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Rotary
Water Summit
Gary White, chief executive and co-founder of Water.org, explains
his organization’s microfinance program to attendees at the
World Water Summit in Seoul on Friday, 27 May.
This year's World Water Summit
on 27 May in Seoul highlighted the progress being made:
Over the last 25 years, more than 2.5 billion people gained access
to improved drinking water, and 2 billion who didn't have adequate
sanitation now do.
Child deaths from water-related diseases dropped
from 1.5 million to just over 600,000.
The UN Millennium Development Goals' target for clean drinking water
was met five years ahead of schedule.
But for the 1.8 billion people whose drinking
water remains contaminated and the 2.4 billion without access to
proper sanitation, progress is still too slow, said Vanessa Tobin,
director of water and sanitation for Catholic Relief Servicesand
one of the event's main speakers.
MIRRORING THE POLIO ERADICATION MOVEMENT
"We need a movement," Tobin declared,
saying it should follow Rotary's polio eradication model. "Polio
was universal and everyone had one aim: eliminate every case in
the world. We need to set a goal that by 2030 every child has safe
water and sanitation for life.
"Water and sanitation must be at the
top of each country's development agenda," she said.
Gary White, chief executive and co-founder
of Water.org, agreed and told attendees that charity alone
won't solve the global water crisis. White said that it would take
five years and $1 trillion to provide and maintain safe water access
for all, but international aid totals only $8 billion each year.
His organization is making it possible for people in need to help
pay for their own clean water and sanitation.
"People who live in poverty or are coming
out of it in developing countries want to pay for water security,
not just for practical purposes, but for social and financial purposes,"
White said.
His organization established WaterCredit,
a microfinance program that offers loans to families in need of
water connections or toilets. The program's repayment rates exceed
99 percent.
"Giving people the capital to ensure water security gives them
the dignity they want and need," he added.
MATCHING EXPERTISE WITH ACTION
The water summit, the eighth convened by the Water
and Sanitation Rotarian Action Group, seeks to match industry expertise
with Rotary service projects.
Francis Barram, a member of the Rotary Club
of Centurion in South Africa, came to the water summit to find partners
for a project to clean up sewage-filled rivers in Johannesburg.
"People here [at the water summit] are
passionate about finding solutions for clean water. And more importantly,
they know what they're doing," said Barram, who joined the
Rotarian Action Group last year. "Our club found the need,
and we can pull together the support, but we need the technical
know-how. This event can help me find that."
Breakout sessions focused on sustainable strategies
for getting clean water and sanitation in schools, partnerships,
financing, climate change, and safe drinking water systems. Other
speakers included Deuk-Mo Chung, director general of the Seoul Water
Institute, and Sanjay Wijesekera, chief of Water, Sanitation, and
Hygiene for UNICEF.
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