Back “Missing Water”, a campaign to raise awareness of the lack of water in African schools

“Missing Water”, a campaign to raise awareness of the lack of water in African schools

An initiative of students of the bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Public Relations, within the subject Communications and Events Management, taught by Mònika Jiménez and Marta Lopera, lecturers with the Department of Communication, with the participation of the Catalan NGO Children of Africa.

26.06.2018

A lack of drinking water leads to serious health problems in the general population and is a direct cause of a high rate of infant mortality in the African continent. The lack of infrastructures, the rainfall regime, climate change and the pollution of aquifers are factors that make the availability of water one of the most serious problems in terms of survival, health and economy.

In the framework of the subject Communications and Events Management taught by Mònika Jiménez Morales and Marta Lopera, lecturers with the Department of Communication, a group of students on the bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Public Relations at UPF have come up with a campaign to raise awareness among the university community of the lack of water in many schools and community centres in Africa. The students’ involvement has gone beyond the period during which they have been studying this subject, and some of them have followed the project from their Erasmus countries of destination.

In the marquee of Gutenberg square donations were collected for the construction of a drinking water tank at the school in the village of Mbandi (Kenya)

The “Missing Water” campaign began with a series of videos broadcast by social networks and an awareness raising activity, on 28 and 29 November 2017, which consisted of cutting off the water supply to the Poblenou campus and putting up posters in the toilets bearing the slogan “Where’s the water?”, accompanied by the hashtag @missingwater_upf.

In parallel, on the same days, a marquee was set up in Gutenberg square on the University’s Poblenou campus to collect donations for the construction of a drinking water tank at the school in the village of Mbandi (Kenya). They raised 600 euros and since then, through social networks, the school has not stopped sending messages of appreciation to the students who have made it possible.

At the end of June, the Mbandi school will have a drinking water tank for the students of the next school year

”The good news is that this month of June the works on the tank have begun and should be finished by the end of the month. This will make it possible for the students of this school to have drinking water next school year”, reported lecturers Mònika Jiménez and Marta Lopera. “Missing Water” is working in conjunction with the NGO Children of Africa, a non-profit association based in Catalonia, founded by volunteers in 2010 to change the reality of Kenya, which operates mainly in two of the country’s cities, Likoni where they are working on the project “Likoni Aids Orphanage”, and in Tsunza, a place in which 75% of the population is living below the poverty line. All of the products from the “Missing Water” campaign are directed at this NGO.

The team promoting the UPF campaign has set up a gofundme account so that people around the world who wish to contribute to the “Missing Water” cause can do so.

The team of students on the bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Public Relations running this project comprises: