Launch of Global Interfaith WASH Alliance

Global Interfaith WASH Alliance to Promote Safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Launched at the United Nations in Partnership with UNICEF.

On September 25th, 2013, a special alliance was launched at the UNICEF headquarters at the United Nations. Religious heads from around the world, joined by the Executive Director of UNICEF and representatives of many organizations officially launched the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance (GIWA), an alliance of leaders of faith working together 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 of faith 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:

• Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp, President & Founder, Jacob Soetendorp Institute for Human Values and GIWA co-founder
• 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
• Anthony Lake , UNICEF Executive Director
• H.E. John Agyekum Kufuor, Former President of Ghana and current Chair of Sanitation and Water for All
• Sister Karen Schneider, Religious Sister of Mercy and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University
• Xihutezcatl Martinez, 12-year-old award-winning environmental champion and “Earth Guardians” founder
• Alexandra V. Destin Pierre, World Youth Parliament for Water, Regional Coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean
• Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, Ph.D, President of Divine Shakti Foundation and member of Ganga Action Parivar
• Moderator: Alfred Ironside, Ford Foundation, Director of Communications

In attendance were also Lilianne Ploumen, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, Government of the Netherlands; Christian Holmes, the Global Water Coordinator for USAID, and many other representatives from State Governments and United Nations organizations.

The launch also included a sacred water ceremony in which the leaders offered water, gathered from 20 rivers across the world, to a beautiful crystal globe, representing the world. The ceremony was symbolic of the union of the leaders of many of the world’s religions in their commitment to bring clean water, sanitation and hygiene to the world.

“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.”

Said Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp: “We are called to sanctify time and dedicate the next 7 years, every hour, every second to the provision of clean water and improved sanitation. Living water will be in reach of the whole community of life and thus hope will propel us to action. When I was a young child, people saved me and took care of me. Now, I have dedicated my life to making sure that every child is cared for, particularly that they have clean, safe water to drink.”

Said Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji: “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. Water is life and everyone has the right to life. We have already lost too many precious lives due to lack of access to clean water and sanitation. It is time for us all to come forward together.”

Said Imam Ilyasiji: “The All India Imams Organization will spread the message to all of its 550,000 imams across India, the largest Imams Organization in the world, and they will then spread to their followers about the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene. We will train the Imams of India to spread this important message. We need to work also with the women because the women spread the message to the whole family so they are a very important part of our program.”

The leaders of The Global Interfaith WASH Alliance (GIWA) agree that it is no longer enough for religious leaders to exhort their followers not to bomb, shoot or stab each other. Rather, now, the definition of peace must be expanded to include not only freedom from deaths by bombs, guns and knives but also freedom from deaths by preventable water and sanitation-related illnesses. Permitting our brothers and sisters to die from preventable diarrhea or other illnesses due to unsanitary conditions is also violence and must not be condoned by our religions.

Each day 1600 children die from diarrhea. One of the best strategies to reduce child deaths is improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. Yet today only 64 per cent of the global population has improved sanitation, and more than 768 million people still lack access to improved drinking water sources.

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. An estimated 5 billion people across the world are members of religious communities, underscoring the critical role religious leaders can play in addressing seemingly intractable problems – such as access to safe water and sanitation.

To watch the video and to learn more about the conference, please visit:

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