WaterAid India launches its first Media Fellowship Program ‘WASH Matters 2018’

WaterAid India launches its first Media Fellowship Program ‘WASH Matters 2018’ to create awareness around water, sanitation and hygiene issues

To know more visit: https://www.wateraid.org/in/media-fellowship

With an aim to create awareness around water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) issues in the country and encourage in-depth reportage, WaterAid India launched its first Media Fellowship Program ‘WASH Matters 2018’. It is also the first ever focussed Media Fellowship on WASH in India.

With 600 million people facing high to extreme water stress, 2,00,000 people dying every year dying due to inadequate access to safe water and 70% of water deemed as contaminated,  India is suffering from ‘the worst ever water crises’ in its history, as per the Composite Water Management Index Report 2018 by the Niti Aayog.

Today, both urban and rural communities face numerous challenges when it comes to accessing clean water like walking for miles and spending hours for just a few buckets of water along with the severe health implications of consuming unclean water.

In order to not just understand the water crisis faced by the length and breadth of the country in various ways but also to look into context specific sustainable solutions, ideas and examples to mitigate this crisis, for this year, the broad theme of the Media Fellowship is ‘Water’. Selected media fellows will be encouraged to explore and pursue in-depth stories on various aspects of the theme, largely – water access, water quality and water conservation.

Nanditta Chibber, Manager – Media & Communications at WaterAid India, said:

Despite being one of the most essential elements for the sustenance of life, water, a scarce resource, is still a seasonal topic in the media. For long, we have witnessed periodic surges in water related coverage either because of seasonality or new data or on special calendar days. However, given the severe water crisis that India is experiencing everyday in rural and urban areas in terms of access and quality which have long term health, livelihood and socio-economic implications, along with the likelihood that many cities are likely to run out of water in the near future if we don’t act now, we felt that a sustained coverage by the media on the theme of water was the need of the hour. The dynamic media landscape of today with diverse platforms and innovate formats would help to start sustained conversations on this critical issue – highlight crisis, question the current reality and explore, inform as well as create awareness on good practices so that everyone, everywhere values this essential resource now and plans for the future.

Through the ‘WASH Matters 2018’ Media Fellowship, WaterAid India aims to encourage media professionals to explore water specific stories from both urban and rural areas tapping on various aspects of water like access, contamination and conservation. The aim is also to identify those heroes who have come up with several localised and context-specific, sustainable solutions and championed their way out of the crisis.

Applications for the eight-month fellowship are currently open. The applications would be reviewed by WaterAid India and an esteemed panel of renowned editors and WASH sector experts. Six fellows from across the country across diverse media platforms would be shortlisted and announced by mid August 2018. The panel would also be mentoring the Media Fellows while they pursue reportage on the theme of Water.

To know more or to apply, visit: https://www.wateraid.org/in/media-fellowship

ENDS

For more information, please contact:
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Notes to Editors:

WaterAid
WaterAid is an international not-for-profit, determined to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. Only by tackling these three essentials in ways that last can people change their lives for good.

Working in India since 1986, WaterAid has successfully implemented water, sanitation, and hygiene projects, extending benefits to some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities across 11+ of India’s 29 States.

For more information, visit www.wateraid.org/in, follow @WaterAidIndia on Twitter, or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/WaterAidIndia.