WISA • Y WP
A REVIEW OF THE YWP SYMPOSIUM SERIES It is often a daunting task to attempt something new and unique. YWP decided to turn the tables on what a conference can and should look like post-pandemic, by having four online symposiums and two in-person events spanning the month of March.
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traditional WISA Young Water Professionals South Africa (YWP-ZA) conference has always been a biennial, in-person conference hosted by one of the YWP provincial chapters over the course of three to four days. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced the long-established format of the YWP conference to change. YWP learned from WISA’s conference in 2020 and created a hybrid in-person/ online series of events named the YWP Symposium Series. In another change to the traditional conference format, it was decided that, instead of having a single provincial YWP-ZA to organise and host the conference in their province, multiple YWP-ZA provincial chapters would organise and run different online sessions. The event adopted the World Water Day (22 March) theme of ‘Making the invisible, visible’.
‘Invisible’ topics
Each online session would tackle an ‘invisible’ topic in the South African water sector. A number of vital and often overlooked invisible topics were discussed, including governance, innovation, entrepreneurship, water resources and infrastructure management, soft skills, publicprivate partnerships, financing and investment.
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The YWP Symposium Series was a resounding success, drawing more than a hundred registered participants over the course of the month, largely in part due to the free registration that YWP-ZA could offer participants. This was made possible by the sponsorship by USAID and the South African Energy and Water Sector Education and Training Authority (EWSETA). The support of these two sponsors greatly assisted YWP-ZA in delivering a comprehensive and successful month-long symposium. The symposium began with an opening plenary session with two keynote speakers: •L ynesha Pillai, representing the Smart Water Networks Forum (SWAN), detailing how to prepare for a sustainable water sector transition by future-proofing your professional skills. • William Moraka, representing the South African Local Government Association, highlighting how we can plan for the future by learning from the past, with a specific focus on the lessons learned from the implementation of past water infrastructure projects.
YWP-KZN online session
On 15 March 2022, the YWP-KZN provincial chapter ran the first of the technical online sessions of the symposium series, titled ‘Bringing the invisible to the forefront:
governance, water resources management and infrastructure’. Covid-19 drew a spotlight to the water sector, particularly vulnerable communities in informal settlements and rural areas. To meet this challenge, there were numerous interventions among stakeholders in the water sector. The objective of this session was to discuss the status quo, challenges and success stories in the context of Covid-19. The session further amplified the invisible voice and role communities play in fast-tracking the service delivery of water and sanitation projects. Moreover, the session also highlighted the role businesses play in ensuring the provision of sustainable water and sanitation as an economic resource. The YWP-KZN chapter was honoured to have industry experts and academia as part of the discussion. These included: • Thobani Khumalo, a member of the Inanda community in KwaZulu-Natal. Khumalo shared the struggles and challenges that his community faces daily to fetch water and presented photographic images that tell a tale of inequality, water scarcity, poor infrastructure, low community awareness and limited water access. • Johann Lubbe from the Development Bank of Southern Africa showed
