WaterAid releases interactive educational tool to teach children about life in faraway locations
International charity WaterAid has launched its first-ever voice skill powered for Amazon Alexa, WaterAid Voices, an interactive storytelling experience for schools and families to help educate children about the state of the world’s water, toilets and hygiene.
The skill will take children to a different land entirely – taking their minds out of the everyday to learn about life in the Madagascan village of Tsarafangitra. Through a series of six interactive voice messages, they will learn some handy phrases in the local language, recipes in Malagasy cuisine and how to spot a zebu through quizzes and mini-games.
Designed with Key Stage 2 students in mind, it provides the perfect post-school activity for parents who want an interactive, educational and enjoyable past-time for all the family, while raising awareness of an important topic. A shocking one in three of the world’s schools lack adequate toilets, compromising children’s human rights to sanitation and leaving them to either use dirty, unsafe pits, go in the open, or stay at home, resulting in missed school days and loss of potential. WaterAid Voices is one way that the charity hopes to get more people talking about an issue that impacts the lives of many every day, including young people in some of the world’s poorest places.
Daniel Gray, Digital Content & Experience Lead at WaterAid UK says:
“We’re excited by the opportunity to engage people on Amazon’s rapidly emerging platform with our new WaterAid Voices skill.
“Showcasing the skill at the Big Bang Fair last month, we had an incredibly positive reception from children and adults who are looking for ways for technology to be used as an educational tool. The skill offers unique levels of immersion, interactivity and personalisation that help children develop a level of understanding while having fun. Our approach with emerging technology is always to bring audiences closer to the reality of life without clean water, and the impact their support can have. This skill is a significant leap forward in that respect – we’re using technology as a means to build empathy.”
In Madagascar, nearly half of the 24 million inhabitants do not have access to safe drinking water, and 88% do not have access to proper sanitation. These issues are so fundamental to our way of living, yet fail to evoke the same emotional response as other equally pressing issues such as war and natural disasters.
Since its launch at the Big Bang Fair 2019, the skill has earned over 1,200 enablements through the Amazon UK Skill Store with a rating of 4.7 stars. The skill has also recently been released in the US market.
Find out more on the WaterAid website or through the Amazon Skill Store. Download photos (password: alexa).
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For more information, please contact the WaterAid media team on
+44 (0)7887 521 552 or email [email protected]
Notes to Editors:
WaterAid
WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone has access to clean water and sanitation. The international not-for-profit organisation works in 28 countries to change the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 26.4 million people with clean water and 26.3 million people with decent toilets. For more information, visit www.wateraid.org/uk, follow @WaterAidUK or @WaterAidPress on Twitter, or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wateraid.
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844 million people in the world – one in nine – do not have clean water close to home.[1]
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2.3 billion people in the world – almost one in three – do not have a decent toilet of their own.[2]
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Around 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That's more than 800 children a day, or one child every two minutes.[3]
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Every £1 invested in water and toilets returns an average of £4 in increased productivity.[4]
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Just £15 can provide one person with clean water.[5]
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To find out if countries are keeping their promises on water and sanitation, see the online database www.WASHwatch.org
[1] WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG Baselines
[2] WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene: 2017 update and SDG Baselines
[3] washwatch.org
[4] World Health organization (2012) Global costs and benefits of drinking-water supply and sanitation interventions to reach the MDG target and universal coverage
