Watershed: The Values and Value of Water

In March 2017, CJRF provided a $50,000 USD grant to Circle for Blue to support for the conference, Watershed: The Values and Value of Water. The three-day event, held at the Vatican, celebrated World Water Day by creating a new conversation around how to unite ethical, moral, economic, and scientific principles in responding to the world’s urgent water challenges. The conference immediately followed a papal audience and proclamation by Pope Francis, and was live-streamed to drive a global social media conversation around the #MyWaterStory hashtag.  Circle of Blue also facilitated a work session on March 23 during which experts, educators, and design thinkers gathered to map a 5-year strategy around the value and values of water. The resulting outputs — multimedia, workshop findings, and new cross-organizational engagements — add new insights and direction to initiatives including the World Water Forum, World Water Congress, and the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on the Environment.

Profile

Grant Date:

March 2017
Closed Grant

CJRF Region:

Global

Entry Points:

Water Access

Why Circle of Blue?

Circle of Blue's “Watershed” conference strategically combined the Pope’s moral authority with Facebook’s global reach to make this an unusually powerful communications opportunity.

Photo courtesy of Circle of Blue