WaterAid Australia – Towards Inclusive WASH: Sharing evidence and experience from the field.

Towards Inclusive WASH: Sharing evidence and experience from the field, 2012. WaterAid Australia. 

This new publication is a record of the WASH sector’s efforts to achieve equity and inclusion in programming around the world. The publication includes one keynote paper by Hazel Jones (WEDC) and Louisa Gosling (WaterAid UK) and 16 case studies from a wide range of organisations in 13 countries and with examples from urban, rural and school WASH programming. The case studies provide stories of policy, technology and process innovations through four lenses: Poorest of the poor, Living with HIV and AIDS, Disability and Gender.

We hope that this publication can provide some inspiration for development practitioners around the world who want to build equity and inclusion into their WASH programming and also for those who aspire to incorporate water, sanitation and hygiene outcomes into their programming in the HIV, disability or other sectors.

• The publication and all supporting materials are now available online.
• For hard copy requests please contact info@inclusivewash.org.au.

Philanthropic toilet paper: “Who Gives a Crap” raises money for sanitation

After sitting on the toilet for 50 hours, Australian social entrepreneur Simon Griffiths raised AU$ 50,000 {US$ 51,000) through crowdfunding for a new line of philanthropic toilet paper. Griffiths plans to donate 50% of the profits from the sale of “Who Gives a Crap” toilet paper to WaterAid for sanitation projects. The next step is to raise another AU$ 50,000 to convince Australian supermarkets to stock “Who Gives A Crap” rolls on their shelves by the end of the year.

See the slick, humorous campaign video.

Griffiths is CEO of social enterprise Good Goods which he co-founded with fellow engineering graduate from the University of Melbourne Jehan Ratnatunga. Their first social enterprise, Ripple.org, also helped raise funds for WaterAid. In 2010, they began working on Who Gives A Crap in 2010 together with product designer Danny Alexander, who had been was involved in the Ghanasan project.

Web site: www.whogivesacrap.org

Menstrual hygiene management firmly on the agenda of regional workshops

A woman health volunteer is showing the group the sanitary napkins that she sells. BRAC programme Bangladesh. Photo: Christine Sijbesma/IRC

The third bi-annual Asia Sanitation and Hygiene Practitioners’ workshop, held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, from 31 January to 2 February 2012, reported notable progress in implementing menstrual hygiene into WASH programmes.

In 2008, menstrual hygiene management was signalled as a neglected area in WASH programmes. In 2010 the workshop participants pushed ahead and discussed necessary provisions for menstrual hygiene management in toilet design (washing facilities, sufficient space, incinerators) as well as issues of availability and affordability of menstrual hygiene materials.

A major hurdle remains the lack of awareness and lack of recognition that menstrual hygiene is a human right and health issue. In 2012, participants  concluded that menstrual hygiene programmes are now usually linked to school WASH, but efforts are needed to reach girls who are not in schools. Advocacy and hygiene promotion have to improve the awareness of both men and women about menstruation and menstrual hygiene management.

Why Mr Khombe is building ecosan latrines for his neighbours

The poor villagers of Kaniche in Malawi can’t afford to buy fertilizer. That’s why villager elder, Chair of the Village Development Committee, local headman and community mason Mr. Khombe has built 30 ecosan latrines for his neighbours.

Mr. Khombe features in WaterAid’s latest fund raising appeal The Big Dig. The goal is to bring safe water to 134,000 poor people in rural Malawi.

WaterAid field officers Michael Kalane and Nathan Chiwoko are posting live reports from the project area using smartphones and Instagram.

The UK Government, through its UK Aid Match initiative, will double all donations the public gives before 18 September 2012.

HSBC launches US$ 100 million water and sanitation partnership with WaterAid, WWF and Earthwatch

British multinational bank HSBC has launched a new US$ 100 million, five year partnership with WaterAid, WWF and the Earthwatch Institute. The HSBC Water Programme will bring safe water and improved sanitation to over a million people; tackle water risks in river basins; and raise awareness about the global water challenge.

