The World Water Council has announced the winner of the 5th Kyoto World Water Grand Prize: Charité Chrétienne pour Personnes en Détresse (CCPD – Christian Charity for People in Distress), from Togo.
The Kyoto World Water Grand Prize aims to reward the best water-related initiative carried-out by a grass-roots organization from a developing country, and comes with a prize of 2,000,000 JPY (approx. 18,000 USD).
CCPD’s winning initiative will be presented at the closing ceremony of the 8th World Water Forum. The organization based in Togo will be recognized for work in empowering individuals and community groups to improve access to safe drinking water and sanitation. The group achieved this through the construction and refurbishment of drinking water and sanitation facilities, clean-up of sites, and the organization of awareness and educational campaigns and workshops. These efforts have contributed to a noticeable decrease in water and sanitation-related diseases and deaths in the community of Agou-Klonou.
The 8th World Water Forum is set to welcome tens of thousands of water sector experts, decision makers, businesses, and civil society to what has become the world’s biggest water-related event. Held in the southern hemisphere for the first time, the Government of Brazil will host the event in its capital, Brasilia, between 18 and 23 March 2018.
The over-arching theme of “Sharing Water” will inform different aspects of the event. As water is an issue that concerns everyone, the World Water Forum will open its doors to the public through an interactive Citizen’s Village. There will also be discussions and debates on a variety of themes relating to water security challenges and lessons. High-level panels will analyze adherence to and fulfilment of international agreements, including the 7th World Water Forum Implementation Roadmaps, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement, among others.
“The purpose of the World Water Forum is to bring water experts and professionals closer to the decision-makers. We want ministers, heads of state, parliamentarians, mayors and presidents of municipal chambers to participate in the Forum, to exchange knowledge and to mobilize themselves around the rational use of water and global water security,” explains World Water Council President, Benedito Braga.
Latin America, the host region, provides solid expertise in water infrastructure management, providing 95% of its population with access to improved drinking water sources. For example, the Itaipu Power plant on the Paraná River, separating Brazil and Paraguay, is now the site of the world’s largest generator of renewable energy in the form of hydropower. The result of a bi-national partnership between Brazil and Paraguay, each government owns 50% of the international company created to manage the plant, supplying both nations with energy. The World Water Council is proud to be able to cooperate with the region in its mission to place water at the heart of global cooperation and development through its partnership with Brazil.
The World Water Forum is said to be designed to maximize interaction between all kinds of stakeholders, from grassroots to heads of state, to better manage this vital resource. Registration is available on the World Water Forum website (http://www.worldwaterforum8.org/en), along with information about rates.
