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September 2014
 


September proved to be a great month for WASH! Momentum around the Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act (H.R. 2901) is growing, with 103 bipartisan co-sponsors! And for the third year in a row, the Global Citizen Festival rocked New York City with celebrities, lawmakers, and world leaders all taking to the stage to raise awareness of global poverty issues, including sanitation.

 

Jim Walsh, Rep. Granger, Rep. Lowey,
and Sam Worthington
On September 17 and 18, U.S. Representatives Kay Granger, Nita Lowey, and Chris Smith were presented with the 2014 WASH Advocate Award in recognition of their strong leadership to provide safe and affordable WASH to impoverished regions around the world.

 

The WASH Awards were presented by noted leaders in the WASH community, including former Representative Jim Walsh, InterAction CEO Sam Worthington, and ChangeALife Uganda President Jean Semler.

 

David Thelen, Father Lawrence Kizito Kimbowa, Rep. Chris Smith,
and Jean Semler
Semler noted, "A student at St. Lawrence School described in a letter where her family and the school got their water from. We get water from an open well (catch basin).  Animals drink from the same well. Sometimes they defecate in the water and others pass urine in it. It's not safe for life. This is what the Water for the World Act addresses and we are so thankful for Rep. Chris Smith's leadership to bring clean water to the children of the world."  

 

WASH Advocates CEO John Oldfield joined Patti Simon, wife of the late Senator Paul Simon to speak about global WASH issues and the Water for the World Act at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The two discussed the consequences of poor WASH, including diarrheal disease deaths and the burden girls face daily walking for miles to collect water.  "These girls should be going to school and carrying textbooks, not water," said Oldfield.

 

In New York, Representative Charlie Dent appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" with Global Poverty Project CEO Hugh Evans to talk about the Global Citizen Festival and the Water for the World Act.  "We're trying to set priorities so resources are directed to those who need it most," commented Rep. Dent, on the aims of the bill. For more news media clips on the Global Citizen Festival and the Water for the World Act, click here.

 

Even John Stewart appreciates the importance of WASH! On September 25, while discussing Steven Johnson's new book, "How We Got to Now," the two noted the fundamental importance of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation, and how advances in those technologies in the U.S. and other industrialized countries drastically reduced death and disease. "There are cultures still that cannot take for granted a glass of clean water," notes Stewart. "Absolutely," Johnson replies: " and it's important in our society that we celebrate the innovators that make this possible."     
Upcoming Activities
Handwashing Innovations & Inspirations: A Discussion & Reception

On October 8, the Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing (PPPHW), FHI 360, Devex, and WASH Advocates will co-host an event exploring new ideas in hygiene integration, innovations in handwashing and insights into behavioral drivers.  

 

This event will feature fast-paced talks from a diverse range of handwashing innovators that will inform, inspire and catalyze attendees to take action on hygiene.

 

Date: Wednesday, October 8  

Time: 4:30-7:00 p.m.  

Location: Academy Hall at the FHI 360 Conference Center 

 

This is a must-attend event for anyone with an interest in the promotion of health around the world. Please RSVP today!

 

For more information or questions, email Hanna Woodburn with the PPPHW.   

 


 

2014 Water and Health Conference

The 2014 Water and Health Conference at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is coming up! If you're going, check out these events and presentations that WASH Advocates is involved in:

  • Putting GLAAS to Work to Increase Aid-Effectiveness - Monday, October 13, 1:00 - 4:30 pm
  • Pioneering Programming Approaches for Integrating WASH and Nutrition - Tuesday, October 14, 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
  • WASH & Nutrition: Successes, Challenges, and Implications for Integration - Thursday, October 16, 10:45 am

As we at WASH Advocates continue our focus on sustainability, we are pleased that the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and The Water Institute at UNC are convening several side events focused on sustainability and monitoring and evaluation. Please be on the lookout for an upcoming email with more information on WASH Advocates' picks for the Water and Health Conference. To view all  side events and sessions at the 2014 Water and Health Conference, click here.

