100 WATER HEROES: KIANA ALAVI

Engagement Officer (End Water Poverty) at WaterAid

Kiana Alavi is a blogger, photographer, campaigner, humanitarian and activist. She currently works as the Engagement Officer for Wateraid’s End Water Poverty (EWP) initiative. Launched in 2007, EWP is a “global civil society coalition, campaigning to end the water and sanitation crisis.” The movement now reaches over 150 members in more than 90 countries throughout the world. In collaboration with members from a range of backgrounds, from large NGOs to community organisations, they work towards achieving universal access to WASH.

Prior to her work with Wateraid, Kiana worked as the Global Campaign Officer for Save the Children International, on their Every Last Child Campaign. Save the Children International is the world’s leading independent organisation for children. Kiana led the organisation’s Every Last Child Campaign in their goal to “ensure that 15 million of the world's excluded children have access to life-saving healthcare and quality education.”

Co-Authored by Anjani Kapoor, Kiana recently wrote a piece entitled Accountability is the Key to Unlocking the Human Rights to WASH in which she poignantly states:

Judging by the progress levels on reaching SDG 6, many governments are treating these global goals as non-binding and ambitious commitments; but they are in fact achievable, but only if we act now. Stakeholders must stop waiting to take action tomorrow or in the near future and make the necessary changes today. The thought of being asked to not use a toilet to relieve ourselves or to not drink any water until the near future is unthinkable. So why not apply the same principle to our efforts in achieving Goal 6?

Kiana is one of our #100WaterHeroes for her impactful human rights work and for her commitment to ensuring access sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene for ALL.

Twitter: @Kianavi

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/kiana-alavi-3b038a74