Global Health Council - Invitation to Screening of "Foul Water, Fiery Serpent" - A Documentary on the Fight against Guinea Worm

Global Health Council - Invitation to Screening of "Foul Water, Fiery Serpent" - A Documentary on the Fight against Guinea Worm

If you see one documentary all year, make it this one. The eradication of Guinea Worm (and the coming eradication of polio as well) are two of the most compelling global public health successes since D.A. Henderson and the eradication of smallpox in the 1970s. (On the smallpox note, I highly recommend D.A.'s book here.)

PLEASE join me for this screening on October 18 in Washington DC (RSVP details below):

Invitation to Screening of "Foul Water, Fiery Serpent" - A Documentary on the Fight against Guinea Worm

Please join the Global Health Council, The Carter Center, and The National Geographic Society for the Washington D.C. premiere of "Foul Water Fiery Serpent".

Monday, Oct. 18, 2010
6:30-8:00 pm
The National Geographic Society
Gilbert H. Grosvenor Auditorium
1600 M Street, NW
Washington, D.C.

The new documentary chronicles the dedication of health workers engaged in the final struggle to eradicate a horrific disease in Africa. The film features former President Jimmy Carter and The Carter Center, and is narrated by Sigourney Weaver.

For a preview of the film, please visit:

http://www.foulwaterfieryserpent.com/

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with special guests:

 

• Dr. Don Hopkins, VP Health Programs, The Carter Center
• Ms. Susanna Moorehead, UK Executive Director to the World Bank and Minister Counselor at the British Embassy
• David Thon, a "Lost Boy" of Sudan, Graduate Training Assistant, Southeast AIDS Training and Education Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA

 

Admission is free and complimentary parking is available at the National Geographic Garage located at the corner of M & 16th Street starting at 5:30 pm. Nearby Metro stops are Farragut North and Farragut West.

 

Please RSVP by October 12 at info [at] cieloproductions [dot] org or (415) 670-9600.

 

Hosted by The Global Health Council, The Carter Center, and The National Geographic Society.

Exhibition by National Geographic photographer to benefit WaterAid

For those of you in - or with access to - New York City, please try to attend this photo exhibit (details below, please RSVP). And if you haven't yet seen WaterAid's latest damning report on waterborne diarrheal disease, go here.
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Please join us - Thursday September 23

The Burden of Thirst

A benefit exhibition by renowned photojournalist Lynn Johnson

Thursday September 23, 5:30 - 10 pm, at The Soho Gallery, 138 Sullivan St., New York, NY

Meet the photographer

Lynn Johnson shot powerful images for the "Burden of Thirst" feature in the April 2010 special water issue of National Geographic magazine. These photos from Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania depict how the burden of water collection dominates women's lives.

Prints will be available for sale - 100% of the proceeds will support WaterAid's vital work bringing safe water, sanitation and improved hygiene to the world's poorest communities.

View an online preview of the exhibit or sign up for the chance to win a signed, framed photo on the megree website.

RSVP to kfrew  (at) wateraidamerica  (dot) org or 212-683-0430 Oxford Landing Wines courtesy of the Australian Trade Commission. Donations accepted at the door.

WaterAid America needs a rockstar Development Director in NYC - any takers?

And another addition to the Blogging on Water jobs board. The water sector is growing growing growing. And must keep growing until universal coverage...

Must say WaterAid and WaterAid America are impressive outfits and aren't just 'doing water programs' or raising funds for their own work, but also are thought leaders and advocacy leaders in the sector.  And by the way, HERE is a link to the US State Department's Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act 2010 Report to Congress. More on that soon.

On to the business:

WaterAid America

Director of Development
New York, NY
http://www.wateraidamerica.org/

WaterAid transforms lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities. Since its creation in 1981 in the UK, WaterAid has expanded its programs to 26 countries and has benefited almost 15 million people. WaterAid’s recently launched Global Strategy for 2009-2015 sets the ambitious aim of ensuring that by 2015 an additional 25 million people will have access to safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene as a direct result of its work; and that by influencing the policies and practices of government and service providers WaterAid will have reached a further 100 million people.

WaterAid America, one of the four self governing members (along with the UK, Australia and Sweden) of WaterAid International, was created six years ago. It is poised to dramatically increase and expand its annual income from $3.7 million to $15 million within the next five years. With this clear organizational vision and vital fundraising goals, WaterAid America seeks a dynamic Director of Development to lead the strategic growth and build a diversified and sustainable flow of funding from private and public sources.

