News

Join our World Walks for Water and Sanitation campaign!

Saturday, 5th November 2011, 10:18am


Today is a very exciting day for us as we launch our new campaign around World Water Day 2012 - the World Walks for Water and Sanitation! Join thousands of people across the globe who will be walking from 17 to 25 March 2012 to demand that their politicians take action to put an end to the water and sanitation crisis.

Earlier this year, over 350,000 people walked in 75 different countries during the World Walks for Water campaign. They made their voices heard ahead of the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countriesand this directly resulted in strong and ambitious water and sanitation targets being included in the Istanbul Programme of Action. And there were great national successes too! Following the campaign, Nepal’s sanitation budget was tripled and Germany took decisive action by agreeing to join the Sanitation and Water for All partnership.


World Walks for Water 2011 in Liberia

But there is still more to be done! And this year, we hope the World Walks for Water and Sanitation will mobilise even more people in even more countries and show governments across the world that we won't stand forwomen walking 40 billion hours per year carrying water weighing 18 kg which is still not even safe to drink.

This year, the timing of the World Walks for Water and Sanitation is hugely important. It comes almost exactly a month before world leaders gather in Washington at the second High-Level Meeting of the Sanitation and Water for All partnership to discuss what they are going to do to tackle the water and sanitation crisis. With this mass global campaign, we can show them that the world expects decisive action and will not stand for 4000 children dying each day simply because they don't have clean water and a toilet. It is really important that your Development or Finance Minister attends this meeting and comes ready to act – and you can take the opportunity of your ‘Walk’ to invite them to attend and demand that they commit to increasing provision to get water and sanitation to the world’s poorest communities.

So, we're asking as many people as possible to join together and walk! Whether you are part of an NGO, university, school or company, you can get involved by organising your own walk or joining one that is already taking place. Walks can be of any length and can take place anywhere! Have fun and get as much attention as you can by singing, dancing, dressing as taps and toilets or inviting celebrities along too. You can walk to your politicians' offices to deliver a petition or invitation to the High-Level Meeting, or ask them to go a step further and walk alongside you - how you do it is up to you but remember that it's about political action and making sure we apply pressure on the decision makers.

If you are interested in getting involved and organising a walk, take a look at our exciting new campaign toolkit for everything you need to get started. It's full of ideas and tips to help you make your walk a success! And once you have done that, why not register your walk on the website so that we can tell everyone about your event and encourage them to join you.

Together, we can make sure that the World Walks for Water and Sanitation shows decision makers around the globe that it's time to act.

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