Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Africa Water, Sanitation Jan -Feb 2014 Vol.10 No1 | Page 12

NEWS in brief

Global Highlights

First World Soil Day

For 2.5 billion people across the developing world, having no access to even the
most basic sanitation is a reality faced every day Photograph: Ahmed Jallanzo/
EPA

On December 5th, the first official celebration and the
launch of the International Year of Soil take splice.
Soil, together with water, is the basis for food, feed, fuel
and fibre production and for services to ecosystems and
human well-being. The achievement of food security and
nutrition, climate change adaptation and mitigation and
overall sustainable development greatly depends on the
condition of soils at local and global levels. A healthy life is
not possible without healthy soils.
Soil is the reservoir for at least a quarter of global biodiversity,
and therefore requires the same attention as above-ground
biodiversity. It also plays a key role in the supply of clean
water and resilience to floods and droughts.
And soils have been neglected for too long.
We fail to connect soil with our food, water, climate,
biodiversity and life. We must invert this tendency and take
up some preserving and restoring actions.
Unilever to launch world’s first Toilet Academy in
Vietnam
First Domestos Toilet Academy opened in Vietnam

Unilever is also pioneering an innovative approach to the
provision of sanitation, through its continued partnership
with the World Toilet Organization, to launch the world’s
first Domestos Toilet Academy in Vietnam. This academy
will provide the business skills and training necessary for
local entrepreneurs to source and supply latrines to their local
communities – providing jobs and a boost to the economy,
and at the same time promoting the importance of safe and
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Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • January - February 2015

hygienic sanitation. The Toilet Academy programme aims
to be a sustainable and long-term solution to sanitation that
benefits local society and helps stimulate local economy.
Dr Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, Minister of Health Vietnam
said: “Currently, many countries, including Vietnam, are
still facing lots of difficulties and challenges. Challenges of
globalization as well as environmental pollution, population
growth and urbanization have impacted the sanitation
crisis. In Vietnam, the Government has put strong
emphasis on stimulating and promoting the “Patriotic
Hygiene Movement” to mobilize all management agencies,
organizations at all levels and entire nation to join hands in
improving hygiene and sanitation as this is essential in the
current context.”
“The active participation of businesses like Unilever,
helping improve health and hygiene for communities is
greatly appreciated and widely acknowledged. The launch
of the Toilet Academy clearly demonstrates Unilever’s
enormous effort and will positively contribute to improve
sanitary conditions for Vietnamese people.”

Source: WASHplus

Ghana and Togo sign project agreement to bring
drinking water to Lomé and Ghana’s coastal
communities
The governments of Ghana and Togo signed on 12
December 2014 a memorandum of understanding (MoU)
for the construction of an African Water Facility -supported
pipeline to bring drinking water from the lower Volta River
in Ghana to the city of Lomé in Togo and the Ghanaian
communities along the water transfer route. The AWF
has offered a €1.4 million grant to Ghana to support the
technical, legal and financial preparation of the PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP) project. In addition to AWF
support, the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) is
providing a € 0.7 million grant to help prepare the project.
The signing of the MoU in Lomé has paved the way for