Valuing Water

In 2020/21 ACEF was adapted to an online delivery method and Commonwealth Alumni had the opportunity to design and create a video information session for their chosen community. The aim of the session was to communicate key information and raise awareness about valuing water.

World Water Day, 22 March 2021

The theme for World Water Day 2021 was ‘valuing water’.

World Water Day is about taking action to tackle the water crisis. Worldwide, one in three people do not have access to safe drinking water, two out of five people do not have a basic hand-washing facility with soap and water, and more than 673 million people still practise open defecation because of a number of constraining factors.

Valuing water is a shared responsibility. As a society, we must understand the multiple values of water to different groups and the importance of protecting water sources and ecosystems, ensuring access to safe drinking water and managed sanitisation, and investing in water infrastructure and innovations. Education and public awareness on the value of water and its crucial role in all aspects of life is essential to this.

In 2020/21 ACEF was adapted to an online delivery method and Commonwealth Alumni had the opportunity to design and create a video information session for their chosen community. The aim of the session was to communicate key information and raise awareness about valuing water.

All the videos created are available to watch on the CSC’s YouTube channel now.

World Water Day ACEF Activities

You can read about the video activities delivered by Commonwealth Alumni to mark World Water Day 2021 below – as well as the impact these video activities had on their chosen community

Promoting the use of safe water to prevent illness in Uganda

Promoting the use of safe water to prevent illness in Uganda

Commonwealth Alumnus Dr Sylivia Nalubega, Lecturer in Nursing at Soroti University, created an awareness video on the topic of WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) aimed at promoting the use of safe water to prevent illness to those living in Uganda. In her work as a nurse, health promotion and disease prevention are part of Dr Nalubega’s role, and she is therefore aware of the important need to spread awareness on the topic of safe water to those living in the Teso sub-region.

Zambia: The importance of handwashing and using clean water

Zambia: The importance of handwashing and using clean water

Commonwealth Alumnus Dr Evelyn Funjika, a lecturer and researcher at the University of Zambia, created a video to raise awareness around the importance of handwashing and the need to improve access to clean water for everyone. The key message in the video included sensitising local communities to wash their hands more frequently to reduce the burden of infectious diseases.