Growing the Arabophonie through cooperation, youth and university work.
From 2 to 4 November 2026, the First Arabophone Academic Water Summit was held in Marrakech, at the Mohammed VI Museum for Water Civilization – AMAN. Its outcomes will be presented on 9 December 2026, at a virtual side event of the United Nations Water Conference.
The Marrakech Call was adopted on 2 November 2026, at the close of the Pre-Summit of the Young Water Ambassadors.
The Marrakech Declaration, read at the close on 4 November 2026, sets out sixteen commitments.
The Declaration calls for the creation of a permanent Arabophone academic network for cooperation on water.
It supports the dissemination of the UMJAE method in Arabophone universities, through exchanges and internships.
Abu Dhabi on 9 December 2026; a progress review in 2027 to form the Arabophonie committee; the second Summit in 2028.
The videos of the three days, the Marrakech Declaration and the strategic vision are online.
“From Marrakech to Abu Dhabi”: virtual side event of the United Nations Water Conference, Wednesday 9 December 2026, 13:00–14:15 in Abu Dhabi (10:00–11:15 in Paris and Rabat). Contributions prepared on video, followed by a live debate with the audience. Online, free of charge, registration required.
The Arabophonie network will grow through work carried out with the UMJAE method: young people, supported by their teachers and in dialogue with those responsible for water, produce analyses and proposals, then share them between universities and territories. Water is the first field of this cooperation.
Designed by Ambassade de l’Eau, the method of the World Union of Young Water Ambassadors (UMJAE) rests on university supervision, territorial diagnosis, dialogue with water stakeholders, the drafting of proposals and their presentation to those concerned. It is independent of the tools that may serve it.
In Morocco, the pilot project, launched with the Sebou basin and then joined by the Tensift basin, offers a first body of experience. UMJAE teams are not delegations formed in advance: they are built through the joint work of young people, their university supervisors and water institutions.
Teachers, students, institutions: the official pathway sets out the steps, the commitments and the documents. Each request is examined; it does not amount to automatic membership.
See the UMJAE pathway (in French)Academics, young people, basin organizations, institutions and partners may propose a scientific, educational, territorial or cultural contribution. Write to us stating your institution, your country, your field of expertise and a concrete proposal. This expression of interest prepares a consultation; it is neither an appointment nor a mandate to represent a country.
Write to saae.arabophonie@gmail.comThe Arabophone Space brings together twenty-two countries united by a language, a history and multiple heritages. In the face of today’s challenges, this shared language can become a powerful lever for scientific, educational, cultural and human cooperation.
Just as the Francophonie built a space around the French language, the Arabophonie carries the ambition of creating a space where universities, institutions, territories, researchers and young people can meet differently: to share knowledge, give rise to useful projects and build common responses.
The Marrakech Summit was its first founding act. Water was chosen as the first field of action because it connects peoples, crosses borders and compels dialogue, solidarity and responsibility. Starting from water, the Arabophonie is intended to open, in the future, other fields of cooperation in the service of populations.
Connect universities, research centres and institutions so that knowledge circulates and becomes solutions.
Preserve and celebrate water heritage, ancestral knowledge and the role of the Arabic language in sharing knowledge.
Give young people the opportunity to understand the issues, engage with decision-makers and build projects with their peers.
A vital resource, a matter of sovereignty and a common good, water brings together shared challenges: scarcity, climate change, urban growth, resource quality, access to services, heritage preservation and the need for new skills. The Summit brought scientific knowledge, local experience and young people’s perspectives together to generate practical cooperation initiatives.
As someone of Lebanese heritage, I bring a deeply personal perspective to this initiative. Across the Arabophone Space, several countries are currently scarred by war, displacement, division and uncertainty. Behind the institutions and the programmes, I think of the academics, researchers, students and young professionals whose projects are interrupted, but whose will to contribute remains intact.
The creation of the Arabophonie responds to a simple conviction: we must preserve and multiply the spaces where our countries meet differently. Our ambition is to prepare peace by organizing cooperation — through science, education, culture, youth and projects that serve communities.
We hope that, in the future, when Arabophone countries are mentioned, people will speak more of cooperation, innovation and shared development than of war. Water was chosen as the first field of action because it knows neither political borders nor religious differences. It compels dialogue, solidarity and responsibility.
The Marrakech Summit made it possible to lay together the first foundations of this Arabophonie of cooperation. I invite you to join us so that this gathering does not remain one more conference, but becomes the beginning of a shared history.
The First Arabophone Academic Water Summit is an initiative of Ambassade de l’Eau (Water Embassy), co-organized with the Mohammed VI Museum for Water Civilization – AMAN and Cadi Ayyad University. It was held under the patronage of UNESCO, with technical support from the Directorate General of Hydraulics.
The Call of the Young Water Ambassadors is distinct from the Marrakech Declaration: read the clarification.
These documents were circulated while the Summit was being prepared. They are kept as archives: the invitations and the provisional programme do not describe the programme as it actually took place.
