World Water Advocacy Day 2011

A highly successful advocacy day on March 23 was the culmination of a series of events organized to mark World Water Day, at which WaterAid and our partners celebrated progress in addressing the global water and sanitation crisis.

More than 80 advocates began their day with training that included former Utah Senator Bob Bennett giving a lively overview of his experiences of what makes a good Congressional meeting.

Once again, the World Water Advocacy Day showed an ever-increasing interest in expanding access to safe water and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities.
Lisa Schechtman, Head of Policy & Advocacy, WaterAid in America

A range of partners also highlighted the the day’s objectives of maintaining appropriations for implementation of the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act and encouraging interest in water, sanitation and hygiene among new Members of Congress.

That afternoon, a Congressional briefing that included panelists from the Natural Resources Defense Council; Procter & Gamble’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program; the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program; the Center for Strategic and International Studies; and USAID; attracted more than 130 people, including staff from a range of Congressional offices.

Further reflecting the broad interest in WASH, the Honorary Congressional Host Committee comprised of Representatives Blumenauer (D-OR), Carnahan (D-MO), Clay (D-MO), Culberson (R-TX), and Poe (R-TX).

By day’s end, the advocates had split into teams and met with more than 80 Congressional offices in both the House and the Senate, laying the groundwork for broad-based support of pro-poor water, sanitation, and hygiene programming and improved alignment of these key services with other major foreign assistance initiatives, such as the Global Health Initiative and the Feed the Future Initiative.

Lisa Schechtman, WaterAid’s US Head of Policy & Advocacy commented: “Once again, the World Water Advocacy Day showed an ever-increasing interest in expanding access to safe water and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities. We look forward to even broader participation in the 2012 advocacy day and to meaningful progress on our collective goals.”

World Water Advocacy Day was organized by the World Water Day coalition, which consisted of more than 20 non-profit and private sector partners, whose collaboration was integral to the success of the day.

Other highlights of the week included the bipartisan reintroduction of the Water for The World Act in the US Senate and the coalition’s Donate Your Voice social media campaign, which brought awareness-raising updates about the water and sanitation crisis and solutions to address it to more than two million people.

• View Facebook album of photos from World Water Advocacy Day
  

• Read more information on WaterAid’s reaction to the World Water Day announcements.