WaterAid News

Day 3: 6th International Rural Water Supply Network Forum

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:37:00 +0000

The forum ended with endorsement and approval of the Kampala Rural Water Commitments by the delegates

The Kampala Rural Water Commitments
Background
The 6th Global Forum of the Rural Water Supply Network was held in Kampala, 29th November – 2nd December 2011.
The Forum was officially opened by Hon. Maria Mutagamba, Minister of Water and Environment, Republic of Uganda, and opening addresses were also delivered by His Excellency the State Minister for Water Resources, Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Under Secretary, Ministry of Water, Government of South Sudan.
The participants in the forum numbered around 500 from nearly 50 countries, and were drawn from national and local Governments, academia, NGOs and CBOs, the private sector and development partners.

The Commitments
The following statements summarise our mutual commitment to widening and accelerating progress in inclusive and sustainable rural water supplies wherever those services are absent or under-performing:

Focusing on water users and water resources:
1. We recognise the rights and the natural justice of all citizens to enjoy secure water services, regardless of location, lifestyle, gender, age, disability, ethnicity or poverty.
2. We will do everything possible to ensure that the services we deliver are equitable and sustainable, providing lasting service with no time limits.
3. We will take full account of all water users’ needs for close and unrestricted access, adequate quantity and acceptable quality of water, high levels of reliability, affordability, and a realistic burden of management responsibility.
4. We recognise the multiple uses of water, and the multiple sources from which users take their water for domestic and livelihood purposes.
Focusing on ourselves as rural water professionals:
5. We are committed to high quality of design, implementation (of both software activities and construction) and post-construction activities.
6. We will continue to develop, promote, and adhere to specific standards and codes of good practice in rural water supply, and build close links to other development sectors which affect, or are affected by, this sub-sector.
7. We will continue to enhance our own individual and organisational learning and professional development.

We will advocate for:
8. Increased and better-targeted finance for capital investments and for post-construction financing through local Governments to address the sustainability of rural water services.
9. Greater transparency and accountability in regard to progress in rural water provision and service performance.
10. Special efforts to raise the profile of rural water, including development of post-2015 targets and the possibility of an international year of rural water supply.
Endorsed and approved by the delegates to the 6th Global Forum of the Rural Water Supply Network, 1st December 2011.

Other sessions during the day
The day started with a video recap of key issues and learning from presentations of the day before. Thereafter the chairman of RWSN Richard Carter made a presentation on the vision for rural water supplies. The World Bank came in with a presentation examining the status of rural water supply in Sub Sahara Africa. After tea break, parallel sessions started categorised under the following themes: Water for All: solutions at scale, scaling up innovation in community- based management for rural water and how to accelerate self supply. Other sessions included; ground water resources and catchment management, multiple use and drinking water supply in arid environments.

Rural water supplies for Uganda: everybody playing their roles
During the plenary, Uganda shared her experience in rural water supply focusing on the roles of different stakeholders. It came out clear that despite the many actors in rural water supply, the central government must take the leadership role, putting in place conducive policies and lead harmonisation of efforts from all other actors. In Uganda coordination is through the Ministry of Water and Environment while NGO efforts are coordinated by Uganda Water and Sanitation NGO Network (UWASNET).

In regard to innovative technologies the Appropriate Technology Centre (ATC) in place to conduct research as well as breaking the notion that rural water is only hand pumps. By doing so people in rural areas will be able to have water 24 hours of the day while at the same time incorporating water resources in the all development programmes.

In a situation where everyone is playing his/her roles, it is paramount for development partner to always work with government and within the stipulated government guidelines because rural water supply is a development issue.

Water for all: Solutions at scale
The session discussed what remains to be done in order to reach the MDG targets for water. Focus was on moving forward from discussing issues and targets to identifying solutions that can be replicated. It was noted that although the challenges hindering rural people in accessing safe water supply are many, workable solutions do exist. In light of the above, the session therefore focused on sharing example of successful solutions providing access to safe, affordable, accessible and reliable water in rural areas, which can be taken to scale in other regions. Some of the cross cutting susses factors identified include; focusing on sustainability of services in order to attain the MDGS, availability of appropriate technologies that correspond to reality, having in place conducive policy environment, capacity building at different levels and institutional strengthening.

Despite the above, a number of challenges faced while delivering rural water supplies were highlighted and these include; low political and financial priority to rural water supply, rapid urbanisation due to rural urban migration a process that in some instance leads to under utilisation of big rural water supply investments.

