About Us

Many people tend to avoid the topic of toilets but for Dr. Yang Zhenbo, UNICEF China's Chief of Water and Sanitation, it is his daily duty.

"Having access to clean water and sanitary toilet facilities is not only for health, it is also a human right," He said. "This is one of the incentives we use to mobilize local communities to shift their traditional behavior."

With a Ph.D. in marine ecology and biodiversity, Dr. Yang has been working on water and sanitation with UNICEF since 2002. In 2006, he joined UNICEF's Indonesia Office to help out with massive Indian Ocean Tsunami response.  The experience equipped him to lead UNICEF's highly successful water and sanitation work following the Sichuan Earthquake of 12 May, 2008.

To date Yang Zhenbo's work following the earthquake contributed to provision of safe water for 150,000 people and sanitary latrines for 40,000.

 "I feel most satisfied when I see children with smiles on their faces, especially when they happily drink safe water, use sanitary latrines and wash hands under the taps, thanks to our projects." He reflected.

The programme covers 169 schools in China's remote, poor and rural areas. Yang Zhenbo has also played an important role in making Global Handwashing Day a major advocacy event in China. Celebrated annually in all of China's schools, Global Handwashing Day is helping to raise awareness to the power of this simple, life-saving action.

"Our demonstration projects have leveraged government resources to replicate the pilots in more areas." Yang said. "In Sichuan for instance, the Government has up-scaled our pilots from 2 counties to more than twenty."

"In our programme work, the villagers are actively engaged in the discussion, design and implementation." He noted. The participatory approach helps to mobilize local efforts
to bridge the urban-rural gaps. 

Dr. Yang expresses his concern over the water resources and climate change for future generations. In the project sites of Shandong, Hebei and Shaanxi provinces, UNICEF has engaged children and youngsters to be agents of change in their communities to learn about environmental impact near their homes and look for way to conserve water.

 "I encourage Chinese children and young people to take up more leadership and be actively engaged in the global discussion and efforts to deal with the climate change." Yang said.

Dr. Yang wishes he could spend more time with his family, especially with his young daughter. In his college years he was quite an athlete, competing in decathlon, badminton and tennis. Now he is content to play table tennis – with a passion – after suffering an ankle injury.