MENU

May 2022 newsletter

by | Jun 15, 2022 | News

Claim Your Water Rights mini-grants: open call for applications

Social change starts with civil society. Each year End Water Poverty provides mini-grants of £1,000-£5,000 to members through the Claim Your Water Rights campaign. This year we are opening calls for concept notes: every End Water Poverty member is eligible to apply.

We launched Claim Your Water Rights in December 2019 to mobilise communities and civil society to demand their rights to water and sanitation from governments. The first phase of our campaign focused on raising public and political awareness of the human rights to water and sanitation while testing various rights claiming tactics encompassing community mobilisation, media influencing, government engagement, research, data documentation, protest and litigation.

In the second phase of Claim Your Water Rights we will broaden the campaign by diversifying grantees and sharpening strategies through member-led peer-to-peer exchanges. Over the course of each financial year we will strive to reflect the geographical spread of our membership through our grants. Last year we funded 22 organisations in 12 different countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. To ensure funds are distributed fairly among different regional constituencies, we will provide a maximum of two grants per country so submitting joint concept notes with other members in your country or region could strengthen your chances of receiving funding.

To apply for a mini-grant, please carefully read our granting guidelines before downloading and completing our concept note form. The deadline to submit your proposal is Monday 11 July. Do not worry if you need more time to formulate plans – we will open calls for applications again in October.

End Water Poverty joins ESCR-Net

End Water Poverty was formally welcomed as a member of the Economic, Social & Cultural Rights Network (ESCR-Net) in May. ESCR-Net comprises 280 grassroots groups, social movements, NGOs, academics and activists across 75 countries who work to secure economic and social justice through human rights. Joining the network presents an excellent opportunity to deepen our understanding of the different ways in which civil society confront systemic injustices, power imbalances and rights violations. The Secretariat will engage in the network by responding to requests for solidarity, exercising voting rights and participating in working groups focused on environmental justice and corporate accountability. In this way we seek to harness the network’s collective power and connect with advocates working on other economic, social and cultural rights.

Welcoming new members

We are pleased to welcome two new members to our coalition. Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) is a public interest law organisation based at the Wits School of Law in South Africa. CALS uses human rights law and social justice campaigning to deconstruct the legacy of apartheid, challenge systems that perpetrate human rights violations and reconstruct an inclusive, equal society.

Centre for Peace Across Borders (CePAB) promote peace and development across ethnic, religious and cultural boundaries by advocating co-existence, good governance, climate justice and respect for human rights through training, advocacy and research documentation. Based in Owerri, Nigeria, CePAB worked closely with Christian Fellowship & Care Foundation in building the Imo State Claim Your Water Rights movement.

Steering Committee update

The Steering Committee held its quarterly meeting in early May. Our coordinator Alana Potter presented her workplan for the next financial year, which was enthusiastically endorsed by the Steering Committee. The Secretariat and regional representatives provided updates on recent work and constituency priorities before discussing fundraising opportunities, governance strengthening and upcoming Steering Committee elections. If you would like to know more about the details of these discussions, members are entitled to read the minutes from Steering Committee meetings on request.