Water for Women joins with regional, national and local partners in working together towards Sustainable Development Goal 6 – Water for All

‘Did you know? Women and girls spend 200 million hours each and every day to collect water.  Time that could be spent at work, study, rest or play. We can change this.  We must change this.’ A message spoken yesterday by Australian Ambassador to Thailand, Mr Allan McKinnon at the joint opening of two week-long events taking place in Bangkok this week.

Yesterday, Water for Women Fund partners joined together with other regional organisations including UNICEF, Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) and the World Health Organisation to acknowledge and celebrate the importance of collaboration and sharing of learning when working towards Sustainable Development Goal 6 – Water for All.

Mr McKinnon went on to say, ‘in Sustainable Development Goal 6, I see a cornerstone for the achievement of most other Sustainable Development Goals.  By taking on the challenge of ‘Leaving No One Behind’, we make a commitment. A commitment to work together. A commitment to learn together and to continually focus on achieving tangible results.’

This message was echoed throughout the morning, Ms Catarina de Albuquerque, CEO of Sanitation and Water for All spoke via video message to attendees ‘We need to work together because there is no other solution… we need different voices around the same table.’ Regional and National perspectives were also shared by Dr. Kamal Kar Chairman, CLTS Foundation and H.E. Chreay Pom, Director General of Technical Affairs, Government of Cambodia. 

The two events taking place in Bangkok this week are the UNICEF and Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) East Asia and Pacific Regional Meeting - Mobilizing political will to create an enabling environment and ensuring mutual accountability and monitoring for Sanitation and Water for All and the Water for Women Fund Knowledge and Learning Event - Connecting, Collaborating and Cross Learning for Inclusive WASH. A common goal for all is to leave no one behind in achieving SDG6.

By participating in these two meetings, all organisations have a unique chance to connect, collaborate and learn from one another in person, an opportunity not often possible given we are working across the vast Indo-Pacific region. All partners conveyed strong support for the global initiative and drive towards inclusive WASH outcomes on day one. Throughout the week, Water for Women partners will be sharing best practice and innovation, workshopping and learning together to enhance our understanding and collaboration so that as a collective partnership, we can combine our strengths to ensure we create real change and tangible results in all of our projects.

On Friday 22^nd March, both meetings will again join together to celebrate World Water Day. Water for Women is the Australian Government’s flagship WASH program and will be delivered as part of Australia's aid program, investing 110.6 Million over five years from 2018 to 2022.