Rotary fills the gap again

Most of the crises happening now are man-made in the sense that man has done nothing to prevent them or anticipate their dire consequences. It has often been said, and rightly so, that ours is a government of belated reaction rather than of timely and positive action. More and more Filipinos simply have forgotten or do not believe anymore on the wisdom in the saying that “An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure”.

One of the looming though seemingly remote problems we may face but still treat superficially is the water shortage or inadequacy of water supply. While other countries are already confronting this problem frontally, we are still deeply pre-occupied with so many other unimportant matters aside from the current global financial crisis. Perhaps it has not yet registered in the minds of our government authorities that inadequacy in water supply primarily affects, among others, sanitation and hygiene which help perpetuate a cycle of disease and poverty.

Studies show that one billion people lack access to a safe and reliable source of drinking water and more than two billion lack access to any sanitary means of excreta disposal. Combined with unsafe hygiene practices, the result is nearly 1.8 million deaths — the vast majority children — from diarrhea every year. Disproportionately suffering most from this inadequacy and eventual shortage is of course the poor.

Fortunately again there are international organizations coming to the aid and amply filling the government’s apathy and inaction on this problem. One of them of course is Rotary International (RI), the world’s first and biggest service organization now consisting of 33,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographic areas. It has always been a pleasant task for me to write about this organization not only because it constantly brings good news but also because I happen to be one of its 1.2 million members making up a global network of business, professional and community leaders who carry out service projects worldwide.

Rotary club members usually appreciate the needs of their communities because of their grassroots approach to problem solving. Thus they firmly establish roots on the ground to develop and implement effective sustainable projects. One of these projects recently launched last March 2009 in conjunction with “World Water Day” is the long term, sustainable water and sanitation and hygiene projects in the developing world. The good news here is that the Philippines is one of the countries selected for initially developing these projects based on need as well as on the ability of local Rotary Clubs to address the challenges faced. The other countries are the Dominican Republic and Ghana. As it progresses, the project will strategically expand to other countries.

These projects are the brainchild of a new worldwide alliance known as the International H20 Collaboration composed of the Rotary International through its philanthropic arm, The Rotary Foundation (TRF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) which is an independent US federal government agency that supports long-term and equitable economic growth and advances US foreign policy objectives on economy, agriculture, trade, global health, and democracy conflict prevention and humanitarian assistance. As early as 2007 the USAID missions already saw the urgent need to improve public health and safeguard water resources for the world’s poor when it obligated $212 million for drinking water, sanitation and hygienic activities.

To realize the alliance goals, TRF and USAID will work together to support three pillars required for sustainable access and use of improved water supplies and sanitation: (1) access to appropriate municipal and community water supply and sanitation systems, household sanitation facilities and other household technologies and products; (2) behavior change and hygiene promotion by mobilizing community for sustained management of water supply and sanitation infrastructure, social marketing campaigns to increase demand for water, sanitation and hygiene, and promoting hygiene programs;

(3) Enabling environment by organizing community, improving policies, institutional support, sustainable financing, and cost recovery for improving sustainability of project.

The alliance is currently working to determine specific funding levels in each focus country that will permit interventions at a strategic and meaningful scale. An estimated minimum of $2 million joint investment per country will be provided for the projects. Each partner will provide half of the funding from a variety of sources within its organization. Additional funds may be raised from other sources to supplement core project funding. In the words of Past RI President William B. Boyd, the chair of the International H20 Steering Committee, these projects are intended to be “models for future projects with strategic partners and in this way enhance our contribution to world understanding, goodwill and peace”.

In the implementation of these projects here, it may be a good opportunity for Philippine Rotary to team up with Local Government Units in ridding our waterways, particularly our esteros of illegal squatters and provide for their relocation. Undoubtedly, these squatters endanger not only their lives but the health of the entire community because they clog those waterways with all sorts of waste and garbage.

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