In just 24 hours, more than 18,000 global citizens have thanked Isabella Lövin, the International Development Minister of Sweden, for signing onto the Women for Water and Sanitation Declaration. Global citizens took to twitter and urged her to attend this year’s Global Citizen Festival and make a commitment in support of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene as her nation starts to implement the Global Goals over the next 15 years. Minister Lovin, along with 52 other prominent female figures, recently signed the Women for Water Declaration; a call for world leaders to ensure water, sanitation and hygiene plays a major role in the Global Goals this September,
Just a few hours ago, the Minister confirmed that she had heard your message loud and clear and that you can count on Sweden to play its part!
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Water & sanitation - WASH - is crucial -Thx @GlblCtzn for your message of support, we hear you loud & clear & you can count om Sweden
— Isabella Lövin (@IsabellaLovin) July 10, 2015--
This is a huge win in the fight to end extreme poverty and proof that as global citizens we can make a difference. In less than 24 hours, global citizens from around the world have rallied together and managed to get the attention of one of the world’s leading aid giing countries. That’s not just great, that’s significant.
Despite progress being made, 2.5 billion people still don't have access to adequate sanitation systems. As well as that, over 1 billion still practice open defecation; a practice that kills thousands of children every year. The Swedish Government can go a long way to addressing the global sanitation crisis, and can serve as a call to action for other countries to step up and follow their strong leadership.
Today has been an incredible day but there is still a lot more to do. We have invited the Swedish Government to announce a new commitment to sanitation efforts at this year’s Global Citizen Festival - and we’ll keep you posted on how we go.
You can make sure Minister Lövin follows through and makes this committment by sending a tweet to her in TAKE ACTION NOW.