Water for Life Campaign

This initiative draws on the active, creative participation of young people - using information and communication technologies (ICTs), television, and other communication tools to inform youth about the water crisis and to expose them to fresh ideas about how they can apply their time, talent, and energy to help solve it. In the words of MTV Network President Christina Norman, youth "are the innovators who won't settle for the status quo, and they're constantly challenging their peers, parents, teachers, and leaders to make the world a better place." The integration of popular culture - MTV - and a popular musician, rap star - Jay-Z - is intended to motivate youth around the world to take action both in their own lives and in support of broad eco-friendly initiatives. The engagement of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the campaign, such as during the launch ceremonies, is also designed to draw global attention to this effort.

Several communication tools are being drawn on in this campaign. For example, as part of his international concert tour in September, Jay-Z traveled to Turkey, South Africa, and several other areas affected by the water crisis where sustainable, environmentally-friendly solutions had been found or were being developed to bring fresh water to devastated communities. The documentary series will follow Jay-Z's experiences as he meets people without access to safe drinking water. Jay-Z comments, "I'm not going to go there and rap to them, I want to touch and maybe help, to see what I can do in these areas." MTV's cameras will document these experiences for a TV show "Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life," premiering on its worldwide network on November 24 2006. MTV is also running daily public service announcements (PSAs) on how viewers can reduce their consumption.

Interactive online resources such as MTV's think: Water for Life website draw on Jay-Z's involvement (e.g., through video clips) and also describe the water issue (providing facts and figures), direct readers to a number of online water-related resources, and offer tips for taking action at home and abroad. With regard to the latter, young people are asked, first, to provide support for such items as solar-powered water pumps in schools and PlayPumps, a children's merry-go-round that pumps water from below ground. Second, youth in the United States are asked to take any of the 12 steps associated with MTV's related yearlong campaign, "Break the Addiction", which urges young people to change their daily behaviour in ways that reduce the impact of global warming, a contributing factor to the worsening water crisis. One such action involves advocacy: sending an email message to one's Congressional representative telling him or her that the global water crisis is something they should be focusing on. Jay-Z himself also engaged in advocacy efforts; after donating the money to build 10 PlayPumps, he sent letters to people in the music industry asking them to do the same. His goal is to inspire the building of a thousand of the water pumps in the near future.

Educational resources are also being developed as part of the campaign. Through MTV's relationship with Cable in the Classroom, "The Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life" and an associated lesson plan developed by the UN will be offered for free download for use by teachers and librarians in 80,000 schools in America. The special will also be promoted through "Cable in the Classroom Magazine," a monthly publication that reaches more than 430,000 readers. Also, in partnership with the UN Works Programme, UNICEF Voices of Youth, and UNA-USA's Global Classrooms initiative, the UN will develop educational tools for use by public schools that lack effective teaching resources. The UN will present "The Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life" and its accompanying resources as a model for teaching and learning about global issues at education conferences, seminars and workshops. The UN also will involve nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and youth networks.

Water and Sanitation, Youth.

Nearly two million children die every year because of unclean water and poor sanitation - far more than the casualties from violent conflicts, UN records show. A third of the world's population is experiencing some form of water scarcity; more than two-thirds of those without clean water survive on less than US$2 a day.