BRAC WASH releases video on faecal sludge management

The BRAC WASH programme has released a short video about their ongoing study in Bangladesh on the use  of faecal sludge from double pit latrines as organic fertiliser.

The final evaluation of BRAC WASH I programme identified pit emptying and the safe final disposal of sludge as a key ‘second generation’ challenge for the near future. To address this, BRAC is undertaking action research to ensure the safe reuse of faecal sludge in the BRAC WASH II programme, answering the following questions:

• Does the faecal sludge comply with the WHO Guidelines on microbiological quality after one year of storage?
• What is the nutrient content of the faecal sludge?
• Is it possible to make faecal sludge-based organic fertiliser production commercially viable?

In 2013, the UK-based School of Civil Engineering at the University of Leeds won a BRAC WASH II research call for secondary treatment options for faecal sludge. Their project is called Value at the end of the Sanitation Value-chain (VeSV).

The University of Leeds is working together with three other partners: Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), NGO Forum for Public Health (Bangladesh), and IWMI International Water Management Institute (Sri Lanka).

More information:

• IRC – Introducing the VeSV project
• BRAC WASH Programme – Innovation and Learning

 

 

 

Save Lives, Clean your Hands – BRAC video

The BRAC WASH programme in Bangladesh has produced a new handwashing promotion video. It shows slides of handwashing promotion sessions for different groups (children, adolescent girls, women, men), as well as for schools, village WASH committees and mosques (imams).

The video was released on 5 May to coincide with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual global campaign  to promote better hand hygiene in health care.

 

 

BRAC WASH offers to help half a million Indian imams promote hygiene

On WaterCouch.tv, Rabbi Awraham Soetendorp shares a practical example of international water cooperation that emerged during the 2013 World Water Day celebrations in The Hague, The Netherlands. In one of the sessions, BRAC WASH programme director Dr Babar Kabir explained that his programme had trained 18,000 imams in Bangladesh to include hygiene messages in their Friday prayers (see Kabir, 2010).

Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi

Also present in The Hague was Iman Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, Chief Imam of the All India Organization of Imams of Mosques, “the largest and oldest imam organization of the world”.  Dr Kabir and the Chief Imam “agreed to cooperate on education for water and sanitation”. This cooperation has the potential to create “five hundred thousand new teachers” to spread hygiene messages all over India.

Kabir, B. et al., 2010. The role of imams and different institution[s] in hygiene promotion of BRAC WASH programme : paper presented at the South Asia Hygiene Practitioners Workshop, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1 to 4 February 2010.  The Hague, The Netherlands: IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. Available at: www.irc.nl/page/51613

WASH training for imams in Bangladesh. Photo: Masjid Council

International Women’s Day in Asia: celebrating women in sanitation

In a new video, Mayadevi and Kaman (Nepal),  Toan and Thinh (VietNam) and  Tshering, Drukda, Tashi and Deschen (Bhutan) share stories about women’s participation, leadership and their changing roles in promoting sanitation and hygiene in  Nepal, Bhutan and Viet Nam.

The video is from SNV’s Sustainable Sanitation and Hygiene for All Programme (SSH4A), which has been implemented by local governments and partners in 17 districts across Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, Viet Nam and Cambodia since 2008. It aims to provide one million people with access to improved hygiene and sanitation facilities by the end of 2015. As the approach aims at addressing access to sanitation for all, addressing gender issues and inequalities is key.

SSH4A is a partnership between SNV, the Governments of the Netherlands, Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, Viet Nam and Cambodia in Asia and the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre with support from AusAID and DFID.

Learn more about SSH4A at www.snvworld.org/node/3779 and www.irc.nl/ssh4a

In Bangladesh, IRC is supporting BRAC  to measure behavioural change in the   BRAC  WASH II programme. Christine Sijbesma of IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre and Mahjabeen Ahmed of the BRAC share their thoughts and experiences with monitoring sanitation and hygiene behaviour of women in the programme in a recent blog post [1].

The QIS monitoring system that is being used gives special attention to gender and sanitation. First because many of the indicators differentiate between women and men. Secondly because data collection for each sample is duplicated by a male and a female monitoring team.  Interestingly, preliminary results show that virtually all the male and female monitoring teams members gave the same scores for the gender indicators.

[1] Bangladeshi women catch up on sanitation, IRC, 08 March 2013

Covering 55 million people, half the population of Bangladesh, the BRAC WASH programme must be one of the largest sanitation programmes, if not the largest sanitation programme, in the world today.

Innovative monitoring tools such as the Qualitative Information System (QIS), sanitation ladders and SenseMaker® are being used in a programme that seeks to provide sustainable sanitation and hygiene services to almost 55 million people in Bangladesh.

Renewed research call for faecal sludge secondary treatment options in Bangladesh

IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre announces a renewed research call for:

Faecal sludge secondary treatment technologies for challenging settings

This call is part of the BRAC WASH II programme in which EUR 1.5 million will be used for innovative research, tendered to consortia of leading European and Bangladeshi research organisations.

The planned duration of the faecal sludge research project will be 18 months.

The anticipated cost of the project is EUR 325,000. In addition there is EUR 50,000 available for piloting. (Separate budget needs to be included for this).

To download the guidelines and application form go to: www.irc.nl/page/73136

The deadline for submission of full proposal application forms is: 11 January 2013.

Future research calls will focus on low-cost water supply technologies; Geo-referenced database for monitoring; menstrual hygiene management; and saline intrusion.

Please do not send requests for information or applications to the Sanitation Updates blog.

IRC research calls on BRAC WASH II Programme – extended to 31 Aug 2012

IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre is happy to announce two research calls in the field of sanitation:

1. Low-cost sanitation technologies for areas with high groundwater tables
2. Faecal sludge secondary treatment options

These calls are part of the BRAC WASH II programme in which EUR 1.5 million will be used for innovative research, tendered to consortia of leading European and Bangladeshi research organisations. The other action research calls will focus on low-cost water supply technologies; Geo-referenced database for monitoring; menstrual hygiene management; and saline intrusion.

1. Guidelines for research call on low-cost sanitation technologies for areas with high groundwater tables

• Application form for low-cost sanitation technologies

2. Guidelines for secondary treatment options for faecal sludge

• Application form for secondary treatment options for faecal sludge

Extended deadline for submission of full proposal application forms: 31 August 2012

Please do not send requests for information or applications to the Sanitation Updates blog.

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.

BRAC to contribute to Sanitation Updates with sanitation initiatives

In the WASH programme of BRAC adolescent girls get together in a peer cluster meeting once every two months to discuss topics such as menstrual hygiene. Photo: Christine Sijbesma, IRC.

BRAC has an extensive WASH progamme which aims to bring sustainable water and sanitation services to over 37 million people in Bangladesh.

The IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre has been supporting BRAC’s WASH programmes with technical assistance since 2007. The organization has recently been contracted to support the 2nd phase of BRAC’s WASH Programme with monitoring, action-research and knowledge-sharing for the next five years.

BRAC will be supporting IRC’s contributions to Sanitation Updates, with news and information regarding sanitation initiatives around the world.

Learn more about BRAC’s WASH programme at www.brac.net/content/environment-water-sanitation-hygiene

Read how IRC is supporting BRAC at www.irc.nl/page/69649