Water and WaterScape: local conditions for children’s access to water
This project aims to raise awareness to cherish and protect water landscapes and water sources, broaden understanding of water as a concept and vital resource for children and their families across contexts, nations, and cultures.
Project Team Leader
Project Background
Water is life. It connects us all, transcending cultural boundaries and holding spiritual significance across societies. Yet, millions of children lack access to clean water, a basic human right. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) states that every child has the right to clean water and health (Article 24). According to UNESCO's Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN's Sustainable Development Agenda 2030, all children have the right to clean water and the right to high-quality education. High quality in early childhood education means providing experiences in a stimulating environment. This includes engaged staff who create good conditions focused on movement, play, exploration, and creative participation.
Access to improved water and sanitation are fundamental to human rights and basic to children’s health and development. As an abundant global resource, it covers over 1400 million square kilometers even though only 0.001 percent of water is readily available for human consumption. Further, there is a huge geographical variation in access to consumable water across continents, regions, countries, and even within countries. While water is non-substitutable for human life, it is more than often taken for granted and poorly valued. Ensuring global access to safe and clean water for drinking and sanitation is one of the challenges facing mankind today.
With the current globalization efforts comes with such challenges as rapid urbanizations, environmental degradation, climate change and loss of biodiversity. In particular, children are exposed to the highest risks among other for they are the most affected group because they live longer and are relatively susceptible to climatic changes. This calls for ECEC stakeholders to make paradigmic shift to a more sustainable and ecological world views and frameworks in which children co-create and shape alternative futures.
Pilot project
Pilot project Water and Waterscapes was completed between 2022 and 2023. The aim of the pilot projecty was to raise awareness to cherish and protect water landscapes and water sources, broaden understanding of water as a concept and vital resource for children and their families across contexts, nations, and cultures. With this new initiative we invite OMEP members all over the world to organise a collaborative exploration with children aged 4 to 8 years. Specifically, introduce and invite children and professionals to explore the conditions for their water supplies for washing and for drinking and to express what finding the sources, sensing the water that is available for them, and what it means for them.
Pilot project reports
The pilot project shed light on the pedagogy of water and waterscapes in Norwegian ECEC and revealed, through the kindergarten staff, researchers, and children’s experiences of their waterscapes, sceneries, materials, and the weather.
This report outlines the background, context, methods, and findings of the pilot study completed between 2022 and 2023 in two Norwegian kindergartens, one in Lærdal and one in Tromsø, as part of Water and WaterScape: local conditions for children’s access to water (previously when the pilot project was conducted entitled “Water – Wash from the Start – Children’s Access to Water”), which is an international project developed by KINDknow/HVL in collaboration with OMEP World.
The pilot project is finalized in reports for three countries: Norway, New Zealand and Tanzania.
The Norwegian Report here.
The New Zealand Report, here
The Tanzanian Report, here
Water and waterscapes is developed by KINDknow/HVL in collaboration with OMEP World.
New project starting in 2025
A new project Water and Waterscapes is developed by KINDknow/HVL in collaboration with OMEP World and starts in 2025 and will be finalized in 2027.
The aims of the project are:
- to showcast children’s meaning-making
- to support children, teachers and communities in education and life.
- to raise awareness of and protect water landscapes and water sources
- to develop new knowledge and expand the understanding of water as a sensuous concept in children's lives and as a vital resource for children and their families, across nations and cultures.
