THE United Nations and religious heads from around the world launched the Global Interfaith Wash Alliance (GIWA) on Tuesday (October 1) at UN headquarters in New York to bring clean water, sanitation and hygiene to people of the world.
The aim of GIWA is to harness the great power and influence of the world’s interfaith leaders in effecting significant and positive change in the areas of water, sanitation and hygiene and helping to achieve these crucial Millennium Development Goals.
The speakers at the launch were Swami Chidanand Saraswati, President of Parmarth Niketan and Founder of Ganga Action Parivar and GIWA co-founder, Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, Chief Imam of India President, All India Imam Organization, Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp, President and Founder, Jacob Soetendorp Institute for Human Values and GIWA co-founder and Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director.
‘Clean water and sanitation should not be a distant dream for children and communities,’ said Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director. ‘They should be a reality. And this alliance can help bring their dreams much closer.’
Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji said, ‘The borders and boundaries that we think separate us only illusory. We are not separate. We are one. So when our brothers and sisters are suffering due to lack of water, sanitation and hygiene, it is our responsibility to help them. It is time for us all to come forward together.’
GIWA envisions a water-secure world in which safe and sustainable drinking water and improved sanitation will be accessible to all by the year 2020.
The event was sponsored by the USA and the Netherlands and hosted by UNICEF.
