27
May – The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative
Council (WSSCC) received last Thursday the prestigious “Leadership
Award” from the United Nations Association of Greater
Boston (UNAGB), for its global advocacy and people-centered
focus in promoting water, sanitation and hygiene to underserved
populations in the developing world.
UNA-GBA President Arthur Holcombe presented the award in
the form of an inscribed plate to WSSCC Chairman, Sir Richard
Jolly, and the Council’s Senior Communications Adviser,
Ms. Eirah Gorre-Dale, who both spoke at a conference on “Water
Scarcity: Averting a Global Crisis”. Organized by the
UNA-GB in cooperation with the UN Department of Economic and
Social Affairs and the Geneva-based WSSCC, the event was held
in honour of the International Year of Freshwater 2003.
Joining Mr. Holcombe at the award ceremony was Mr. J. Ellis
Turner of CDM, the leading sponsor of the one-day conference,
which was held at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in Boston, Massachusetts.
Mr. Holcombe read out the award to some 160 participants
comprising representatives of the private sector, NGOs, academia,
the US Government and the general public.
The full text, delivered by Mr. Holcombe, is as follows:
Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council UNAGB is
presenting its Leadership Award to the Water Supply and Sanitation
Collaborative Council. The WSSCC (or now WASH) has been instrumental
in promoting greater political will within developing countries,
but also at the international level, for supporting more integrated
water and sanitation services that benefit relatively underserved
populations in both rural and urban areas. These efforts have
included preparation and publication of reports, convening
of international meetings and other advocacy activities intended
to focus on the UN Millennium water and sanitation goals of
halving the number of people without access to safe water
and sanitation by 2015. WASH advocacy efforts focus on the
need to increase the share of international and national resources
going to water services in urban slums and shanty towns and
in poor rural areas.
In the last several years, these efforts have increasingly
included promotion of country based pilot demonstration activities
to bring about more receptive attitudes towards basic hygiene,
and more innovative water and sanitation service systems that
can directly benefit relatively poor, disadvantaged populations.
These initiatives focus on empowerment of low-income citizen
groups, including women, to become actively engaged in the
planning and management of water, sanitation and hygiene development
schemes that address their requirements. In these initiatives,
poor households and communities collaborate directly with
other stakeholders, including local government units, the
private sector and other non-governmental organizations and
associations. These activities incorporate low-cost technologies,
inclusion of capital cost recovery considerations, and attention
to environmental sustainability, and facilitate government
and international donor support. Since 2001, community centered
water, sanitation and hygiene development schemes have been
introduced in about 30 countries, including Brazil, India
South Africa, Madagascar and the Philippines through the WASH
campaign. “
As the main keynote speaker at the conference, Sir Richard
addressed the « UN Millennium Summit and Johannesburg
Summit Water and Sanitation Goals. » Ms. Gorre-Dale
spoke about « WASH Advocacy and Civil Society Mobilization
in Private-Public Partnerships » and moderated the session
on « Critical Water Issues. »
For more information, please contact WSSCC Secretariat, International
Environment House, Chemin des Anemones 9, CH 1219, Geneva,
Switzerland. Tel.+ (41-22) 917 8657 ; Fax.+(41-22) 917 8084.
In New York, contact Ms. Eirah Gorre-Dale, c/o UN DESA, Water,
Natural Resources & SIDS Branch, Rm. DC2-2018, Tel.+1(917)
367-2420 ; Fax.+1(917) 367-3391 . E-mail : gorre-dale@un.org
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