Thank you to all members who responded to our open call for Claim Your Water Rights grants. We received 33 proposals, each of which was carefully assessed against our granting criteria to ensure we reflect the geographic spread of applicants as well as a range of thematic focuses and rights claiming strategies.
As this was our only open call this financial year, we have been able to fund ten different proposals. Please join us in congratulating the following members:
- CBOs Coalition for Human Rights and Good Governance will campaign to bring back water subsidies for informal settlement residents in Blantyre, Malawi.
- Green Ark Committee will utilise DRC’s upcoming elections to lobby candidates to uphold water rights and climate justice.
- Institute of Cultural Affairs will work with Benin’s National Human Rights Commission to hold MPs accountable for election promises on drinking water.
- Millennium Community Development Initiatives will facilitate people affected by the Ruiru Dams in Kenya to conduct legal research and lodge complaints.
- MUDEM AC will expose discrimination experienced by indigenous rural communities in Mexico and create a parliamentary water caucus, supporting regional advocacy efforts to gain recognition for community water management.
- Network of Water Rights Initiative will investigate the industrial pollution of water bodies to test the recently ratified Water Law in Enugu State, Nigeria.
- South African Water Caucus will assess water quality concerns across the country by supporting citizen scientist data gathering.
- Tanzania CYWR Consortium will employ digital mapping tools to monitor rights violations and complaints lodged in small-scale mining communities.
- Vision Africa Regional Network will promote corporate accountability and climate justice in Zambia by compelling companies and traditional leaders to sign business and human rights commitments.
- Youth Advocacy Council will enfranchise flood-affected communities in Punjab, Pakistan, to claim their rights to safe water and sanitation.
As some submitted joint proposals, these funds will directly support the work of at least 16 different members. Our primary aim during this round of funding was to strike a balance between diversifying grantees and sustaining support for previous campaign efforts. Six of the ten grants went to members who haven’t previously received funding through Claim Your Water Rights. EWP also has active funding agreements with members in Honduras, India, and Thailand.
We are grateful to all members who submitted proposals. As part of the review process, the secretariat has provided specific feedback to unsuccessful applicants that we hope that will prove helpful for future submissions to EWP and other funders. We plan to expand our granting capacity over the coming years and will open calls again around May 2024.
Stop weaponising water
Water should never be weaponised during war. Yet people’s right to water has been increasingly compromised during conflict: from Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, most recently, Israel’s siege of Gaza.
In response, End Water Poverty has signed and shared two separate petitions from our members Oxfam and Water Integrity Network (WIN), reiterating calls for states to respect the Geneva Convention, press for an immediate ceasefire, and uphold human rights. We encourage members to sign and share these petitions to affirm water’s status as an inalienable human right as enshrined in international law.