Entries from September 2008
WaterLinks is a collaboration among the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Water Association (IWA), and US Agency for International Development (USAID) that will strengthen the implementation of ADB’s Water Operators Partnerships (WOPs) Program.
Established in 2008 at the Stockholm World Water Week, WaterLinks is a regional partnerships network for the Asia-Pacific region that will coordinate, develop, and implement joint support activities for WOPs by:
- Establishing twinning partnerships for utilities and municipal agencies
- Organizing capacity development activities via workshops and training events
- Developing and maintaining a WOPs website that will serve as information clearinghouse
Read the MOU here (18 Aug 2008)
Source: ADB
Categories: Capacity building · East Asia & Pacific · South Asia · Web sites
Tagged: Asian Development Bank, International Water Association, SSA09-Names, twinning, USAID, Water Operators Partnerships, water utilities, WaterLinks
KATHMANDU, Sept 19 (PR) – The End Water Poverty Campaign (EWPC) in Nepal, a coalition of civil society 
members working in the sector of water and sanitation has nominated actress Jharana Thapa as a sanitation brand ambassador for a year at an awareness-raising function in Kathmandu on 19 September 2008. The nomination is a part of the celebration of the International Year of Sanitation 2008 in Nepal.
Source: eKantipur.com, 19 Sep 2008 ; NGO Forum, 26 Sep 2008
Categories: Advocacy · Campaigns & events · Information and communication · Sanitation · South Asia
Tagged: End Water Poverty, International Year of Sanitation, Jharana Thapa, Nepal, SSA09-Names
Indian NGO Sulabh International will teach former US president Bill Clinton’s organisation how to carry out sanitation missions effectively in African and Asian countries.
Sulabh International Social Service Organisation (SISSO) founder president Bindeshwar Pathak was been invited to give a presentation at the 2008 annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) which takes place in New York from Sep 23-26.
Source: IANS / SindhToday.net, 22 Sep 2008
Categories: Advocacy · Sanitation · South Asia
Tagged: Clinton Global Initiative, India, SSA09-Names, Sulabh International
The Nile Basin Discourse Forum in Rwanda (NBDF-Rwanda) in collaboration with the African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation (ANEW) recently launched Rwanda NGOs Forum on water, sanitation and environment (RWASEF).
Jean Marie Vianney Mushinzimana, who represented the Minister of State in charge of Environment, Water and Mines stressed the importance of uniting in one Forum. “This initiative has come at the right time, when the government of Rwanda is trying to revive the economy highly depending on natural resources managements,” Mr. Mushinzimana said.
He also suggested that the forum should sign a Memorandum of Understanding with his ministry, so as to streamline the collaboration between the two parties.
The regional coordinator for the East African region of ANEW, Edwin Gichangi [...] remarked that in the past a lot of funds were allocated to Rwanda but it was impossible for an individual NGO to access them. “The formation of this forum has opened opportunities in funding, training as well as information sharing for capacity building to the Rwandan CSO,” he said.
[...]
Frank Habineza, the National Coordinator of NBDF and Board member of ANEW representing Eastern Africa, expects the Forum to bring together all actors in the water, sanitation and environment sectors, and giving them one voice that can be represented both in the civil society platform and also in different government initiatives, as well as enhancing resources mobilization and capacity building amongst all concerned stakeholders.
[...]
At the end of the meeting office members of the Executive council of the new Forum were elected, with Frank Habineza from the Rwanda Environmental Conservation Organization elected as president; George Williams Bagabo from the Rwanda Green Foundation as vice-president; Gashugi Leonard from Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture and Environment as secretary general; and Florence Mukobwajana from Rwanda Women’s Network for Sustainable Development as treasurer.
Source: Ann Christine Ishimwe, Focus Media (Kigali) / allAfrica.com, 09 Aug 2008
Categories: Africa · Information and communication · Sanitation · Water resources management · Water supply
Tagged: ANEW, NBDF-Rwanda, Rwanda, RWASEF
Quamrul Islam Siddique (20 January 1945 - 01 September 2008)
Quamrul Islam Siddique, former Secretary, Government of Bangladesh, died suddenly in New Jersey, USA on September 1, 2008.
He was 63. An architect of Rural Infrastructure Development and the founder of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Siddique held many important posts of the government. He was the Secretary, Ministry of Works and Housing and Chairman, Power Development Board.
[...]
He was the first Chair of the Global Water Partnership (GWP), South Asia Region (2003-2004), Chair of the Bangladesh Water Partnership (BWP) and President of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh.
He played an active role in the War of Liberation of Bangladesh.
Read the condolence messages of LGED and GWP.
Source: New Nation, 02 Sep 2008
Categories: South Asia · Water resources management
Tagged: Bangladesh Water Partnership, Global Water Partnership, Quamrul Islam Siddique, SSA08-Names
After five years at the Global Water Partnership (GWP) secretariat in Stockholm, Sweden, Executive Secretary Emilio Gabbrielli has left to take up a senior post with Befesa-Cadagua in Australia. The Deputy Executive Secretary of the GWP – Martin Walshe – will act as Executive Secretary until a new appointment is made.
After four years at GWP, Alan Hall is leaving his position as Coordinator of Global Initiatives, but he will continue as a Senior Advisor working from the U.K.
Categories: Water resources management
Tagged: Alan Hall, Emilio Gabbrielli, Global Water Partnership, Martin Walshe
Pop star Stevie Wonder’s Morning Thunder Thousand Dollar Thursday radio show, heard locally in Los Angeles, USA, on Radio Free KJLH10 FM, has announced the donation of $5,000 to actor and philanthropist Isaiah Washington’s ‘Reach One Million‘ campaign.
The money would be used to build water wells in the village of Njala Kendema, Bo district [Sierra Leone] where there is little access to clean drinking water. Washington recently used the occasion of his 45th birthday to kick off the ‘Reach One Million’ campaign, a national campaign spearheaded through his non-profit organization The Gondobay Manga Foundation. The organisation’s mission is to raise $250,000 to help improve the lives of one million children in Sierra Leone – one village, one region, at a time.
Source: Bhoyy Jalloh, Concord Times / allAfrica.com, 25 Aug 2008
Categories: Africa · Campaigns & events · Financing
Tagged: Isaiah Washington, Sierra Leone, Stevie Wonder
The International Water Association (IWA) Hei-jin Woo Award is dedicated to the memory of Hei-jin Woo, a Korean female engineer and scientist working in the water field. The Award further serves to recognize the achievements of women engineers in the water field.
Dr. Joan B. Rose has been recognized as the first winner of the Hei-jin Woo Award. Dr Rose works in a field known as water pollution microbiology or public health microbiology. She has described her own journey of scientific inquiry as an attempt to understand the relationship between microbial waterquality and human health. While practitioners in water sciences and engineering have focused on “indicators”, Dr. Rose has advanced the field by examining key parasites and viruses as waterborne pathogens and has supported the advancement of a waterborne pathogen genomics program.
Dr. Rose is currently co-Director of the Center for Advancing the Microbial Risk Assessment and Center for Water Sciences at Michigan State University, USA.
Read more: IWA, 05 Sep 2008
Categories: North America · Water quality
Tagged: Hei-jin Woo Award, International Water Association, Joan B. Rose, public health microbiology, water pollution microbiology
New WEDC director Andrew Cotton
Dr. Andrew Cotton has become the new Director of WEDC, the Water Engineering Development Centre at Loughborough University, UK, with effect from 1 August 2008. He
Ian Smout
has worked for WEDC for more than 20 years, including five years as the Director of the WELL Resource Centre Network for Water, Sanitation and Environmental Health.
Dr. Cotton succeeds Ian Smout, who was Director for six years. Mr. Smout has taken up the role as Principal Programme Manager in WEDC.
Source: WEDC e-mail, 10 Jul 2008
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: S0806-Names, WEDC
September 3, 2008 · 1 Comment
Joe Brown and Mark Sobsey of the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, USA, are the Grand
Dr. Mark Sobsey
Winners of the 2008 Project Innovation Awards for small projects. They received the prize for “Ceramic Water Filters in Cambodia: A Sustainable Solution for Rural Drinking Water Treatment”. Read more here and here.
The International Water Association (IWA) established the Project Innovation Award Programme (PIA) in 2006 to recognize excellence and innovation in water engineering projects throughout the world. The awards will be presented on September 10th, 2008 at the IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition in Vienna.
See the full list of winners here.
Categories: East Asia & Pacific
Tagged: Cambodia, ceramic filters, International Water Association, Joe Brown, Mark Sobsey
