Hear how storytelling is critical to advancing policy change.

 

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About the Webinar

City leaders in Africa face converging challenges: extending water and sanitation services for growing populations, managing watershed risks largely outside city jurisdiction, and designing for climate resilience. They are challenged to build urban water resilience, where communities have the safe, reliable, and affordable water they need to survive and thrive through sustainable, adaptive, and resilient urban water systems.

The World Resources (WRI), as part of the Global Commission on Adaptation’s Cities Action Track, is launching a call for proposals for story grants in line with “community-focused stories on urban water resilience.” Small grants will be provided to journalists based in South Africa, Rwanda, and Ethiopia to support them in telling in-depth stories on inclusive urban water resilience.

To kick off the launch of this story grant project, in alignment with the Urban Festival’s theme of “Empowering the Civic,” the World Resources Institute is convening a discussion about priority urban water challenges in South African cities, the role that journalism and community-focused stories can have to change how water is managed, and which stories are especially critical to tell now.

Speakers

  • Rogier van den Berg,​ Director, Urban Development, WRI Ross Center For Sustainable Cities ​
  • Dr. Sandile Mbatha, Senior Manager, Research and Policy Advocacy Department, eThekwini Municipality
  • Kim Harrisberg, Correspondent, Thomson Reuters Foundation
  • Tricia Govindasamy, Data Product Manager, Code for Africa
  • Marlena Chertock, Communications Specialist, Water, WRI (moderator)