#WASHPAP2030 Toolkit

Contact Your UN Ambassador

Send a letter or email to your UN Ambassador and other elected officials stressing the urgency of supporting this historic, youth-led resolution calling on all countries to commit to providing WASHPAP for all by 2030.

Sample Letters to Your UN Ambassador and Other Elected Officials

Sample letter to Your UN Ambassador

Dear Mx. Ambassador,

As a citizen of [YOUR COUNTRY] and a member of our nation’s next generation of leaders, I am writing to respectfully request your attention to the attached proposed UN resolution (LINK) calling for UN member countries to commit to providing clean water, sanitation, health & hygiene, and pandemic protection (WASHPAP) to all by 2030. This is a unique resolution fully conceived, debated, negotiated and drafted by youth across the world in partnership with Model United Nations Impact and OneShared.World. I ask that you fully support efforts to turn these critically important aspirations into realities on the ground which can ensure WASHPAP for all by 2030.

Drafted at the time of an unprecedented global pandemic, an event unforeseen by the UN’s original 2030 Agenda and the development of the Sustainable Development Goals, our resolution clearly links the importance of clean water, sanitation, health and hygiene (SDGs 3 and 6)  to our ability to fight against, and prevent, pandemics.  In addition, in an increasingly interconnected world, our resolution calls for the acknowledgement of the mutual responsibilities that stem from the interdependent nature of our existence and stresses its importance to our survival as a human species.

As you know, COVID-19 is wreaking havoc across the globe and ravaging the world’s most vulnerable populations. Three billion people do not have access to basic hand-washing facilities and public health systems are overburdened and failing. Greater investment in safe drinking water, basic sanitation and hygiene, and essential protection from deadly pandemics — WASHPAP — for everyone on Earth is the smartest investment we can make in protecting the planet from this and future pandemics. I urge you to fully support our resolution.

Thank you for your attention and your support.

Respectfully yours,

[YOUR NAME]

Sample letter to Your Elected Officials

Dear Minister/Mx. Senator/Mx. Representative/Mayor,

This letter is to request your government to take immediate steps towards ensuring equal, fair and affordable access to Water, Sanitation and Pandemic Preparedness to everyone on the planet by 2030. Three billion people lack access to basic hand-washing facilities and unprepared public health systems are being overburdened by new pandemics, like COVID 19. Greater investment in safe drinking water, basic sanitation and hygiene, and essential protection from deadly pandemics — WASHPAP — for everyone on Earth is the smartest investment we can make in protecting the planet from this and future pandemics. But until now, we have lacked a robust strategy and the collective will to make it happen.

Achieving universal access to water, sanitation, and hygiene by 2030 (SDGs 3 and 6) requires fundamental changes on all levels, requiring us to work collaboratively and urgently to meet these targets. We cannot be safe from a disease that knows no boundaries if water and sanitation are not available to all, and we must promote the urgency of WASHPAP, prioritize funding for access to WASHPAP, eliminate inequalities in access to water, sanitation and public health and empower individuals to take action on all levels – local, national and global.Through this letter I urge you to take the following actions in order to create a better world for all of us. Till every single person is safe, none of us are safe and we need leaders like you to bring up and prioritise these issues, so that they become realities. I urge you to [PICK MOST APPROPRIATE OR ADD YOU OWN].

Table the concern and priority for WASHPAP in your parliament and office. We need all local and national governments to understand the depth of this problem and ensure that water, sanitation and public health services are resilient and sustainable.

Fund efforts that promote equal and affordable access to WASHPAP. This can include investments in public health infrastructure, for instance universalisation of vaccines, investment in access to clean drinking water for all populations and sanitation facilities including public toilets.

Sign the pledge of interdependence and demonstrate your commitment to the understanding of mutual responsibility and the urge to seek global solutions to global problems.

Develop global networks with other leaders from other nations for creating systems to finance global health security, access to water and sanitation facilities which mobilizes resources without constraints from development or political priorities.

Thank you for considering this request. I am certain that with proper, systematic and tangible plans of action, we will be able to create systems of operation in which all of us are safe and can thrive.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]