To ensure water for all, one of the key recommendations from the session was that governments should have in place supportive rural water supply policy and guidelines to ensure sustainability.

Public –Private partnership
The session further discusses the role of Public – Private Partnership in Madagascar as a promising approach to increase sustainability of piped water supply systems in rural towns. It was noted that the private sector can greatly contribute in ensuring rural water supplies if they are organised into an association (private water operators) for easy coordination.
The success factors for the private water operators identified in Madagascar include; political will, availability of various technological options and support in up scaling them. All other stakeholders should work with the private sector to ensure rural water for all.

Another interesting case study shared in the session was the integration of sanitation model in Peru highlighting the successful experience of coordination between public and private actors for the sustainable management of rural water and sanitation services. The key success factor was that of political will and good leadership. It was also observed that community participation in implementation and management of project is another core success factor.

Day 2: 6th International Rural Water Supply Network Forum

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:48:00 +0000

The day started with wrap up – summary of the previous day of the forum. Thereafter participants went into parallel sessions categorised under the following themes: innovative technologies, decentralised service provision, equity and inclusion, multiple dimensions of costing and financing rural water supply, innovative implementation and management of rural water supplies and sector performance measurements and mapping among others.

Every morning feed back from given through short videos- some thing which was very impressive speareded by IRC. Below picutres show how the Video booth was working, conducting interviews seeking views from participants and immediatly the videos were edited.

Innovative technologies: The session examined the fact that improving access to safe drinking water requires innovative technologies. Which however should be scaled up and fitting in the context of the users. The session also examined the different types of low cost appropriate technologies such as the low cost Drilling with Baptist method.
The Rope Pump is one of such low cost technologies that need scale up

Decentralised service provision: this approach endeavours to develop the responsibility of rural water service provision closer to the user, and sustainably by making use of local institutions to provide the services through infrastructure life cycle. The session explored the institutional sustainability and scalability of approaches for decentralised service delivery with lessons from Kenya, Uganda, Ukraine, South Africa, Malawi, Niger and Burkina Faso.

Equity and inclusion: This session chaired by WaterAid gave a good over view of equity and inclusion issue in rural water supply in the context of the right to water. The session further fused on how to remove barriers to water supply faced by marginalised categories or groups of people. Participants identified key issues that need to be taken forward.
Action research: WaterAid staff demonstrating to forum participants how difficult it is for the physically challenged people to collect water from high sources.

Multiple dimension of costing and financing rural water supply: In the session three case studies from Kenya, Ethiopia, India and Ghana were shared; looking at financing rural water infrastructure, their operation and maintenance as well as other challenges that curtail progress in meeting national rural water MDG targets. In addition, the session examined factors that affect ground water development a major resource in rural water delivery. For example; there was a case study from South Africa that focused on drivers of capital expenditure in rural piped systems, another case shared was from Kenya looking at innovative schemes for financing the development and determination of life cycle costs of rural water delivery. This provided an opportunity for participants to share their financing experiences inplenary discussion.

Innovative implementation and management of rural water supplies: The session discussed the need for innovative approaches to leading to sustainability of rural water supply and management. A number of approaches from different countries were shared and participants analysed their strength and weaknesses as well as exploring opportunities for scaling up innovative approaches.

Sector performance measurements and mapping: The session shared out comes and learning from recent sector performance measurement and mapping projects from different countries. The cases ranged from national and local level initiatives that show current progress and challenges encountered. These highlighted the appropriateness of the different methods and technologies in addressing the equitable extension of rural water supplies.

Village and small town piped water supplies: The session reviewed and shared experience from countries that is; Uganda, South Africa, Rwanda and Kenya. Discussion of the cases mainly focused on management options, roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders, financing of investments, capacity, regulation and monitoring.

Exhibition, poster session: The day ended with participants visiting exhibition stalls, poster presentation and Drop in WaterAid water point mapping side event.

WaterAid stall was very visible- it offered a number of publications to forum participants
Poster presentations

Poster presentations

Strengthening learning in rural water supply use cinema

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:43:00 +0000

Day one afternoon was dominated by parallel sessions all in one way or the other focusing on access and sustainability of rural water supply. I attended a session on Rural Water Cinema where participants watched short films submitted by different organisations focusing on different topics pertaining to rural water supply.

A film by WaterAid in Tanzania really impressed me. It showed practical challenges faced by community owned water supply organisations in managing day to day operations. It also highlighted financial, technical and institutional challenges in rural Tanzania. It concludes with analysing the advantages and disadvantages of different management models showing the strength and weakness of each model in ensuring sustained functionality of rural water supplies.

