News
- The UN and the FAO warn of a tangible reality: the planet is in danger.
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The Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, makes a call to recover harmony with nature.
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The preservation of the forests is fundamental for the fight against the degradation of the climate.
Since 2009, the General Assembly of the UN has marked the 22nd of April as International Mother Earth Day. The day took shape as a practical consequence of the spirit of the Rio Declaration of 1992: reflecting on the importance of taking care of the unrenewable resources of the planet and recover harmony with the environment as a basis to solve the serious problems that humanity is facing due to the degradation of the biosphere.
The message launched this year by the Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, is clearly explicit about the aim of the day: "International Mother Earth Day is a chance to reaffirm our collective responsibility to promote harmony with nature at a time when our planet is under threat from climate change, unsustainable exploitation of natural resources and other man-made problems."
This year the slogan and the campaign has been "The Face of Climate Change ", since the alteration of the planet's climate affects all the inhabitants of the globe, which the UN sees as agents of the problem but also the solution. Through this proposal of awareness-raising and promoting participation, the UN hopes to focus on the environmental impact this year; specifically, its harmful effects on people, animals, ecosystems and natural resources.
http://www.earthday.org/2013/index.php)
Awareness-raising activities
International Earth Mother Day is set within the effort made by the UN to achieve the 2015 goals in the fight against poverty, known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), and emphasises the post-2015 agenda and the spirit of the Rio +20 agreements. To do this, the General Assembly has planned a series of events to boost the immense amount of work already being undertaken.
One of those launched is the Think. Eat. Save project, by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Its aim is to reduce the loss of food which, apart from the waste, represents a useless expenditure of energy and water – the "hydric footprint" – that have been necessary to produce it. On the other hand, according to the Executive Director of UNEP, Achim Steiner, this problem affects climate change since "the food thrown away into the globe's landfills produces small but significant amounts of methane – a powerful greenhouse gas – are also added to the emissions of the livestock necessary to produce the food."
This activity fully falls within the initiative of the We Are Water Foundation of raising awareness about the hydric footprint of food through its Weeatwater application, for iOS telephones and tablets, which provides information about the water necessary to obtain each food product and to prepare the most typical recipes of each continent.
The importance of preserving the forests
Additionally, the FAO, aware of the importance of preserving the forest mass of the planet to avoid alteration of the water cycle, among other objectives of ecological balance, announced on International Earth Mother Day its first Global Action Plan for the conservation, sustainable use and development of the forests' genetic resources. This plan, pending final approval by the next FAO conference, which will be held in Rome in June 2013, will be developed by the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of the FAO (CGRFA), the aim of which is the improvement in the availability and access to information about the genetic resources of the forests and the development of the conservation strategy around the world, as well as promoting the sustainable use of the forests' genetic resources.
The estimations of the numbers of species of trees in the world vary from 80,000 to 100,000, according to the UNEP. The forests' ecosystems are essential refuges for biodiversity, and 12% of the forests in the world are designated primarily to preserving biological diversity.
Raising awareness about the reality of the danger
The UN wishes to express on International Earth Mother Day its conviction that, to achieve a fair balance between the economic, social and environmental needs of the present and future generations, it is essential to face up to the hard truth that our planet is under threat. In this respect, the President of the UN General Assembly, Vuk Jeremic, stated: "The irreversible torrent of physical and ecological transformations across the globe is threatening us with a future reality that is profoundly different from anything that we have experienced until now."
According to the UN, the unsustainable use of the natural resources is eroding the fragile ecosystems, destroying biodiversity, exhausting the fishing grounds due to abusive commercial fishing and threatening the marine food chains on increasing the acidity of the oceans.
One of the most dramatic consequences of this loss of balance with nature is the serious problem of lack of water due to the overexploitation of resources, pollution, and above all due to climate change. The unfavourable evolution of the climate has been one of the central themes of the activities undertaken on International Earth Mother Day around the world. Climate change is directly related to the degradation of arable land, which today suffers a loss of 2,000 million hectares per year, and with the lack of water in extensive areas of the planet, which increase every year. Today it is a growing cause of population displacement in sub-Saharan Africa and the Horn of Africa, where drought has caused a lot of damage over the last decades.
According to UN data, the dry lands now occupy 41.3% of the whole earth's surface and house 34.7% of the world's population. Moreover, more than 50% of agricultural land is in moderate to serious conditions of degradation.
