WaterAid Canada applauds new Feminist International Assistance Policy

Women carrying water climb up a hill on their way home to the village of Miarinarivo, Madagascar. In Madagascar, 65% of the rural population live without access to clean water, while this southern African nation ranks in the top 12% of countries most vulnerable to climate change and top 13% of countries least ready to adapt, according to the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index. Credit: WaterAid/ Ernest Randriarimalala (CNW Group/WaterAid Canada)

OTTAWA, June 9, 2017 /CNW/ - The Government of Canada today released its Feminist International Assistance Policy which targets women's rights and gender equality and acknowledges that empowering women and girls makes families and countries more prosperous.

The evidence clearly shows that water, sanitation and hygiene are essential for protecting the world's poorest and most vulnerable populations and reversing the cycle of disempowerment. This is particularly important for women and girls, who collectively spend as much as 200 million hours every day fetching water, and for the more than one billion women and girls around the world who not have access to a clean, private toilet.

"We are encouraged by Canada's continued leadership in maternal, newborn and child health and by today's commitment to set a powerful standard for how we recognize the role of women in building healthy, sustainable and prosperous communities," said Nicole Hurtubise, CEO of WaterAid Canada. "Investments in safe water supply, sanitation interventions and hygiene behaviour change must be part of this agenda if we are to achieve and sustain the economic opportunities for women and girls that this government is promising."

The Global Goals for Sustainable Development commit the global community to ending extreme poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030. Through this Policy, the Government of Canada is demonstrating leadership toward this collective goal of a better, safer and more prosperous world and setting the stage to improve women's lives around the world.

WaterAid looks forward to continuing to work closely with the Government of Canada and development partners to ensure development aid and cooperation is as effective as possible in the years ahead.

Notes to Editors:

WaterAid

WaterAid's vision is of a world where everyone has access to clean water and sanitation. The international organization works in 37 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Pacific Region to transform lives by improving access to clean water, hygiene and sanitation in some of the world's poorest communities. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 25 million people with clean water and, since 2004, 24 million people with sanitation.  For more information, visit www.wateraidcanada.com, follow @WaterAidCanada on Twitter.

• Some 289,000 children die each year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by dirty water and poor sanitation. That's almost 800 children each day, or one child every two minutes.
• An estimated 663 million people (around one in ten) are without clean water
• Nearly 2.4 billion people (around one in three) live without improved sanitation
• For every $1 invested in water and sanitation, an average of $4 is returned in increased productivity.
• For details on how individual countries are keeping their promises on water and sanitation, please see our online database, WASHWatch.org.

SOURCE WaterAid Canada

Christine LaRocque, Director of Communications, [email protected] or 613-230-5182 ext. 243

Related Links

http://www.watercan.com/