As experts ponder world water crisis, teenagers show creativity

As water experts meet in Mexico City to debate the world's daunting water crisis, 15-year-old Dolly Akhter is here to share her simple approach.

She and 6,000 other girls canvass the slums of Dhaka, going door to door in the Bangladeshi capital to tout good hygiene. "We talk to families and especially the teenage girls about the importance of washing their hands," explains Dolly.

She is among 100 or so children from more than 30 countries participating in the Children's Water Forum held parallel to the 4th World Water Forum. While the adults argue over ideological differences, the youngsters showcase the grass-roots action that reaches those hardest hit by the lack of safe water and basic sanitation:

• Suresh Baral, 13, leads a club in rural Nepal that helps communities pay for toilets through microfinancing;

• As leader of Nigeria's Children Parliament, 15-year-old Ibrahim Adamuy implores government officials to put aside their "mounds of paper" and talk about solutions;

• Anyeli González, 16, heads a program at her high school in Colombia that brings in local storytellers, puppeteers, and water company executives to raise environmental awareness;

• 9th-grader Happy Sisomphone directs a radio program in Laos to improve sanitation;

"Youth-led ideas may seem simple," says Jamal Shagir, the World Bank's director of water and energy. "But they represent fantastic opportunities for changing behavior and attitudes within communities. The international community must continue to push these programs along and harness young people's energy."

In the conference halls, the teenagers mix with the larger forum's 11,000 adult participants - industry leaders, government ministers, and nongovernmental groups - from more than 100 countries.

Adult-led seminars on water policy have been marked by ideological feuds: Business-friendly politicians and corporationspromote privatization and private sector control over water delivery, while others - who also push their agenda in street protests outside the conference - believe water is a public domain that should be managed by communities.

Just like the older experts here, the teenage activists rattle off the grim facts: More than a billion people are without adequate sewage and sanitation, according to the United Nations (UN), and more than 3 million deaths a year are blamed on water-borne disease.

The teenagers tend to avoid politics and corporate agendas and focus on cooperative action. They're here to learn about each other's projects and spread the word to more children.

"We must all fight together to change our lives and those of others," says Dolly, who was flown here from her bamboo-and-tin home by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). "How can we stand by and let children die if there are solutions?"

Vanessa Tobin, chief of UNICEF's water and sanitation section, appreciates the straightforward talk. "There's no diplomacy in their dialogue. It's all very direct and very honest."

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