Aug 31, 2015
Helen Clark
Linkedin
I just spent two days in Tokyo at the World Assembly of Women sponsored by the Government of Japan. One of the issues I spoke on was the importance of sanitation, with a particular focus on the needs of #women and #girls.
Around the world, 2.5 billion people are estimated not to have basic sanitation, and over one billion must resort to open defecation.
Lack of access to adequate sanitation puts the lives and health of women and girls at risk. As well, girls miss many school days and often drop out of school altogether because of lack of private toilets in schools. In his message on World Toilet Day in 2013, the UN Secretary-General noted that when schools provide decent toilets, eleven per cent more girls attend school. That year, the SG launched a Call to Action on Sanitation to end open defecation by 2025.
Sanitation featured as a key area in the Millennium Development Goals, and this is carried through in the new Sustainable Development Goals. New SDG Six calls for the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030.
Achieving that goal requires three things:
1. Leadership and political will. Access to sanitation for all needs to be placed at the heart of national development agendas.
2. Investment. The cost of achieving the SDG by 2030 is estimated at a cost of US$27 billion invested each year until then – or around .036 per cent of global GDP. This is achievable.
3. Integrated and proven approaches which cut across ministries, sectors, and silos are needed.
Let us hope that sanitation will now get the attention it deserves. Access to it is a matter of human dignity and a basic right. It is also critical for poverty reduction and sustainable development.
Đăng bởi Trần Đình Hoành
I am an attorney in the Washington DC area, with a Doctor of Law in the US, attended the master program at the National School of Administration of Việt Nam, and graduated from Sài Gòn University Law School. I aso studied philosophy at the School of Letters in Sài Gòn.
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I have worked as an anti-trust attorney for Federal Trade Commission and a litigator for a fortune-100 telecom company in Washington DC.
I have taught law courses for legal professionals in Việt Nam and still counsel VN government agencies on legal matters.
I have founded and managed businesses for me and my family, both law and non-law.
I have published many articles on national newspapers and radio stations in Việt Nam.
In 1989 I was one of the founding members of US-VN Trade Council, working to re-establish US-VN relationship.
Since the early 90's, I have established and managed VNFORUM and VNBIZ forum on VN-related matters; these forums are the subject of a PhD thesis by Dr. Caroline Valverde at UC-Berkeley and her book Transnationalizing Viet Nam.
I translate poetry and my translation of "A Request at Đồng Lộc Cemetery" is now engraved on a stone memorial at Đồng Lộc National Shrine in VN.
I study and teach the Bible and Buddhism. In 2009 I founded and still manage dotchuoinon.com on positive thinking and two other blogs on Buddhism.
In 2015 a group of friends and I founded website CVD - Conversations on Vietnam Development (cvdvn.net).
I study the art of leadership with many friends who are religious, business and government leaders from many countries.
I have written these books, published by Phu Nu Publishing House in Hanoi:
"Positive Thinking to Change Your Life", in Vietnamese (TƯ DUY TÍCH CỰC Thay Đổi Cuộc Sống) (Oct. 2011)
"10 Core Values for Success" (10 Giá trị cốt lõi của thành công) (Dec. 2013)
"Live a Life Worth Living" (Sống Một Cuộc Đời Đáng Sống) (Oct. 2023)
I practice Jiu Jitsu and Tai Chi for health, and play guitar as a hobby, usually accompanying my wife Trần Lê Túy Phượng, aka singer Linh Phượng.
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CVD 