“A Glass of Rainwater?”

Meeting with Heads of Missions to the UN of the countries where the International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance has implemented its “Blue Schools” Programme

On Monday 5^th December 2011, the IRHA held a meeting in Geneva with Heads of Missions to the UN of the countries that are linked with the Blue Schools Programme. The attending countries were Burundi, Nepal, Senegal, Switzerland and Togo; except Switzerland, all these countries either have a Blue Schools project underway or have project planned to start in 2012.

The meeting was opened by a speech from Mr Alain Dick, the IRHA President, who introduced the Diplomats to the current issues that surround water as well as introducing the IRHA, its mission and its staff. The Executive Director, Ms Vessela Monta, then presented the concept of rainwater harvesting and the IRHA Blue Schools programme. Before the discussions started, the Project Managers, Mr Pierrick Imhof and Mr Bertrand Calame, along with Ms Monta, described the details of the various Blue Schools projects, including those that have been completed, are underway and planned.

The meeting concluded with an interesting discussion, with many of the diplomats showing their support and enthusiasm about using rain as water resource in the schools in their countries.  The need of education and involvement of the local population in order to ensure sustainability of the project was highlighted by many of the participants, but they also insisted that existing knowledge and school programmes should be integrated into the projects. The meeting finished with promises of closer collaboration, including ideas to improve links with the relevant local and national authorities in the countries of implementation.