Water Security
Women and girls spend hours walking each day to make sure there is enough water at home.
Could you imagine if you spent 70% of your income on water? Or spent 4 hours of your day carrying it in buckets on top of your head? This is what women of desert areas of Rajasthan, India experience each and every day.
For poor communities, erratic weather patterns make the challenge of ending poverty even more daunting.
Then there are communities of Guatemala and Mexico that sometimes get too much rain during a bad hurricane season. In Nepal, communities get their water from mountain run-off from the Himalayas. Sometimes they get too much and sometimes much less than usual.
Water is a Crucial Issue
Water affects crops, and therefore survival. Water affects sanitation, and therefore health. It is an issue that cannot be ignored in the fight to end poverty.
The communities IDEX supports are on the front lines of our changing climate. For poor communities that are already unsure of their future—or if they will have enough food to last the season—adding erratic weather patterns into the equation makes the challenge of ending poverty even more daunting.
Read about families in Rajasthan that are capturing rainwater for daily use, and regenerating soil by building simple dams to channel the monsoon rains.
Blog
Girls Amplify Their Voices Through Technology
Friday, January 13, 2012
Katherine Zavala – IDEX’s Program Manager, Grassroots Alliances – reports back on a recent trip to South Africa where she visited IDEX Catalyst Grantee Women’s Net.