Leader of African water security agency is recognized Friday at University of Oklahoma

Ada Oko-Williams, associate director of Water and Sanitation for Africa, was named the 2013 recipient of OU's Water Prize, given every two years by the university's Water Technologies for Emerging Regions Center, or WaTER Center. The prize was announced Friday at the center's Water Symposium.

WaTER Center faculty member Jim Chamberlain said the winner was chosen by a panel of water issues experts the center brings to Oklahoma every two years. Those experts also give a panel discussion during the symposium.

Based in Burkina Faso, Water and Sanitation for Africa is an intergovernmental agency that includes representatives of the water and sanitation ministries from 22 African nations in its membership.

The organization was established in 1968 as the African Regional Centre for Water and Sanitation, and its leadership is entirely African. It seeks to improve access to clean water and sanitation across sub-Saharan Africa.

During a panel discussion, a member of the panel that chose Oko-Williams as the recipient said it's important to make sure local representatives are involved in leading efforts to improve access to clean water and sanitation.

Dennis Warner, a senior technical adviser with Catholic Relief Services, said projects tend not to be effective when they're imposed on a region by an outside organization.

“The world is littered with the skeletons of well-intentioned projects that were done for people rather than the people doing it themselves,” Warner said.