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.

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.

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Hearing: Realizing the Right to Safe Water and Sanitation

Good morning everyone,

As regular readers know, the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held a hearing yesterday on Capitol Hill on "Realizing the Right to Safe Water and Sanitation." Thanks to the UUSC I was given an opportunity to testify. My brief remarks follow. Happy to provide more background on this if any of you want offline.

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Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, U.S. Congress
Realizing the Right to Safe Water and Sanitation
March 3, 2011

Testimony by:

John Oldfield, Managing Director
WASH Advocacy Initiative
Safe Drinking Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene for All

Thank you to co-Chairs Congressman Jim McGovern and Congressman Frank Wolf for convening us, and for your cosponsorship of last Congress’ Water for the World Act.

I also want to also acknowledge Tom Lantos, an outstanding American who through his life and career inspired many in America and around the world to join him in the fight for what is right. I am honored to testify before a commission bearing his name and I am confident he would be proud of this Commission’s work today.

We at the WASH Advocacy Initiative are grateful for Congress’ bipartisan leadership on the water and sanitation issue. Many members of the Human Rights Commission have been strong supporters of the Water for the Poor Act over the years.

My personal commitment to water and sanitation began in the 1990s working on democracy and governance programs throughout Africa. I learned that democracy requires a great deal of work, and that democracy - and even basic security and stability - is a struggle for those people fighting to get enough food, water, and healthcare to keep their children alive, strong, and in school. I was thus drawn to advocating for safe, affordable, and sustainable access to drinking water and sanitation for the greatest number of people worldwide. Water is a fundamental human necessity in its own right and vital to sustainable progress in health, education, gender equity, and poverty alleviation.

There remain almost one billion people on the planet without safe drinking water, and 2.6 billion without adequate sanitation facilities. More than 25 diseases caused by inadequate water and sanitation create 10% of the global public health burden. They kill two million people a year (90% of whom are children under five: more children than from AIDS, TB and malaria combined) and trigger 50% of the world’s malnutrition.

This is preventable.

Pint-size coffins suck.

The world does not need to bury millions more of its children in the coming years when we know how to prevent waterborne disease today. And each dollar invested in water and sanitation leads to an 8:1 return from reduced healthcare costs and time savings.

The WASH Advocacy Initiative is a collaborative advocacy effort designed to get safe, affordable, and sustainable drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene to more people in developing countries. We are fully supported by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the Wallace Genetic Foundation, and by four nonprofits: Water.org, the Global Water Challenge, Water For People, and CARE. Many more organizations working actively on WASH advocacy are here in the room today including WaterAid, PSI, Millennium Water Alliance, PATH.

Whether it is described as a human right or simply as the right thing to do, the important goal is that everyone across the globe has access to safe, affordable, and sustainable drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene.

The message we want to leave you with is: the global water and sanitation challenge is solvable, it is being solved sustainably by communities all over the world, and we are doing what we can to accelerate those solutions.

We humbly request the U.S. government to:

1) Preserve funding for foreign assistance, while providing the oversight necessary to ensure it is well-spent.
2) Continue to appropriate funds to fully implement the Water for the Poor Act. A recent report from WaterAid, NRDC, and CARE concludes that the implementation of the Act is moving in the right direction, but not fast enough. The WASH sector applauds the appointment of Chris Holmes as Global Water Coordinator at USAID as a significant step forward.
3) Increase the effectiveness of WASH assistance, e.g.:
a. Provide increased oversight
b. Promote monitoring and evaluation over longer periods of time
c. Promote more interagency coordination
d. Encourage the U.S. Department of State and USAID to develop a true strategy to fully implement the Water for the Poor Act
4) Improve the targeting of WASH assistance by directing as many resources as possible to countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America where the need for first-time access to WASH is most severe and where assistance could be particularly transformative.

