1. Introduction

2. Objectives

3. Partner companies

4. Ambassadors

5. Achievements

6. References

Introduction

The night of water, or La nuit de l'eau in French is a charity event that takes place in the whole of France one night a year. It was launched in 2008^[1], aiming at providing poor countries with clean and potable water. This event is one of the many United Nations of International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) movements, in partnership with the French Swimming Federation.

Objectives

Nowadays, 750 million people still don’t have access to clean water across the globe^[2]. Among this number are millions of children whose futures depend on charity funds. The event is therefore nourished by the French UNICEF’s ambition to lower this number considerably. This charity’s main objective is to raise awareness about water’s significance, as well as funds, in order to invest towards the setting up of specific programmes to access drinking water in schools.^[3]

During these 8 years, the collected money was entirely devoted to the schools in Togo, in west Africa. The association's plan was to improve children's learning conditions through sustainable access to pure water, in a country where over one-third of the population does not have access to this vital resource. Moreover, the UNICEF funded the creation of a sanitation system in these places where lack of hygiene is an important cause of the alarming death rate. Facilities such as rainwater tanks and separated sinks for boys and girls were provided, enabling cultural codes to be respected as well^[4].

Eventually, school modules related to good sanitation, hygiene, and health practices were put into place by local NGO's as a way of informing the future generations about the precautions to be taken, and preventing the renewal of past calamities.

For the past two years, the night of water has been funding charity work in another part of the world. Indeed, the children living in Haiti have benefited from this support in much the same way as the Togolese had in the previous years.

As a matter of fact, the water issue has grown exponentially since the 2016 Hurricaine Matthew that had ravaged the country and affected some 900 000 children. Today, only 24% of Haitians have access to sanitation^[5], and dreadful diseases such as cholera keep spreading across the country through the filthy water. Thereby, the money has been put towards the construction of many wells, fountains, and chlorine tablets used to disinfect rain or dirty river water. However, the event's project for the next years is to finance water and school sanitation, since not enough money was gathered to do so up till now.

To achieve these colossal goals, La nuit de l'eau relies on 73 departmental committees, 5500 volunteers and 247 French cities who dedicate themselves to making this night a successful, friendly, profitable project.^[6]

Partner companies

The event is sponsored by many French firms and TV channels such as EDF, Sacem, C.NEWS, CIC, as well as by the Minister of Youth affairs and sports^[7].

Every year, many more companies join the event and build teams around this playful project. Each of them have the opportunity to make their own collect page, and try to reach the objectives that were set by all members. This emphasises co-worker's mobilisation and strongly encourages the establishment of a solidarity system.

Ambassadors

Ambassadors are volunteers who support and sponsor the event, thus broadcasting it more widely. The two influential French personalities who do so for La nuit de l'eau are Camille Lacourt and Laura Thilleman.

Camille Lacourt is a retired French competitive swimmer who won the world championship five times during his career^[8]. He has been the event's longest lasting ambassador and continues, today, to be its national symbol.

Laury Thilleman is a model and TV entertainer who puts her passion for sport at the service of this cause. She has been an ambassador for two years and has helped Haitian children in particular.

Achievements

In ten years time, the event has managed to collect over 1.3 million euros^[9]. These funds are obtained through the entrance tickets to the pool paid by all participants, as well as the anonymous donations made to the association through its website.

With 58€, the association can afford 10.000 chlorine tablets, bearing in mind that a single one can last several days depending on the amount of water it is put into.

Then, 358€ is the cost of a very efficient water pump that we use in wells.^[10]

References

• (31003) 1995 WQ2
• (310071) 2010 KR59
• (31009) 1996 CP
• 3100s BC
• 3100 W. Big Beaver Road
• 3101
• (31011) 1996 CG7
• (31012) 1996 CG8
• (31017) 1996 EH2
• 3101 BC
• 3102 aluminium alloy
• 3103 BC
• (31044) 1996 NY
• 3104 BC
• (31057) 1996 SK4
• 3105 BC
• (31060) 1996 TB6
• (31062) 1996 TP10
• (31068) 1996 TT54
• 3106 BC
• (31073) 1996 VV29
• (31074) 1996 WY1
• 3107 BC
• 31082-90-3
• (31088) 1997 BV