El Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan New Chairman of Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation

Press Release

The Secretary-General today appointed  His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan as the new Chairman of his Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB).

In highlighting the challenges facing the international community in achieving the water and sanitation targets of the Millennium Development Goals, the Secretary-General stated that 2.5 billion people around the world still lack access to proper sanitation and 768 million do not have access to improved sources of water.  Between now and the 2015 deadline, the international community, Governments and the private sector must accelerate progress toward the Millennium Development Goals water and sanitation targets.  He further underlined that water and sanitation is likely to figure prominently in the discussions on the sustainable development goals.

The Secretary-General commended Prince El Hassan on his leadership in championing global causes and in supporting intercultural dialogue.  Among other initiatives, he launched the International Cultures Foundation in 2002, the Partners in Humanity Dialogue in 2003, and the Parliament of Cultures in 2004.  He has served as Chairman of the Policy Advisory Commission for the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and as a Member of the Board of the South Centre.  Water management is an issue of central importance to Jordan.

The Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation was established in 2004 to advise the Secretary-General and galvanize action by Governments and international organizations to advance the global water and sanitation agenda.  The Board’s focus is helping to achieve the Millennium Development Goal targets on water and sanitation.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto was designated Chairman of the Advisory Board in March 2004, and he was followed by Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, who became Chairman in December 2006.  He remained Chairman until 30 April 2013, when he assumed his duties as King of the Netherlands.  Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan serves as the Honorary President of the Advisory Board.

The Secretary-General is confident that the new Chairman and the Board members will continue vigorously to address the water and sanitation challenge and mobilize action, resources and political will to improve the lives of billions of people around the world.

In welcoming the new Chairman, he expressed his deep gratitude and appreciation for the skilled and untiring efforts of the former Chairman, His Majesty Willem-Alexander, hailing his commitment as a driving force in setting the water and sanitation challenges on the global agenda.

source

Related articles

• UN: 2.4 billion people will lack improved sanitation in 2015 (washlink.wordpress.com)
• When Sanitation Does Not Have Clear Institutional Home or Accountability, Progress Lags: UN Deputy Secretary-General (washlink.wordpress.com)
• Is the world forgetting about sanitation? (one.org)

 

Solving the Global Sanitation Crisis Discussion Panel – CGI U 2013

Washlink comment: This  is way too short given the panelists, none the less still great to watch.  The first 2 quarters of an hour and last quarter are the best. The third quarter – has audio problems – when the audience give reports from their  breakup group meetings.

Today, more people around the world have access to a mobile phone than a toilet. An estimated 2.5 billion people lack access to clean and safe bathrooms, resulting in diarrheal diseases that kill more children than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined. Many developing country governments simply do not have the financial or human capital to deliver improved sanitation to everyone who needs it. Furthermore, many development programs that strive to provide sanitation often fail to have the impact and sustainability needed to scale, and instead distort the market for innovation in the sanitation field. To truly move the needle on this challenge, profitable sanitation services need to be developed so that businesses—rather than nonprofits—can expand access to coverage in ways that will not only increase their profit margins, but also make a major public health impact. This panel will focus on how students can get involved in market creation for sanitation enterprises and will highlight recent innovations and business models that have already been developed by young leaders.

source….

Moderator:

Fred de Sam Lazaro, Correspondent, PBS Newshour, Senior Fellow, Saint Mary’s University

Participants:

• Miriam Atuya,  SANENERGY   sales;  Student, Trinity University
• Edward  Ned Breslin, Chief Executive Officer, Water For People
• Sebastien Tilmans, Co-founder, re.source; Ph.D. Candidate, Stanford University
• Gary White, Co-founder and CEO, Water.org

About Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U)

Building on the successful model of the Clinton Global Initiative, which brings together world leaders to take action on global challenges, President Clinton launched the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) in 2007 to engage the next generation of leaders on college campuses around the world.

Each year, CGI U hosts a meeting where students, youth organizations, topic experts, and celebrities come together to discuss and develop innovative solutions to pressing global challenges. CGI U 2013 was held at Washington University in St. Louis from April 5 – 7, 2013, bringing together nearly 1,200 attendees to make a difference in CGI U’s five focus areas: Education, Environment and Climate Change, Peace and Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and Public Health.

