have signed up before the application deadline (13 October 2023) will be allowed to vote in this election.
The results of the election will be announced on 24th November 2023.
Do you want to learn more about what the roles entail?
Click to read the terms of reference 👉🏼
To know more about the exact process and agenda of the elections, check out the calendar below 👇🏼
