We have a lot to celebrate this World Water Day 2013,
especially considering where we were just a few quick years ago on the global
safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) crisis. But as we celebrate
this annual event, many continue to lament the lack of political will for water
and sanitation around the world. Since I work at an advocacy organization
dedicated entirely to WASH, I’ll highlight 3-4 advocacy initiatives and
successes that build and strengthen political will, shortening the amount of
time until Africa, Asia, and Latin America have universal coverage of water and
sanitation:
1)
The Sanitation and Water for All Partnership:
This partnership was launched only in 2010, but has the potential to attract
the attention not just of Water Ministers, but of Prime Ministers and Finance
Ministers across the globe. How many Finance Ministers can it attract to its
next High Level Meeting? http://www.sanitationandwaterforall.org/
2)
You want to get the attention of Finance
Ministers, and make it possible for them to prioritize safe drinking water and
sanitation? The Economics of Sanitation
Initiative was developed just for you.
If more Finance Ministers and Prime Ministers knew the positive impact of
sanitation on their countries' GDP growth rates, more would be able to make
those tough budgeting decisions in favor of this basic human need. : http://www.wsp.org/content/economic-impacts-sanitation
[One data point: Inadequate sanitation costs India the equivalent of 6.4% of
its GDP - in lost economic productivity and increased healthcare costs.]
3)
The launch today at the United Nations of the
Deputy Secretary General’s Call
to Action on Sanitation. Think about how many competing development
challenges Mr. Eliasson could have chosen, and that he chose to stick his head
above the hedge and tackle sanitation. And he is winning: At a high-level
United Nations lunch yesterday, ‘ending open defecation’ was suggested over two
dozen times by the seniormost diplomats at the United Nations.
4)
Here in the U.S. we anticipate the launch of
USAID’s first-ever water strategy, and the (re)introduction of the Senator Paul
Simon Water for the World Act by the U.S. Congress.
5)
And let’s talk political will in its purest form: End Water Poverty has produced
an Elections Toolkit which should be used by water and sanitation organizations
all over Africa, Asia, and Latin America, to urge their elected political
leaders to prioritize this issue. What if every candidate in the recent Kenyan
election, for example, had committed (during the campaign) to meet the water
and sanitation needs of every single Kenyan in the next few years? Those sorts
of commitments (aligned with the Sanitation and Water for All Partnership) have
a chance to significantly compress the timeline for universal coverage of both
safe drinking water and sanitation. http://www.endwaterpoverty.org/blog/new-election-toolkit-launched-vote-change
Lastly, I am grateful for the philanthropic community’s
continuing efforts to be more strategic in grantmaking for the WASH sector.
I’ll certainly include our own donors on this list (Conrad N. Hilton
Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Wallace Genetic Foundation, and
Osprey Foundation), but want to also highlight the work of The Foundation
Center’s WASHfunders.org portal and its efforts to increase the amount and
(more importantly) the effectiveness of grantmaking in the sector.
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