Church World Service will highlight water advocacy on World Water Day

A boy displaced by 2001 floods in Mozambique.

Photo: REUTERS/Peter Andrews, courtesy www.alertnet.org

March19, 2007

Church World Service will present its Water for All campaign at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York on World Water Day this week.

CWS will also join a panel at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, to share the faith community’s advocacy efforts to bring safe drinking water to all.

World Water Day is held on March 22 each year as part of the 2005-2015 International Decade for Action on water. This year, the day will focus on coping with water scarcity, a crisis facing some 700 million people in 43 countries. (Read more about World Water Day at www.unwater.org/wwd07/)

Troubled Waters, a film produced by the United Church of Christ in partnership with the ABC television network, will follow a service of worship at the UN Church Center chapel.

The four-hour program will include a panel of indigenous peoples with expertise in water, and experts from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Program and the University of the Poor. The concluding speaker will be Director for Education and Advocacy for CWS Rajyashri Waghray.

Drawing on the organization’s experience in Africa, Waghray will speak about the impact of the CWS Water for All campaign on development, gender equality, health, the special needs of children, and water advocacy worldwide.

In East Africa, CWS regional coordinator Dan Tyler is expanding the Water for All campaign to enable communities to manage their water supplies. In Mozambique, CWS is linking the campaign to the country’s commitment to peace after 16 years of civil war. (Read more about CWS projects and programs to provide clean water and improve community health, hygiene and sanitation).

Waghray will also present the efforts of the Ecumenical Water Network to help partners worldwide advocate for universal access to clean water and sanitation. CWS is a founding member of the Network.

Panel speakers at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, include Reverend Al Bailey of New Psalmist Baptist Church, Rotary International’s Ron Denham, photographer Gil Garcetti, Emory University’s Jim Hughes, Tanvi Nagpal of Global Water Challenge, Melanie Nakagawa of the Natural Resourced Defense Council, Church World Service’s Marty Shupack, and Mark Winter of the Millennium Water Alliance.

Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) will make a guest appearance. The event is hosted by Water Advocates, a CWS partner dedicated to increasing American support for worldwide access to safe, affordable and sustainable drinking water and adequate sanitation.

In his message for this year’s World Water Day, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon points out that the Millennium Development Goals have helped to highlight the importance of access to safe drinking water supplies and adequate sanitation.

Access to safe water and sanitation “undeniably separates people living healthy and productive lives from those living in poverty,” he said. “Making good on the global water and sanitation agenda is crucial to eradicating poverty and achieving the other development goals.”