World Water Day at UBC OKanagan

This year the WWD planning committee has arranged for Yehalem Metiku to be the keynote speaker for the three day event. For those who are unfamiliar with Yehalem and his work I have included a short biography.

Yehalem Metiku has over 15 years of experience working in progressively more senior positions with development organizations. From 1996 to 2001, he was Director of Education and Project Manager for an orphanage in Ethiopia which was run by Terre des Hommes, a Swiss child-focused charity. From 2002 to 2003, he was Program Director of an Ethiopian charity that focused on providing relief to poor and vulnerable mothers and children. Yehalem then became Program Director of the Ethiopian Association for Voluntary Service, a charity that worked closely with Oxfam-Canada to promote voluntarism in Ethiopia. Since 2006, he has served as Country Representative for Partners in the Horn of Africa, a Canadian charitable organization engaged in community development work in Ethiopia.

Prior to his involvement with development organizations, Yehalem was a high school teacher who taught in public and private schools in Ethiopia, as well as in Saudi Arabia.

Yehalem holds a Bachelor’s degree in history from Addis Ababa University, and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Victoria, Canada. His Master’s thesis focused on tools for selecting projects, monitoring project progress, and measuring results in small-scale development programs. During his graduate studies in Canada, Yehalem also worked as Policy Analyst with the BC Medical Services Commission, and as HIV/AIDS Evaluation Consultant with the BC Ministry of Health.

Myself and the committee are really excited to have Yehalem part of our event!

-Rhiannon Wallace

UBCO WWD Student Coordinator

Water for Food

Hey here is a neat video created by the United Nation’s. This animation tackles the subject of Water for Food and aims to show the relationship between food production and water use.

Planning for this year’s World Water Week is well underway and there are a variety of exciting events happening on campus and in the community. The World Water Day committee headed by John Wagner as well as the UBCSUO will help facilitate the events and presentations for World Water Week 2012. World Water Week will commence on Tuesday March 20^th and will run through until Thursday March 22^nd .  This year the United Nations has selected the theme to be ‘Water and Food Security’.  To kick off the week we will be having the opening ceremonies in the UBCO courtyard on March 20^th 12-1:30pm. The opening ceremonies will consist of art installations, musical performances, food vendors and guest speakers all of which promise to be interesting and informative.  This year’s keynote speaker is Yehalem Metiku who is the country representative for Partners in the Horn of Africa, a Canadian charitable organization engaged in community development work in Ethiopia. Once again the Creative Writing students will be hosting a poetry slam and there will also be discussion on the topic of ‘water and food security’ hosted by the Okanagan Basin Water Board. Special thanks to all of the World Water Day Committee members for their valuable input and offers to showcase UBC-O’s commitment to local and global water issues. More details will be soon to come regarding specific events and schedules for the three day WWD event.

Rhiannon Wallace

UBCO World Water Day Student Coordinator