Odisha youths pitch for secured water
future
· Inception meeting of ‘Youth for Water’ campaign held
· Youths & their mentors from 10 institutions in five districts vow to
spread water, sanitation & hygiene awareness; and lead conservation
efforts.
· Unique and innovative youth-led initiatives sketched to reach out at
least one thousand youths in the first phase
Sambalpur, Oct 21, 2019: At a time when in several parts of
the planet youths are leading efforts to raise awareness on climate crisis,
Odisha youths vow to start a campaign to raise awareness and action on water
crisis in the state. Concerned about the water scarcity and sanitation
challenges that the state faces, and knowing well that climate change is
already aggravating the problem, an inception meeting of the ‘Youth for Water’
campaign was organised here on Sunday under the leadership of Odisha’s Water Man
Ranjan Panda in order to involve youth in chalking out strategies to address
these critical issues. People from across the state, mainly youths and their
mentors from five districts, attended the meeting organised by Water
Initiatives Odisha (WIO), a consortium of civil society organisations and
concerned citizens, local youth-based NGO Patang and Unicef, Bhubaneswar office.
The meeting
decided to reach out to and mobilise at least a thousand young people initially
from various colleges, universities and associations on water, sanitation,
hygiene (including menstrual) (WASH), rivers, environment and climate change
issues for bringing positive change in their behaviour and organising common
action initiatives.
Addressing
the meeting, Panda, convenor of the WIO, said, “Our objective is to build
relationship between youth and water in ways that will help them understand the
importance of water resources including rivers and other surface waterbodies,
groundwater and the entire ecology that will help them work towards conserving
these resources so that they can ensure a water-secured future for themselves.
We as mentors will assist them in achieving this goal.”
“In the
coming 10 months, we will be focusing more on activities related to WASH. Today
we have decided to identify and build capacities of select young people to be
“Safe Water/WASH” ambassadors in their daily lives so that they can be the
change makers and mobilise their families, neighbourhoods and institutions in
joining the efforts. We have also decided to engage these young people in
online and offline activities for campaigning on water and related issues,
Panda added further.
“We will be
expanding the scope of this campaign and seeking collaboration of other institutions
to be able to reach out to all the youth of the state gradually,” he pointed
out.
Within the
next 10 months, specific activities will be organised in 10 colleges/localities
spanning five districts – Bargarh, Mayurbhanj, Nuapada, Puri and Sambalpur – and
will spread to other districts gradually. In the meeting, the volunteers
chalked out plans to involve youth through various actions both in their
institutions and communities. ‘Youth for Water Club’ will be started in such
institutions/places to engage the local youth through innovative actions
throughout the year.
It may be
noted here that the idea of ‘Youth for Water’ campaign was conceived during the
3rd Odisha River Conference, organised by WIO and 35 partner organisations,
at Baripada on 24th-25th March this year. Youth representatives from across the
state took part in the Youth Conclave as part of the conference and raised concerns
regarding the increasing water crisis and the growing detachment of youth from important
ecological elements like rivers and forests. After much deliberation between
the youth and experts led by Panda, it was decided to roll out the ‘Youth for
Water’ campaign formally.
The meeting
was facilitated by Bhumisuta Sahu of Patang and youth volunteers Budhuram Meher
and Subodh Padhan provided necessary support to her. Among others, Dr Harendra Panda, Principal, Khariar
College; Sachidananda Mishra of Patang; radio jockey Rosalin Pradhan; and
development practitioners Ajit Panda, Rudra Prasanna Rath, Sukanti Patra, Vibek
Pandey and Satyanand Pandey spoke in the meeting.
Panda has
appealed all sections of the society to join this unique initiative and help
youths accomplish their goal of a water secured future.
----
Water
Initiatives Odisha (WIO)
Mobile:
+919437050103 (Ranjan Panda, Convenor)
