To support the ‘Water for Life’ Decade and the Year of the Mahalla, the ELS organized a youth event on ‘Water is the future of my community. I can save it’. The competition brought together the Khokimiyat of Fergana region, the Mahalla Fund, the United Nations Resident Coordinators Office, the United Nations Development Programme, UNICEF and other UN Agencies in Uzbekistan.

Together with their classmates children of age 9-11 had to create a booklet for water conservation and management in their communities. ‘We learned so much about the importance of water in our communities. It was fun being creative with our thoughts which we were able to put into the booklet’, said Sarvar Olimov, one of the participants from Fergana district. The presented booklets included different topics that are of young people’s interest in water resource management and at the same time promote water related, studies, and research.

One of the highlights of the booklets that won special prizes was how water quality influences health and enhancement of living standards. Many water systems do not treat the water adequately. People use either unprotected ponds, fetch water directly from rivers and canals, all of which are sources of contamination. Although, boiling water has been extensively taught, people often still drink untreated water straight from the tap, thus endangering their health.

Water is a great subject area. The physical, chemical, biological or social aspect of water in everyday life was also considered. The surface tension of water at different temperatures, the capacity of household products to absorb water, the survival rate of plants being irrigated by different types of water and the ability of younger versus older family members to conserve water, were just a few ideas which were investigated by youth in their booklets. Now all the winning booklets will be compiled into one brochure and distributed to Information and Resource Centres set up by ELS in each of the project districts. All the visitors, young and old will be able to read the brochure on water conservation and do some of the ideas which would suit their community.

The water competition was organized from 24-27^th December, 2007 in four district rural schools in Fergana region. The event took an interdisciplinary and multi-cultural approach to explaining issues and concepts such as water cycle, hydroelectricity and dams, water and health, and water and culture. Active participation from local schools, Mahalla Fund, regional authorities and the communities made the event an all inclusive and proactive initiative, which promoted involvement from all sectors and levels. UNICEF and UNRC were the promoters of this unique event as they provided children’s books on MDGs and other interesting topics for all the participants. The initiative was a creative approach to overcoming a passive attitude and promoting self-initiative when it comes to water management. The communities through youth were able to organize themselves to meet collective needs, as local ownership and responsibility is vital for maintenance and management of water supplies.