These actions will likely:

- catalyze more support from foundations, corporations, and civic organizations like Rotary International and the Lions Club International Foundation

- inspire more support from faith-based groups around the United States

- encourage powerful grassroots organizations like charity: water and ONE to do even more for safe water

Our goal today is to inspire the U.S. to do more. This is a genuine leadership opportunity for the U.S. to seize. It is a grave but solvable challenge which can save millions of lives, unite Americans, and improve the image of the U.S. abroad.

These are unsure times on Capitol Hill and beyond. But none of us are worried about our children dying from easily preventable waterborne disease today. Water-related death and disease have traditionally been unavoidable; let us together make them unacceptable.

Thank you to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and its co-Chairs Congressman McGovern and Congressman Wolf, and to the UUSC for the opportunity.

The entire WASH sector is grateful for your support and interest and we look forward to working with you.

Universities and WASH / Capitol Hill Briefing

Capitol Hill briefing on new University WASH Initiative

Prominent university and college leaders working on international water, sanitation and hygiene (“WASH”) issues will participate in a congressional briefing on a new University WASH Initiative from 2:00-4:00 p.m. on March 3, 2010, in Room SVC 203/202 of the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center. Presentations will feature the variety of ways in which U.S. colleges and universities are already addressing the global WASH crisis and will highlight how their role can be enhanced, especially through a new informal WASH collaboration among American institutions of higher education. The presentations and briefing are open to Members of Congress, congressional staff, and interested members of the public. To RSVP, email name and contact information to universities.wash.rsvp@gmail.com.

State of the Union / Barack Obama / Safe Water

It has been brought to our attention that President Obama has invited a fellow safe water advocate to Capitol Hill as his special guest this evening for the State of the Union address. That special guest is:

Li Boynton (Bellaire, Texas)

Li is an 18-year-old senior from Bellaire, Texas, whose passion for science and global health has led her to new and potentially groundbreaking methods for testing the quality of drinking water. Almost 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, and 3.5 million people die each year from water-related diseases. Observing the limitations and significant expense of conventional chemical-specific tests, Boynton saw a need for a broader, more efficient assay for testing and developed a bacteria bio-sensor. Li's work, which has the potential to be significant in improving public health worldwide, received the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair award for 2009.

Li has always had a passion for science and invention: in fifth grade, she designed a solar-distillation device after reading Life of Pi in case she ever got stranded in the middle of the ocean. Li is an avid painter and participates in high school debate, which is where she developed her environmental interests.

Great to see this issue is on the President's agenda.

Water is Medicine: Capitol Hill Briefing July 29, 2009

Invitation - Water is Medicine - Capitol Hill Briefing - July 29

On Wednesday July 29, 2009, the bipartisan Congressional Water Caucus and Water Advocates are hosting a Capitol Hill Briefing in Washington DC on the vital linkages between safe drinking water, sanitation and global public health challenges:

Water is Medicine: Safe Water, Sanitation and Global Public Health Challenges

Speakers will discuss the gravity of the current global safe drinking water and sanitation challenge, and its critical impact on global public health, including the 25+ diseases due to unsafe water and inadequate sanitation. Speakers will also review what is currently being done around the world to help meet the need for safe water, improved sanitation and better health, and offer examples and case studies of what the U.S. government and others in the international donor community are doing to help meet and exceed the Millennium Development Goals for water, sanitation and health. The costs associated with this challenge will be addressed, as will the impact of inaction on health and economic development.

What: Capitol Hill Briefing, "Water is Medicine: Safe Water, Sanitation and Global Public Health Challenges"

Who: Speakers will include noted public health experts and leaders from prominent international aid agencies

• Dr. Christine Moe, Director, Center for Global Safe Water, Emory University
• Ms. Jae So, Manager, Water and Sanitation Program
• UNICEF (invited)
  

When: Wednesday, July 29, 2009, 2pm - 3pm

Where: Capitol Visitor Center, South Meeting Room

Please circulate this invitation widely, and RSVP to Water Advocates at wateradvocatesrsvp@gmail.com.