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Improving access to water
Water is fundamental to life and the social and economic development of every community. Water is drawn from lakes, rivers and the water table or it is collected in the form of rain. Many arid and semi-arid regions actually have significant quantities of water underground or receive, each year, a considerable volume of rain in a short period lasting only a few months. However, without the financial and technological resources needed to collect and store that water, it remains out of people’s reach.
When water supply systems are lacking or not up to the task, impoverished populations are the first to suffer. Those who do not have running water in their homes or yards are often forced to purchase water at exorbitant prices from travelling vendors. Or they may have to walk several kilometres to the nearest source.
Source : World Water Development Report
Increasing incomes
Over a billion people must survive on less than a dollar a day. According to the World Water Development Report, problems characteristic of impoverished conditions are inextricably linked to water accessibility issues such as availability, proximity, quantity and quality. Improving water access for economically disadvantaged populations can be a significant step towards eliminating poverty, because water has an impact on living conditions generally—on health, food security, education and family income.
Ensuring food security
It is estimated that more than 775 million people in developing countries do not have enough high-quality food. Each day, 25,000 people die of hunger.
Ensuring food security means making food available in sufficient quantity and quality, taking into account production capacity, availability of products, access to resources, stability of infrastructures and the wholesomeness of food.
Because 70% of our planet’s fresh water is used for irrigation, even the smallest change in the way we plant, water and harvest crops can make a big difference. It is also possible to find new ways to improve the productivity of land that is irrigated naturally by precipitation.
Source : World Water Development Report
Promoting gender equality
Socio-economic and political problems do not affect men and women in the same way. In many countries, the effects of poverty and social injustice on women are accentuated in every respect by their lesser status. The traditional roles assigned to men and women can lead to an imbalance of power, excluding women from socio-economic development and preventing them from reaping their fair share of its rewards. (Source: Oxfam-Québec « Femmes et développement économique » PDF format)
Raising awareness though the arts
A balance between the projects’ technical components, community participation, and awareness and popular education enables concrete, lasting results for local peoples.
The goal is to use the arts as a means of changing behaviour. Experiments in action theatre and theatre of the oppressed carried out in Africa and Latin America have proven that this approach is effective in reaching out to and mobilizing communities on questions such as health and children’s rights.
The ONE DROP approach raises awareness using an artistic vernacular already familiar to beneficiaries and assists them as they take stock of their challenges and seek appropriate solutions.
