Ek Sonn Chan

2006 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Government Service from Cambodia. As a young engineering graduate, Ek Sonn Chan lost his entire family to the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge. Managing to survive as a farmer, he found work in 1979 in Phnom Penh, and rose to greater responsibilities until in 1993 he was appointed to head the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA). The water system he inherited was barely a system at all, a labyrinth of ancient French-laid pipes so decrepit that disease-laden sewage easily seeped in. Widespread water loss from leaks and theft, and bloated workforce, no surviving blueprints or engineers, little or no access to water for the city's poor – these were only some of the challenges Ek had to address. With determination and uncommon courage, he overhauled the way the water system worked: repairing myriad leaks, closing illegal connections, and most importantly, convincing his staff to work professionally to deliver reliable public service. Today, the Authority's water output is up by 600 percent, collection rate is 99 percent, and cheap, safe water is finally available to the city's poorest neighborhoods.