Beyoncé is honoring World Water Day by pledging to bring clean water to nearly 120,000 women and children in Burundi.
Last year, the singer launched BEYGOOD4BURUNDI with UNICEF. The initiative helps to provide clean and safe drinking water to the East African nation, which is surrounded by mostly land. Through its efforts, the organization has helped to improve water quality, fundamental hygiene practices and sanitation in the country.
Now luxury fashion brand Gucci and Chime for Change (the global campaign co-founded by Beyoncé and Salma Hayek) want to focus on how the water crisis affects girls and women. Their contribution to the efforts will help to provide clean water to prevent water-borne diseases and will also lessen the risk of young women getting harmed or missing out on education as they travel far distances to obtain water.
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UNICEF USA confirmed the partnership in a statement from Caryl M. Stern (its president and CEO) and also praised the 36-year-old’s efforts:“Addressing the global water crisis is one of the defining challenges of our time, and the children of Burundi are among the most vulnerable. This unique partnership combines UNICEF’s decades of expertise in providing clean water to children in Burundi and around the world with the power and influence of the entertainment world to bring about social change. We are grateful to Beyoncé and BeyGOOD for joining forces with UNICEF to highlight this critical issue to new audiences.”
In 2017, there were 35 wells built in Burundi; with Gucci’s $1 million pledge, 80 more wells can be constructed, giving 120,000 more women and children access to clean water. Bey’s goal is to provide nearly half a million people in the nation with clean water by 2020.