Key learning
After watching the films, it was obvious that in communities where the reading culture is poor, audio-visual documentaries is the best way to explain a concept, approach of work or showcasing the impact of a particular intervention on community.

It was however noted that while films are good campaign awareness creation tools, if translated in local languages they are also powerful tools in knowledge management and dissemination to a bigger audience.

Production of good films and airing them on national televisions is very costly in most countries. Organisations were advised to always make short and precise because long development films tend to bore.

As a solution to having free air time on national televisions organisation making films were advised to always work with media houses or journalists while filming. This way they can have an opportunity to have key issues identified while filming feature on national television free of charge.

To reach wider audiences at community level, films should be translated into local languages, distribute to local NGOs and support them in screening them at community level.

Day 1: 6th International Rural Water Supply Network Forum

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:03:00 +0000

November 29, the 6th International Rural Water Supply Network Forum opened here in Kampala with 500 participations from 46 different countries ready to share experiences and come up with specific recommendations to ensure sustainable rural water supply for all.

Richard Carter (WaterAid), the chairman Rural Water Supply Network, in his opening remarks noted that despite progress over the last decade, still 900 million people worldwide lack access to safe and sustainable domestic water supply services. And five out of every six of the un served people live in rural areas.

He added that: “the forum presents a fantastic opportunity to move forward, recognising but not dwelling on short comings of how we have done things in the past while moving forward and chanting the next step.”

Dismantling the myths of the past is therefore, the only way to envision a world where all vulnerable people enjoy safe sufficient water and reliable water supply at an affordable price all year round.

Video of Richard Carter’s remarks:

WaterAid project receives a Royal Visitor

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:26:00 +0000

Christina Chacha writes

While on a royal visit to Tanzania this month, HRH the Prince of Wales visited a WaterAid project in Kigamboni. The Prince is the President of the charity. His Royal Highness was welcomed into the vibrant community and shown how water and sanitation issues are being dealt with and improved by the charity.

Kigamboni residents welcomed the Prince with dance and props, waving the Tanzania and British flags.

The prince talked to some community members on how the scheme had changed their lives by reducing cost of accessing water, waiting time and eased the disease burden. The water project established over 11 years ago provides clean and safe water to about 9,600 people.

A demonstration of the gulper works formed the highlight of the event. The Gulper, a hand-operated pump and vehicle, has helped reduce cholera cases in the area. It's a safe, cheap and convenient way to empty latrines in the unplanned urban settlements of Temeke.

Children who are in the school health education plan (Child To Child, CtC) started by WaterAid in Tanzania in collaboration with local partner WAHECO, demonstrated hygiene messages focusing on hand washing, the safe handling of water, use of latrines and environment cleaning through drawings, poems and songs .

The prince was shown a demonstration of the Tippy Tap, an ingenious and cheap innovation which uses water efficiently. The tippy tap is used for hand washing and commonly used by school children.

It was all smiles as the Prince, who wore a WaterAid badge, shook hands with WaterAid staff. He congratulated them and urged them to carry on the good work.

It was an honor to receive a visit from His Royal Highness, and he is definitely welcome again.

Christina Chacha is communications and learning manager for WaterAid in Tanzania.

Using the power of the sun to provide clean water

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:23:00 +0000

Today we visited Mkwambe, on the outskirts of Dar Es Salaam where WaterAid has built a solar powered water pump and installed distribution points around the village.

The village used to rely on traditional, hand-dug wells. This one was concrete lined in 1976 to make it safer and more secure but it dried up in the dry season and became contaminated. A new house nearby has recently built a latrine emptying pit near the well, increasing the risk of contamination.

The new well has been built by WaterAid and is powered by solar panels as there is no mains electricity in the village. It feeds water tanks and distribution points around the village including here at Mkwambe primary and secondary schools.

The local water commitee member Suleiman Ali was also keen to show us the old water sources which people in the village relied on before the new WaterAid borehole was built. Here we met Mwajuma Saidi and her sister Ashul Saidi who showed us the unsafe well they used to use. Film-maker Ferederic Courbet and photographer Jake Lyell film sisters Mwajuma and Ashul Saidi as they collect water from the old well.

The Saidi family now have a clean and secure water source a short walk from their home.

Visiting a WaterAid project in Temeke, Dar Es Salaam

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:53:00 +0000

After the excitement of the Royal visit, it was back to normal life for WaterAid in Tanzania. Today we visited a water source in Nyambwela street, in the Temeke district of Dar Es Salaam.

