August 19, 2009

Following a series of presentations at the World Water Week conference now underway in Stockholm, Sweden, Church World Service Director of Education and Advocacy Rajyashri Waghray says she is pleased with the conference's "outright acknowledgment that access to water is key."

CWS, under the banner of its ongoing "Enough for All" campaign supports community efforts to obtain and manage their own safe drinking water supplies and water sources.

Says Waghray, "Access to water, which is necessary for all life, is a human right. Water is not a resource or a commodity to be made available only to people who can afford to pay for it." She views the conference's recognition of that fact, as "a significant political will kind of statement; the first such move in the 19 years that this conference has been held."

Waghray is representing the global humanitarian agency at the Aug. 19-22 conference organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute. The meeting, held annually, has attracted practitioners, scientific experts, decision makers and leaders from numerous countries to exchange ideas and develop solutions in the wake of the ongoing international water crisis.

The CWS response to the crisis includes both programmatic and advocacy initiatives. The global humanitarian agency partners with local organizations in developing countries to improve health and meet basic needs by providing safe and sufficient water and improved sanitation and hygiene; to provide sustainable food supplies through efficient use and management of water resources; to assure future access to water by protecting watersheds; and to maintain peace in water-stressed communities through fair and efficient water sharing and resource management.

One such program is a CWS-supported sand dam project, in a border region of Kenya and Uganda, where water shortages, attributed to climate change, have resulted in conflict as neighboring communities compete for decreasing water supplies. With Kenyan women's organization Yang'at, the project--which combines community meetings and training in ownership, management, and maintenance of local water systems to insure sustainability--has alleviated the water problems and contributed to peace in the drought-prone region.

In addition to its water development projects, CWS also has an robust ongoing advocacy campaign with a network of partner organizations and individuals who mobilize public support for congressional legislation that supports universal access to water and inclusion of access to water as a critical component of efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Waghray also is scheduled to speak at the conference on the topic "Water for All -- Reducing Vulnerability and Restoring Resilience."

Media Contact: Lesley Crosson, 212-870-2676 lcrosson@churchworldservice.org