The success in achieving the Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs) water target and massive growth in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programmes have masked a little-discussed secret: WASH interventions frequently fail.
Rather than focusing on what is almost literally pouring money down the drain, donor reports and NGO websites prefer instead to boast of the numbers of water pumps drilled or toilets installed.
“You don’t take photos at a funeral,” said Dutch water expert George De Gooijer, who is based at the Netherlands’ embassy in Benin. “The lack of a link between results on the ground and the proposals is the one that needs to be solved.”
To all those graduating this spring: congratulations. It has been a long semester, although they all feel long to me. This recent year posed unique challenges with distance learning, but here we are. A little bit of time left to withstand, and then we’ve made it.
Those of you who are graduating: good luck. I have until December to figure out what’s next for me; a summer and one more semester before I am thrust into the real world. Academia feels like a strange half-dream half-nightmare.
If only I got paid to do research papers and read books, rather than paying for it. I would stay forever if taking classes could be a sustainable job for me. Most people I know, however, are itching to get out of college.
Paige Balcom knows how to make things. In middle school, she was an "inventioneer" who was part of a winning team in the 2010 FIRSTLEGO League World Championship. As a student at the University of New Hampshire, she joined Engineers Without Borders and won a Fulbright scholarship, work that allowed…
The 2021 WWD Young Pros value industry advocacy & making their work visible.
Water & Wastes Digest annually highlights 10 inspirational people under the age for 40 who are leaders, drivers, influencers and advocates for the industry. The 2021 WWD Young Pros are no different, and nearly all of them shared a similar response to questions about their biggest lessons and how their generation would influence the industry.
First, the biggest lesson for many of the 2021 WWD Young Pros was reckoning with the current state of water infrastructure in the U.S. and how it is so disconnected from the people who use it day-to-day.
Second, many indicated their generation as one of advocates and communicators with the energy and will to push for political and systemic change. They want to help the industry become more visible to the general public to improve public discourse on the need for infrastructure funding while also showing how exciting the industry can be.