Lindström and UNICEF: Renewing our commitment to India

Access to clean water, sanitation and an adequate standard of living are universal human rights. In spite of global efforts to improve the situation in many countries — especially developing ones — attention and resolute action are still required. And we want to be a part of helping those in need.

In India, the second most populous country in the world, 320 children die of diarrhea every day. Furthermore, 40% of these diarrhea cases are directly linked to inadequate sanitation and hygiene at schools or in communities, as only one in ten primary schools has handwashing stations with soap and water. We at Lindström are trying to fix this.

Access to water, sanitation and hygiene as the right of every child

In the beginning of 2018, we renewed our collaboration with UNICEF Finland with the aim of supporting UNICEF’s work in India — one of the countries with which we feel a special connection through our local operations. Over the next three years (2018–2020), we will be contributing to UNICEF’s nation-wide work in the area of water, sanitation and hygiene.

The aim of our cooperation is to improve the country’s water and sanitation situation and thus to promote children’s rights and advance the broader UN Sustainable Development Goals. It also supports the efforts of the Indian government institutions to scale up UNICEF’s interventions, the value of which has already been recognized by them.

“India is close to our hearts as it is one of our operating countries”, explains Juha Laurio, President & CEO of the Lindström Group. “We want to influence the improvement of the country’s living conditions, guaranteeing a better living environment for future generations. UNICEF’s work contributes to these very important goals for us in India.”

Our commitment to improving living and sanitary conditions in India is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and UNICEF’s WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) strategy, which includes the following ambitious objectives:

• Contributing to making India open defecation free by the third quarter of 2019.
• Ensuring sufficient access to safe drinking water.
• Providing water, sanitation and hygiene for institutions, such as pre-schools, schools and health centers.
• Promoting behavioral change.

Helping children on a nationwide level

Renewing our cooperation with UNICEF was a logical choice resulting from our promise to ensure safety and hygiene for people worldwide. Together, we will pursue the goal of providing access to safe drinking water to around 100 million people, making safely managed toilets available to 450 million new users and covering 25% of schools in rural areas with adequate WASH standards.

“We at UNICEF value long-term partnerships because they allow our organization to ensure continuous quality funding for UNICEF’s work”, says Nina Vähäpassi, Corporate Alliances Manager of Finnish Committee for UNICEF. “This increases the sustainability of UNICEF programmes and enables strategic planning for reaching long-lasting results for children.”

Clean water and sanitation should not be luxuries. Through our actions, we will help the population of India, especially the youngest, in obtaining unconstrained access to these basic services. We are strongly determined to achieve these goals and are driven by the commitment to develop a safe and healthy environment for those in dire need.