On International Women's Day, 8 March 2020, I am running 10K in the City-Pier-City Run in The Hague to raise funds for women's capacity building workshops in Odisha, India with IRC under the Watershed programme.
IRC's campaign 'She Makes Change' aims to raise €2,500 to facilitate three workshops in Odisha to strengthen local women with the skills to speak up and make their voices heard, to demand their right to water and saniation and more.
100% of your donation will go directly to this deserving project! :)
Why support this project?
- India is the second most populated country in the world (1.3B). Over 97M people do not have access to clean water, and more than 40% of the population do not have basic access to sanitation or hygiene services.
- Access to water and sanitation improves health, education and employment, reduces gender based violence, and empowers women.
- A lack of female participation in decision making often results in water and sanitation services that are inappropriate, inaccessible or too expensive. When women are included at all stages of planning, implementing and monitoring are found to be more effective and sustainable.
- Women represent less than 12.6% of ministerial positions in parliament which ranks India 149th in the world, yet achieving gender equality is estimated to add $700 billion USD to India's GDP by 2025.
IRC is an international non-profit water, sanitation and hygiene organisation based in The Hague, NL. They works with governments, NGOs, businesses and people around the world to find long-term solutions to the global crisis in water, sanitation and hygiene services.
The Watershed programme is a strategic partnership between IRC, Wetlands International, Simavi and Akvo. It focuses on advocating and lobbying for the inclusion of marginalised groups in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) governance, and building the capacity of civil society organizations to represent these marginalized groups and advocate for sustainable WASH services for all.
IRC website: https://www.ircwash.org/
Watershed website: https://watershed.nl/
