Campaign draws on fashion industry to bring attention to water crisis

In a new campaign made for the fashion industry and its consumers, the models are dressed in their best sarees. But instead of walking a runway, they are walking toward the well in India’s rural Chikhaldara, a remote region in central India. It’s a trip they make up to six times every day so their families have enough water for basic needs. The advocacy campaign contains two short movies. One shows women’s walk to obtain water, and in the second, the women share how spending a large part of their day filling water affects their lives, their ability to care for their children, and their health. The short videos are a part of the latest campaign by the global nonprofit Water For People, which works to improve access to water to draw attention to the global water crisis. Globally, women and girls spend 200 million hours every day collecting water, according to UNICEF, which has called it a “colossal waste of their time.” The campaign was unveiled in the runup to New York Fashion Week last month and remains on Water for People’s YouTube page and the website. WFP wanted to take advantage of the attention around the fashion weeks to draw attention to the water crisis. “It drew a nice contrast, and also kind of elevated the stories and visuals of these women in Chikhaldara in a way that was authentic and honoring, and not exploitative,” said Katherine Williford, the nonprofit’s chief growth officer. “The fashion industry is one of the most water-intensive industries in the world. And so, I think there is just a lot of natural alignment between fashion and water,” she added. The models featured are women and girls from the local Korku tribe. Shyamvati Gangaram Birsare, with a smile on her face and soft voice, said it takes her four hours every day to fill enough water for basic necessities. Another woman, Varnmala Ramesh Mishra, dressed in a colorful saree and wearing heavy traditional jewelry, said the water crisis has meant that babies have to be left behind in their cribs at home for hours as the mothers are busy filling water. Some girls from the community join the walk while as young as age 4, sometimes younger. The women add that while the water shortage has always been an issue, it has worsened in the past decade. Monsoons that bring rain to much of India have undergone changes due to the added pressures of the changing climate. While monsoons have always been erratic, the dry phases have lengthened followed by phases of intense rainfall that causes flooding, according to studies. Periods of drought and extreme rainfall are set to become common globally, according to the United Nations’ group of climate scientists that assess the latest climate science called the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC. For local communities, especially rural, this has meant more farm distress. For women, in addition, this has meant longer walks to the wells that also frequently run dry. The Korkus follow the patrilocal family setup, said Trupti Ashtankar, Water for People’s regional program officer in India. “Fetching water is the responsibility of women. Even when the men are at home, this responsibility lies with mostly women,” Ashtankar added. WFP drew attention to the fact that women cannot stop even when they are sick, pregnant, or on their periods, without adequate sanitation, and well into old age. The campaign has also partnered with fashion influencers such as Sruthi Jayadevan and Wawa Getheru to raise awareness. “We believe the water crisis is solvable both in India, and all of the countries where Water For People works. And so the purpose of this movie, and continuing to share this movie, is to give people a glance at something that they can be a part of that’s positive,” Williford said.