What Is your Rotary Club doing to focus on Water and Sanitation in March 2019?  Clean water and sanitation is a human right. When people, especially children, have access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene, they lead healthier and more successful lives. We don’t just build wells and walk away. Rotary members integrate water, sanitation, and hygiene into education projects. When children learn about disease transmission and practice good hygiene, they miss less school. And they can take those lessons home to their families, expanding our impact.

Read more, right here, for more details....

 

Clean water is a basic human right that many are often denied. There are 2.5 billion people in the world that lack access to improved sanitation and 748 million people that don’t have clean drinking water. Nearly 1400 children die each day from diseases caused by lack of sanitation and unsafe water. When people have access to clean water, they live healthier and more productive lives.

 
In 2015, the United Nations introduced their new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty and promote prosperity while protecting the environment and addressing climate change. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 on water and sanitation encourages us to address universal access to drinking water and sanitation along with improved water management to protect ecosystems and build resiliency. *
Rotary members are committed to reaching the water and sanitation SDG through projects like building wells, installing rainwater harvesting systems, and teaching community members how to maintain new infrastructure.
 
During March, Rotary Water and Sanitation Month, we’re celebrating our commitment to create healthier communities by supplying clean water and sanitation facilities to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Here are just a few examples of club service projects that are creating a lasting impact:
  • The Rotary Club of Bangalore Metro in India installed a water purification plant in the village of Ramanahalli. Due to extensive mining, the ground water in this rural community is completely contaminated with fluorides and other contaminants. The new water purification plant provides reliable access to potable water.
  • In the rural community of Bharat Pokhari in Nepal, villagers walk 25 km to fetch buckets of water every day. Often times girls spend two hours a day bringing home water before and after school. In partnership with the Rotary Club of Williamson (USA), the Rotary Club of Pokhara installed a water tank in the village giving more than 500 families access to safe drinking water closer to home.
  • The Rotary Club of Suna Migori in Kenya provided a source of clean rainwater to students at four schools and a clinic. At each location, Rotarians provided new latrines and hand washing stations. The project has impacted more than 1500 students and their families, hundreds of patients at the clinic, and increased school attendance especially among girls.
Information courtesy of Azka Asif, Rotary Programs Staff

 

HOW ROTARY MAKES HELP HAPPEN  Rotary has issued a global challenge to its members, asking them to work collectively to improve education quality and access — particularly for girls — by working with communities to improve teacher training, curriculum, and water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities.

ROTARY’S TARGET CHALLENGE to develop sustainable water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), and education projects is being piloted in five countries: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, India, and Kenya.

ROTARY HAS PARTNERED WITH THE U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT to implement sustainable, long-term projects to improve water supply, sanitation, and hygiene in the Dominican Republic, Ghana, and the Philippines.

Rotary makes amazing things happen, like:

  • Strengthen the ability of communities to develop, fund, and maintain sustainable water and sanitation systems.

  • Provide equitable community access to safe water, improved sanitation, and hygiene.

  • Support programs that enhance communities’ awareness of the benefits of safe water, sanitation, and hygiene.

  • Support career-minded professionals’ studies related to water and sanitation.

  • Create tools and resources that facilitate, measure, and enhance high-quality water and sanitation projects worldwide..

  • $ 24 - is all it takes to provide one person with safe water

  • 23 million people now have safe water because of Rotary

  • 21 million people have access to sanitation and hygiene thanks to Rotary projects

  • 2030 is the year Rotary hopes to finish providing everyone with safe water, sanitation, and hygiene

  • Join Rotary and help extend the flow of clean water to everyone.

  • Give now to support a water project.

  • Rotary - Providing Clean Water

RESOURCES & REFERENCE

Scholarships available for advanced training in water solutions: The Rotary Foundation and UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education are offering up to 10 scholarships for graduate study at UNESCO-IHE's Delft campus in the Netherlands. The aim is to increase the number of trained professionals who can devise, plan, and implement water and sanitation solutions in developing areas.