If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) hopes these four pictures will have a great deal to say to tens of thousands of people worldwide. Here is one of the ads designed without charge by the Milan-based agency Publicis in support of the UNDP Water Alert Campaign promoting universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

UNDP and Publicis launched the campaign in conjunction with the 2006 Human Development Report. The ads consist of punchy and provocative statements which convey some of the hard truths about people’s lack of access to water. Newspapers and magazines in “rich” countries are invited to join the water challenge by publishing the four ads free of charge. That way the water message will get across without a water bill being presented.

To download the ads from UNDP in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese or German, go to http://www.undp.org/wateralert/ads

For more information on the Water Alert Campaign, please contact:

Aziyadé Poltier-Mutal, UNDP, Geneva, e-mail

Rositsa Todorova, UNDP Communications Office, New York, e-mail

Tags: financing, information and communication