 


 

October 1,000 Days Advocacy Working Group - WASH & Nutrition

Save the date for the next 1,000 Days Advocacy Working Group on Wednesday, October 22, 2014. The theme of this month's meeting will be WASH & nutrition, with conversations on the relationship between WASH and nutrition, the process of creating the USAID Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy, and integrating WASH and nutrition in the field. Our Program Associate, Jordan Teague, will preset her research on the integration of WASH and nutrition programs and colleagues at USAID will review the recently released USAID Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy.

 

Date: Wednesday, October 22

Time: 12:00-1:30 p.m.

Location: InterAction (1400 16th Street NW, Suite 210)

 

For more information, contact Jordan Teague at jteague@WASHadvocates.org  

 


 

3rd Annual Virtual Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in WASH in Schools (WinS) Conference

Hosted by Columbia University and UNICEF on October 29, 2014, the 3rd Annual Virtual MHM Conference will provide an opportunity to share lessons learned with the WinS community around the world, with a particular focus on MHM programming in WinS in various contexts.  

 

This virtual conference will provide an opportunity to share:  

  • school based MHM program descriptions;
  • findings on MHM program scale and impact; and
  • recommendations about how new MHM programs can be developed by WinS practitioners.

If you would like to attend the virtual conference, please email mhm.webnyc@gmail.com or ysheido@unicef.org to register and schedule a test session.

 

Click here to view the proceedings of the first two conferences: 2012 and 2013.

Congratulations!

The University of Oklahoma Water Technologies for Emerging Regions Center has named CARE's Water Team Director Peter Lochery as the recipient of its 2015 Water Prize. This honor is awarded to an individual "who has made significant international contributions, either through research, teaching or service activities in the field of water supply and sanitation, with a focus on the world's poorest living in developing countries."

In reaction to the announcement, Lochery said, "I am truly humbled and honored to be recognized by my peers and colleagues who in their own right, work passionately to make sure everyone has access to clean water and sanitation."

 

Lochery will formally receive the OU International Water Prize and give the plenary lecture at the OU International WaTER Conference, scheduled for Sept. 21-23, 2015.

 

WASH in the News

 

According to various studies, nearly 50% of India's population doesn't have access to toilets -- which leaves them with no choice but to go outdoors. The situation is acute in villages. Life expectancy amongst manual scavengers, laborers who clean human excreta to support themselves financially, is low. (CNN)

 

10/1/14: Ghana's cholera outbreak worst in 30 years

Cholera outbreak in Ghana has hit a record 17,000 cases with 150 deaths. The last time Ghana suffered such a staggering number of cholera cases was in 1982. Health officials warned that the disease caused by poor sanitary conditions and lack of good hygienic practices could break out. (Ghana Web)

 

9/30/14: Water Supply Has Increased From 58% To 67% In The Past Three Years-Water Resources Minister

In Nigeria, access to potable water has increased from 58 percent to 67 percent within the last three years. Minister of Water Resources, Sarah Ochekpe, has revealed. "Before the inception of this administration, access to potable water was at 58 per cent, now access is at 67 per cent, while sanitation moved from 32 per cent to 41 per cent under the recent national assessment," said Ochekpe at the ministerial platform in Abuja. (Daily Times)  

 

09/28/14: Modi wows 65,000 youth in Central Park, with message of sanitation, peace 

Saturday evening, the Indian Prime Minister shared the stage with top music stars like JayZ, Beyonce, Carrie Underwood, Sting and Alicia Keys and himself received rockstar treatment from a crowd of more than 65,000 at New York's landmark Central Park. In a major departure from his practice, he spoke to them in English and could connect to them on the festival's theme of fighting poverty and seeking justice, by articulating his ideas on these topics. (Daiji World)

 

