Happy World Water Day!

In anticipation of World Water Day, Wednesday March 22, I want to quickly share with you a couple of insights and highlights.

First of all, I sincerely thank you all for your continued support for global water security over the years, including a clear focus on safe drinking water and sanitation for the world’s poorest countries and communities. The momentum continues in 2017, leading to President Trump delivering the first ever Global Water Strategy to the Congress by October 1, 2017.

Our intelligence community has emphasized that global water security is important to U.S. national security, and the continued leadership of both authorizers and appropriators on Capitol Hill will save and improve millions of lives, and help to reduce and prevent water-related conflicts like Syria and Yemen. These efforts will also help to prevent the next droughts from becoming the next famines, and the next water-related infectious diseases from reaching the shores of the United States.

1) USAID has recently published “Safeguarding the World’s Water,” a detailed report on its activities for water and sanitation across the globe. Appropriated funds support water supply and sanitation, water productivity, and water resources management in the developing world. In FY14 and FY15, USAID provided 7.6 million people with improved access to drinking water, 4.3 million people with improved sanitation, and over 3.1 million with improved agricultural management.

2) A number of other U.S. government agencies (Department of State, NASA, CDC, NOAA, Department of Defense, and more) are also involved in efforts to ensure water security across the globe. My colleagues and I at Water 2017 have produced a working document (Highlighted U.S. Government Global Water Efforts – 2015-2016) that provides a partial list of many of those important activities.

3) The momentum continues:  

• By October 1, 2017, President Trump will deliver the first-ever Global Water Strategy to the U.S. Congress, as mandated by the Water for the World Act of 2014.
• Pope Francis will deliver a World Water Day 2017 address on Wednesday, March 22: http://worldwatervalues.org/live/
• Americans in all 50 states are working hard on this issue, through their Rotary clubs, church groups, nonprofits, and schools. See your state here: http://water2017.org/water-in-your-state.html

Thank you again for your life-saving support.

Paid Internship Opportunity / Water 2017 / April - June 2017

Please share with friends/colleagues who might be interested. Many thanks.

 

Water 2017 Internship

Project Name: Water 2017, an initiative of Advocates for Development Assistance

Position: Intern

Location: Washington DC

Status: Non-Exempt; Temporary Full-Time

Water 2017 is a one-year initiative of Advocates for Development Assistance aiming to elevate and mainstream global water security across U.S. foreign policy. Water 2017 will strengthen actions by the U.S. government and private American citizens to improve global water security, and encourage the Trump Administration and the U.S. Congress to prioritize to an unprecedented level the role of water in international development and diplomacy.

Water 2017’s efforts will lead to a higher and more effective response to global water challenges by President Trump, the U.S. Congress, as well as by key U.S. government agencies such as USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the State Department, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and others.

Water 2017 is seeking a full-time, paid intern (preferably senior undergraduate or graduate student) to assist with a wide range of projects that support our advocacy, communications, and research efforts. The intern will support the CEO and Deputy Director. The internship will have a start date in late April or early May, and will run through June 30, 2017.

Essential Responsibilities and Tasks

·       Research global water and U.S. foreign policy initiatives, past and present

·       Help write, edit, and format materials for administration and congressional meetings

·       Research new global water leadership opportunities and areas for integration between water and other development, diplomacy, and national security priorities

·       Represent Water 2017 at relevant meetings, meet DC water leaders, and brainstorm collaborations

·       Support Water 2017’s education and advocacy programs. These could include learning events; high profile advocacy events; outreach to the U.S. government, businesses, foundations, civic/faith groups, advocacy partners; and/or standalone communications initiatives.

Required Education, Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Ability

Your interests should include:

·       Policy advocacy

·       U.S. foreign policy

·       International development

·       Global water security as both a threat and a leadership opportunity

The successful candidate will be a student (undergraduate senior or graduate student) in public policy, public health, and/or international affairs.

Successful completion of a writing test will be required.

You must be eligible to work or intern in the U.S.

The Water 2017 office is located in downtown Washington DC.

How to Apply

Please send résumé and cover letter detailing your interests to John Oldfield at joldfield@Water2017.org.

New Venture Fund Careers

Advocates for Development Assistance is a project of the New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. The New Venture Fund is committed to attracting, developing and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. The New Venture Fund's work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of races, ethnicities, national origins, ages, sexual orientations, gender identities, beliefs, religions, faiths and ideologies, cultures, socio-economic backgrounds and levels of physical ability.

My thoughts about Zika and water security. I am grateful to OOSKAnews for the opportunity and platform. Original article here.

How to Get Ahead of Zika – and the Next One

At a recent forum on global development in Washington DC, the United States Deputy Homeland Security Advisor asserted that the U.S. government cannot merely react or respond to Zika. She is right. The U.S. and the entire global community must find ways to get ahead of its spread, and look for opportunities to prevent, or at least mitigate the severity of, the next such water-related infectious disease.

Increased focus on global water security provides such an opportunity.

