The Thematic Beacons and Regional Representatives who met in Mexico agreed that the Preparatory Process should be as close as possible to the communities of origin, in order to bestow the 4th World Water Forum with greater representativity and diversity.

On February 23rd, 24th and 25th, two Preparatory Process workshops of the 4th World Water Forum were held in Mexico City. The Americas Committee meton the 23rd, while the Thematic Beacons and Regional Representatives met onthe 24th and 25th.

More than 100 experts from different countries came together for a major challenge: to open the discussion of water-related and sanitation problems to the largest possible number of participants, and to emerge from the Forum with strong messages that help increase the general population’s conscience of our global water crisis, and to succeed in adopting commitments at the highest level on the international agenda.

During the workshops, many participants posed their positions regarding the selection criteria to be established, so that the proposals that will eventually be presented during the Forum comply with a series of minimum prerequisites, such as transparency, representativity, replicability and plurality, to name a few.

As a preliminary conclusion of the three-day meetings, Cesar Herrera, the Secretary General of the 4th World Water Forum, emphasized the normative and intellectual role that the Thematic Beacons will play in the Preparatory Process, identifying their participation in two phases:
a) As guides of the Preparatory Process as such, generating and improving the 10 Baseline Documents that will guide the discussions of each of the five Framework Themes and five Cross-Cutting Perspectives.
b) As responsible for helping to lead the Thematic Content development process up to march 2006.

The participation of the regions will be, as much as possible, based on the model adopted by the Regional Committee of the Americas (explained in detail later), which in general terms promotes the involvement of people closer to local problems. Therefore, the same Regional Committee will be in charge of selecting the projects for local actions from that region that will be presented during the 4th Forum. In this sense, the Secretariat proposed opening a space in the schedule of the 4th Forum for analyzing up to 400 projects for local action.

At the end of the meetings, the World Water Council announced it would undertake a series of actions and organize events during the Forum towards strengthening local action, based on the political priorities for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The next workshop of the Thematic Beacons and Regional Representatives was set for November.

Americas Committee

The Americas Committee includes an Operative Committee which is coordinated in turns by four institutions with regional presence: the World Bank, Global Water Partnership, the Organization of American States, and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Members that represent multilateral donor organizations, international or regional technical assistance institutions, and other regional bodies that represent national governments and the private sector also form the Operative Committee of the Americas. They all share the characteristic of having continental projection or whose actions or funds have contributed to the improvement of water resources management in the Americas.

The Operative Committee is supported by a Consultation Network, which includes the participation of other international, sub-regional, national and local organizations involved or interested in one or more thematic areas of the Forum. At this time, some 60 organizations are included in this Consultation Network of the Americas.

To select the local projects that will be presented at the Forum, the Committee for the Americas has agreed to award several local projects and initiatives with financial funding by the World Bank and the IDB. Equally, other initiatives proposed by interested organizations will be selected and, although they will not be awarded with funds, they will be presented in different sessions during the Forum.

The Operative Committee of the Americas will invite the largest possible number of continental organizations and institutions to present their project proposals, either directly or through the Consultation Network or the Secretariat of the Forum.

The Preparatory Process will continue developing through the meetings scheduled during 2005, which this newsletter will address in future issues.