"You cannot solve poverty without solving water and sanitation," Damon said during the Tuesday afternoon session, taking the stage prior to President Barack Obama's address. To boost the organization's efforts to provide clean water and toilets to communities in need, Water.org launched a microfinancing program called WaterCredit, which makes small loans to individuals and households so they can develop basic hygiene facilities. About 90 percent of the borrowers are women, and 99 percent of the loans have been repaid, White said. (Yahoo News)

 

09/26/14: People take to streets demanding water, power and sanitation 

People from various localities Friday staged protest demonstrations here, raising anti-government slogans and blocking busy city roads.Scores of inhabitants of Abi Guzar blocked Residency Road here, alleging that official apathy continued ever since floods hit the city."Government failed to rescue the trapped families in the area. No food and water was supplied to the affected families. Height of the official apathy is that concerned officials have failed to clear the garbage lying in the locality," said Muhammad Irfan, a protester. (Greater Kashmir - India)

 

09/26/24: Access to water, hygiene a tall dream in Nigeria 

As the General Assembly comprising of all 193 members of the United Nations met in New York, United States of America (USA) to among other things evaluate the commitment of countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target, halt the spread of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa, health-related MDG target has remained on the front burner in Nigeria with few months left to 2015.(Business Daily Online)  

 

09/24/14: Clean Water Music Fest expands bands, fundraising in third year 

Since its inaugural edition in 2012, the festival has partnered with Charity: Water, a non-profit dedicated to bringing clean drinking water to developing areas. With help from local sponsors, Fisher and Jackson have been able to direct 100 percent of the festival's proceeds to a Charity: Water's well project every year. (The Florida Times Union) 

 

09/24/14: Matt Damon Nails Impression Of Bill Clinton, Raises Water Awareness While He's At It 

In good humor, Damon impersonated former President Clinton at the annual meeting aimed at tackling worldwide crises Tuesday in New York, pointing out that water solutions could be aiding more people. Damon, together with fellow Water.org co-founder Gary White, explained how a lack of potable water and sanitation leads to fatal illnesses, but is also just as much of a women's issue, since women and girls are often assaulted while relieving themselves in public (Huffington Post)

 

09/24/14: Report finds gaps in WASH human resource capacity for developing economies 

According to a new report launched today by International Water Association (IWA), shortages of human resources in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector can potentially undermine the progress made by many countries over the last few decades to increase access to water and sanitation. A failure to address these shortages can impede socio-economic development in those countries that remain off-track to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) water and sanitation targets, and it raises serious questions about how realistic the attainment of any potential WASH targets under the new Sustainable Development Goals will be. (Water World)

 

09/24/14: Expert calls for moral crusade to bring clean water and sanitation to billions 

A moral crusade similar to the campaign to abolish slavery will be needed if the world's latest attempt to bring clean water and sanitation to hundreds of millions of people is to succeed, a global expert has warned. Dr Ger Bergkamp, executive director of the International Water Association (IWA), said the proposed standalone sustainable development goal (SDG) on water and sanitation may not prove sufficient to succeed where its millennium development goal (MDG) predecessor had failed. (The Guardian)


9/23/14: Govt declares war on cholera as 128 die

The Ghanaian government has declared war on cholera to stop its rapid spread across the country. The war entails using a "Sword and Shield" strategy, with the sword representing the targets or communities affected and the shield showing the responses to fight the outbreak. Components of the strategy - which is already being employed by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, and Chad - include early and targeted Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) emergency response to first suspicious cases in affected areas. (Ghana Web)

 

9/22/14: American Standard CEO to Lead Global Sanitation Session at Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting

American Standard Brands President and CEO Jay Gould will speak at the 10th Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting tomorrow on the topic of improving access to safe sanitation facilities around the world and its effect on people's health, education and safety. Gould will be joined in discussion by Raya, a new Sesame Street character acting as the mascot for the "Cleaner, Happier, Healthier" sanitation campaign recently launched in Bangladesh, India, and Nigeria. (CNN)  

 

