Through Water for the World, USAID increases access to sustainable water and sanitation services, promotes key hygiene behaviors, and enhances the effective management of water resources in developing countries.
USAID also elevates the status of women and girls to empower them as decision-makers and professionals in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector so they can lead the transformation of water and sanitation services in their own communities and countries.
Afar 2016 photo: Petterik Wiggers/Hollandse Hoogte Amsterdam
The Sustainable WASH Systems (SWS) learning partnership is a collaborative activity funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to develop, test, and document high-potential “systems approaches” for local water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) service delivery. The five year project (2016-2021) in Cambodia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda aims to provide concrete improvements to service delivery while placing a significant emphasis on building knowledge and providing evidence to USAID and the global WASH sector on how systems approaches can be applied, adapted, and scaled in different contexts.
Below are some of the most recent SWS publications:
Valcourt, N., Walters, J., Javernick-Will, A., Linden, K., and Hailegiorgis, B., 2020. Understanding rural water services as a complex system : an assessment of key factors as potential leverage points for improved service sustainability. Sustainability, 12(3), pp.1-17 : 3 fig., 3 tab.
Hope, R., Thomson, P., Koehler, J. & Foster, T., 2020. Rethinking the economics of rural water in Africa. Oxford review of economic policy, 36(1), pp.171- 190 : 2 fig.
Hollander, D., Ajroud, B., Thomas, E., Peabody, S., Jordan, E., Javernick-Will, A. & Linden, K., 2020. Monitoring methods for systems-strengthening activities toward sustainable water and sanitation services in low-income settings. Sustainability, 12(17), pp.1-16 : 10 fig.
University of Colorado Boulder. Environmental Incentives, 2020. Defining collective action approaches in WASH. (Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership. Research brief). Washington, DC, USA: USAID Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership. 4 p. : 1 tab.
Harper, D., 2020. Using social network analysis in WASH programs. (Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership. Learning brief). Washington, DC, USA: USAID Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership. 5 p. : 2 tab.
Pugel, K., Javernick-Will, A., Koschmann, M., Peabody, S. & Linden, K., 2020. Adapting collaborative approaches for service provision to low-income countries : expert panel results. Sustainability, 12(7), pp.1-26 : 6 fig., 2 tab.
Chintalapati, P., 2020. Maintenance approaches to improve the sustainability of rural water supplies. (Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership. Research brief). Washington, DC, USA: USAID Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership. 7 p.
Valcourt, N., Javernick-Will, A., Walters, J. & Linden, K., 2020. System approaches to water, sanitation, and hygiene : a systematic literature review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(3), pp.1-18 : 4 fig., 3 tab.
Ajroud, B., Hollander, D. & Peabody, S., 2020. Measuring systems change in WASH programming : a practical application of two tools. (Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership. Research report). Washington, DC, USA: USAID Sustainable WASH Systems Learning Partnership. 31 p. : 6 boxes, 3 fig.
From December 27 to 31, 2020, FLUSH, The Loo Tours, and The POOP Project have teamed up with Reel Paper to encourage you to let this year go. Any game participant has a chance to win an awesome raffle prize. See below for more details.
Each day will have a theme with some directions that we’ll share in videos around 6am EST / 11am GMT. You’ll have 24 hours to submit your results on Twitter and/or Instagram. Here are some hints about the 5 days of games:
Day 1: Toilet Paper Challenge (arts & crafts)
Day 2: Thank You (Sanitation Workers) Challenge (gratitude)
Day 3: Toilet/WC Upgrade Challenge (design)
Day 4: Bristol Bake-Off Challenge (baking)
Day 5: Final Flush Challenge (therapy)
We are judging submissions based on creativity and fun! We encourage people to think outside the box (so long as it’s tasteful).
Eligibility
Participants are eligible to participate from anywhere in the world, as long as they are over the ages of 18 years, or have at least one member who is over 18 years old.
The Grant Prize of a year’s supply of Reel bamboo toilet paper is only available for participants in the US, but we have participation prizes for people elsewhere, as well! Family members of any company and organization hosting and running this game are welcome to participate but are exempt from winning the Grand Prize.
Submission Rules
Social Media: Participants must post videos & pictures on Instagram (stories and/or feed posts) and/or Twitter.
Hashtags: Submissions must include the hashtags #FlushAway2020and another hashtag with the name of their team to be considered eligible for inclusion.
One Team, One Account: Participant accounts submitting their posts has to remain the same throughout the game to make sure we can keep track of who is who! Feel free to team up with others, just note that there should be just one account for the submissions and the Grand Prize will be sent to the address of the account holder.