In 2012, the United States intelligence community produced an Intelligence Community Assessment on Global Water Security. The report asserts that “during the next 10 years, many countries important to the United States will experience water problems — shortages, poor water quality, or floods — that will risk instability and state failure, increase regional tensions, and distract them from working with the United States on important US policy objectives.”

Water scarcity leads to water hoarding, and families often hoard water in such a way as to facilitate the breeding of mosquitoes. More mosquitoes may lead to a more rapid transmission of Zika, malaria and the next water-related infectious disease. Importantly, as this progression holds true, so does its inverse. Headlines scream that water will cause wars, but the opposite has historically held true. Water brings parties together before conflict erupts. Headlines declare that unsafe water kills millions of people each year. What they don’t say is that safe water (and proper disposal of human waste) keeps billions alive, healthy, and in school or at work.

We can predict the future of water. We know when and where water scarcity will occur with increasingly accurate, granular, and long-term forecasts, even accounting for a changing climate and population growth and movement. Donor and developing country governments along with private sector stakeholders should combine this stronger forecasting ability with deployable assets – people, technology, money – to:

• identify shared river basins where a lack of institutional capacity is likely to lead to conflict over water resources, then strengthen the capacity of those riparian states and subnational stakeholders to prevent conflict;
• collaborate to identify the next several potential conflicts like Syria, where water scarcity is a causal element of conflict and where there are significant governance challenges, then build the water resilience of those countries and regions to make sure that water scarcity does not add fuel to the fire;
• predict potential water-related infectious disease outbreaks (Zika, malaria, Ebola, etc.) and help communities and governments throughout those regions and countries to make sure that water scarcity or inadequate sanitation and hygiene measures do not lead to unsafe water hoarding or waste disposal and thus accelerate the spread of disease or disease vectors; and
• prevent unnecessary mortality: droughts will occur; famines are optional. The global community has the opportunity and responsibility to manage water resources more effectively to prevent water scarcity from causing the next deadly famine.

All of these solutions are shovel-ready – they are doable with today’s technology and financing, and both donor countries and developing countries have important roles to play in this equation. We need to think less about how to react to water-related conflict and health challenges, and more about how we can collaborate to manage our individual and collective water resources more proactively.

The next U.S. President and Congress, and their allies across the globe, will have the opportunity to elevate and mainstream water across the “three Ds” of the foreign policy spectrum (Development, Diplomacy, and Defense) in 2017 and beyond. From the perspective of donor countries’ foreign policy, water is one of the most important - but under-utilized - tools at our disposal across the globe.

Summer Internship (paid) - Water 2017, Washington DC

Water 2017 Internship

NVF Project Name: Water 2017, an initiative of Advocates for Development Assistance

Position: Summer 2016 Intern

Location: Washington DC

Status: Non-Exempt; Part Time

Position Summary

Water 2017 is a one-year effort of Advocates for Development Assistance to elevate and mainstream global water challenges and opportunities across U.S. foreign policy. Water 2017 will strengthen actions by the U.S. government and private American citizens to improve global water security, and encourage the U.S. government and the next President to prioritize to an unprecedented level the role of water in international development and diplomacy. 

The coming twelve months – June 2016 to May 2017 – are pivotal to positioning global water security within the U.S. government for the next four to eight years. Water 2017 is intended to lead to a higher and more effective response to global water challenges by the next President, the U.S. Congress, as well as by key U.S. government agencies such as USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the State Department, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Water 2017 is seeking a part-time intern (preferably senior or graduate students) to assist with a wide range of projects that support our advocacy, communications, and research efforts. Water 2017 interns will support the CEO and Deputy Director.

Essential Responsibilities and Tasks

·       Research global water and U.S. foreign policy initiatives, past and present

·       Help write, edit, and format materials for Congressional and campaign meetings

·       Research new global water leadership opportunities and areas for integration between water and other development, diplomacy, and security priorities

·       Represent Water 2017 at relevant meetings, meet DC water leaders, and brainstorm collaborations

·       Support Water 2017’s education and advocacy programs. These could include learning events; high profile advocacy events; outreach to the U.S. government, businesses, foundations, civic/faith groups, advocacy partners; and/or standalone communications initiatives.

 Required Education, Experience, Knowledge, Skills and Ability

Your interests should include:

·       Policy advocacy

·       U.S. foreign policy

·       International development

·       Global water security as both a threat and a leadership opportunity

The successful candidate will be a student (undergraduate senior or graduate student) in public policy, public health, and/or international affairs.

Our internships run during the summer or school semester. We expect a minimum of twenty hours per week. This internship will be compensated at $10.50 per hour. You must be eligible to work or intern in the U.S. The Water 2017 office is located in downtown Washington DC.

How to Apply

Please send résumé and cover letter detailing your interests to John Oldfield at oldfieldj@gmail.com.

New Venture Fund Careers

Advocates for Development Assistance is a project of the New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. The New Venture Fund is committed to attracting, developing and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. The New Venture Fund's work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of races, ethnicities, national origins, ages, sexual orientations, gender identities, beliefs, religions, faiths and ideologies, cultures, socio-economic backgrounds and levels of physical ability.