According to information of UN Water, about 1,600 million people depend on the forests for their subsistence. The forests are also the source of 75% of the planets freshwater, and they help control the impact of storms, slow down erosion and flooding, and store a large part of the atmosphere's CO2. One of the goals of the projects in which the We Are Water Foundation collaborates with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation in India has been to help in forest regeneration by means of creating small reservoirs like that of Ganjikunta (see the project) which has transformed the lives of farmers and livestock breeders.
About the We Are Water Foundation
The We Are Water Foundation, promoted by the Roca company, has as objectives, on the one hand, to raise awareness amongst the general public and the administrations about the need to promote a new culture of water and, on the other hand, relieve the negative effects related to the lack of hydric resources, through the development of cooperation and aid programmes alongside diverse organisations such as Education without Frontiers, the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, Intermón Oxfam and UNICEF.
News
- Two prize-winning productions of the We Art Water Film Festival were shown in the Berlinale.
- The message of the works reached the public and was able to raise awareness about the importance of access to water.
- The Foundation announces the holding of the next We Art Water Film Festival and encourages participation.
© We Art Water documentaries @ Berlin International Film Festival.
The We Are Water Foundation was present for the first time at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival also known as the Berlinale, one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, and took part in the first appearance of two of its prize-winning productions of the We Art Water Film Festival. The short films chosen were the productions titled: Páramos: Agua por oro by Camilo Arenas and Give me water, please by Anna Baranska.
Páramos: Agua por oro is a production by the Columbian Camilo Arenas that tells, in a magnificent exercise of synthesis, the life of the farmers of the Páramos Andinos, the Andean highlands, who live from what the land gives them and from the produce they sell in the markets of Bucaramanga and Cúcuta, especially onions. They depend on increasingly scarce sources of water, since they are used by the mining operations that also contaminate the riverbeds with cyanide. (link)
Give me water, please, by Anna Baranska is a simple production that, in a very well-constructed way, manages to transmit with great impact the consequences of lack of water in an African family told by one of its members: a young girl. (link)
Photos of the atmosphere by courtesy of the Berlin Festival.
The message of the We Are Water project convinces the public of Berlin
With its participation in the Berlinale, through the First We Art Water Film Festival, the Foundation established a norm in the festival. Moreover, the response from the public confirmed the correctness of the philosophy behind this initiative of the Foundation, whose main aim is the spreading of the "we are water" message and the raising of awareness about the serious problems of those who suffer its shortage.
The spectators had the chance to see the two productions. The innovative nature of the works and their capacity to arouse the emotions of the audience meant that they were able to spread the message of sustainability and cooperation of the We Are Water project. Neither of them left the audience indifferent and it praised the direct and well elaborated message of the works. This effect of reflection and raising awareness was palpable in the very words of some of those attending: "The short film 'Páramos: Agua por oro' shows a type of situation that is unfortunately widespread across the world and which affects water, so I think that it deserves our fullest attention", stated a spectator.
Thomas Struck, director of the Culinary Cinema section of the Berlinale, was pleased to be able to have this type of film genre about water in the programme of the Berlin Festival: "We are very pleased to be able to present short films from the We Art Water Film Festival, since water is life and here we undoubtedly have films about life."
Photos of the atmosphere by courtesy of the Berlin Festival.
The We Are Water Foundation, through its representative, Carlos Garriga, in his presentation, thanked the festival for the invitation and congratulated the winners selected by the organisers of the Berlin film festival: "We are very satisfied to be able to present in the Berlinale two of the prize-winning short films of the We Art Water Film Festival: 'Páramos: Agua por oro' by Camilo Arenas and 'Give me water, please' by Anna Baranska. From here we give our thanks to the two filmmakers for helping us take the foundation's message to a place as emblematic as this."
In the setting of the Berlinale, the We Are Water Foundation announced for the first time the organisation of the second We Art Water Film Festival; and encouraged people to participate in it. Carlos Garriga explained it thus: "We want to encourage those who like cinema and who feel capable of shooting a short film, to follow us on our website, www.wearewater.org, since we will soon be presenting the second We Art Water Film Festival."
