Arab Youth Advocacy for Water Justice

Ahmad Bali

When the Water Crisis Becomes an Issue of Rights and Justice

In a region considered among the driest and most water-scarce in the world, and among the most exposed to the effects of climate change, wars, conflicts, and forced migration, people live on land rich in the resources stored beneath its surface, yet poor in the safe and sustainable water available above it. The region’s vulnerability is further increased by the fact that nearly two-thirds of its freshwater resources are shared and transboundary, meaning that its countries do not have sole control over them.

Scarcity, despite its severity, does not by itself explain why water reaches one area regularly while being cut off from another, or why a low-income family pays more to obtain a smaller quantity. It is therefore difficult to discuss water in the Arab region solely as a limited natural resource. We are dealing with an issue of rights, justice, and governance, not merely an equation of supply and demand.

In addition, the features of the crisis differ from one Arab country to another. In one place, the effects of drought and continuously rising temperatures are intensifying. Elsewhere, the crisis intersects with occupation, the destruction of infrastructure, or displacement. In other countries, good legislation and policies exist on paper, but the gap remains wide in implementation and accountability.

Therefore, when we ask about the right to water, we are also asking: who sets the priorities? Who possesses the data? And who bears the cost when decisions fail?

This question becomes increasingly urgent with the expanding participation of the private sector in certain water services and the rising costs borne by households when the public system fails to provide a regular and safe service.

I do not believe that the debate should be reduced to a simplistic position either for or against privatization. However, the fundamental point must not be lost: water is a public right, and any model for its management should be measured by its ability to ensure equitable access, not solely by its financial efficiency.

When a poor family is forced to purchase water at a higher price than a family regularly connected to the network, the ability to pay becomes a factor determining who receives their right. At that point, the issue is no longer merely technical, but also political and ethical.

“Water is a public right, and any model for its management should be measured by its ability to ensure equitable access, not solely by its financial efficiency.”

Youth Between Being Affected by the Crisis and Symbolic Participation

Young people today are experiencing the consequences of current water and climate decisions, and they will bear the largest share of their effects in the future. They genuinely have much to offer beyond being merely an audience for awareness-raising campaigns: research, community monitoring, access to people, the ability to use digital platforms, and the capacity to connect the experiences of different countries to a shared Arab cause.

However, our experience over recent years also tells us something else. Young people are often invited only after priorities have already been decided. They deliver brief interventions, participate in a campaign, and then their involvement ends when the event concludes.

Two years ago, I wrote critically about this form of participation, which gives young people a seat but does not give them influence. What I see today, after broader experience in the water sector and in youth work, is that the problem lies in a structure that asks young people to mobilize and volunteer, but does not always provide them with data, resources, or a clear pathway for following up on what they have proposed.

Towards a Just Water Compact: An Experience Still Being Tested

This is where the initiative “Towards a Just Water Compact: An Arab Youth Approach to the Right to Water” originated. It was developed by the Arab Youth Network in cooperation with the Arab NGO Network for Development.

We attempted to move the findings of the 2025 Arab Watch Report from the pages of the report into a youth-led discussion involving researchers, civil society representatives, and stakeholders.

We began with a regional analysis of the water situation, then held an online seminar and national dialogues, including a dialogue in Jordan around a simple yet difficult question: who bears the cost of water scarcity?

I do not present this experience as a complete success story. Reaching a decision-maker is not an achievement in itself, and a well-organized event does not mean that a policy change has occurred. Issuing recommendations is not the end of the work either.

Genuine advocacy begins when we return the following day to ask: what has been implemented? What has been obstructed? And what is our next step?

The value of the project will become evident later through our ability to transform the discussion into specific demands, communicate them to the relevant institutions, and then follow up on what has been achieved, even after the funding ends. This is the real test.

What Does It Mean to Move from Awareness to Influence?

It is relatively easy to organize a successful event or launch a campaign that receives engagement. What matters more, however, is what remains afterwards and who assumes responsibility for follow-up.

Young people therefore first need knowledge that gives them the ability to engage in discussion, rather than more general information about the seriousness of the crisis. They must read the data, policies, budgets, and legislation, and understand which body holds decision-making authority.

Discussing “water justice” is important, but it remains broad until it is translated into a demand that can be tracked: publishing data on water supply and quality, improving complaint mechanisms, involving affected communities in planning, or directing resources towards underserved areas.

I do not view community monitoring, digital campaigns, and storytelling as separate tools. The process may begin by documenting disparities in water supply or cost within a neighbourhood or village, then analysing what has been collected and linking it to public policy.

The human story then demonstrates the impact of the figures without exploiting people’s suffering, while the digital campaign helps build support around a specific demand. Afterwards, the evidence must reach the body capable of changing the decision.

A widely shared post may be useful, but it is not an end goal.

Institutional Responsibility and Support for Youth Networks

Responsibility here does not fall upon young people alone. It is unreasonable to ask them to produce knowledge while data remain inaccessible, or to invite them to participate only after programmes and budgets have already been approved.

Institutions must explain what they have done with the proposals they received, rather than merely proving that a consultation session took place.

Youth networks also need flexible funding from donors and civil society organizations, opportunities to apply what they have learned, and partnerships that extend beyond the life of the project, rather than a new training session each time.

Alliances Closer to the People

Today, we need alliances that bring together young people, researchers, environmental and human rights organizations, the media, and affected communities.

Partnership with feminist movements and groups is not a cosmetic addition. Women know through daily life how the burdens of water cuts are distributed within the family and the community, and they must be partners in leadership and in formulating demands, rather than being invited only as an affected group.

An individual voice will not travel far, no matter how clear it may be.

At the same time, networks must not speak from a distance on behalf of rural residents, camp populations, and people in peripheral areas.

Their role is to work with them: to document what is happening, protect the dignity of those whose stories are told, and enable them to participate in setting priorities.

The number of members or the scale of digital reach does not reveal the strength of a network as much as its connection to people and its ability to transform their experiences into collective demands that continue to be followed up.

Towards a Just Water Compact

After two years of writing about youth participation, I have become more convinced that young people’s voices exist, but the obstacle lies in the path between voice and decision.

This path requires knowledge, organization, and follow-up from young people. It also requires institutions to provide accessible data, create spaces for participation before priorities are finalized, and offer responses for which they can be held accountable.

We do not claim that a single youth project will change water policies across the region. However, it can open a pathway, connect what reports say with what people experience, and continue asking questions after the activity ends.

For us, “Towards a Just Water Compact” marks the beginning of a commitment not to stop at describing the crisis.

The future of water is determined by the fairness of the decisions we make today, not by the abundance or scarcity of resources.

We must therefore always ask: who receives water? At what cost? Who decides? And who is held accountable when it does not arrive?

Only then will young people leave the seats of attendance and acquire a genuine position of influence.

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