Making the Invisible Investable with Film for Water Investment and Community Impact
2026 UN Water Conference | Official Blue Zone Side Event
Event ID: 225
Interactive Dialogue: Water for Prosperity
Date: Thursday, December 10, 2026 | 13:35–15:00 | Room 11
Lead Organization: Water Film Festival Corporation
Organizing Partners: AFR’EAU, World Water Film Festival Corporation, AJPEA Mali, AJPEA Niger, IHE Delft, Brave Blue World Foundation/BlueTech, Latin America Parliament for Water, Global Youth Movement for Water.
Become a Sponsor
World Water Film Festival has received permission from the UN Water Conference Secretariat to nominate Michelle Name and Katie Taylor to join us in Abu Dhabi, where we plan to screen Michelle's award-winning film.
Meet Michelle Name, a recent graduate of Film School Africa and creator of Intsikelelo Yamanzi, winner of WWFF's 2026 Grand Jury Award.
Meet Katie Taylor of Film School Africa, whose educational program helped nurture Michelle's creative talent and provided the opportunity to bring this remarkable film to life through a 48-hour film festival challenge.
WWFF is seeking $15,000 in sponsorship contributions to support travel and accommodations for Michelle, Katie, and a small WWFF delegation.
But we need your support to make this possible.
Whether through a lead sponsorship, a contribution toward travel, or an introduction to someone who might help, your support could make a meaningful difference.
What if one film could spark entirely different conversations, reach new audiences, and inspire multiple pathways to water action?
Water challenges are often invisible to those with the resources and influence to address them. Behind infrastructure deficits, financing gaps and technical reports are communities, ecosystems, innovations and human experiences that rarely reach the people making investment and policy decisions.
Film can help bridge that divide.
At this official Blue Zone side event, the World Water Film Festival (WWFF), AFR’EAU and their international partners will demonstrate how film and storytelling can make complex water challenges accessible, foster education, strengthen community engagement, build trust and help mobilize investment and cooperation toward SDG 6.
Experience how the same story can speak to different audiences and inspire different forms of action for water.
Featured Screenings
Intsikelelo Yamanzi
2026 WWFF Grand Jury Award Winner | Duration: 7.5-minutes
The program will feature a screening of Intsikelelo Yamanzi, recognized as the World Water Film Festival's 2026 Grand Jury Award.
The screening will provide a shared experience from which to examine how powerful storytelling can elevate community voices, bring overlooked water challenges into focus and open conversations about solutions, responsibility and investment. The message of the film is simple in that it feels good to help people.
Dji Mansa
One Film, Multiple Conversations and Pathways to Impact
The program will also feature Dji Mansa, illustrating how one film can be curated for very different audiences.
Origin of the creation of the film: 2023 UN Water Conference inspired AFR’EAU Co-Founder Hadi Toure to bring the story of citizen science to life through film. Guests will learn about the process of connecting with communities, the ethical responsibility to do justice in bringing their stories to life and the journey from one UN Water Conference to the next with hopes that attendees will feel inspired and empowered to share the sources of knowledge of their communities and the people who are working for water.
Hear and experience the journey AFR’EAU took in creating the Dji Mansa story, which evolved and grew into more than we ever could have imagined...
In partnership with WWFF “Dji Mansa” has been screened in several distinct settings around the world:
WWFF - Chicago Water Week by Current | Sweet Water Foundation:
Presented in the context of the Sweet Water Foundation's community-based work, the film helped frame a conversation about plant-based solutions for water, environmental stewardship and the relationship between communities and their local ecosystems.
WWFF - WEX Global Seville | Building Trust:
At WEX Global, WWFF calibrated the film for a different conversation: the importance of building trust among communities, institutions and stakeholders working to address water challenges.
Here, the film became a catalyst for examining the human relationships that underpin successful cooperation, partnerships and the implementation of water solutions.
WWFF - IHE Delft Institute for Water Education - WWFF Screening during Water & War/Conflicts Session:
On September 4, 2026, Dji Mansa was presented as part of the World Water Film Festival at IHE Delft, within the student-led program On Water & War/Conflicts.
Hosted by Santiago Gomez of the IHE Delft Student Organizing Committee, the program explored water as both a driver and casualty of conflict, examining the tensions between resource protection, inequitable access, governance and cooperation.
The session connected its film programming to the UN Water Conference Interactive Dialogues, including Water for People, Water for Prosperity, Water for Cooperation, Water in Multilateral Processes and Investments for Water.
Audiences were invited to consider a fundamental question: Who is missing from the table when water decisions are made, and what would it take to bring them in?
One film. Multiple contexts.
Multiple pathways to impact.
These presentations demonstrate a core principle of WWFF's approach.
The value of a film doesn’t end when the credits roll.
At Chicago Water Week, Dji Mansa helped open a conversation about community-based, plant-based water solutions - inside a community that revitalized through agriculture on Chicago’s South Side.
At WEX Global, it became a vehicle for discussing trust, relationships and cooperation. Taking technical experts out of their comfort zones and challenged what it is to trust in partnerships.
