Global Poverty Project Partners with WaterAid America, WASH Advocates, WSCC and UNICEF for Water for the World Act

WHAT'S THE COMMITMENT?

Since 1990, over 1.9 billion people have gained access to toilets! Even so, a third of the world’s population still lives without access to basic sanitation.

The United Nations reports that access to sanitation is a powerful indicator of human development in any community. Water issues are increasingly becoming tied to regional tensions, global health, and economic growth.

The Water for the World Act would allow the United States Government to more efficiently increase access to water, sanitation, and hygiene – without costing a penny extra. The bill places a focus on increased transparency and monitoring and evaluation that can help ensure that mistakes aren’t repeated and successes become greater.

HOW DID GLOBAL CITIZENS RESPOND?

Since global citizens understand that poor sanitation leads to thousands of child deaths every day, we created a petition calling on US leaders to support the Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act of 2013. So far, global citizens have taken over 22,513 actions by signing this petition to increase access to water and sanitation! We’ve worked with key partners like WaterAid America and WASH Advocates to build grassroots support for the Water for the World Act.

In June, we worked with UNICEF to bring a giant inflatable toilet to the Thank You Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Here is a picture of Raj Shah, Administrator of USAID, posing with the toilet.

In July, we launched an opportunity for global citizens to send an email to key leaders in the House of Representatives including Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader McCarthy, and Majority Whip Scalise to encourage them to move the bill.

Then, on June 22, the Global Poverty Project team went to Capitol Hill to meet with the Offices of Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader McCarthy, and Majority Whip Scalise.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT

While at Capitol Hill, Justine and Judith handed over almost 11,000 emails written by global citizens calling on key leaders to support the Water for the World Act. Here is our team with a staffer from the Office of Majority Leader McCarthy:

And here is our team outside of the Office of Speaker Boehner.

All three staffers that we met with promised to review the emails and discuss the Water for the World Act with their teams.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

As the 113th session of the US Congress wraps up, it is vital that global citizens keep up the momentum to ensure that the Water for the World Act passes! The Global Poverty Project team will continue meeting with our leaders. Together, we can make sure that the United States commits to increasing access to water and sanitation around the world. We’ll keep you updated throughout the summer on big milestones in our campaigning around water and sanitation.

Keep an eye out for new actions to be released at GlobalCitizenFestival.com!