Feature

Celebrating World Water Day

Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

Initiative draws the involvement of doctors, students, local community and over 100 volunteers, all joining hands to create awareness about safe drinking water & sanitation

March 22, 2010; Dhaka: Celebrating the World Water Day with the theme 'Clean Water for a Healthy World', JAAGO Foundation in partnership with Coca-Cola Far East Limited, organized a day-long awareness generation event. The initiative saw students, people from the local community and over 100 volunteers gather together at the JAAGO Foundation School for the event.

As part of the same initiative, earlier in the day, JAAGO Foundation volunteers, briefed by medical doctors, visited the Rayerbazar slums to create awareness about safe drinking water and sanitation. They talked about ways through which water should be purified prior to drinking and for cooking purposes. Specially prepared leaflets to create awareness about safe drinking water were also distributed as part of the same initiative.

In his message to all attendees at the event, Debasish Deb, Country Manager, Coca-Cola Far East Limited said, “Access to safe drinking water and sanitation is the fundamental need of all communities. We at Coca-Cola are always on the lookout for opportunities to promote this cause both in spirit and in action. Our partnership with JAAGO Foundation to celebrate World Water Day is a testament of this same endeavor. Given the times we live in, the need of the hour is for all stake holders to join hands and look at ways to promote the cause of 'Clean Water for a Healthy World'.”

To create greater involvement and awareness about Safe Drinking water amongst children, a painting competition was also organized at the school premises. The competition saw the participation of around 200 students, who drew pictures on underlying theme of the day. i.e. 'Clean Water for a Healthy World'. Winners of the art competition were given special gift hampers by Coca-Cola Far East Ltd. Additionally; Coca-Cola Far East Limited also gifted two water purifiers to ensure safe drinking water for the students of the JAAGO Foundation School.

More About JAAGO Foundation
JAAGO Foundation looks to create a society for children, which is free of exploitation, discrimination and violence, and supports the achievement of their highest potential. The foundation, aims to bring about substantial improvement in the lives of disadvantaged children with special emphasis on their literacy and nourishment.

More About Coca-Cola Far East Ltd's Other Community Initiatives In Bangladesh

Project With UN-Habitat & UPPR
UN-HABITAT, The Urban Partnerships for Poverty Reduction Programme (UPPR) and Coca-Cola Far East Limited recently announced their partnership in a project to improve community access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation and raise their awareness of water conservation and hygiene practices in 30 schools in Dhaka and Comilla, Bangladesh. All these schools are located in the UPPR, program area. The UPPR program is executed by the Government of Bangladesh, technically supported by UNDP and UN-HABITAT. The Safe drinking water and sanitation project in Dhaka and Comilla would be executed over a period of two years. The Project is an equal joint partnership between Coca-Cola Far East Ltd, UN-HABITAT, and communities together with a local implementing partner. The Project will cost of USD $300,000 a major share of the funding will come from Coca-Cola Far East Ltd and UN-HABITAT. Local schools are expected to contribute towards the operation and maintenance of this project. The project is expected to impact 6000 families

Project With Plan Bangladesh
To ensure provision of safe drinking water in schools, Coca-Cola Far East Ltd in partnership with Plan Bangladesh has already commissioned an innovative 'Rain Water Harvesting & Drinking Water Project' in Bangladesh. The project included installation of Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) systems and Water Filters in 5 primary schools in Mirpur and Borguna Sadar areas of Dhaka. With over 110,000 children dying due to water borne diseases every year in Bangladesh, the initiative also aimed to provide access to safe drinking water and raise awareness amongst the school children and their families. The project also promoted Rain Water Harvesting as sustainable alternative source of water in Dhaka. The RWH systems now commissioned have an overall recharge capacity of 32, 50,000 liters of rain water per annum.

This entire 'Rain Water Harvesting & Drinking Water Project' was commissioned at a total cost of USD 20,000. The unique initiative now benefits over 1000 children and faculties by provision of potable drinking water throughout the year. In addition, the excess water harvested during the rainy season can also be utilized for secondary purposes like washing and sanitation.