150,000 Refugee women and girls to receive transformative menstrual health management solution

The UN refugee Agency UNHCR and AFRIpads have just begun the largest rollout of reusable sanitary pad distribution and Menstrual Health Management (MHM) sensitization of refugees in Uganda. The project aims at benefiting some 150,000 women and girls in south-western Uganda. With this, UNHCR Uganda is putting critical spotlight on the challenges refugee women and girls face during their periods. In addition to providing the AFRIpads kit to refugee women and girls, they have been providing MHM capacity building since late September to equip hundreds of NGO field staff with the appropriate knowledge and tools dedicated to breaking taboo and stigma around the topic of menstruation.

The project is in response to a 2018 UNHCR and AFRIpads pilot study in South West Uganda, which found that:

• The number of girls that reported missing school during their period was cut in half when using AFRIpads reusable pads
• 84% of refugee schools girls indicating they would prefer to use AFRIpads over disposable pads

Read the full press release and the announcement (with photos) on the AFRIpads website.

Toilets need water, Indian women suffer under ODF drive

Toilets in households have only increased the drudgery of village women as they have to fetch water from faraway sources for toilet use, writes Amita Bhaduri, Programme Director of the Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development (SPWD), in an article posted on the Indian Water Portal.

Rajasthan is all geared up for the open defecation free (ODF) status well before the national deadline of October 2, 2019. According to the assistant engineer of the nagar parishad, Resha Singh, 4.75 lakh [475 thousand] toilets have been constructed since October 2, 2014 in Alwar district which is about to be declared ODF.

Paari, a 45-year-old woman of Ghevron ki dhaani village in the district got a toilet at her household under this toilet construction drive. She does not have to go far away to find a place for her sanitary needs anymore. She is, however, unhappy and exhausted from the numerous trips to the water source she has to make to get water in the toilet. Her feet are aching from treading the path filled with rocks and thorns without any footwear for protection.

Read the full article

USAID webinar – Women in Waste Management: An Opportunity

Webinar: Women in Waste Management: An Opportunity

USAID’s E3/Urban Team invites you to join us for an online panel discussion on January 17 to discuss women’s role in waste management. 

Women in Asia play a central role in environmental management, yet their work in the sector is often unpaid or underpaid.

This Urban-Links webinar will discuss:

• Key constraints for women’s empowerment and job creation in the solid waste management sector;
• What models work and how do we know they work. What metrics are NGO’s and donors using to measure the empowerment of women in the solid waste management sector;
• How can grant-making under the USAID-funded Municipal Waste Recycling Program empower women in the sector.

Moderators

• Clare Romanik, Senior Urban Specialist with USAID’s Office of Land and Urban
• Marianne Carliez Gillet, Director of Global Program Management for the Development Innovations Group

Panelists

• Ly Nguyen, Founder and Director of the Center for Environment and Community Research in Vietnam
• Dr. Vella Atizenza, Assistant Professor at the College of Public Affairs and Development, University of the Philippines at Los Banos

Webinar Information

• When: Wednesday, January 17, 2018, 9:00-10:00 a.m. EST
• Register
• Learn more about the moderators and panelists here

 

WSSCC’s first 2017 Webinar session : Inadequate Sanitation and Stress

WSSCC’s first 2017 Webinar session : Inadequate Sanitation and Stress. WSSCC, April 4, 2017.

The hour-long discussion centred around a presentation on the sanitation-related stress experienced by women in the state of Odisha in India.

Globally, about 2.4 billion people have inadequate access to sanitation facilities and one billion people practice open defecation. In India, about 300 million women and girls have no choice but to defecate in the open. 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the biomedical impacts of poor sanitation access have received considerable attention. However, there remains limited understanding of the psychological and social impacts of inadequate sanitation for women and girls.

In March, WSSCC kicked off its 2017 webinar series, with a session dedicated to exploring the psycho social stress related to poor sanitation that adversely affect the lives of women and girls. The discussion was based on a WSSCC study,  Sanitation-related psychosocial stressors during routine sanitation practices among women, which looks into  the practices of adolescent, newly married, pregnant and adult women in urban and rural settings, and in indigenous communities, in the state of Odisha in India.

Dr. Kathleen O’Reilly, Associate Professor at Texas A&M University presented the findings with the study’s researcher Dr. Krushna Chandra Sahoo from the Asian Institute of Public Health. The session was moderated by Archana Patkar, Head of Policy at WSSCC.