Tag Us: Oh! You should also tag us on your submissions:
Deadlines: Submissions for each day must be shared by 5am EST / 10am GMT the following day, sent with the same IG account. Make sure to have a decent internet connection to submit on time!
Raffle Prize: Teams participating will receive up to two raffle tickets per day they participate, one for submitting and one for demonstrating extra creativity or effort. The raffle tickets will be given to the account holder that submitted the posts. Submit at least two times and you already win a prize – free admission into one of the team’s events. Submit all five days and you can attend two of the team’s events for free. The grand prize will be raffled off at the end to one winner. The more you submit, the more chances you have to win!
Content Rules
Prove It’s You: A body part of a real, living person must be included in the post to prove you really completed the challenge.
Freedom to Share: Submissions are agreeing that the hosting organizations can download and use their videos and pictures for promotional use in the future (i.e., a recap video, etc.).
Keep it Tasteful: Pictures or videos that include real poo or sensitive materials (aka genitalia) are automatically disqualified and will be reported as abuse on social media.
Have any questions or need some more information? Feel free to email us at kim@flushwash.org.
ViMPlus is part of USAID’s Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced II (RISE) initiative, which supports vulnerable communities in Burkina Faso and Niger to effectively prepare for and manage recurrent crises and pursue sustainable pathways out of poverty.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION METHODOLOGY RAPID DESK REVIEW FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEWS HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS DATA MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS RESULTS RESULTS FROM THE RAPID DESK REVIEW GLOBAL LESSONS LEARNED FROM MARKET BASED SANITATION (MBS) IDENTIFICATION OF OTHER MBS ACTIVITIES IN BURKINA FASO RESULTS FROM THE DATA COLLECTION RESULTS FROM THE HOUSEHOLD SURVEY CURRENT HOUSEHOLD DRINKING WATER PRACTICES TYPES OF LATRINES USED BY HOUSEHOLDS HOUSEHOLD DECISION MAKING AROUND WASH PRODUCTS BARRIERS AND FINANCING OF LATRINES . KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEW RESULTS MAPPING OF RISK AND MITIGATION MEASURES DISCUSSION LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Each year, eight million metric tons of plastic pour into the world’s oceans caused largely by ineffective solid waste management systems of rapidly urbanizing coastal cities in developing countries. The situation would be even more dire without the efforts of millions of waste pickers, many of whom operate in the informal sector.
They collect and recycle materials that would otherwise go into landfills and illegal dumpsites or leak into the environment. “Despite their absence from most urban-development plans, waste pickers remain some of the most effective, affordable, and necessary waste managers and recyclers on earth, protecting both land and sea,” according to Taylor Cass Talbott, Reducing Waste in Coastal Cities Project Officer with Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing & Organizing.
Despite their contributions, waste pickers often find themselves marginalized, stigmatized, and unappreciated, laboring in difficult, unsafe conditions and without adequate protections. As part of our broader efforts to combat ocean plastics pollution, USAID is supporting waste pickers across Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.
USAID’s Municipal Waste Recycling Program is providing training and equipping waste collectors, strengthening Independent Waste Collector organizations, and supporting their advocacy efforts.
Since first appearing at the end of 2019, the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread at a pace and scale not seen before. On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
A rapid response was called for, and actors across the globe worked quickly to develop sets of preventative measures to contain the disease. One mode of transmission identified early on in the crisis was via surfaces and objects (fomites).
To combat this, hand hygiene was put forward as a key preventative measure and heralded as ‘the first line of defence against the disease’. What followed was an unprecedented global focus on handwashing with soap.
Health messages on how germs spread, the critical times at which hands should be washed, and methods for correct handwashing were shared (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2020). Political leaders around the world promoted handwashing and urged people to adopt the practice to protect against the coronavirus.
The primary and secondary impacts of COVID-19 have affected people and industries in a variety of different ways. For the WASH sector, the centring of handwashing in the pandemic response has led to a sudden spike in hygiene activity.
This SLH Rapid Topic Review takes stock of some of the cross-cutting challenges the sector has been facing during this period and explores the adaptations that have been made in response. It then looks forwards, thinking through what lies ahead for the sector, and considers the learning priorities for the next steps.
This update contains links to recently published articles and reports and upcoming events and courses. The next update will focus on WASH & neglected tropical diseases in humanitarian situations so let us know of recent research, studies, resources, etc.
Creating Hope in Conflict: a Humanitarian Grand Challenge 2020 Request for Proposals in Numbers, December 2, 2020 – This year, the majority of the solutions (32%) put forward were in the area of Health Supplies and Services; followed by Life-Saving Information (26%); Safe Water and Sanitation (22%); and Energy (20%). Creating Hope in Conflict: A Humanitarian Grand Challenge is a partnership of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development office (FCDO), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, with support from Grand Challenges Canada.