Related articles:

• Sanitation as a business – the poor will have to wait (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
• Water and Sanitation Seek Rightful Place in Post-2015 Agenda (ipsnews.net)
• WEDC & WSP online learning course – Rural Sanitation at Scale (washlink.wordpress.com)

Rose George: Let’s talk crap. Seriously: 2013 TED TALK available now!

TED Page…

 

Related articles

• Rose George: Take toilets seriously talk at TED@London (washlink.wordpress.com)
• Talking s**t with Rose George: A Q&A about the global health issue no one wants to bring up (ted.com)

First Water Integrity Forum: 5 – 7 June 2013

“…Extend the base – Increase the pace”

“…To address the need for extending the reach of water integrity action…”

Organized by:

• Water Integrity Network (WIN)
• Water Governance Centre (WGC)
• UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education

Where

• In the Netherlands at UNESCO-IHE

When

• from 5 – 7 June 2013.

The main objectives of the forum are:

1.  Take stock of progress in addressing corruption issues in the water sector
2. Share knowledge, approaches and experiences
3. Build alliances to address the integrity challenges in the water sector;

The forum will bring together co-convening partners and various important stakeholders such as policy makers/regulators, investors, private sector, NGOs and other water professionals from different continents and with different backgrounds. They will share theories, approaches, cases, tools, lessons, views and ideas about improving water integrity. The forum will last 2,5 days with sessions, working groups, round-tables and an open-space. The outcomes of the Forum will the basis of a publication on Water Integrity, and will feed into other processes and events on the road to the World Water Forum in 2015.

 key work stream:

• Work stream 1 Water, food and energy
• Work stream 2 Water resources management in river basins
• Work stream 3 Rural WASH
• Work stream 4 Integrated urban water management and services
• Work stream 5 Tools to diagnose and assess Integrity
• Work stream 6 Tools to improve, build and monitor integrity
• Work stream 7 Processes to scale up integrity

more…

Source for all core content is from http://www.waterintegrityforum.com/

Mapping Sanitation: a Tedx Talk by Faisal Chohan, a Senior TED Fellow

A quick 90 second video about an effort to map sanitation  in Rawalpindi Pakistan

Faisal Chohan, a Senior TED Fellow and TEDxIslamabad organizer, will now continue his mapping work with a related mission: Improving sanitation in order to prevent the spread of cholera—a bacterial infection in the small intestine, primarily caused by drinking water or eating food that has been contaminated by feces of an infected person. The rapid dehydration and electrolyte imbalance that results from cholera can lead to death if left untreated. Read more on TEDx….

 

Releated links

• pakreport.org  The Organization doing this and other work
• Saafpindi project    Page for Mapping Project itself
• parkreport blog 
• Fasil Chohan profile on wethedata.org
• Excelent source for more details by Faissal on GlobalGiving page

Other useful links

Scaling out Sanitation in Rawalpindi, Pakistan  2009 article by Pakistan Institute for Environment-Development Action Research (PIEDAR).

About TedxCity.2.0

In the tradition of our TEDxYouthDay, TEDxChange, and TEDxWomen initiatives, comes TEDxCity2.0: A day of urban inspiration. 28 TEDx communities around the world participated in TEDxCity2.0 day on October 13, 2012.  We will host our next event in 2013 to share the powerful narratives of urban innovators and organizers, stewards and artists, builders and tastemakers. The TEDx platform will harness the power of people across the globe to encourage them to host a TEDx event, themed “City 2.0.  source & more…

 

The Wello Water Wheel Story : Cynthia Koenig at TEDxGateway

Cynthia talks about the often underestimated problem of water weight and how this problem is preventing millions of women from educating and empowering themselves. She points about the fact that ‘water is heavy’ using real life examples in Rajasnthan, India. Not only is water heavy but also time consuming and limiting women of important opportunities. She talks about her invention “wello” where she & her team have reinvented the wheel. She brings the water wheel on stage, explaining the design and features in this product, allowing the audience to see this easy to use, yet immensely life changing water wheel.

more on YouTube site…

Wello Water Site.

