Some of the world’s poorest communities are living on the frontline of climate change, with severe floods and droughts threatening people’s access to clean water and putting lives at risk. Ahead of the COP26 access, the partnering organisations created the ‘WaterAid Can’ campaign to show that among the climate concerns, access to clean water should not be one of them.

One in ten of the 7.9 billion people in the world don’t have access to clean water near their home. Don’t Panic started working with WaterAid in May 2020 to help devise new creatives and build a long-term engagement strategy.

The film was shot in Blackpool and Stockport by Stink Film’s director and photographer, Olivia Rose. Rick Dodds, creative partner at Don’t Panic, says, “We had to assume we couldn’t shoot any content in the charity’s country programmes due to the Covid situation worsening. So we had to find a creative way to authentically tell this story without being able to shoot there.”

The film moved away from typical images of those living through the worst of the water crisis, instead showing people across the UK from a hipster Florist to a bearded Barista. The range of character aim to represent diverse communities across the country as they explain the little things, they can do to help climate change.

“It's a really clever and brave way for WaterAid to present the campaign; leading with what you can't do should feel like a total no go, but Rick at Don't Panic captured a real joy in the script whereby WaterAid openly admits to the things they can't change, in order to draw us in, so they can educate us on what they can,” says Olivia Rose, director at Stink Films. 

Nick Miller, head of supporter activation at WaterAid says, “As COP26 gets underway we wanted to show how WaterAid – and our supporters – can work with communities to help them adapt to the climate crisis that is here already”.

The campaign will run across television, digital, satellite and terrestrial channels.