On International Women’s Day earlier this week – 9 March – WaterAid Nepal launched a fantastic book celebrating women, and highlighting the day-to-day hardships and struggles they are forced to face. “A Photo Story: Women and Water” particularly focused on the burden of poor, urban women are forced to bear, due to their difficulties in accessing water, sanitation and hygiene.
Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, is home to 2.6 million people – almost 15 per cent of the country’s total urban population – and one of the fastest growing South Asian cities. Rapid urbanisation, unorganised urban sprawl and lack of infrastructure development has put a strain on the Valley’s limited water resources, creating acute shortages and scarcity which in turn affects the urban poor the most. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, one in every five Kathmandu households has no access to a domestic water source and two-thirds of its urban household live with an inadequate water supply. Furthermore, rivers are poorly maintained, wells are drying up and the groundwater table is lowering. The water distribution system is also weak and inefficient.
This photobook prepared by WaterAid Nepal on the occasion of Women’s Day is an effort to represent visually the day to day reality of the problems faced by urban poor women in regards to Water, Hygiene and Sanitation.
Although the six women documented in this book come from different backgrounds and professions, their problems are the same: limited access to drinking water and basic hygiene and sanitation.
We congratulate WaterAid Nepal on this powerful resource to raise awareness on the challenges and difficulties faced by so many. Download A Photo story – Women and Water report today! This is why we are holding Water Action Month to call for change and a better future – for everyone, everywhere! Together we can.
Celebrating the launch of the book with cake!