UNICEF@NYU, a group dedicated to educating, advocating and fundraising on behalf of the world’s children, will host NYU Water Week from March 24 to March 28.

This year is the first time UNICEF@NYU has hosted the event. The group is partnering with the Gallatin Resource Fund.

Water Week will begin with the construction of a water bottle sculpture in the Kimmel Center for University Life and end with an art gala in the Dean’s Conference Room in Gallatin, which will explore the theme of water through art. Events throughout the week include a documentary screening of “Last Call at the Oasis” and a panel discussion led by Vasuki Nesiah, a Gallatin international politics professor.

“The Wednesday panel will discuss the film as well as larger questions about the significance of water, the global water crisis, efforts to address it, etc.,” Nesiah said.

The panel will feature speakers from the Columbia Water Center and the Earth Institute.

There will be an open mic in a makeshift coffee house in the Global Center for Academic and Spiritual Life on Thursday. The organizers will suggest that attendees give a $5 donation in order to benefit water, sanitation and hygiene projects in Cameroon, Mauritania, Togo and Vietnam.

The event organizer, Gallatin sophomore Laura Hopkins, said this event is needed to raise awareness about the impending water crisis.

“I hope Water Week will wake up our campus about how important water is and how we need to be aware of issues surrounding it,” Hopkins said. “I hope this opens up conversations about what we can do to be a part of increasing access to water and ensuring its safety.”

CAS junior Stephano Espinoza said the event will alert students to the severity of the water crisis.

“Water is so accessible to us that we often forget this is not the case for many in other countries,” Espinoza said. “Water Week at NYU is needed to remind its students of the responsibility we have to act from our places of privilege to make what ought to be a basic human right, access to water, more accessible to children and their families across the globe.”

A version of this article appeared in the Thursday, March 13 edition. Kavish Harjai is a news editor. Email him at [email protected].