By Martin Dickson
Published: September 24 2008 16:13 | Last updated: September 24 2008 16:13
The Financial Times has selected WaterAid, which helps some of the world’s poorest people get access to safe water and sanitation, for its 2008 seasonal charity appeal to readers.
The seasonal appeal, which runs from November to mid-January, raised over £2.2m in the last two years for Camfed International, which supports the education of girls in Africa.
WaterAid was chosen for this year in a vote of FT staff around the world. The partnership was announced Wednesday by Barbara Frost, chief executive of WaterAid, at the United Nations High Level Event in New York. This brings together world leaders to assess progress towards the UN millennium development goals - targets for reducing poverty by 2015.
Ms Frost said that in New York she would be “addressing world leaders, calling on them to prioritise water and sanitation and recognise their essential role in reducing poverty. By choosing WaterAid for this year’s seasonal appeal the Financial Times’ staff have given recognition to the importance of our work.”
Lionel Barber, the FT’s editor, said: “We are delighted to be supporting WaterAid. Water issues are becoming an increasingly urgent issue globally - and we hope to use the campaign to help put this further up the global agenda.”
Founded in the UK in 1981, WaterAid works in 17 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific region and has fund-raising and policy offices in London, New York and Melbourne.
It estimates that over 1bn people do not have access to safe water while over 2.5bn lack adequate sanitation - many of them in urban slums. Diarrhoeal diseases caused by dirty water and poor sanitation, such as cholera, typhoid and dysentery, are common across the developing world. Water-related diseases are the second biggest killer of children, claiming 5,000 lives a day.
WaterAid helps communities set up and manage their own water and sanitation systems. The communities contribute their own labour and materials to help keep the cost of projects low and develop a sense of local responsibility for their management.
The charity also promotes hygiene education and campaigns for the adoption of a more integrated approach to development that recognises the importance of water and sanitation in reducing poverty.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
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