9/22/14: We can solve the water sanitation crisis, but we need your help

The CEOs of the Ikea Foundation and Water.org call for a partnership to help those that lack access to safe water. As of now, more than 1.5m people have gained access to safe water and sanitation through WaterCredit, a model spearheaded by both organizations. (The Guardian)

 

09/20/14: This bucket challenge promotes women's health 

After the rice bucket and dirty bucket challenges, some women in the city have braced themselves for the Hygeine Bucket Challenge - a unique initiative for promoting menstrual health among underprivileged women. The challenge requires people to donate a bucket of a year's supply of sanitary napkins to a woman living in the slums.  (Times of India)

 

09/19/14: Helping women through clean water and sanitation 

One solution to reduce unnecessary school absences and drop outs is to provide girls with low-cost, reusable sanitary napkins. AFRIpads, a Ugandan social enterprise that was named one of Women Deliver's 50 inspiring innovations in 2012, provides menstrual kits that last for up to one year and are one-fifth the cost of other brands. Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) is another promising initiative that developed a new brand (go!™) of affordable, eco-friendly pads made from banana fibers. By 2017, SHE hopes to deliver these low-cost pads to more than 250,000 girls and create 1,200 jobs in the process. These are seemingly simple innovations, but their impact is life-changing. (MSNBC)

 

09/19/14: Bill Gates meets Narendra Modi, lauds focus on sanitation and banking for poor 

Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist, Bill Gates, today called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and lauded his focus on sanitation and the ambitious scheme to bring the poor people under the banking system through the Jan Dhan Yojana. (The Economic Times)

 

9/18/14: World water crisis 'unconscionable' speaker says  

There's a good chance you showered this morning, and brushed your teeth and flushed the toilet without giving much mind to the water with which we are blessed.

But around the world in developing nations, there are 748 million people without safe drinking water everyday. There are 2.5 billion people living without an appropriate place to go to the bathroom. There's between 1 million and 3 million children 5 and younger dying every year from preventable water borne diarrheal disease. (The Southern)  

 

Seventy-one percent of Earth's surface is covered by water, yet the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation estimates 748 million people lack access to quality drinking water. The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute hosted a lecture Wednesday evening to discuss the current problems with water-specifically the scarcity of water in Sub-Saharan regions of Africa. (The Daily Egyptian)    

 

9/17/14: WHO provides technical support to fight Cholera Outbreak in Ghana

A WHO-Government of Ghana team recommended that there was a need for a national response to address an issue that is beyond health sector.  According to the team, cholera is beyond health sector alone and that hospital care, antibiotics, rehydration, vaccinations are just downstream measures from a developmental/urbanization problem. (WHO)  

 

 

An upcoming lecture at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will provide an update on steps for avoiding a global water crisis; a topic of great concern to the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, founder of the institute that bears his name. Simon's wife, Patti Derge Simon, and John Oldfield, CEO of WASH Advocates, a nonprofit, nonpartisan initiative dedicated to helping solve the world's drinking water, sanitation and hygiene challenges, will present the lecture at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Student Center Ballroom B.The discussion will also include an update on the status of the "Senator Paul Simon Water for the World Act," introduced in 2013. The legislation, according to the organization, "aims to modify" Simon's 2005 Water for the Poor Act "and improve the efficiency with which the U.S. gives foreign aid for global safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene." (The Southern) 

 

9/12/14: Swipe card and get drinking water

A new program titled WASH US (water sanitation and hygiene in urban slums), is an initiative of South Asian Forum for Environment (SAFE). It is being sponsored by HSBC Water Programme, and will provide over 3,000 people in the Calcutta slum of Kalikapur with potable water and sanitation facilities. Rain harvested surface water stored in an adjacent pond will be treated at a solar water treatment plant. The plant has the capacity to produce 10 thousand litres of drinking water every day. A 24-hour ATM facility, where individuals swipe a card to receive water (not withdraw cash) free of charge, and three automatic dispensing units will now be an asset for the slum-dwellers' community. (Times of India)   

 