Cynthia’s Profile   on UnreasonableNetwork -(really, a good site)

Other drums solutions 

• The Q Drum
• The hippo Roller
• Aquaport (status unknown after 2010) video

Related articles

• US student offers water drum solution for rural India

• Wello’s WaterWheel – Rolling Towards Healthier Communities (learningaboutsocialenterprise.wordpress.com)
• Social Entrepreneurs That Innovate Around Women And Clean Water (siliconvalleywatcher.com)
• Q-Drum re-invents the wheel by adding water to solve a water transport crisis for the world’s poor.

Waterless Urinals: A Resource Book

This is a Wonderful 39 page  Technical document  on covering  all aspect  of Waterless Urinals and some variants that incorporates
the core ideas.

written by

• Dr V M Chariar
• S Ramesh Sakthivel

from forward

This Resource Book is a guide that seeks to assist individuals, builders, engineers, architects, and policy makers in promoting waterless urinals and the benefits of harvesting urine for reuse through waterless urinals and urine diverting toilets.

Chapters cover a wide set of Waterless Urinals details

1. Waterless Urinals
   1. 1.1  Advantages of Waterless Urinals and Reuse of Urine
   2. 1.2  Demerits of Conventional Urinals
2. Functioning of Waterless Urinals
   1. 2.1  Sealant Liquid Traps
   2. 2.2  Membrane Traps
   3. 2.3  Biological Blocks
   4. 2.4  Comparative Analysis of Popular Odour Traps
   5. 2.5  Other Types of odour Traps
   6. 2.6  Installation and Maintenance of Waterless Urinals
3. Innovative Urinal Designs
   1. 3.1  Public Urinal Kiosk 21
   2. 3.2  Green Waterless Urinal
   3. 3.3  Self Constructed Urinals
4. Urine Diverting Toilets
5. Urine Harvesting for Agriculture
   1. 5.1  Safe Application of Urine 3
   2. 5.2  Methods of Urine Application
6. Other Applications of Urine
7. Challenges and the Way Forward
8. References and Further Reading

The book has a solid collection of tables and diagrams that support the text

• Comparative analysis of popular odour traps
• Average chemical composition of fresh urine
• Recommended dose of urine for various crops
• Waterless urinals for men
• Schematic diagram showing functioning of urinals
• Sealant liquid based odour trap
• Urinals with sealant liquid based odour traps
• Flat rubber tube by Keramag and silicon membranes by Addicom
• LDPE membrane by Shital Ceramics
• Biological blocks
• Formwork used for fabrication of public urinal kiosk
• Reinforced concrete public urinal kiosk
• Drawing of public urinal kiosk established at IIT Delhi
• Green urinal established at IIT Delhi
• Plant bed of green urinal with perforated pipe
• Drawing of public urinal kiosk established at IIT Delhi
• Self constructed urinal Eco‐lily
• Squatting type urine diverting dry toilet with two chambers
• Urine diverting no mix toilet 27 Sectional view of a urine diverting dry toilet
• Deep injection of urine using soil injector
• Deep injection of urine using perforated pet bottles
• Use of fertilisation tank for applying urine through drip irrigation
• Manually operated reactor for recovery of struvite
• Schematic drawing of ammonia stripping from urine

Among many topics the Doc  weighs pros and cons of of traps to prevent odor and gases for escaping .Most of the solutions  have cost / maintenance barriers that limit feasibility to particular set of cases. India is a large county and need a variety of solutions as does the rest of the world.

We will  will  be interested to learn more about Zerodor
“An odourless trap Zerodor which does not require replaceable parts or consumables resulting in low maintenance costs has been developed at IIT Delhi. This model is in final test stage yet to be made commercially available.”    more on Zerodor…

further notes from forward

Waterless Urinals do not require water for flushing and can be promoted at homes, institutions and public places to save water, energy and to harvest urine as a resource. Reduction in infrastructure required for water supply and waste water treatment is also a spinoff arising from installing waterless urinals. The concept, founded on the principles of ecological sanitation helps in preventing environmental damage caused by conventional flush sanitation systems.

