Has Finnish development assistance gone down the drain? Come and find out!
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs participates in the annual World Village Festival on 25–26 May with their own stand, called the Kankkula well. The Finnish expression, something “goes into the Kankkula well”, means that something goes down the drain, is wasted. At the Festival, Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja and Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala will also speak in the panel discussions held during the event.
The Festival will be held in the Kaisaniemi Park and at the Railway Square, where the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ stand, the Kankkula well, will be located. The stand will demonstrate the results of the Finnish development cooperation within the water management sector.
By peeking into the well, you will find out that, for example, 300,000 Nepalese people have been provided clean drinking water and over a million people a toilet. Correspondingly, in Ethiopia more than 1.2 million people have been provided access to clean water. For example in Ethiopia, over the past five years, the costs per each Finn have been less than 50 cents a year.
“A Finnish proverb says that ‘carried water won't stay in a well’, but, for example, in Ethiopia and Nepal lasting results have been achieved and the costs have been kept in check by dividing the responsibility for building and maintenance of water supply systems to local communities. Welcome to get acquainted with these projects,” says water management consultant Antti Rautavaara from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ stand also tells about sufficiency of water resources and water consumption.
Water is also the theme of one of the two panel discussions, held by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs at the Festival. On Saturday 25 May at 12:45 –1:15 pm, Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, Water and Sanitation Specialist Sanna-Leena Rautanen from a water project sponsored by Finland in Nepal, and Executive Director Chris Williams of the WSSCC organisation, campaigning globally for sanitation, will discuss water as a human right. The debate will be conducted in English.
On Sunday 26 May at 2:15 –2:45 pm the topic “Where is Myanmar headed?” will be discussed by Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala, Mi Mi Po Hti, elected the Refugee Woman of the Year in Finland, and Advocacy Director Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Kristiina Rintakoski.
Both panel discussions will be held on the Mekong stage at the Railway Square. The ministers will also participate in discussions held by other actors.
Additional information: Antti Rautavaara, Consultant (issues concerning development cooperation in water management), tel. +358 40 351 9492; Ulla Hakanen, First Secretary (sufficiency of water resources and water consumption, and water diplomacy), tel. +358 40 1344 552; and Salla Pietarinen, Assistant (themed programme organised by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and interview requests), tel. +358 50 311 2084