09/11/14: Poor sanitation perpetuates a vicious cycle of disease 

India has the most open defecation per square kilometer by a very wide margin: 200 people per square kilometer go in the open in India while the second and third worst performing countries are Haiti and Nepal, where 79 and 77 people per square kilometer go in the open, respectively. Because population growth has outpaced the rate of sanitation improvements, the number of people going in the open has actually been increasing in many parts of north and central India. (MSNBC)

 

09/09/14: India's Sanitation Crisis Is Trapping Women In A Cycle Of Violence 

Last week, the Thomson Reuters Foundation outlined how Bangladesh, India's much poorer and flood-prone neighbor, has had more success building bathrooms for its citizens. In just over a decade, Bangladesh managed to decrease the percentage of people defecating in the open from 19% in 2000 to just 3% in 2012.Across the border in India the picture is very different. According to the World Bank, over 600 million people, roughly 53% of Indian households, still use public streets and fields as bathrooms. And it is the women of India who are paying the highest price. (Forbes)  

 

9/9/14: Half the sanitation battle

The ministry of rural development has proposed to increase the allocation for constructing individual, school, anganwadi and community toilets in rural areas. But it has proposed to delink toilet construction from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. This is a pity because toilet construction is an essential and visible contribution to a community's development - better than digging for roads, which is best left to professional agencies. (Indian Express) 

 

09/04/14: India's Sanitation Needs 

India may finally be on the verge of making progress on eradicating one of its most intractable problems: open defecation because of a lack of toilets. Prime Minister Narendra Modi deserves credit for focusing on the scourge. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 600 million Indians lack access to a toilet. Open defecation is a cause of diarrheal disease that sickens and kills thousands of children in India every year, and the lack of toilets often puts women at risk of attack. (New York Times)

 

9/4/14: Progressing aid effectiveness in WASH

As the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals approaches, the water, sanitation and hygiene sector continues to face serious challenges that are hampering progress.The world has met the MDG target for drinking water, but 748 million people still lack access to an improved drinking water source and 2.5 billion people are without access to a basic toilet.(Devex)

 

9/4/14: Hypo takes sanitation sensitization to hospitals, homes

With the advent of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), personal hygiene and general cleanliness of both human beings and their immediate environment has become paramount and a must-do. To this end Multipro Enterprise Limited, makers of Hypo bleach, has begun a nationwide sanitization sensitization campaign and cleaning geared towards making people aware of the need to rid themselves and their environments of germ-causing diseases. (The Guardian)

 

09/02/14: #WWWeek day 2: over 1bn people drink water contaminated by faces 

The highlight of World Water Week day two was the Africa Focus sessions. Discussion points included the state and scale of hydropower, transboundary water management and the declining reliance on donor-funded infrastructure projects on the continent. The PepsiCo Foundation and the Inter-American Development Bank unveiled a new data management and water modeling tool called Hydro-BID. (The Guardian)

 

09/02/14: World Water Week: we must replicate Stockholm's water improvements 

This week the who's who of the world's water experts, government representatives, UN agencies and practitioners have descended on Stockholm for World Water Week to discuss challenges and find solutions around the world's most important resource: water. One of the major issues is providing access to water, sanitation and hygiene to some of the world's poorest communities. (The Guardian)

 

9/2/14: Water Week: Crafting solutions that work for Africa

Kandeh Yumkella, CEO of the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative and Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, stressed that Africa needs to take charge of its own development and sustainability agenda if it is to keep its head above the water in a world grappling climate change. (African Brains)

 

9/1/14: Concrete solutions to the world's sanitation problems

In Zambia, roughly two-thirds of Lusaka's population depends on pit latrines, and the constant threat of contamination from human waste remains an underlying issue. With sewers ruled out due to geology and expense, a professional pit-emptying service is being trialled in Kanyama, one of the poorest urban areas. Once removed, the waste is treated and sold on as fertiliser for local agricultural production. (The Guardian)

 

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