In 2015, citizens and leaders aligned to adopt an uprecedented new agenda for global development to improve the lives of people around the world. At an historic summit at the United Nations, world leaders officially adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, and committed to actions to deliver on those 17 goals by 2030. 

Goal 6.1 of the new Sustainable Development Goals is to "achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water by 2030." There is sufficient fresh, clean water on the planet to achieve this goal. But, due to poverty and poor infrastructure, every year millions of people, most of them children, die from diseases and illnesses—including undernutrition—associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation, and hygiene.

Today, on World Water Day 2016, Action Against Hunger celebrates the progress to which we and development partners and governments around the world have contributed in the past 20 years to deliver sources of clean drinking water to 2.3 billion people who lacked access. But that progress is insufficient. Today, we still live in a world where:

• 663 million people around the world do not have access to a source of safe, clean water
• 2.4 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services, such as toilets or latrines
• Each day, nearly 1,000 children die due to preventable waterborne diseases 

Meet Asefiwe and Justine: Digging Deep to Deliver Clean Water in South Kivu
What are we doing to change these facts? In places like South Kivu Province of Democratic Republic of Congo, our teams are working hand in hand with communities to build a sustainable infrastructure that does more than just deliver clean water: by mobilizing women to lead water committees in their villages, training local plumbers to repair and maintain their water systems, and reducing rates of cholera and malnutrition, Action Against Hunger is bringing communities together to manage their own well-being and resources.

Asefiwe is a mother and a small-scale farmer. Justine Bomme is Action Against Hunger's Water Project Manager in South Kivu. 

Watch our new video to meet Asefiwe and Justine, and to see how they dug deep to deliver clean water and empower communities in Democratic Republic of Congo.