I've Died and Gone to Heaven: CSIS/Water Advocates WASH Universities Initiative

The Global Water Futures project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Water Advocates have joined forces to create the WASH Universities Initiative.

Wash universities? Are they dirty? Read more about it from this email I received:

The Global Water Futures Project and Water Advocates have gathered representatives from U.S. universities and colleges, NGOs, and the U.S. State Department to brainstorm how to raise the profile of WASH [WAter, Sanitation, and Hygiene] in universities and opportunities for interested students. To continue the discussion of this initiative and to determine the next steps in this initiative, we invite you to a meeting/teleconference this Friday [6 November].   

As part of this initiative, Colorado State University and Emory University are tabulating names and email addresses of USA university people involved with WASH issues in developing countries.  An online questionnaire will be distributed to them with the results available by Thanksgiving.

Have I died and gone to heaven?

I pose that rhetorical question because for a number of years, myself and some of my colleagues, notably Dave Kreamer of UNLV, Dave Sabatini at the University of Oklahoma, and Steve Silliman at the University of Notre Dame, have been trying to do this same thing on a shoestring without much support. Now, someone is actually doing this, well-organized and (presumably) reasonably well-funded (at least better than we were).

I don't think I've ever had a better time on a two-hour concall.

Erik Peterson (CSIS) and David Douglas (Water Advocates) and their staffs deserve kudos for spearheading this project.

The group is planning some kind of event in DC, likely on or about 3 March 2010. I will keep you posted here.

At some point, the survey may be extended to non-academics, foreign organizations, professional societies, etc., but for now it is limited to USA academics.

I'm looking forward to working on this effort.

"Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again." -- Anonymous (thanks to Stephen Carlton)