The representative of the Foundation also highlighted the great opportunity it meant for the winners of the We Art Water Film Festival with the possibility of being able to show their creations in a festival of this category; one of the filmmaking events with most scope and prestige internationally. It confirmed once again the capacity of the Foundation when creating new pioneering and innovative formulas to raise awareness and spread the "We Are Water" message that knows no frontiers. Thanks to the high participation and also to the surprising public response during the staging of the event in 2012, now in early 2013 the rules have been established for its international expansion.
The first We Art Water Film Festival has established a precedent of sensitization and communication thanks to the high level of participation and audiovisual creation
The We Art Water Film Festival is a pioneering audiovisual initiative that the Foundation established in 2012. This event is the first international competition of short films the aim of which is to raise awareness among the world's population about the global problem of water and food security, a subject that was chosen by the United Nations as the central theme for World Water Day 2012.
From the very beginning of setting up the rules of the event, the Foundation unavoidably established that this first edition of the event would be open to all and have the participation of the public as an active agent in the process of creating and spreading its message.
To do this, it launched the competition through the website and the social networks. The result was a thorough success, in terms of both participation and the response of the public. More than 500 participants from 80 countries presented their works. Moreover, the public had the chance to vote for their favourite short film through the Foundation's competition web, and more than 12,500 votes were recorded and some 70,000 visits to it.
Not only was the level of response very high, but also the level of the content and the creativity of the works presented with the aim of understanding, promoting and communicating the messages to raise awareness. Thanks to the planning of the event, which made it possible to take part in three different creative models – micro-documentary, animation and mobile phone - there was a widespread response and great wealth of focuses.
The diverse and multicultural contribution that was obtained coincided precisely with the philosophy and guidelines of the UN as a key factor in achieving sustainability this year, 2013: International Year of Cooperation in the Sphere of Water.
The filmmaker Isabel Coixet - President of the Jury of the We Art Water Film Festival – presented her film "Ayer no termina nunca", in the Berlinale, accompanied by her two leading actors: Candela Peña and Javier Cámara, friend of the We Are Water Foundation.
A star-studded jury for the first We Art Water Film Festival
The event of the festival had a star-studded jury from the world of culture, literature, cinema and cooperation of an international nature: the filmmaker Isabel Coixet, president of the jury of the We Art Water Film Festival; the actress and singer, Maria de Medeiros; Ray Loriga, writer, scriptwriter and film director; Antonio Saura, member of the Executive Board of the European Film Academy; Judith Colell, vice-president of the Spanish Film Academy; Toni Ulled, director of the magazine Fotogramas; and the director of the We Are Water Foundation, Xavier Torras.
Since its creation the event has had the support of the UN, through its office in Brussels, UNRIC (United Nations Regional Information Centre), whose representative, Carlos Jiménez Renjifo, was also a member of the jury.
The winners of the We Art Water Film Festival were the following productions: Páramos: agua por oro, by Camilo Arenas (Micro-documentary, Colombia), Give me water please, by Anna Baranska (Animation, Poland), Two ways to grow, by Sergi Frías (Mobu¡ile phone, Spain) and Water for Life, by Raihan Ahmmed (Public vote, Bangladesh).
The prize for each of the four winners is to be able to film a documentary in one of the projects in which the Foundation currently cooperates, with the aim of publicising among the international community the global problem of water that these projects try to alleviate.
About the We Are Water Foundation
The We Are Water Foundation, promoted by the Roca company, has as objectives, on the one hand, to raise awareness amongst the general public and the administrations about the need to promote a new culture of water and, on the other hand, relieve the negative effects related to the lack of hydric resources, through the development of cooperation and aid programmes alongside diverse organisations such as Education without Frontiers, the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, Intermón Oxfam and UNICEF.
News
- For World Water Day the We Are Water Foundation undertook activities to attract attention and raise awareness of the public that with a small gesture we can help achieve a fairer distribution of water.
- In Spain, sporting celebrities such as Manel Estiarte, Enric Masip and Andréi Xepkin collaborated in the events held in Barcelona, and in Madrid the Women of Water exhibition by the photojournalist Tomás Abella was officially opened.
- The activities were undertaken simultaneously in 15 countries around the world, where funds were also raised for the Foundation's projects.
On the 22nd of March, World Water Day, the We Are Water Foundation undertook activities in 15 countries under the slogan "With your help, a fair distribution of water is possible". With this the Foundation establishes a permanent call for social action, raising awareness among the population that with a small gesture we can help achieve a better and fairer distribution of water in the world.
