VOICE newsletter: Water and humanitarian aid

Water is a very basic resource and elementary for human survival. Due to the impact of climate change and conflicts over resources, issues surrounding water are becoming more complex, and humanitarian assistance is facing increasing challenges. Both natural and man-made disasters have a damaging impact on access to water, for personal uses such as hygiene and consumption, for agriculture, irrigation, for public health, and for countless other reasons. Water shortages can themselves trigger conflict and population movements, exacerbating the above mentioned issues. Theses effects are invariably more intense for the increasing number of people in vulnerable situations, and as such are of significance to actors in the humanitarian sector.

Many VOICE members are active in programmes and projects related to water in Africa, Asia and Latin America. While prioritising the vital question of safe and reliable access to water, their perspectives and responses are varied, as can be evidenced from volume 7 of VOICE OUT LOUD. Further more, humanitarian assistance is also linking water with peace-building and conflict transformati on, as well as effective water management leading to community empowerment and improved disaster preparedness. VOICE members are also advocating and campaigning for much needed political action to the humanitarian reality of the millions of people who suffer from insufficient access to a basic resource - water - in the twenty first century.

Read the rest of the newsletter on Reliefweb.