Dynamic partnerships toward a water secure future
UNICEF Sustainable WASH Hub, PlanBørnefonden, UNICEF Denmark and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Denmark convene sector experts towards collective action
What if everyone, everywhere, had access to safe water and sanitation?
What if children had access to hygiene facilities and services that ensured preventable diseases like diarrhoea and cholera were just that - preventable? The global mechanism for making this vision a reality is embodied in Sustainable Development Goal 6 - clean water and sanitation for all. But with seven years left to achieve this goal, we're still far off target.
The good news is that progress has been made. But, 2.2 billion people still lack access to safe water and 3.5 billion - close to half the world's population - live without proper hygiene and sanitary facilities. Life-saving needs of children and their communities demand a disruption to business as usual and accelerated efforts towards transformational change. To accelerate progress, dynamic partnerships are needed to discover, iterate and scale innovative solutions. This is central to the ambitions of the UNICEF Sustainable Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Innovation Hub based in Copenhagen and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark.
No one organization can solve the global water crisis alone and the gathering of WASH experts highlights the need for strong partnerships as to bridge the gap to achieving SDG 6. Our collective action today will ensure a WASH secure future for every child, everywhere. The upward trajectory for transformative change urgently requires dedicated focus on both technological solutions and innovative financing mechanisms.
The UNICEF Sustainable WASH Innovation hub, supported the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, plays a key role as a global center for bold innovators to deliver the climate-resilient solutions and financing needed to make the vision for a water-secure future a reality for this and coming generations.
In a gathering of collaborators and partners with a shared vision towards SDG 6, the Sustainable WASH Innovation Hub, PlanBørnefonden, UNICEF Denmark, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs convened sector experts and enthusiasts to explore and chart pathways towards leveraging innovative approaches and solutions to the global water crisis.
To attain SDG 6 and universal access to safe drinking water by 2030, we must increase current efforts sixfold. Business as usual is clearly not an option. Thus, I’m pleased that we've gathered so many highly skilled individuals and organisations to explore innovative future WASH-solutions.
At the WASH gathering in Copenhagen, experts discussed key factors to creating necessary and transformative change; a combination of traditional and innovative solutions; dynamic partnerships and joint global action.
Strategically located in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Sustainable WASH Innovation Hub will harness the collective potential of a wide network of highly experienced Danish experts, global specialists and market leaders to catalyze research and leverage innovative solutions that deliver accelerated results to address global WASH challenges.
Denmark is home to global expertise and leading technology in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector. Coupled with political will and the ambition to address the global water crisis, this partnership with UNICEF Office of Innovation as host to the Sustainable WASH Innovation Hub sets a promising pace to building momentum towards transformational change.
Denmark is honored to host UNICEF’s new innovation Hub for water and sanitation. We share a vision to create a global home for innovative and scalable solutions to the global water and sanitation crisis to accelerate the green transition.
Grundfos Fonden - a leading voice in water and sustainable development in the private sector and a partner of PlanBørnefonden and UNICEF Denmark - supports the mission to secure sustainable WASH initiatives in local communities. This is instrumental to keeping the water crisis on the national and global agenda and highlighting the potential of dynamic and effective partnerships.
The causes and consequences of lack of access to water and sanitation are extensive and complex. But a lack of water affects the impoverished communities around world. In such communities, climate change and extreme weather phenomena such as drought and floods hit the hardest. Some communities experience increased instability, conflicts and migration flows. Often children are worst affected – a lack of clean water is attributed to the deaths of about 1,000 children under the age of five die every day due to diarrhoeal diseases.
If we are to solve the global water crisis, we need competency-driven partnerships, innovative solutions, and private investment. All three are important to ensure WASH-solutions reach the last mile – communities hardest to reach. The Danish water community is in a unique position to take a leading role in this.
What if those who can help build and shape a WASH secure future come together as a formidable force for for good?
We need not imagine; we know that with collective action, this vision can become a reality impacting billions of lives worldwide.
For more information on how to support or partner with the UNICEF Sustainable WASH Innovation Hub, contact innovation@unicef.org
