Ground-Breaking Cross-India Consultations on Water, Sanitation, Hygiene & Pandemic Protection for all to Fight COVID-19
India Sanitation Coalition joins OneShared.World and Model United Nation Impact for Youth Consultations Developing Draft United Nations Resolution
New
Delhi –
Youth activists with ages ranging from 12-18 and drawn from 4 major cities in
India — New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Lucknow — engaged in a national
consultation on August 20-21 2021 which focused on ensuring clean water, basic
sanitation and hygiene, and essential pandemic protection (WASHPAP) for
everyone in India and around the world by 2030 in the context of the global
fight against COVID-19 and future pandemics. Participants shared their own
experiences and those of their community, responded to questions posed by
WASHPAP specialists, and provided inputs on a resolution to be presented
publicly to the United Nations General Assembly in September.
The
ground-breaking effort was organized through a collaboration between the India
Sanitation Coalition, the global interdependence movement OneShared.World, and
MUN Impact, a leading virtual Model United Nations network.
An
earlier version of the resolution was developed through a series of Model
United Nations youth debates held across the globe earlier this year in
English, Spanish, French, and Russian. The resolution will be released at the
OneShared.World global summit on September 23, 2021, and is expected to garner
significant state and civil society support.
Unlike
nearly all past Model United Nations and youth consultation efforts, this
initiative is designed to establish, implement, and promote an actual plan for
solving the problem it has identified. The final resolution will be shared with
all governments represented at the United Nations and actively promoted through
a high-profile and youth-led global advocacy campaign.
Recognizing
the urgency of the COVID-19 global health crisis, the initiative is a step
towards compelling world leaders to make a pledge later this year to enact an
inclusive and comprehensive planning process for WASHPAP over the following
year.
“Particularly
over the past five years, India has made rapid progress providing basic
sanitation facilities to all. These efforts must now be part and parcel of our
nation’s pandemic response. It is heartening to note that a large part of this
change is being driven by the involvement of young adults who are keen to lead
India and the world toward making WASHPAP for all a global reality,” said Naina Lal Kidwai, Chair
of the India Sanitation Coalition.
“The
pandemic has shown us that we are only as safe as the most vulnerable among
us,” said Jamie
Metzl, Founder and Chair of OneShared.World, “That’s why ensuring
WASHPAP for all is not charity but the smartest and best investment we can make
in a better future for everyone. Because older generations have failed to build
this better world, young leaders like the incredible people guiding this
process must lead the way.”
“Young
people are rarely given an equal seat at the table with experts and global
leaders, but the #WASHPAP2030 India Consultations are breaking through these
barriers and providing young people with a platform to drive real and
meaningful change. Our world will be a safer place if everyone recognizes the
role of youth leadership in helping solve our biggest global problems”
said Zoey
Fisher, Global Secretary General of MUN Impact, following the success of
our WASHPAP India consultations.
Last
year, the Indian government played a key role ensuring that language provided
by OneShared.World was included in the final communique of the G20 Riyadh
leaders’ summit. Suresh Prabhu, the Indian government’s Sherpa to the G20 and
G7, at that time affirmed the leadership of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
as a champion of the water and sanitation agenda and, for the first time,
committed his nation’s support to the global WASHPAP agenda. “I hope the goal
[of WASHPAP for all] will not remain a goal,” Prabhu stated. India’s global
leadership and role as the G20 host in 2023 will be essential to ensuring the
implementation of this crucial commitment.
“WASH
is a stakeholder-centric sector.Therefore,the introduction of a universal
responsibility like Individual Social Responsibility to ensure such
contribution could be a way forward to ensure WASHPAP is implemented to help in
achieving the SDG 6 goals” opines Sandhya Haribal, the Bangalore City
Specialist.
“The
Indian government has an important opportunity to lead global efforts ensuring
WASHPAP for all by 2030, particularly in the run up to India’s hosting of the
G20 in 2023, the same year that the UN Conference on the Water Action Decade
will be held,” said Metzl. “The incredible young people from around the world
who are leading this call to action are indispensable allies in this process.”
About
OneShared.World:
OneShared.World is a broad and
inclusive movement of people in 125 countries on five continents working
collaboratively across diverse cultures, communities, ethnicities, generations,
and nations to ensure a better future for humankind and the sustainability of
our common home. The organization is building a fully inclusive, global social
movement and political force representing the democratic expression of our
common humanity. The organization’s Declaration of Interdependence has
been translated into 20 languages.
About
Model United Nations Impact:
MUN
Impact is
a non-governmental organization in collaboration with the UN Department of
Global Communications that believes in the power of youth and Model United
Nations to inspire action and impact for the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Model United Nations has affected millions of delegates in personal, social and
academic ways. But there’s always been a missing link-translating your
knowledge and skills into actual impact in the world. MUN Impact seeks to fill
this gap by giving students the tools, ideas, networks and inspiration to take
action in their communities. Over the past year, MUN Impact has engaged 25,000+
students from 150+ countries in a variety of virtual and in-person programming
including three global summits, SDG-based Model United Nations courses,
mentorship, and debates, Global Weeks of Action, and SDGHubs.
About
India Sanitation Coalition:
The India Sanitation Coalition is
a multi-stakeholder platform that brings the private sector, government,
financial institutions, civil society groups, media, donors,
bi-lateral/multilateral institutions, experts, etc. together on a common
platform to work in the development space and drive the sanitation agenda of
the country through a partnership model. Through a range of catalytic actions,
the organization supports the unlocking of WASH financing with focus on the
private sector, forging partnerships with allied organizations for leading the
discourse on sustainable sanitation; convening, curating and disseminating best
practices in the sanitation advocacy space and providing inputs into the policy
aspects of sanitation through participation at the allied forums.
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