The slogan of World Water Day this year has been Cooperation in the Sphere of Water and UNESCO has been responsible for organising the day which is within the setting of the International Year of Cooperation in the Sphere of Water designated on the 20th of December by the General Assembly of the UN for 2013. (See the newsletter about World Water Day).
A debate for interdisciplinary collaboration
Barcelona
With the aim of promoting cooperation, the We Are Water Foundation held, two days before, on the 20th of March, a round table discussion in the Roca Barcelona Gallery, with the title Formulas for realising cooperation in questions of water. Experts in questions of water took part who provided an interdisciplinary vision and valuable information in order to become aware of the situation and focus the actions in the framework of the Millennium Goals and for the design of the post-2015 Agenda that the UN is drawing up. In the debate, Xavier Torras, director of the We Are Water Foundation, explained the conclusions of the barometer study Sensitivity towards saving water in Spain, which the Foundation has promoted and the aim of which has been to measure variables such as the degree of concern of the population for environmental problems and for the amount of water available in the world. (See more detailed information about the round table discussion in the previous newsletter).
"With your help, a fair distribution of water is possible"
On the same day as World Water Day, the We Are Water Foundation undertook simultaneous activities in 15 countries. Under the slogan "With your help, a fair distribution of water is possible", the actions were carried out based on a large mural that showed a map of the world drawn with grey dots that had to be filled with stickers in the form of the blue We Are Water drop. The idea behind this action was to create social awareness about the problem of water with a call for cooperation, making the public aware that small actions can achieve an improvement in access to water and sanitation in the world, and raising funds in the form of a donation for the Foundation's projects.
The events held in Barcelona took place in the FNAC in L'Illa Diagonal and opposite Pedralbes Centre. The Foundation had the support in its activities of sports stars such as Manel Estiarte, the best Spanish water polo player ever and who has participated in the most Olympic Games; or Enric Masip and Andréi Xepkin, former handball players of F.C. Barcelona, winners of five European Cups. All of them collaborated unselfishly in the call for cooperation and complemented the task of spreading the "We Are Water" message with which the Foundation informed visitors of the projects it is currently undertaking in Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia and India with Education without Frontiers, Intermón Oxfam ,UNICEF and the Vicente Ferrer Foundation respectively.
Women of water
Madrid
In the Roca Madrid Gallery, the We Are Water Foundation opened the Women of Water exhibition, based on the work of the photojournalist Tomás Abella, to discover through the eye of the author the story behind each photo shown about the serious problems that women in sub-Saharan Africa have in their daily search for water. In these zones, the women, above all girls of school age, are responsible for looking for water in springs and wells, many of them several hours' walk away. These women end up transporting drums containing 30 litres of water to supply the family's needs, disregarding the domestic work and their important stabilising role in the community. The girls are more seriously affected because they stop attending school to help their mothers and are exposed to being attacked and suffer abuses.
Activities in 15 countries
Milano
Similar actions to the event held in Barcelona were held simultaneously in Italy, the United Kingdom, India, Bulgaria, Poland, Portugal, Russia, France, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Dubai, China and the Czech Republic. In the same way, the actions were focused on raising social awareness about the problem of the lack of water and suitable sanitation, and raising funds for the Foundation's projects.
In Italy, the action was undertaken in Milan in some Roman baths, in collaboration with the spa centre of Milan (QC Termemilano). In Paris, the day was held in collaboration with the Carrousel du Louvre, a popular cultural space and commercial mall next to the famous museum of the same name.
Sophia
In Lisbon, Portugal, in the famous Plaza de los Restauradores, opposite the Roca Lisbon Gallery, bottles of water were given out with information about the Foundation's projects and philosophy. Actions were also carried out in the street in cities such as Prague, São Paulo and Buenos Aires. In the Argentine capital the events were held in the central Plaza Rodríguez Peña, in collaboration with the City Government, without raising funds due to the legal limitations in force. In Poland, the information stand of World Water Day was installed in the Warsaw central railway station.
In Sofia, Roca Bulgaria undertook its activities in the Expo Bath Sofia, in whose entrance was placed the mural with the map to be filled with the We Are Water drops. It had the presence of José Luis Tapia Vicente, Ambassador of Spain for Bulgaria and a concert was given by the quintet of Theodosii Spassov, a musician and friend of the We Are Water Foundation, dedicated to the cause of water, which was attended by more than 180 guests. The activities were broadcast live via streaming and the informative activities were extended to information centres that form part of the International Water Bridge, a cooperation initiative in questions of water supported by the UN, which in Bulgaria brings together several universities.
