Multiple award winning music star Beyonce has joined hands with the United Nations’ children’s agency in efforts to avail safe, clean water to children in Burundi.
The American said the provision of clean water leads to good health and also enables the provision of education.
“Access to water is a fundamental right. When you give children clean and safe water, you don’t just give them life, you give them health, an education, and a brighter future,” Beyonce, 35, said in the statement.
Plans call for the project, BEYGOOD4BURUNDI, to help build wells and improve hygiene education and water and sanitation facilities in schools, UNICEF and the U.S. star said in online statements.
Two in five people in Burundi in East Africa have no access to clean water, and water- and sanitation-related diseases are among the leading causes of death among children in the nation of 12 million people, they said.
Beyonce also noted that more than two million people in the East African nation spend more than 30 minutes each day collecting water, forcing children to miss school and puts girls in particular danger as they walk miles in search of wells.
UNICEF praised the plan, saying it will enable social change in Burundi.
“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,” said Caryl Stern, chief executive of UNICEF USA, in a statement.