Position Open at Water 2017 - Deputy Director, Washington DC

Dear Friends of Global Water, 

Please consider sharing / applying for this one year position with Water 2017. It's going to be an exciting twelve months...  Water 2017 starts this week, and carries on through the first 100 days of the next U.S. Administration (May 2017).

Note application deadline of May 31, 2016. As indicated below, applicants should please send résumé and cover letter to John Oldfield at oldfieldj@gmail.com.

Many thanks.

John

Position open at Water 2017, an initiative of Advocates for Development Assistance

Position:  Deputy Director

Location: Washington, D.C.

Status: Full-time, Exempt

Reports to: CEO of Water 2017

Application Deadline: May 31, 2016

Water 2017, as part of the Advocates for Development Assistance project, is a one-year effort to elevate and mainstream global water challenges and opportunities within U.S. foreign policy. Water 2017 will strengthen actions by the U.S. government and private American citizens to improve global water security, and encourage the U.S. government and the next President to prioritize to an unprecedented level the role of water in international development and diplomacy. 

The coming twelve months - May 2016 to May 2017 – are pivotal to positioning global water security within the U.S. government for the next four to eight years. Water 2017 is intended to lead to a higher and more effective response to global water challenges by the next President, the U.S. Congress, as well as by key U.S. government agencies such as USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the State Department, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Water 2017 will also involve private American citizens in its efforts: corporate leaders, philanthropists, civic (e.g. Rotary) and faith leaders, thinktanks and nonprofits.

Responsibilities

The Deputy Director reports to the CEO and will:

-          Ensure the effective and efficient operation of Water 2017, including managing the human resources, finance, and grants management functions of Water 2017 via a contract with a fiscal sponsor;

-          Work with CEO to develop overall one year strategic operating plan, metrics, and deliverables;

-          Lead, coordinate, and/or support Water 2017’s education and advocacy programs. These could include learning events; high profile advocacy events; outreach to the U.S. government, businesses, foundations, civic/faith groups, advocacy partners; and/or standalone communications initiatives;

-          Work with CEO to develop and implement a communications strategy for Water 2017 to raise the profile of global water;

-          Serve as a key spokesperson for Water 2017 across all outreach constituencies (U.S. government and private sector) and articulate the mission, vision and strategic direction to external stakeholders; represent Water 2017 and the CEO at appropriate conferences, meetings, and other occasions;

-          Build and maintain an appropriate public presence of Water 2017 online and offline;

-          Support the CEO when required;

-          Manage intern program;

-          Perform other duties as assigned.  

Necessary Competencies

To be successful, the Deputy Director will:

-          Have experience in managing the human resources, finances, and operations of a small organization;

-          Be highly disciplined and detail-oriented;

-          Work well in a small and highly productive team and foster collaboration among a diverse set of stakeholders;

-          Engage partners inside and beyond Water 2017 to actively participate and contribute time and resources;

-          Exercise creativity and opportunism in finding ways of raising the profile of global water;

-          Have strong and persuasive oral and written communication, facilitation, advocacy, and stakeholder engagement skills.

Minimum Education and Skills

The successful candidate will have:

-          Commitment to values, mission and vision of Water 2017;

-          8-10 years of experience in operations and international development work, with a focus on water and its linkages to other development and diplomatic challenges and opportunities;

-          Masters degree or commensurate experience in operations, project management, international development, communications or a related field;

-          Excellent advocacy and communications skills – oral, written, online/offline – and ability to use modern communications tools;

-          Excellent organizational skills, including ability to organize advocacy resources and establish priorities;

-          Strong events management skills;

-          Sophisticated political judgment, understanding of legislative and advocacy issues and sufficient experience to quickly gain in-depth knowledge of Water 2017’s substantive issues and to represent these issues publicly;

-          Strong ability to develop and foster alliances; ability and desire to support and motivate colleagues, and to work in a consensus-oriented environment with different work styles and to facilitate staff communication;

-          High-energy, love of challenge, and ability to be effective in a constantly changing environment;

-          Able to travel occasionally and to work independently and creatively.

Successful completion of a writing test will be required.

This is a full‐time exempt position located in downtown Washington, DC. Salary up to $75k with competitive benefits. Water 2017 is committed to diversity in the workplace. Please send résumé and cover letter to John Oldfield at oldfieldj@gmail.com. No phone calls please.

New Venture Fund Careers

Advocates for Development Assistance is a project of the New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity that incubates new and innovative public-interest projects and grant-making programs. The New Venture Fund is committed to attracting, developing and retaining exceptional people, and to creating a work environment that is dynamic, rewarding and enables each of us to realize our potential. The New Venture Fund's work environment is safe and open to all employees and partners, respecting the full spectrum of races, ethnicities, national origins, ages, sexual orientations, gender identities, beliefs, religions, faiths and ideologies, cultures, socio-economic backgrounds and levels of physical ability.