The Dutch MFS-2 WASH coalition on water and sanitation - of which Both ENDS is a member - welcomes the decision taken by the Human Rights Council to interpret the human right to water and sanitation as legally binding under international law.
For Both ENDS, 2014 was a year of both looking back and ahead. We achieved valuable results with projects we have been working on for many years. At the same time, we also started a number of promising new activities. Together with our partners, we worked on more than 40 projects linked to the topics land, water and capital flows.
For Both ENDS, the year 2015 marked an ending and a new beginning. It was the last year of the Communities of Change and the Ecosystem Alliance. The Fair, Green and Global Alliance also came to a close in its current form at the end of 2015. But the end of these programmes certainly does not mean the work will stop; what has been built up in the past five years will be continued within the new partnerships with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which have already started in 2016.
Baobabconnections has won a 'Best Practices Award' at the UN-Habitat conference on International Youth & Crime Prevention. Baobabconnections - the youth programme of Both ENDS - was also taken up into the final resolution.
The governmental body that is responsible for the management of water resources in Ghana, the Water Resources Commission (WRC), praises the ADAPTS method in which Both ENDS and partners are actively involved. In the preface of the Dayi River Basin Plan that was launched at the end of 2011, the commission expresses hopes for the extension of this method, currently being tested in a pilot in the Dayi river basin, to other river basins in Ghana.
At the core of the Fair, Green, and Global (FGG) Alliance’s mission is the commitment to building a just and sustainable world. As members of this alliance, Both ENDS, SOMO, and the Transnational Institute (TNI) recognise the urgent need to reimagine global investment frameworks. These frameworks, entrenched in outdated treaties such as Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) and the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), often prioritise corporate profits over human rights, environmental sustainability, and social justice.
Make women and gender equality a priority in climate policy, wrote Rebecca Heuvelmans (Women Engage for a Common Future), Marjon Melissen (ActionAid), Esin Erdogan (Simavi), Annelieke Douma (Both Ends) and Eva Lia Colombo (Wo=men Dutch Gender Platform) in Dutch newspaper Trouw. Sunday March 5, they'll join the Feminist March in Amsterdam.
The lion's share of public budgets for climate, agriculture and development still goes to conventional agroindustrial projects that contribute to the current climate, food and biodiversity crises. Both ENDS and our partners are calling for a transition to agroecological practices that are people- and environment-friendly.