In recent years, Human Urine has been identified as a potential resource that can be beneficially used for agriculture and industrial purposes. Human urine contains significant portion of essential plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphate and potassium excreted by human beings. Urine and faeces can also be separated employing systems such as urine diverting toilets. In the light of diminishing world’s phosphate and oil reserves which determine availability as well as pricing of mineral fertilisers, harvesting urine for reuse in agriculture assumes significant importance. Akin to the movement for harvesting rain water, urine harvesting is a concept which could have huge implications for resource conservation.

Link to download  book & A deeper overview:

with excerpts can be found on the the India Water Portal site  more….

Prepared By

• Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
• Vigyan Vijay Foundation

Funded by 

• UNICEF
• SEI Stockholm Environment Institute

Related articles

• UNICEF Report Highlights India’s Water Management Woes (circleofblue.org)
• SANITATION: Urban water woes (irinnews.org)
• From Water Problems to Water Solutions (slideshare.net)
• Lack of toilets, clean water costs world $260 bln a year – Liberian president (trust.org)

TEDxAmsterdamWomen Anjali Sarker – Toilet+ overcoming my childhood fear TEDX event

A great presentation by Anjali Sarker  of Toilet Plus on their strategy and reasoning for introducing toilets that work based on financial  technical sustainable and social criteria.  Toilet Plus is in the early phase of it plan.

” DEFECATION! DISEASE! DEATH! In Bangladesh, each year 69000 children die from diarrhea largely because of unhygienic sanitation. 68% of the villagers use unhygienic pit latrines or defecate openly. Though both govt and NGOs are trying to solve this problem, their efforts largely fail because poor villagers- 1)simply lack motivation to change their sanitation behavior or 2)can’t afford the shift to safe sanitation.

TOILET+ /Toilet Plus introduced as A HYGIENIC AND AFFORDABLE SANITATION SOLUTION. It’s a urine diverting dry toilet and is structurally similar to Ecosan. It can recycle 100% waste to produce organic fertilizer and is flood resistant. Toilet+ ($110 value) is made affordable to the villagers through microcredit from partner MFI.

Toilet+ OFFER COLLECTIVE PROFIT & RESPONSIBILITY. Households form cooperatives,apply for microcredit,  and become collectively responsible to repay the total monthly installments to MFI. Member households get toilets from Toilet+ and Toilet+ get paid by MFI. Members sell waste (human and other bio-waste) to Toilet+ and Toilet+ convert waste into organic fertilizer for selling to agro firms. By selling waste, a cooperative gets $70 a month (75% of the collective installments) and each household pays only $1.3 out of pocket to repay the collective monthly installments. Members create strong peer pressure on one another to use toilet so that they can repay collective loan easily.

THE MODEL TURNS TO A SELF-SCALABLE AND SELF-SUSTAINABLE SANITATION CHAIN. Cooperatives will continue to earn revenue from sale of waste after repaying the microcredit in 2.25 years. Understanding the high profitability of financing toilets, enthusiastic cooperative members will start lending non-users to purchase Toilet+ just like MFIs. Users will use peer pressure to make other non-users purchase and use Toilet+ with cooperative financing. Thus cooperative will grow and members will earn more revenue from sale of waste from their financed toilets.

Toilet+ IGNITES THE SPARK, COMMUNITY MAKES IT A REVOLUTION. 1)The more a family uses Toilet+, the more it earns 2)Many Cooperatives will finance others’ toilets as a profitable business and thus expand the size of the cooperative. 3)Fewer fatal diseases, cleaner environment, and more income will improve the living standard of community permanently. “

source for quoted content  Dell Social Innovation Challenge- Toilets   (changed to third person)

About Anjali Sarker from DELL site

 Toilet Plus site:

• Home
• What We Do
• About Us
• Our Partners
• Recognitions
• Contact Us

 Toilet Plus Facebook page

about TEDxAmsterdamWomen

Related articles

• Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) is the central body to monitor and supervise microfinance operations of non-governmental organizations of the Republic of Bangladesh.