This position provides an unmatched opportunity to develop and implement a fundraising strategy for a leading global not-for-profit organization with a strong track record in securing peoples’ rights to water and sanitation. The Director will design and execute a five-year fundraising plan in close consultation with the CEO. The plan will incorporate strategies to increase support from individuals, foundations, corporations, other organizations, and the US government; effectively position the CEO and Board Members to identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward major gifts, as well as expand WaterAid America’s public image and visibility among targeted constituencies; build and maintain a portfolio of prospects; and manage a small team of development staff.

The ideal candidate for this role will be a highly entrepreneurial professional with the development expertise to effectively inspire and secure major new donations. Requirements: track record of building a fundraising operation that resulted in marked revenue growth; ability to successfully leverage major gifts, ideally within a dynamic, fast-paced environment in which he or she actively expanded and engaged a non-traditional donor constituency base; and experience managing annual and planned giving campaigns, internet-based initiatives, and the submission of proposals to private and family foundations and USAID.

Full position profile at www.glfreeman.com.

Confidential applications to Freeman Philanthropic Services, LLC to my attention (tara ((at)) glfreeman.com).

Learn more about WaterAid America at www.wateraidamerica.org and read National Geographic's April 2010 feature article, Our Thirsty World, in which WaterAid's Ethiopia program is featured. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/04/water-slaves/rosenberg-text/5

Please contact me with your confidential suggestions, referrals, and/or questions. I'm happy to provide more information or speak with you at your convenience. Many thanks for your consideration!

Thank you, Tara M. Reese

Executive Recruiter
Senior Consultant, Freeman Philanthropic Services, LLC
tara ((at)) glfreeman.com
http://www.glfreeman.com/

National Geographic's newest Emerging Explorer: Feliciano dos Santos, Musician and Activist

National Geographic's newest Emerging Explorer: Feliciano dos Santos, Musician and Activist!!  Best news I have had all week - a genuine rock star singing about sanitation! 

Feliciano dos Santos, Musician and Activist

“Clean water is a basic human right, yet so many don’t have it. I’m using my music to be the voice of people who have no voice.”

Feliciano dos Santos is fighting disease … with a guitar.

His internationally acclaimed band, Massukos, uses music to spread messages of sanitation and hygiene to some of the poorest, most remote villages in Mozambique. As his songs provide inspiration and information, the nongovernmental organization (NGO) he co-founded provides tangible projects to improve health and lift villagers out of poverty.

Santos focuses his efforts on Niassa Province, where he was born and still lives today. Few places on Earth need his help more. Life expectancy is just 42 years, more than half the population lives in poverty, and 61 percent cannot read or write. Only 250 miles (400 kilometers) of paved roads run through the huge province, just 4 percent of homes have electricity, and not even 3 percent have running water.

“Niassa,” Santos observes, “has always been a forgotten place. In the capital city things are improving, but just a few kilometers away people are collecting water from rivers and using the bush instead of latrines. In the village where I grew up, families really have nothing at all.”

Musical stardom gave Santos the opportunity to flee Niassa; instead he’s made improving conditions here his life’s work. “So many people still need my help, why would I leave? I am living proof of what they can achieve.”

Santos had more to overcome than the hardships of life in Niassa. As a young child he contracted polio from contaminated water, and he has been hobbled from the disease ever since. “I don’t want to see anyone else go through what I did because of unclean water,” he says.

Not surprisingly, people with physical disabilities draw particular inspiration from his example. “When I was young,” he recalls, “I never believed I would grow up, get married, have children, drive a car, and live such a full life. Even today, families here often hide children with physical problems and don’t send them to school. But you have to believe in yourself, work hard, and transform every challenge into something good. Whoever you are, wherever you live, you can do good things for the world.”

Today, one of the most powerful tools in Santos's fight for better sanitation is his music. As one of Africa’s leading musicians, he has toured Europe and released CDs, but the songs he brings to local villages are unique. The lyrics talk about washing hands, boiling water, preventing diseases, and building latrines. Words are set to local melodies, woven with traditional rhythms, and sung in tribal languages—and audiences love it. Many times entire villages attend his concerts, dancing and singing along. “People don’t like to talk about toilets or poor sanitation,” says Santos, “but if you put those messages to music they are no longer taboo.”

Santos’s hit song, "Wash Your Hands," is part of a public health campaign created by his NGO, Estamos. The project has successfully convinced villagers to install thousands of sustainable EcoSan latrines, dramatically improving sanitation and reducing disease throughout the region.

“Until now,” he notes, “people didn’t associate disease with dirty water. They would put traditional open latrines right next to wells, contaminating the drinking water.”