USAID Water for the World Implementation Research Agenda. USAID, November 2020. After undertaking a comprehensive and consultative process to identify and prioritize evidence gaps associated with its WASH programming approaches, USAID is launching the first-ever Water for the World Implementation Research Agenda to coordinate, integrate, and inspire research and learning in the WASH sector.
Evidence is critical to effective and efficient water security, sanitation, and hygiene development programming at USAID, among our partner governments, donors, and implementing partners. The research agenda identifies 27 broad research questions that are critical to improving implementation of programs that contribute to the goal and associated Development Results of the USAID Water and Development Plan within the U.S. Government Global Water Strategy. The identification of these questions represents the culmination of an extensive process of exploring the evidence base associated with current approaches to water security, sanitation, and hygiene development programming, and of prioritizing evidence gaps through consultations across USAID and with our partners.
The Water for the World Implementation Research Agenda is a key contribution to the Agency’s “evidence cycle.” By looking to the past (through our Ex-Post Evaluation Series) to current evidence (through our Water and Development Technical Series) and to the future (through this agenda), USAID is seeking to coalesce partners and the sector around approaches that last, and to measure those results in meaningful ways (see our Water and Development Indicator Handbook).
The Water for the World Implementation Research Agenda will guide investments in implementation research across USAID’s water security, sanitation, and hygiene portfolio. We look forward to working with you on expanding the evidence base to improve the impact and sustainability of our work on water security, sanitation, and hygiene for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable.
Sustainable Development Goal 6 for water and sanitation calls for the realization of safely managed services (SMSS) for everyone by 2030. While there has been significant research and implementation to improve the sanitation service chain in urban settings, little guidance is available on how to achieve and sustain SMSS in rural contexts.
In 2019, WSSCC commissioned this study conducted by Andy Robinson and Andy Peal to examine to what extent Global Sanitation Fund (GSF)-supported programmes enabled SMSS in rural areas with collective behaviour change approaches like CLTS.
This study includes: – A summary of SMSS concepts and issues in rural areas – SMSS findings from GSF-supported programmes in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia – Good practices for monitoring SMSS in rural areas – Recommendations for rural programming
Authors: WSSCC; Publication date: October 2020; Publisher: WSSCC; No. of pages: 155
Blog – USAID Launches Water for the World Research Agenda – The agenda identifies 27 broad research questions that are critical to closing the lingering evidence gaps directly related to accomplishing all four USAID Water and Development Plan Development Results.
Blog – Less is More: Reducing Water Loss to Improve Resilience in Iraq – USAID and Coca-Cola through the Water and Development Alliance (WADA) have partnered with the Soran Water Directorate to improve water management practices and increase water availability by reducing water loss.
Blog – Emergency WASH Network’s Q & A With Albert Reichert – My name is Albert Reichert and I am one of the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance’s WASH Technical Advisors. I am an engineer by training, specializing in groundwater and surface water flows. I was based in East Africa for the past 10 years and cover East and parts of Southern Africa for BHA WASH.
Upcoming Webinar – WASH Collaboration: Two Projects, One Result – The presenters will discuss how the two projects collaborated successfully to advance WASH development in Ethiopia, and how other projects might increase the sustainability and impact of infrastructure-focused support through partnership and learning. Join the webinar on Wednesday, December 9.
Publication – Water Currents: Inclusive WASH – December 3, 2020 – This issue contains the latest studies and resources detailing inclusive WASH as it relates to gender, disabled groups, the elderly, incarcerated populations, and other at-risk groups.
COVID-19 and WASH
Preparing for Outbreaks – Implications for Resilient Water Utility Operations and Services. Sustainable Cities and Society, January 2021. The purpose of this article is to discuss the economic and public health impact of outbreaks on water and wastewater utilities and utility workforce and to present case studies demonstrating utilities’ preparedness and response to COVID-19.
Comment: A Call for Global Monitoring of WASH in Wet Markets. Lancet Planetary Health, October 2020. Using monitoring data to target wet markets for hygiene and sanitation infrastructure upgrades, while protecting these marketplaces as vibrant, affordable, community spaces should be the global public health community’s next major focus.
Data, Data Everywhere: New World Bank Water Data Portal. World Bank, October 2020. With support from the Global Water Security & Sanitation Partnership (GWSP), the World Bank has just launched the World Bank Water Data Portal. For the first time ever, a curated list of water data from the World Bank and other sources and institutions is now available in one place.
Sanitation Updates 