Phase 1 Dutch-Egyptian Young Champion Challenge 2026 concluded with Masterclass success
The Innovation E-School phase of the Young Champion Challenge (YCC) 2026 has officially concluded.
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'Wavemakers United is a global impact community with a passion for water innovation'
Water challenges affect us all: our safety, our health, and our future. The solution: new talent with innovative ideas and out-of-the-box perspectives to strengthen all organizations involved.
Wavemakers United is a community of students, young professionals, and athletes with a passion for water. As a youth organization we focus on local challenges while having a global reach. Our aim is to contribute to the UN SDGs and involve as many youngsters as possible.
OUR IMPACT
Wavemakers United inspires youth to take action on water. We do this in three ways:
- By raising awareness through education and sports. Our goal is to give 1 million youngsters a year a guest lecture on water
- By promoting global collaboration through our capacity-building program
- And by supporting new student-initiated innovations
The Succes of the Gamechanger Challenge
The UN2023 Gamechanger challenge was a great success, during which 200 universities around the world joined. Over a thousand students from 62 different nationalities worked on innovative ideas, offered guest lectures to their local community, and contributed to solving the global water challenges.
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OUR WORK IN ACTION
By 2027 we will reach 1.000.000 children per year across the whole world with our Wavemaker Lessons. We accelerate this by organizing the Gamechanger Challenge: to expand the community and bring in new innovative ideas from students and young professionals. Our unique factor is a global network with local ambassadors and high-profile athletes who educate children with the most fun and engaging lessons through our interactive water experiments.
Our education program inspires the next generation, our global capacity-building program activates changemakers on a local level, and our Gamechanger Challenge kickstarts breakthrough innovations from the most talented students.
These drops of knowledge will create a wave of impact and that is how Wavemakers United helps to solve global water challenges.
Chasing Gold for the planet: SDG's by 2030
We treat the Climate Goals of Paris 2030 like the Olympics: setting clear goals, training hard, and staying on track to hit the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030!
RECENT HIGHLIGHTS:
Phase 1 Dutch-Egyptian Young Champion Challenge 2026 concluded with Masterclass success
The Innovation E-School phase of the Young Champion Challenge (YCC) 2026 has officially concluded.
JOIN US FOR WORLD WATER DAY!
March 22 World Water Day: Make Waves of impact and join our commitment to the Water Action Agenda to
educate 1 million youngsters a year on water
Youth for Water and Climate Programme Budapest
From January 19th till January 25th, our team participated in the Youth for Water and Climate (YWC) Programme events in Budapest.
RISE: Building Resilient Indonesian Slums
On February 25th, Wave of Indonesia joined multistakeholder forum on five years of Indonesia–Netherlands research
AMBASSADORS OF
WAVEMAKERS UNITED
OFFICIAL SUPPORTERS
Former Special Envoy for International Water Affairs
General director at Naturalis Biodiversity Center Netherlands
Olympic silver medalist sailing
Water Envoy for Kingdom of the Netherlands
Ambassadors
Henk Ovink - Former Special Envoy for International Water Affairs
“Wavemakers United has grown into a global movement of young water professionals, connecting sports and health with water and sustainability. Together they provoke the past and the present with a better future, in partnership and with concrete and inspirational action! Join me and the Wavemakers towards next years UN 2023 Water Conference and commit to act on water!”
Jaime de Bourbon de Parme – climate envoy Kingdom of The Netherlands
“Human kind can not live without healthy oceans. They are the source of life and an important storage system of carbon. Taking care of the oceans means taking care of ourselves. Wavemakers United makes young people enthusiastic about water and inspire them to take positive action.”
Marcel Beukeboom – Permanent Representative to the UN Food and Agriculture organisations in Rome
“Wavemakers United just does that: They make waves. And for good reasons because our current way of living is not sustainable. Change is a prerequisite if we want our planet and its inhabitants to be healthy in the long run. The positive energy and international orientation of our young Wavemakers are powerful drivers of the change we need.”
Marcelien Bos de Koning - Chef the Emission
"We need to reinvent ourselves in order to live respectfully with our planet. We can only do this together. Wavemakers United is a perfect example how to create impact on our water systems, our energy demand, energy supply and more. Greenifying ourselves will give us flourishing seas and a healthy climate. Let the games begin! - Marcelien 'chef de emission NOC*NSF'
Meike van Ginneken - Water Envoy for Kingdom of the Netherlands
“We all need to make waves for a better water future. I am proud to be a wavemaker and support the movement of young water professionals around the world. We need to act now to ensure that this and the next generation has access to clean water, we use water wisely to feed the world, we protect our water ecosystems and we limit the havoc created by floods and droughts.”
Events
Wavemakers United attends both local and global events to showcase the positive energy of our community. Check out below at which events we will inspire you next!
Partners
