World Water Day 2023 was celebrated on March 22. The theme of this year’s global celebrations was Accelerating Change.
We are thrilled to report that our third annual World Water Day virtual auction exceeded our $10,000 goal, coming in at $13,000! A huge thank you to the generous auction donors and all of the participants who made the event a great success! These funds will certainly help us fulfill the goal of accelerating change, bringing life-changing safe water programs to more children and families in need.
Haiti
Our team in Haiti hosted an event for local leaders and officials at the PWW office in Limonade.
Following are highlights shared by Junior Seraphin, PWW’s WASH Training Coordinator in Haiti:
March 22 of each year is dedicated to World Water Day. This global celebration is an opportunity to learn more about water-related topics, to talk about water, and to act in order to change the course of things. World Water Day 2023 aims to accelerate change to solve the water and sanitation crisis. The dysfunction of the water cycle jeopardizes the progress made regarding all the major global problems, be it health, hunger, equality between men and women, access to employment, education, industry, disasters or even peace.
The WASH Training and Consulting Services of PWW in Haiti organized a conference for local leaders and officials, focused “Accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis.”
The main objective of the day’s event was to draw the attention of decision-makers and local stakeholders and inspire them to take concrete measures to reduce inequalities with regard to water access in the communities. The methodology utilized for the day’s conference was based on the participatory approach, which encourages and supports the involvement and active participation of all participants in the various activities. Activities included education from the PWW team as well as discussions across the group to gain an increased understanding about the dysfunction of the water cycle in the local communities and ways to begin to take action to create change. Nineteen people attend the conference.
Key messages of the day
- Take small steps to change the way we use, exploit, consume and manage water.
- How every person can engage with the water and sanitation crisis in their respective communities.
- Key discussion: “You, your family, your school, and your community can make a WASH Training and Consulting Services difference by changing the way you use, consume and manage water every day”.
- What can each of us do? The theme “accelerating change” encourages all of us to make small gestures in the way we use, consume and manage water sources to solve the water crisis in the world.
Regrettably, “the world is terribly far from reaching its goal of water and sanitation for all by 2030,” stated the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres. “Billions of people still don’t have clean water or toilets. We can all do something to accelerate change.”
PWW is committed to raising awareness among communities and leaders so that all can contribute to improving accelerate change by using, consuming and managing water differently. Every gesture, no matter how small, can contribute to solving the water and sanitation crisis.
We have the unique opportunity, in this generation, to unite around the issue of water and to accelerate the pace [to safe water for all], together.
Honduras
While our team in Honduras hosted 11 volunteers from the United States on World Water Day, schools across Honduras celebrated the importance of water, inspired by years of working with PWW.
Following are just a sample of the many photos and videos we received from schools across the country:
