Weekly Briefing (1/30/2012 – 2/3/2012) January 25: ClimateWire (registration required) published a story highlighting USAID’s efforts to assist Fiji design climate change plans. John Wilson, director of the office of technical services for USAID’s Middle East bureaus, said the team is working on ways to address water and food security as well as other needs brought about [...]
Tag archives for Water
Water Security in the Horn of Africa
In the Horn of Africa, millions of people face each day without knowing if they will have clean water to drink or food to eat. This uncertainty about access to the basic essentials of life stunts security and growth, and affects all people from young to old. American assistance to the Horn of Africa is [...]
New Water Pump Brings Hope in Remote Timor-Leste
I was sitting in the still, hot, and humid air on the porch of a Franciscan nunnery in Natarbora, a four-and-a-half-hour drive from Dili. In the quiet night, the only noise I could hear was the thump of a bass guitar coming through large speakers. I asked Godwin Kamtukule, an engineer from Malawi who is [...]
Turning Impossible Challenges into Solvable Problems
Recently, USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah delivered an address at the TED annual conference where he noted that “… scientific and technological breakthroughs do more than address specific technical challenges; they inspire collective action by turning impossible challenges into solvable problems”. In my remarks on “Turning Impossible Challenges into Solvable Problems” at the University of [...]
Meeting Global Water Needs: Challenges and Solutions
I spoke today at the International Water Forum held at the United Nations. The Forum was organized by the Energy and Water Institute of New York and The Chronicles Group in cooperation with The World Water Organization (WWO), and WaterAid America. The International Water Forum at the United Nations convened policy makers, academics, non-governmental organizations, [...]
USAID and Rotary Bring Drinking Water to Ghana’s Volta Region
Laurel Fain is the Health Office Chief for the USAID Mission in Ghana. On August 21 I joined Rotary International’s President Kaylan Banerjee as he led a delegation of American and Ghanaian Rotarians to meet Government of Ghana officials and local chiefs in a ceremony in Ghana’s Volta Region. The occasion was the handover of [...]
Notes from the World Water Week Conference
Note from World Water Week Conference on the critical role women play in securing access to WASH services- Christian Holmes, USAID Global Water Coordinator Today at the World Water Week conference in Stockholm, I had the privilege of opening and moderating an exceptionally important session focused on “Do Rights-based Policies Enhance Women’s Leadership and Contribute [...]
WASH for Life: Testing Promising Solutions and Scaling Proven Successes in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
Dr. Maura O’Neill is the Chief Innovation Officer and Senior Counselor to the Administrator at USAID. In 2008, the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire brought the issue of unsafe sanitation to the silver screen. Audiences cringed as young Jamal is forced to jump into the open pit of feces in which he was previously seen relieving [...]
Sustaining Human Life and the Environment
Ultimately, I believe, our planet’s sustainability will be determined by one overarching action: how mankind protects, supports and realizes the potential of human life and human systems and that of other species and ecosystems— and how sustaining life and the environment go hand in hand. In that regard, I participated last month during World Water [...]
On World Water Day, Rain Water Harvesting Highlighted in Zimbabwe
By Cary Jimenez, Development Outreach and Communications Officer at USAID/Zimbabwe USAID/Zimbabwe commemorated World Water Day 2011 on March 23 with a special ceremony to draw attention to the efficiency and effectiveness of rainwater collection as a way to provide clean water to families and schools. The event took place at the Tasimukira Primary School in [...]