EcoSan’s shallow brick-lined pits prevent that from happening. Since tossing ash on the waste is part of the process, people have a reason to wash hands more frequently. As an added benefit, the composting toilets turn waste into a natural fertilizer local farmers can use. Not only does this eliminate the need for expensive artificial fertilizer, but it also has significantly increased crop production, allowing some farm families to earn income for the very first time.

Santos's NGO also works on grassroots outreach programs to install pumps for clean water, support HIV/AIDS education and prevention, conduct health studies, combat a new cholera epidemic, bring homes and supplies to thousands of sick and orphaned children, lead reforestation efforts, and promote a new eco-friendly charcoal program.

Many of these projects tap both Santos’s organizational and musical skills to connect with and motivate communities. Yet the cornerstone of his mission remains battling waterborne disease through improved sanitation and access to clean water. “Even when the right HIV/AIDS medicine reaches our villages, people may swallow the pills with contaminated water. Until we address that, how can any other initiative be truly effective?”

Santos is working on a resource he hopes will empower Mozambique’s community workers to do even more. He is translating an internationally respected handbook, "A Community Guide to Environmental Health," from English into Portuguese—and designing some of the artwork himself. Despite doing that, directing his NGO, and keeping up with 200 already scheduled concerts, Santos feels he is just getting started. “Now that I’ve finished my degrees"—he earned two simultaneously, with honors, from different universities—"I’ll have time to really get something done.”

National Geographic - looking for water writers

The National Geographic is looking for story pitches about the global water and sanitation challenge and its solutions for a new series in National Geographic News.

For aspiring writers and waterbloggers, the Geographic's Tasha Eichenseher writes:

If you have ideas and pitches you are shopping around, I'd love to read them. I believe our news site is getting about three million page views a month, so this is a great way to share what you've found. I'd like the news series to be primarily feature stories with a local flavor -- stories about the people and other species affected by diminishing water resources. Ideally we'll balance out stories of peril with stories of progress and hope. I am also interested in breaking news about new programs, tech solutions, scientific studies, and policies and their potential positive or negative implications. And definitely always looking for the quirky, unexpected, and bizarre.

Some more detail about the series:

Clean Water for All

By 2050 a third of the planet's people could be without a clean, secure source of water—a necessity for life. A special news series by National Geographic News explores the local stories and global trends defining the world's water crisis.

Scope:

50 new articles -- National Geographic News word-counts and rates apply (an average of U.S.$400 per story, depending on length.)

Themes include:

• Water and Health
• Sanitation
• Conflict
• Competition
• Habitats and aquatic species
• Climate
• Engineering
• Energy
• Food
• Population growth
• Innovation
• Tech solutions
• Policy solutions
• Embedded and virtual water
• Sacred water
• Interesting projects and people

Timeline:

September 15, 2009 – June 15, 2010

If interested, please submit pitches, including potential ledes and sources to Tasha Eichenseher at TEichens (at) ngs.org.

WASH in Schools Event: March 12, Washington DC

You’re Invited to the Launch of the WASH-in-Schools Initiative

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The National Geographic Society Grosvenor Auditorium
1600 M Street NW
Washington, DC

8:30am Doors open

9:00 – 11:00am Program and videos

11:00 – 11:30am Coffee and tea

Media interview opportunities will be available from 11:00am – 11:30am

*We encourage parents to bring their children to this event.

Please join Water Advocates and a growing list of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), foundations, corporations, and schools to launch the U.S. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools Initiative—an effort to help the 50% of schools in the developing world that lack access to safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene education.

The morning’s events will feature videos of schoolchildren in the developing world as well as comments from Gil Grosvenor, Chairman, Board of Trustees, National Geographic Society; Ambassador Hattie Babbitt; Carol Bellamy, President and CEO, World Learning and UNICEF Executive Director from 1995-2005; Dr. Peter Gleick, President and Co-founder Pacific Institute; Gil Garcetti, Photographer of "Water is Key: A Better Future for Africa;" and Alexandra Cousteau, co-founder Earth Echo International.

While much is already being done for WASH in Schools, there is still an enormous unmet global problem—half the schools in the developing world lack adequate water and sanitation. This initiative will focus on expanding WASH to 1,000 schools in developing countries while creating the momentum to help as many additional schools as possible worldwide. Water Advocates encourages interested corporations, foundations, organizations, and individuals to use this event as a platform to highlight their activities or to pledge their support to do more for WASH in Schools.

For more information on the WASH in Schools Initiative and how you can be involved, please contact Andra Tamburro 202-293-4047, atamburro@wateradvocates.org.

*** To attend the event, please RSVP to Katie Delisio at WaterAdvocatesRSVP@gmail.com

For a map to the event: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorer/map.html

Please share this invitation with your friends and colleagues.