Santiago de Chile
In Santiago de Chile the events lasted three days, prolonged until the 24th, on the We Are Water Foundation stand installed in the well-known Parque Arauco commercial centres. The public were informed via leaflets and a video of the projects in progress, while many donations were taken at the stand and online through the website. On Saturday, CNN approached to give an interview and all the acts had a big effect on school students.
In Russia, the actions took place in three cities: in the Moscow Shopping centre in Europeisky Square in Moscow, in the Galeria Shopping centre in St. Petersburg and in the SBS Mega Mall in Krasnodar. In China the action was held in K11, a central commercial space in Shanghai. More than 5,000 people passed by the stand and filled the world map with blue drops in solidarity with World Water Day, the We Are Water Foundation and its projects.
About the We Are Water Foundation
The We Are Water Foundation, promoted by the Roca company, has as objectives, on the one hand, to raise awareness amongst the general public and the administrations about the need to promote a new culture of water and, on the other hand, relieve the negative effects related to the lack of hydric resources, through the development of cooperation and aid programmes alongside diverse organisations such as Education without Frontiers, the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, Intermón Oxfam and UNICEF.
News
- The round table discussion Formulas for realising cooperation in questions of water, organised by the We Are Water Foundation, brought together five experts who emphasised the need for global cooperation in questions of water and sanitation.
- Access to water and sanitation are essential to stabilise and balance the territory and achieve a just society.
- The evidence of climate change and demographic evolution concern the experts.
The importance of interdisciplinary collaboration was made very clear in the round table discussion organised by the We Are Water Foundation, on the 20th of March, in the Roca Barcelona Gallery, with the title Formulas for realising cooperation in questions of water. With the introduction and chairing by Xavier Torras, director of the We Are Water Foundation, five specialists exchanged know-how and experiences in questions of water and international cooperation with the aim of the fair development of hydric resources in the world. The members of the round table were: Josefina Maestu, director of the United Nations Office of Support for the Decade for Action "Water for Life" 2005-2015; Dr. Sergi Sabater, sub-director del ICRA (Institut Català de Recerca de l'Aigua) and head of the Resources and Ecosystems Area; Tomás Molina, journalist and meteorologist at Televisió de Catalunya; Sergio Moratón, delegate of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation in the Valencia Autonomous and Murcia Region; and Blanca Carazo, head of Cooperation and Development of UNICEF Spain.
Xavier Torras opened the debate, and pointed out the importance of World Water Day, presenting the important data that the UN handles to focus on the problems of water. The director of the We Are Water Foundation stressed the accelerated increase of the world population, which currently stands at 7.1 billion people, as the most relevant data before the need to act on questions of water, and underlined the importance of sanitation in the development of a fair and dignified life for people. "The population is increasingly aware of the problems caused by lack of water", he stated, "and sanitation and hygiene systems are appreciated as the most important development of humanity". Torras also explained the conclusions of the barometer study Sensitivity towards saving water in Spain which the We Are Water Foundation has promoted and has had as an objective to measure variables such as the degree of concern of the population for environmental problems and for the amount of water available.
Xavier Torras
The importance of global cooperation
Josefina Maestu spoke first, underlining the importance of international cooperation to achieve the Millennium Goals: "Governments, companies, NGOs and civil society. We are all part of the solution and must act jointly". She also highlighted the importance of World Water Day this year since the UN is defining the post-2015 Agenda, the goals of which project the solution to the problems of water to all sectors of human development, such as education, empowerment of women and health. Maestu emphasised the progress made between 1990 and 2010, a period during which some 2 billion people achieved improved access to drinking water, and pointed out that the areas where the most serious problems were concentrated were sub-Saharan Africa: "The situation worsens for the uncontrolled growth of the cities and we should realise that in Africa and Asia the demand for water will double in 2050 compared to that of 2000."
Josefina Maestu
The director of the United Nations Office of Support for the Decade for Action "Water for Life" 2005-2015, pointed out the importance of the fight against the practice of open-air defecation and the consequent emphasis that the UN is placing on the development of suitable sanitation. On this question she explained the key points of resolution 64/292 of the United Nations Assembly regarding the definition of the quality of water and sanitation, and highlighted the inclusion of suitable hygiene in the objectives for after 2015: "In 20125 we want to be able to confirm that open-air defecation does not exist."
