Good afternoon. I am honoured, privileged, and actually pretty excited about being here to talk to you today. And that is because, for me, Rotary represents those people in a community who want to give back to society, those who want to see their community grow and prosper together; those who want to be part of something larger than themselves. And also, because Rotary is present in almost every sizeable community in the world.

And that makes Rotary potentially one of the most powerful forces for good in the world today.

Since its inception in 2001, CAWST has worked with Rotary Clubs globally in many, many different ways.

Firstly, many North American Rotarians have come forward to learn from us about how to implement a household water treatment program. As a result…

Cathy and Mike Lipman of Connecticut are working to introduce household water treatment in India,

Eileen and John Heasley of Michigan are working in Nepal.

Gunther Hausen of Rhode Island and Wather Hazell of Calgary are involved in water programs in Cambodia.

Tex Tychon of Northern Alberta is working in Uganda.

Len Edelman in Indonesia

And, Lindsay Rosevear, a Calgary Rotaract member, started a program in Nicaragua, which you will hear more about later..

Secondly, many local clubs in developing countries have invited us to speak to them about their country’s water needs and potential solutions for these needs. CAWST has spoken with:

In the Dominican Republic: the Rotary Clubs of La Vega-Camu, Bonao, Cotui, San Cristobal, Santo Domingo Mirador and Santo Domingo Colonial.

In Haiti..to the Rotary Clubs of St Marc and Verrette

In Bolivia…to Cochabamba, La Paz Miraflores, 3 clubs in Santa Cruz (one of which was a women’s club)

In Peru to the Rotary Club of Lima.

In Ecuador , we have met with the president of the Quito Club, and with the Millennium Club.

We have also spoken to 4 Rotary Clubs in Edmonton, 3 in Calgary, at the Edmonton District Conference, and now at this Calgary District Conference.

Rotary clubs in Edmonton have provided funding for CAWST travel to Honduras, for molds and tools for training in Bolivia, and for 2 client water projects in the Dominican Republic.

Similarly, the Rotary Club of Calgary Centre has provided $10,000 in support of a CAWST client program in Indonesia, and has allocated $ 125,000 in 2006 to support CAWST client programs in 4 countries.

So, Rotarians worldwide have initiated the movement forward on the water agenda. But there are still questions about how best can Rotary help; what role can Rotary play to achieve maximum results. And so today, I would like to talk to you about what CAWST does and why we do it that way, so that you may better determine your own potential path forward.

Firstly, CAWST believes that providing adequate water and sanitation to the poor is fundamental to poverty alleviation and human development. 4000 children….little children, under the age of 5, die every day from dirty water. This is un-necessary.

We believe that lack of knowledge is the root cause of waterborne disease People know that the water is polluted and possibly making them sick. What they don’t know is what is polluting the water, how diseases are transmitted, and the things they can do to solve these issues themselves. They need education so that they can make informed choices about what practices they are willing to adopt and what risks they are willing to take; appreciate how precious and scarce a resource water is becoming; how much one person’s actions affect another; and how to manage their own water needs.

Therefore CAWST bases its actions on the principle that Knowledge about water needs to be common knowledge.

We believe that for solutions to be sustainable, they must be driven and managed by the local communities themselves. So, we work to build the capacity of local institutions to implement water and sanitation programs. And we have demonstrated that we can motivate community action by providing training and training materials for all the organizations involved in the delivery of a water and sanitation program

–  product manufacturers, (quality control, micro entrepreneurship)

–  program implementers, (how to plan, evaluate and monitor)

–  community stewards, (hygiene,sanitation, health)

–  users, (how to operate and maintain)

–  and trainers. (we look to establish local centres of expertise)

Training is the catalyst for effective, sustainable, replicable and scaleable service delivery to the poor.

To June 2005 an investment of $1.3 million by CAWST has motivated action which has already impacted 500,000 people with improved water. But moreso, a greater number of people continue to get cleaner water without any involvement by us because there are almost 100 active implementing organizations, plus hundreds of community stewards teaching about water and health and 20 organizations worldwide using CAWST’s training materials or curriculum to train others. The impact continues to grow exponentially

CAWST believes that funders have a large influence over program success. Some funders are overly prescriptive and most are focused on projects and hardware, which are easy to measure. This results in weak implementing organizations with little incentive to build for the long term. So, when we interact with people like you and other funders of international development programs, our message is: Support institutions, not projects. Fund “software” as well as “hardware”.

These CAWST views and approaches have been publicly declared at the World Water Forum in Mexico, and, because we were one of the 10 finalists for the Kyoto Prize at the Forum, they are listed among the “Lessons Learned and Recommendations” on the World Water Forum website

So CAWST is all about building capacity. As we speak, 4 members of the Canadian Armed Forces are taking a CAWST Biosand Filter Program Implementers Course. They plan to use this training in their community development activities in Afghanistan. We support our trainees after the training is over, with technical consulting.

And more specifically, CAWST is focused on building capacity in local organizations to deliver sustainable water and sanitation services to the poor. Our clients are NGOs….NGOs of all types, small and large, national and international, and, government agencies, primarily the Ministries of Health, Water and Rural Development. I have just returned from CAWST training for the governments of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. And so, …”building capacity in local organizations to deliver sustainable services in water and sanitation for the poor” is what we want to get you, Rotarians, excited about.

Because of:

–  Rotary’s humanitarian mandate worldwide

–  Rotary’s presence in almost every community

–  Rotary’s grass roots nature

–  And because water is a Rotary International priority

we believe that Rotary is uniquely positioned to take a leadership role in building this capacity. With polio, Rotary has shown the world what major achievements can be made when Rotarians align to a common purpose. In many ways, water is a much more difficult issue than polio. It is not a ‘one time’ fix. People need clean water every day to survive. And poor communities need organizations that can provide services related to water on a continuous basis; they need residents who are knowledgeable about water.

I hope that those of us fortunate enough to be living right here, right now, can lead the way.

Thank you!