At IHE Delft, it contributed to an exploration of water, conflict, governance with lessons learnt on bringing ideas into action and how we stay inspired despite conflict.
The film remained the same. The audience, framing, dialogue and opportunities for action multiplied.
This is the opportunity WWFF and AFR’EAU invite Blue Zone participants to explore:
How can one powerful story be thoughtfully curated and presented to different audiences to advance education, policy dialogue, community participation and investment?
Making the Invisible Investable
Water investment requires financial resources, technical expertise and sound governance. It also depends on understanding the people, places and communities affected by decisions.
Film offers a complementary tool that can help to connect to all the different perspectives who are needed to make decisions for water:
Build awareness: Make overlooked water challenges visible and relevant to audiences beyond the water sector.
Educate: Translate complex science, policy and technical issues into accessible human stories that ultimately improves understanding.
Strengthen community impact: Elevate local voices, lived experience and community-led solutions.
Build trust: Create opportunities for dialogue among communities, governments, investors and implementing organizations.
Support investment engagement: Help potential funders better understand project context, stakeholder priorities and the human and environmental value of water solutions.
Advance cooperation: Connect audiences across geographic, institutional and cultural boundaries.
Film is not a substitute for technical assessment or financial due diligence. Rather, it can illuminate dimensions of water challenges and solutions so often lost with traditional investment approaches that may not fully communicate the depth of water by making a common objective visible; when people feel water stories, they can act on water futures.
The panel will explore how storytelling can help bridge the gap between awareness and action, and how film-supported engagement can contribute to stronger partnerships and more informed investment decisions.
From the origins of South Africa, Mail & Niger - to New York and Chicago, to Seville and Delft …and to Abu Dhabi
Since its launch at the 2023 UN Water Conference, WWFF has developed international programming that connects filmmakers, scientists, students, policymakers, communities and water-sector leaders.
Through events at Chicago Water Week, WEX Global Seville, IHE Delft and other international gatherings, WWFF has demonstrated how films can be adapted to different audiences, disciplines and objectives.
The 2026 UN Water Conference presents an opportunity to expand this approach beyond individual screenings and create a scalable model for collaboration.
Introducing Water Stories:
An invitation to participate
The event will conclude by inviting Blue Zone attendees to collaborate on “Water Stories”, a developing international storytelling and education initiative bringing together the World Water Film Festival, Brave Blue World Foundation and Lo-TEK Institute.
Water Stories aims to extend the life and impact of water-focused films by connecting storytelling with education, mentorship, community engagement, policy conversations and opportunities for action.
The initiative envisions a growing international network of organizations that can use curated films and supporting resources to host meaningful water conversations.
Ways to Collaborate
Building on the momentum of the 2026 UN Water Conference, the initiative seeks to support continued collaboration through future global water processes, including those leading toward Tajikistan.
Host a ‘Water Stories’ Screening:
Bring curated water-focused films and facilitated conversations to a government agency, NGO, university, community organization, utility or corporate audience.
Connect Storytelling with Investment:
Explore how film-supported conversations can strengthen community engagement and introduce potential funding partners to water projects.
Develop Educational Resources:
Collaborate on themed film collections, discussion guides and learning materials addressing water science, policy, advocacy, education and community impact.
Build International Partnerships:
Help adapt water storytelling programs to different regions, languages, cultures, and institutional needs within local communities.
Support New, Emerging Storytellers:
Help young, emerging AND established filmmakers in sharing untold water stories, exploring diverse perspectives, and connecting communities around the world.
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The event seeks to:
1. Demonstrate how one film can be curated for multiple audiences and purposes, using Dji Mansa as a practical case study.
2. Introduce Blue Zone participants to award-winning water storytelling through Intsikelelo Yamanzi.
3. Explore how film can contribute to awareness, education, community trust, cooperation and investment engagement.
4. Identify potential partners interested in hosting screenings, developing educational resources, supporting filmmakers or connecting stories with water projects.
5. Invite governments, NGOs, investors, educators, youth organizations and other stakeholders to help develop the Water Stories initiative.
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Don't just watch a water story. Help us put it to work.
We invite Blue Zone participants to collaborate with WWFF, AFR’EAU and our international partners to bring powerful water stories into classrooms, communities, boardrooms, investment discussions and public-policy conversations around the world.
One film can start a conversation. The right collaboration can turn that conversation into action.
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13:35–13:40 | Welcome: Making the Invisible Investable | Duration: 5 min
13:40–13:48 | Intsikelelo Yamanzi, 2026 WWFF Grand Jury Award Winner | Duration 8 min
13:48–13:53 | Brief Reflection: The power of a water story | Duration 5 min
13:53–14:15 | Dji Mansa, full screening | Duration 22 min
14:15–14:23 | One Film, Three Conversations: Chicago Water Week, WEX Global and IHE Delft | Duration 8 min
14:23–14:45 | Moderated Panel: Storytelling, trust, community impact and investment | Duration 22 min
14:45–14:53 | Audience engagement and collaboration opportunities | Duration 8 min
14:53–15:00 | Introducing ‘Water Stories’ and invitation to participate | Duration 7 min