The need for scientific investigation
The next speaker was Sergi Sabater who explained the role that science is having in the investigation of water. He highlighted the main problems that represent challenges for science: the quality of water, in terms of its healthiness; and the quality, in terms of the amount required to meet human needs. "Both concepts, quality and quantity, are related", stated Sabater, "and depend on the sources available at a surface and subterranean level. These resources must be protected, and this is an absolute priority and must be on the agendas of all the governments. We must work with a global perspective, since we must share the planet, and to find solutions at a local level." The scientist pointed out that science and technology progress to achieve these goals that involve different methods according to the geographic position and socioeconomic structure. "Science is not a luxury", he stressed, "What is invested in science always comes back to society sooner or later."
The evidence of climate change
Tomás Molina then gave a summary of the data available regarding climate change, especially that referring to rainfall and evaporation, and pointed out its evidence: "Although it is very tricky making climate forecasts for the future, climate change is a reality and cannot now be avoided: the Earth is going to heat up by 4º C during the 21st century. We will have to adapt." The meteorologist explained very clearly the factors that define the study of rainfall and how these are used to define the states of drought and to be able to act to alleviate the damage. "It is not so important how much it rains, but how it rains", explained Molina, who stressed the importance of aridity on the repercussion of drought and that, parallel to the increase in temperature in the world, it is going to rain less in the conflictive zones and water will evaporate more.
Xavier Torras, Sergi Sabater, Blanca Carazo and Tomás Molina
Water as a stabiliser and balancer of the territory
The next speaker was Sergio Moratón, who firstly summed up the work that for the last 44 years the Vicente Ferrer Foundation has been undertaking in India, specifically in the region of Anantapur, the driest inhabited part of the country. After explaining the climatic and social situation of the zone, the delegate of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation in the Valencia Autonomous Community and Murcia, explained the importance of water as a stabiliser of the territory and the basis of all social justice and development: "Rural society depends on agriculture, which consumes 80% of hydric resources. Without water migratory movements are constant and mainly end up in the cities, in large pockets of poverty. With water, farmers can stay in their lands, have a source of income that provides them with a dignified life and can follow plans of education and health, women are empowered and society is balanced." Moratón highlighted some of the solutions that are being applied in the region, such as the creation of small self-managed lakes and specific irrigation systems, such as drip irrigation, which saves water and allows an increase in production, diversifying crops and introducing livestock and the attainment of biogas. The representative of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation showed the projects undertaken jointly with the We Are Water Foundation, such as the lake in Ganjikunta and of the development of drip irrigation systems that are enabling these objectives to be achieved.
The importance of hygiene
The final speaker, Blanca Carazo, explained the objectives of UNICEF, which are based on ensuring the right to water and sanitation of all children. She placed special emphasis on the direct relationship between water and health and how it affects the child population, the most vulnerable section: "Diarrhoea is one of the main causes of child mortality and children get it through lack of sanitation or suitable hygienic habits. The simple fact of washing your hands after defecating and before eating saves many lives and we must continue moving forward in the diffusion of this knowledge." The head of Cooperation and Development of UNICEF in Spain highlighted the importance of suitable sanitation services for women in the most depressed regions of the world: "If women have to go outside the home to defecate, they do it at night to safeguard their dignity, which for them represents the danger of being attacked and raped. On the other hand, there are also many young girls who on reaching the age of menstruation stop going to class due to lack of privacy in the services. Women also suffer from a lack of access to education since in many rural societies, for example in Africa, they are responsible for looking for it and that is why they miss school". Carazo highlighted the projects undertaken by the We Are Water Foundation in Guinea-Bissau and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as the one currently being developed in Bolivia, and stressed the importance of education in hygienic habits, one of the great objectives of the WASH programme (Water, sanitation and Hygiene) of UNICEF: "The sign of success is when a healthy habit is acquired, such as washing your hands before eating."
About the We Are Water Foundation
The We Are Water Foundation, promoted by the Roca company, has as objectives, on the one hand, to raise awareness amongst the general public and the administrations about the need to promote a new culture of water and, on the other hand, relieve the negative effects related to the lack of hydric resources, through the development of cooperation and aid programmes alongside diverse organisations such as Education without Frontiers, the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, Intermón Oxfam and UNICEF.
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