Today – Thursday March 22nd – is World Water Day.

This year, DigDeep is celebrating in Washington DC. We’re here with a coalition of passionate experts specializing in safe drinking water, sanitation, hygiene, health and environment. The goal of our trip? To raise awareness and call for stronger commitments to ensure universal access to safe water for those with the greatest need.

But we cannot do it alone.

Partnership with our donors and supporters is crucial. This year, we’re asking YOU to donate your voice (http://waterday.org/) to the cause. But first we want to tell you why it’s important, and how it helps.

The easy answer is obvious: impact requires advocacy. We need to encourage our country’s leaders to use foreign assistance dollars for proven solutions to water poverty, like programs that ensure access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. There are over 1 billion people who require this help now.

But for those of us living in the US, the Water Crisis can often seem abstract or distant. We need something more if we’re going to commit to resolving an issue that doesn’t affect our daily lives.

This is why DigDeep defends water access as a human right.

The reality is this: the water crisis does affect your daily life. Every instance of water poverty is an injustice that challenges the human right to water – a right you share with every other person on this planet. Human rights are basic, essential and universal… no matter where you live, your human dignity depends on access to clean water.

DigDeep defends YOUR human right to water. We harness the power of the human rights concept to (a) promote water access for the poor and (b) create greater awareness around your human rights.

In the field, we plan water projects that take a human rights-based approach. Our projects are designed to create outcomes like participation, gender equity, democratic oversight, and rule of law. We use long-term partnerships, the latest technology, and proven methods to achieve sustainable change one community at a time. But this is only the beginning.

Access projects in turn animate our work back home. We take what we learn in the field (data, pictures, stories) and use them to create innovative educational tools, online platforms, classroom experiences, and branded events. Together, these activities make us more aware of our right to water and our human connection to those suffering in water poverty. Awareness inspires a respect for rights, ignites a desire for change, and opens our eyes to the reality of human interconnectedness.

It’s your participation that completes the cycle. In joining our work, you build a greater understanding of your own human right to water. By sharing this experience with others, its effect multiplies. Where these efforts raise money, DigDeep pledges 100% of every dollar to a clean water or education project in the field. When we help lift communities out of water poverty, we’re empowered to share the experience with even more stakeholders in the US and abroad. Everyone’s dignity is defended – everyone’s life is changed.

So when you donate your voice for World Water Day – whether it’s by changing your Facebook cover photo, sharing an inspiring story, or participating in one of DigDeep’s fundraising campaigns – you kick off a cycle that defends dignity worldwide. Now do you see why we need your help?

Learn more about Donating Your Voice and what you can do to defend your human right to water worldwide at www.waterday.org.

Join us in celebrating World Water Day 2012.

And DigDeep.