Finally an Event with a Cause! Join the Campaign & End Water Poverty

WHAT: MY WATER! MY RIGHT! World Walks for Water and Sanitation 2015

WHERE: Freedom Corner, Uhuru Park, Nairobi

WHEN: 22-03-2015

Kenya Water and Sanitation Civil Society Network (KEWASNET) and End Water Poverty, the global CSO coalition, invite you to attend the international mobilization demanding universal and sustainable access to water and sanitation less than a week from now on Sunday, 22ND March 2015 in Nairobi at Uhuru Park.

As part of a global mobilization on and around World Water Day, organized as part of the international World action for Water and Sanitation campaign, KEWASNET will join civil society groups around the world in walks to demand change in water and sanitation policy, calling for the realization of the human right to water and sanitation, and more extensive government funding and programmes to expand access to the 1.8 billion people who access faecally contaminated water and the 2.5 billion people who live without access to a toilet.

With less than two weeks until World Water Day, there are already hundreds of thousands of people worldwide registered to take part in the mobilization, drawn from countries across the world and civil society organizations of various sizes, representing various sectors and campaigning across a range of issues all linked to water and sanitation.

Mr. Samson Shivaji, the KEWASNET CEO said: ‘‘We are calling on people at Uhuru Park to join us in this very important mobilization to show politicians that we will not give up on our demand for a dignified life, with adequate access to water and sanitation – a basic human right.’’

Mr. Shivaji said: “This is a unique opportunity for the people of Nairobi to take part in the global mobilization to defend the human right to water and sanitation, demand changes in their area, and have their voices heard both locally and internationally.’’ ‘‘Tackling water and sanitation must be a central concern of government, and we citizens must remind our leaders that water and sanitation are cross-cutting issues at the heart of development.’’

‘‘Water and sanitation issues are inseparable from issues of health, gender, education and economic growth. Access to the basic human right of water and sanitation therefore has the most potential to impact and alleviate global poverty.’’ ‘‘If we fund in the right way, we can overcome the water and sanitation crisis, and in doing meet our commitments to human rights and increase our national wealth, both economic and moral.’’

“Our approach to provision of Water and Sanitation must seek to address inequalities and promote Gender Equity. KEWASNET has an overarching concern regarding growing pressure on water resources, including pollution and scarcity, and the implications this has for the quality and quantity of water for peoples’ water, sanitation and hygiene needs.”

At a global level, more than one in eight people do not have improved access to a safe water supply, while almost 40% of the world’s population remains without access to sanitation – the most off-track of all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In regard to health targets, it is estimated that 50% of the hospital beds in the global South are filled by people with illnesses caused by inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene (UNDP 2006). Total economic losses due to inadequate water supply/sanitation services are $260 billion per year, while there is a $4 return on every $1 invested in sanitation.

Visit our websites: www.kewasnet.co.ke , End Water Poverty, The World Walks for Water and Sanitation

Watch our 2014 campaign video on YouTube.

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