In 2026, the theme of World Water Day is ‘Water and Equality’.
This theme resonates particularly strongly with a project that is important to us and which we have chosen to support, alongside the charity Sens Solidaire, which the Jacques Martel Foundation is supporting for the third consecutive year.
This is a Franco-Senegalese project, run between schools in Nice and schools in Casamance, entitled ‘Access to water and food: understanding their vital link’.
This project aims to raise pupils’ awareness of the fundamental role of water in health, hygiene and nutrition. It also offers practical solutions! Finally, it serves as a reminder that access to drinking water remains a major issue of equality, and it is clear that we are not all equal.
The project has several components:
– Raising awareness of water quality and food safety issues through presentations and educational group activities
– Creating vegetable gardens,
– Installing two ‘Nanoaid’ kits for water purification and disinfection (vegetables, soil, hands, surfaces, wounds).
– Running workshops on water and hygiene,
– Distribution of water containers to Senegalese schoolchildren
The first Nanoaid unit has been installed at Cagnout School. Until now, pupils at this school had been drinking untreated water, which was the cause of many illnesses linked to unsafe water.
Tippy Taps – simple handwashing stations – have also been made and installed in strategic locations around the playground to make it easier for the children to wash their hands 💛
At another school in Casamance – Pointe Saint Georges Primary School – individual water containers were handed out to pupils as part of a workshop on good hygiene practices at school and the importance of staying hydrated.
Water is the first, invisible ingredient in our diet.
Without good-quality water, there can be no healthy agriculture, no sustainable fishing, and no reliable food supply chain. Protecting water means protecting the very basis of what we eat.