WaterAid Policy Director urges United Nations to 'talk sh*t'

WaterAid's Policy Director Margaret Batty.

Credit: WaterAid

WaterAid's Policy Director, Margaret Batty, delivered a poignant speech at the UN's 16th Commission for Sustainable Development in New York:

Thank you Mr Chairman.

I have learnt so much from the discussions over the last few days and I am humbled by the expertise in the room.
 
My organisation, the NGO WaterAid, has been working to provide water and sanitation for over 25 years. We reach over one million people with water and a further one million with sanitation in 17 countries every year.
 
There are many other people here today who have been working tirelessly towards the same goal. And as we all know 189 world leaders pledged to halve the proportion of people in the world without water and sanitation by 2015.
 
AND YET, here we all are today still talking about a global water and sanitation crisis.
How can this be? This, my friends, is the perfect exam question - we have the answers - we know what it takes to solve the world's water and sanitation crisis.

Excuse me if I simplify:

•  It costs money
•  It requires coordination with health and education policies
•  It's about pro poor and rights based policies
•  It demands better governance
•  A focus on Africa
•  Determination to tackle the growing challenges of urbanisation and water resources management
•  And - above all - political leadership
• So, if we have the answers, how have we failed this basic test of humanity?

I know that if I throw some figures out, most of you will know what they represent:

• 1.1 billion, 2.5 billion - the numbers of people lacking water and sanitation.
• 443 million - the number of school days lost every year due to diarrhoea.
• 50% of hospital beds in the developing world are occupied by patients with diarrhoeal illness.
• 2076 - the year that Sub Saharan Africa is likely to meet the MDG sanitation target.
• 5,000 The number of children who die from diarrhoea every day.

They are shocking, but, wearyingly familiar statistics.
 
When I looked back at the closing statements to CSD13 I was struck by how one could rewrite them, word for word, three years later. As Mike Muller put is so well this morning when he spoke of "the truth and reconciliation about water", "we are talking more and doing less as the challenges intensify."
 
Rather than go over old ground, I plan to spend the next few minutes looking ahead. To outline a timetable for political action and to ask everyone here today whether government, UN or NGO, to commit to specific action, aimed at accelerating progress towards the MDG water and sanitation targets.
 
It is important to hang onto the fact that these targets are attainable. They are dependent on political choices. And there are some golden opportunities for political leadership to shine through over the next four months.
 
Tomorrow seems a good place to start! Ministers will gather to talk about investing in Africa to achieve the MDGs and to discuss the links between CSD core issues. We can only hope that they talk 'sh*t'.
 
Sanitation does not normally feature at the top of ministerial declarations - and yet it should - not least because we are in the middle of the International Year of Sanitation, and as Clarissa Brocklehurst said yesterday, "the International Year of the Potato seems to be getting more attention."
 
But sanitation must be flagged, because there is a blind spot in development policy around sanitation, a failure to recognise its integral role in reducing poverty and to the achievement of all of the MDGs.
 
Take MDG2 on education - there has been massive investment and great advances in enrolment rates - but there are also very high drop out rates, particularly as girls reach puberty. Lack of sanitation plays a big role here.
 
MDG4 on child mortality has been helped by major immunization programmes, but, an immunized child can still die from diarrhoea in poor sanitation situations.
 
The focus on achieving MDG1 on poverty is on economic growth, and yet the World Bank estimate that investing in water and sanitation could boost African growth rates by up to 9%.
 
The sanitation crisis lies at the heart of the MDG failure - and it is the duty of CSD to keep this high on the UN agenda every year.                      
 
The water and sanitation message will hopefully be central to the African Union summit at the end of June, where there is an opportunity for African leaders to endorse the 'e Thekwini Declaration' signed by 32 African Ministers in February; stating that at least 0.5% of GDP should be spent on sanitation.
 
It will then be incumbent on the G8 leaders, at their summit in July, to show real leadership and drive forward strong commitments on water and sanitation, including support for a Global Action Plan, backed up with strong financing and governance measures. It will not be good enough to merely reinvigorate the Evian Plan of 2003.
 
We were encouraged by the announcement at Davos by Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda that he intends to focus on health, education and water at the Summit.
 
This crescendo of political momentum between now and July, should then provide the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, with a golden opportunity in September when he convenes a special summit on the MDGs. As he himself said on World Water Day in March:

"Progress towards the sanitation MDG is hampered by population growth, widespread poverty, insufficient investment and, the biggest culprit of all, lack of political will. Let us go beyond raising awareness to make a measurable difference in people's lives." The Secretary General could raise the bar and suggest bold ambitious milestones for the water and sanitation MDG targets, with a deadline of 2010, so that we get back on track for 2015.
 
For example:

1. All credible costed water and sanitation plans must be fully supported by international aid.
2. 70% of water and sanitation aid is targeted at the poorest countries (after all the MDG targets could be met without touching the poorest).
3. This morning Margaret Catley-Carlson suggested several other ideas that could be targets such as every developing country defines who leads on water and sanitation within its Administration, so that jurisdiction is clear.
   

There are surely many other milestones that could be proposed by both NGOs and Governments to the Secretary General. I would urge the Secretary General to ensure that NGOs are an integral part of the Summit, which could represent a tipping point, a real lifeline to the one in three people in the world living without water and sanitation.
 
So for all of the Distinguished Government Representatives in the room, I ask you to take another look at your Ministerial statements for tomorrow and to consider your input to the UN Summit (with particular responsibility resting with the G8 and Africa Union States), and delight us with your bold leadership in determination to grapple the world's water and sanitation crisis.                           

Finally to all of the NGOs in the room, I commend the 'End Water Poverty' Campaign to you.

This is the international campaign calling for water and sanitation for all. It has over 100 members worldwide and is supported by, amongst others, WaterAid.
 
In conclusion, we need an extraordinary effort to reverse the political neglect of these basic human rights. All of us in this room today have a role to play and I hope that we will not find ourselves reconvening in four years time to re-review CSDs of yore and to lament the lack of progress. That would be a travesty. We need a sense of urgency. This is a crisis; it is about taps and toilets. We need political action - and we have what I would term "the best last opportunity" from now till September.
 
Thank you Chairman.

For more information please contact: Charlotte Godber on 020 7793 4909 or charlottegodber@wateraid.org.

For pictures please contact Jess Crombie on 020 7793 4987 or jessicacrombie@wateraid.org.