BONUS - RUSTENBURG - As South Africa faces increasing water shortages and water quality challenges, WESSA (Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa) has partnered with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on the Youth Leading in Water Resilience Project.
This initiative empowers young people in South Africa to tackle one of the nation’s most urgent challenges: water security.
The project, running from October 2024 to March 2025, engages 29 000 learners between the ages of five and 19 across 30 schools in Gauteng, the Northern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Free State and is part of its Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) programme.
Additionally, over 4 000 unemployed youth - primarily from rural and peri-urban areas - are being mobilised and trained to lead water resilience efforts. This extensive outreach is designed to create a ripple effect, deepening community engagement in tackling South Africa’s urgent water challenges. The involvement of community members, including government officials, further amplifies its impact. By training both local leaders and government representatives, the project seeks to embed sustainable water practices within the structures that oversee the country’s water systems, fostering collaboration and action across sectors to ensure that water monitoring becomes a shared responsibility.
The initiative focuses on water quality monitoring, capacity building, and community-based solutions, aiming to build a generation of informed and empowered water custodians. Through the project, youth and community members play an integral role in community-based water monitoring, while working to ensure that clean drinking water is accessible and that water systems are maintained effectively. By encouraging a spirit of collaboration, UNICEF and WESSA aim to empower children, youth and their communities to prioritise water resilience. As the country grapples with erratic rainfall, recurring droughts and flooding, and contaminated water supplies, the need for initiatives like this has never been greater. South Africa’s fragile water resources are critical to the well-being of millions, particularly those living in under-resourced regions. Through this partnership, UNICEF and WESSA address the issue holistically bridging the gap between education, community mobilisation, and systemic reform.
