September 23, 2024

Advancing Water Security and Hygiene: Opening the Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s Engagements at UNGA79 and New York Climate Week

September 23, 2024

Advancing Water Security and Hygiene: Opening the Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s Engagements at UNGA79 and New York Climate Week

I was delighted yesterday, to open the Wellbeing Foundation Africa’s delegation engagements at the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly High-Level Week 2024 by contributing to the Water-Secure Cities Roundtable as we also commenced New York Climate Week.

Sharing insights and impact from the health and hygiene promotion focused Wellbeing Foundation Africa & Dettol Nigeria Hygiene Quest Partnership Program which has reached over 91,287 students, 55,001 mothers, 29,616 community members across 73 healthcare facilities and 280 communities across Lagos State, Kwara State and Abuja FCT since rolling out in 2022. We continue to progress our Clean Naija target of empowering and inspiring healthy hygiene habits #WASH, with managing water scarcity in city regions, the influence of governance, and our homegrown experience in promoting water conservation focusing on behaviour change, public awareness and leveraging data driven solutions for better health and hygiene in schools, health care facilities and communities.

Jointly hosted by the World Bank’s 2030 Water Resources Group and the Wellbeing Foundation Africa social impact partners, Reckitt, the roundtable focused on the understanding of politics within the water crisis, highlighting the power of the public. Led by Saroj Jha, World Bank Water, Eric Gilliot, Reckitt, and city leadership-focused participants presenting on practice findings from USA, Colombia, and Africa including the Mayors of Bogota, Colombia, Phoenix Arizona, and the Honourable Commissioner for Water Resources and Special Assistant SDG, respectively of Lagos State Nigeria, the need to build a multi-stakeholder collaboration to meet demand and supply into equilibrium water stress periods is unequivocally clear. With the urgency of acting now to secure water futures for cities globally, I look forward to working together to synthesise key insights from the discussions moderated by David Shukman, into a collective roadmap for building water-secure climate-resilient cities.

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