Rally 4 Safe Water
The Problem
Safe water is our most essential need.
894 million people (1 in 6) do not have access to safe water.
Source: World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) Joint Monitoring Programme on Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP)
Today 2.5 billion people, including almost one billion children, live without even basic sanitation. Every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor sanitation. That’s 1.5 million preventable deaths each year.
Source: Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC)
90% are children under 5 years old.
Globally, diarrhoea is the leading cause of illness and death, and 88 per cent of diarrhoeal deaths are due to a lack of access to sanitation facilities, together with inadequate availability of water for hygiene and unsafe drinking water. Source: JMP It kills more people than all global violence, including war.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, treating diarrhoea consumes 12 percent of the health budget. On a typical day, more than half the hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from faecal-related disease. Source: WSSCC
The estimated economic cost of these problems is a loss of $28bn in Africa alone.
The problem is far reaching. Mostly women and children have the task of walking up to 3 hours a day to swamps, ponds or rivers, to fetch unclean water which can weigh up to 20kg. In Africa 40bn hours per year are spent this way. The pervasive effect of this necessity means less time for education, earning a living, looking after the family. Plus it is a dangerous endeavour, often leaving the women back problems and exposing them to potential attack.
Millennium Development Goal # 7. Ensure Environmental Stability
Target – Halve by 2015 the proportion of population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
In all regions progress was made. rural drinking water coverage increased from 60% in 1990 to 76% in 2008. In Sub Saharan Africa coverage expanded 22% but remains very low, with only 60% of the population served, down to 47% in rural areas.
Sanitation – in 2008 48% of the population in developing countries were without basic sanitation, and the target is unlikely to be met.
The practise of open defecation by 1.1 billion people is an affront to human dignity. Improvements would have an enormous impact.
The Solution.
Rally4Life has decided to focus on the provision of safe water because it is the most simple answer to solving a myriad of problems and breaking the poverty cycle. We
don’t need to reinvent the wheel, find a cure or invest huge amounts of money. Safe water can be provided for as little as $20 per person, and it is estimated that for every dollar spent $12 is yielded in economic return. Plus less money is needed for health care. Children have the freedom to get a good education, women have more time for their family and economic opportunities. If there is a chance of irrigation to grow food a self sufficient family is less affected by external conflict, famine and poor governance.
Related Project Samburu Water Project
Rally 4 Sustenance
We are facing a global food crisis. Recent spikes in food prices leave the poor with less access to available food.
Millennium Development Goal # 1. Eradicate Extreme Poverty & Hunger. Target – Halve between 1990 and 2015 the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
From 2005-2007 830 million people went undernourished, 16% of the population. There are no recent figures, but it is estimated this may have exceeded 1 billion in 2009 during the global economic crisis. 1 in 4 children in the developing world are underweight, up to 46% in Southern Asia.
in 2005 1.4 billion people were living on less than $1.25 per day, up to 51% in Sub Saharan Africa.
Related Project – Nicaragua School, food programme.
Rally 4 Shelter
Millennium Development Goal # 7. Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Target by 2020 to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.
By 2010 32% of the urban population in developing regions live in slums, that equates to 828 million people, and the number increases to 77% in conflict affected countries. The percentages have decreased but the actual numbers are growing.
In 2009 there was a total of 15.2 million refugees and 27.1 million internally displaced people.
Related Project – Guatemala Stoves.
Rally 4 Education
Millennium Development Goal # 2. Achieve Universal Primary Education Target – That by 2015 children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.
Progress has been made, with success for 89% of the children in the developing world. However there are inequalities, with rural and female populations still behind and in half of the countries of Sub Saharan Africa 1 in 4 children are still not in school, about 31 million children.
The birth rate of adolescent girls with no education is 4 times the average.