The programme is backed-up by report [1] commissioned by HSBC, which warns that the predicted high-growth rate in several of the world’s most populous river basins may not materialise because of  their unsustainable water consumption . The report also highlights “the powerful economic rationale for improving access to freshwater and sanitation, at a time when total aid for water access and sanitation has actually declined”.

Dear Congress: Support Rural Women by Lisa Schechtman

March 8, 2012 – Dear Congress: Support Rural Women | Source – Lisa Schechtman – Global Policy TV - Lisa Schechtman is the head of policy and advocacy at WaterAid in America, the U.S. member of WaterAid International, the world’s largest NGO focused on providing safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene education (WASH) services for poor communities in 27 countries around the world. 

Imagine being a girl growing up in a village in sub-Saharan Africa. There’s a good chance there is no well in your village, and your nearest source of water is a river or a stream that is as many as three miles away over what might be rocky, isolated terrain.

The water may not be safe to drink, because your village probably also lacks sanitation facilities, but it’s your only choice.

So, instead of going to school, you spend at least 30 minutes a day, often longer, walking to the river, filling jerry cans, and struggling home with over 40 pounds on your head. You risk stumbling, animal attacks, sexual assault. At last you get home, and, while you have water to drink, it makes you sick and leaves you caring for family members who are also sick. It doesn’t matter though: you have to do it all over again the next day—and every day after that.Sadly, this is not the only harm that comes from your basic need for water. Carrying heavy loads can lead to uterine prolapse, a potentially serious and excruciating condition that may result in the inability to ever have children safely.If you or a family member is living with HIV/AIDS, you need extra water to keep things clean and hopefully stave off infections that kill people with compromised immune systems. That means more trips to the river, more time away from school or work.

Moving beyond construction: Asian practitioners identify sludge management as a major issue

Learning cloud gives a glimpse of the future of WASH in Asia

Which issues will sanitation and hygiene practitioners focus on in Asia? This was the question posed to the more than 50 professionals attending the 3rd Asia Regional Sanitation and Hygiene Practitioners Workshop which ends today in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Based on the above “learning cloud”, sludge management appears to be a major concern.

WaterAid – Sanitation and water for poor urban communities

Sanitation and water for poor urban communities: a manifesto, 2011. WaterAid.

Full-text (pdf)

WaterAid calls on governments and development agencies across the world to put the highest political priority on the provision of water and sanitation services to poor urban communities. These services
are fundamental to human health and development, nowhere more so than in densely populated urban areas.

With no indication that the pace of urbanisation, and subsequently the growth in poor urban areas, will slow, the international community must act collaboratively to ensure these basic human rights are afforded to poor urban communities – and it must act now. Here, WaterAid sets out the examples and objectives for successful delivery of sanitation and water to poor urban communities.

WASHwatch: helping to hold governments to account

WASHwatch: helping to hold governments to account on their commitments to the fundamental foundations of health.

WASHwatch—an online platform for monitoring government policy commitments and budgets for water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) was launched by WaterAid yesterday at World Water Week in Stockholm.

Why?  Because in 2011, 2.6 billion people world-wide STILL do not have access to sanitation; 884 million people have no safe drinking water source; and shockingly, the resulting diarrhoeal diseases kill 4,000 children every day.

Bangladesh: govt sanitation subsidy scheme ineffective, experts say

The government’s subsidy policy for sanitation needs to be more effective and more money should be allocated if Bangladesh is to meet is target of sanitation for all’ by 2013, experts say.

This is the conclusion of a study conducted among 21,121 households by the Human Development Research Centre (HDRC) with the support of WaterAid, UNICEF, and the Ministry of Local Government Division.

Economist Abul Barakat, who led the research team, said a Union Parishad, the lowest tier of the local government, receives Tk 145,000 [US$ 1,910] while a Pourashabha or municipality gets Tk 292,000 [US$ 3,840] a year in sanitation subsidy. “But the allocation is not properly utilised.”