Over the past few days, our team has run hundreds of miles along the vast Dutch water management system. The Netherlands has a long and intimate relationship with water. Without its complex system of damns, dykes and canals, two-thirds of the Netherlands would regularly be flooded. Through major infrastructure investments and good public policy, the Dutch have maintained a careful balance between the population, agriculture, industry and freshwater system – ensuring economic growth, a healthy population, and a clean environment. For this densely populated country (465 persons / square kilometer), “water es leven” (water is life).

The Dutch are leaders in terms of foreign assistance to developing nations for water activities. The country is one of the most generous of all donor-nations with the .74% of Gross National Income to Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2006 – much of it going to water and environment programs. His Royal Highness, Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange (Heir to the Dutch throne) is a compassionate and outspoken advocate for the issue and leads a number of international water programs and partnerships including the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation. We need more leaders like him.

Unfortunately, the Dutch are the exception rather than the rule. Few governments have made real strides in addressing the water and sanitation crisis. The 2006 UNDP Human Development Report calls for an annual increase of $4 billion annually for water programs (hdr.undp.org/hdr2006). In Rwanda, where I have been living and working, there is a $25 million per year funding gap between funds available and funds needed to reach national targets in water and sanitation. We need to “Go Dutch” when it comes to national financing for development.

>From Bremen, Germany – happy trails.