• A Business Model That Will Blow Your Mind & 10 Ways You Can Improve Yours (fireflycoaching.com)
• Canadian-made toilet aims to lay waste to sanitation diseases (ctvnews.ca)
• Toilet Apartheid (counterpunch.org)
• Renewed research call for low-cost sanitation technologies in Bangladesh [deadline18 Feb 2013] (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
• UN deputy chief urges action on water rights (sfgate.com)
• ICDDRB – Update on WASH and hygiene practices (sanitationupdates.wordpress.com)
• April Rinne, Where Is Microfinance Most Powerfully Linked with Sustainable Agriculture, Renewable Energy, Water and Sanitation to End Poverty and Mitigate Climate Change? (slideshare.net)
• Farmers in Nepal Use Urine to Boost Crop Yields (scientificamerican.com)

New course: The Challenges of Global Poverty at MITx online

Registration Now Open for Online Course with J-PAL Directors

14.73x: The Challenges of Global Poverty MITx

Is extreme poverty a thing of the past? What is life like for those living on under a dollar per day? Why are many children in developing countries not learning when in school? Why do many people not invest in preventive health care? These are just a few of the questions that will be addressed in the new online course with J-PAL Directors Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo.

The new course will be hosted by edX—a not-for-profit enterprise founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University that offers online learning to on-campus students and to millions of people around the world. The course will be a combination of video lectures, an online discussion forum, and regular assessments of student understanding of the material.

The course is free of charge and open to anyone with an internet connection.

It will begin on Tuesday, February 12 and run until May 24.

Online learners who demonstrate mastery of subjects through regular online assessments can earn a certificate of completion from MITx.

Visit the course webpage to watch a short video and register for the course.

content of this post comes from J-PAL newsletter

About J-PAL The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab

 

Related articles

• My Personal Experiment with EdX at Bleeding Edge of Innovation in Higher Ed (entrepreneurshipmatters.com)
• First humanities classes on edX (tech.mit.edu)
• Thinking Aloud: Free Online Courses in Global Poverty and World History (notwhatyoumightthink.wordpress.com)
• Futurelearn – an OU-led response to Coursera, Udacity, and MITx (fm.schmoller.net)
• MITx Could Change Higher Ed As We Know It (keptup.typepad.com)

36th WEDC International Conference – Call for papers and other contributions – Sanitation and Hygiene

Call for papers and other contributions for the conference titled:

Sanitation and Hygiene Services in an Uncertain Environment

 

Location: Egerton University, Nakuru, Kenya

Deadline for initial submissions: 15 February 2013

The 36th WEDC International Conference welcomes contributions on any aspect of WASH in low- and middle-income countries, from policies
for community water resources management to practical evaluation of hand-washing promotion. The conference is for anybody working with the development and emergency WASH sectors, from policy to practice, including field officers, project managers, utility planners, researchers, scientists, engineers, social scientists, trainers, knowledge managers and advocacy campaigners. Organizations represented may be national or international NGOs, local or national governments, consultants, contractors, UN and other multilateral organizations, universities, resource centres, regulators or equipment suppliers. From the big global issues, to local challenges, this is a forum for sharing current knowledge and debating future options.
Download the Call for Papers Details here:
http://www.wedcconference.co.uk/docs/36th_Conference_Call.pdf

Submit your paper or poster through My WEDC:
https://wedc-knowledge.lboro.ac.uk/

Conference overview

36th WEDC International Conference is a comprehensive learning event, which provides continued professional development for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector professionals.

Registration Starts on Sunday June 30 2013 with paper presentations starting July 1

A three-day conference programme initially facilitates the sharing of current knowledge and experiences, through presentations and debate of peer-reviewed content. July 1st – 3rd

This is followed by a two-day capacity development programme, comprising quality-assured workshops designed to develop skills and knowledge in hot topic areas, which have been jointly identified with sector stakeholders. July 4th – 5th

For full details visit:
http://www.wedcconference.co.uk/

The Water, Engineering and Development Centre WELDC is one of the world’s leading education and research institutes for developing knowledge and capacity in water and sanitation for sustainable development and emergency relief. more….

source for all details: call for papers pdf , 
http://wedc.lboro.ac.uk/about/about.html
and
http://cede.lboro.ac.uk/node/188

(no original information from washlink)