Read the complete article.

 

Understanding women’s decision making power and its link to improved household sanitation: the case of Kenya

Understanding women’s decision making power and its link to improved household sanitation: the case of Kenya. Jnl Wat San Hyg for Dev, Feb. 2016.

• Abstract/order info

Authors: Mitsuaki Hirai, Jay P. Graham, John Sandberg

Women experience many motivational drivers for improving sanitation, but it is unclear how women’s role in household decision making affects whether a household opts for better sanitation. We analyzed the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008/2009 with a representative sample of 4,556 married and cohabiting women to examine the association between women’s decision making power in relation to that of partners and the type of sanitation facilities used by household members.

The independent effects of respondents’ education, employment status, and socioeconomic status on the type of sanitation facilities were also explored. The direct measurement of women’s ability to influence sanitation practice was not available. To address this problem, this study used proxy measures of women’s decision making power in the household.

The results of this study revealed that women’s decision making power for major household purchases was positively associated with households having better sanitation (p < 0.05). The findings suggest that increased gender equity could potentially have spillover effects that result in more households opting to improve their sanitation conditions.

 

Why women’s involvement in water and sanitation development is important

Women in WASH

Last week on March 8 was International Women’s Day (IWD). This year’s theme was “Inspiring Change”.  Four women inspiring change in the WASH sector came together during the World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, in September last year. They were Water For People’s Kate Fogelberg; IRC’s Vida Duti and Jane Nabunnya Mulumba, and Alice Bouman, President of the Women for Water Partnership. They talked about the role of women in the WASH sector.

Women leadership in WASH is needed and should be actively promoted. This was one of the main outcomes of the panel discussion on Women and WASH led by the four women mentioned above. The discussion highlighted the role of women leaders in WASH, the question of why more focus on the role of women is so important, and what lack of access to improved water and sanitation services means for women in rural areas in different country contexts.

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.

Focusing Attention on the Critical Role of Gender in Water and Sanitation

In Nepal, reducing the time it takes to fetch water by just one hour could increase girls’ school enrollment by 30%.

While women’s lives around the world have improved dramatically, gaps remain in many areas, including water and sanitation. For example, a recent study in 44 developing countries found that women carry water more often than men by a ration of nearly 2 to 1. Time is but one cost. There are many. How can we draw more attention to gender issues in water and sanitation ? Perhaps through drawings.

The World Bank/WSP 2012 Calendar combines illustrations,  humor, and data to focus attention on the role of gender in developing countries’ ability to ensure improved water and sanitation services for all citizens.  Gender is also the focus of the World Bank’s 2012 World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development .

Take a look. Images are worth a thousand words– and they can speak on behalf of billions.

Comments and feedback on the calendar are welcome at wsp@worldbank.org.

See Related Content:

• Learn More
• Download Calendar: English | French | Spanish (PDF)
• Get Desktop Wallpapers
•  2012 World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development (PDF)
• Download Gender in Water and Sanitation (PDF)

India – SHE creates a WAVE of change in Trichy

We are so used to turning our eyes away when we see somebody defecating in the open that we fail to reflect on this widespread practice, prevalent much more in India than in other countries. It is not only visually disturbing but has hazardous implications for public health in our cities.

Some people may engage in open defecation out of habit or laziness, but for the large part of the population of urban India that lives in slums, more often than not, it is not a matter of choice. They have no private toilets and no access to community toilets that actually function. Damaged septic tanks and broken drainage pipes make community latrines unusable. Children go to the nearby drain or wherever they find open spaces. Women wait for nightfall to answer nature’s call, and then too only in groups for fear of assault. It is difficult to maintain hygiene for children as they typically do not have access to water to wash their bottoms and soap to wash their hands.

Philippines – EcoSavers:Maintaining a “bank account” for solid wastes

A common pass book we know is one that contains cash deposits and withdrawal amounts in detail, but in the Entrepreneurs Multipurpose Cooperative in the town of Pavia, they issue pass books indicating kilos of bottles, plastics, and recyclables items as deposits.

The pass books belong to women entrepreneurs called Eco-Savers, majority women vendors and microenterprise operators, who in partnership with the local government of Pavia, are discharged with the responsibility of managing the town’s solid wastes, especially those generated in the public market.

Joy Palmada, manager of the cooperative, proudly shows the bundles of pass books to visitors and clients and those interested how the scheme works and how it has made Pavia a garbage-free municipality.