Courage Nyamhunga Our Children, Our Future
World Water Day is held annually on the 22nd of March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of fresh water and advocating for sustainable management of such a resource. This year’s theme: “Why waste water?”, is about reducing and reusing waste water. Waste water is a valuable resource to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 6 target.
This target aims to halve the proportion of untreated waste water and increase water recycling and safe use.
Access to safe water is a basic human right, however, today there are 663 million people who go without.
There are 2,4 billion people who do not use a basic toilet and almost one billion who practice open defecation.
While Zimbabwe has made significant progress to improve this situation, thousands of children today in urban and rural communities are facing the scourge of sanitation related diseases.
UNICEF Zimbabwe today joins the rest of the world in making efforts to ensure safe use of waste water.
This day provides an important opportunity to consolidate and build more momentum on this cause.
For UNICEF, waste water if properly managed is a valuable resource for children in the circular economy and its safe management is an efficient investment in children and the environment.
This year’s theme: “Why waste water?” is in support of SDG 6.3 on improving water quality and reducing, treating and reusing waste water.
UNICEF Zimbabwe, through working with various government ministries, is making conscious efforts to monitor sanitation related diseases such as cholera and typhoid.
The United Kingdom, through the Department of International Development (DFID) Zimbabwe, recently extended its support to the rural water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programme in Zimbabwe by contributing an additional 12 million pounds until October 2018.
Through this support, UNICEF Zimbabwe will be able to reach out to 11 new districts providing equitable and sustainable access to clean water, improved sanitation and adoption of good hygiene practices among the poor and vulnerable.
Access to safe water and adequate sanitation is critical to the realisation of fundamental children’s rights.
The extension of the (WASH) programme will contribute to fewer causes of water-borne diseases and strengthen gender equality and more time spent in school, in particular for girls.
The programme has already improved access to drinking water for over three million people across 33 rural districts of Zimbabwe.
It is also building resilient and empowered communities by creating livelihoods opportunities and reducing threats to prosperity through safe-management of waste water.
The safe management of waste water is not only crucial for the survival of children, but also for their health, happiness, dignity and development.
Reuse of wastewater already happens, although in many locations this largely happens on an unplanned and indirect basis. By exploiting this valuable resource, we will make the water cycle work better for every living thing.
For every child, water is a right, life and education.
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