The electric pump in Nyambwela supplies safe, clean water to around 5,500 people and was installed by WaterAid in 2009 to replace an old hand-pump. The new borehole feeds two 10,000l tanks and ten public taps.

Street chairman, Mouss Bahali told me that the local community has formed a water commitee to manage the source and employ water vendors to sell the water at 25 Tanzanian shillings (TSH) a bucket.

Water committee chairman Ali Shaban added that this gives the vendors a livelihood - around 500TSH a day - and generates funds for the commitee to cover the running costs of the source.

The commitee hopes to generate enough money to increase the number of distribution points around the street.

WaterAid's partner in Temeke, Water, Health, Education and Community Development (WAHECO), supports the water committee with training and providing engineers to maintain the pump.

(Right) Photographer Jake Lyell sets up a photograph of children collecting water

(Left) The neighbours watch proceedings and help keep passers by out of the photos.

(Right) There's no shortage of volunteers to be in the next picture.

More backstage photos

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 09:03:00 +0000

WaterAid staff await their VIP visitor and practice flag waving

WaterAid staff and partners welcome HRH convoy to the water project at Feri street, Kigamboni

Behind the scenes on a Royal visit

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 06:28:00 +0000

Some pictures of the scene as the local community turn out hours in advance to see their royal visitor. And of course the WaterAid staff are there as well, making sure everything is ready.

The first clue that this is no normal day – flags fluttering at the entrance.

The stage is set, and dressed. Here is the tippy-tap, a clever device for handwashing while saving water.

The Gulper and crew get ready...

Film-maker Frederic lines up his shot.

Learn more about the Gulper at http://www.wateraid.org/uk/about_us/newsroom/9961.asp

Enthusiastic welcome for Prince Charles

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:23:00 +0000

HRH The Prince of Wales was today welcomed to Feri Street, Kigamboni, in Dar Es Salaam by a large and enthusiastic crowd keen to show him the safe, clean water source they run and which was installed with the support of WaterAid.

Prince Charles was greeted with singing and dancing, people waving British and Tanzanian flags and schoolchildren who demonstrated handwashing techniques. His Royal Highness met local people who him told him how the new water source had changed their lives, providing clean water for hundreds of families in the community and replacing a long and arduous walk to old and unsafe traditional wells.

A highlight of the visit was the demonstration of the Gulper, the hand-operated pump and vehicle which provides a safe and convenient way of emptying latrines in communities which cannot be served by larger vehicles. The Gulper improves sanitation and provides a livelihood for those who operate it.

HRH also met members of the water and sanitation commitee who manage the source and keep it safe and secure as well as WaterAid Tanzania staff.

There are photos of the visit and the rest of a very busy tour of Tanzania and South Africa on the Prince of Wales' website http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/ and on Storify at http://storify.com/clarencehouse/day-8-tour-blog

I'll post some of my photos here later.

Preparing for a Royal visit

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:01:00 +0000

WaterAid in Tanzania has been preparing for a visit by HRH the Prince of Wales to one of our projects in Dar Es Salaam. This visit is part of a very busy Royal tour which has taken in the Gulf and South Africa before coming to Tanzania.

The day before the visit I met Herbert Kashilia - Kash - of WaterAid in Tanzania and we travelled to the site where WaterAid has installed a clean, safe water source and worked with the local community to manage it. The local water and sanitation committee manages the source. At the moment the area is calm with a few local people collecting water and paying the attendant. Tomorrow it will be a lot busier.....

Highlights from day 5: Beyond latrine construction: Mainstreaming disability in water, hygiene and sanitation service delivery

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:26:00 +0000

Friday 4 November 2011 was the last day of Barbara Frost’s visit to Uganda. In the morning Barbara Frost, WaterAid CEO UK, Peter Millward, WaterAid Trustee, Lydia Zigomo, Head of East Africa Region for WaterAid, and Alice Anukur, Country Representative for WaterAid in Uganda (WAU), as well as five other WAU staff (Spera, James & Geoffrey) visited the National Union of Disabled Persons (NUDIPU) and Action on Disability and Development International (ADDI) Ugandan offices to identify areas of collaboration and synergy in addressing challenges people with disability face in accessing water, sanitation and hygiene. The meeting was held with Francis Kinubi, Board Chair for NUDIPU, Edson Nyirabakunzi, Head of Programmes, Justus Atwijukire, Project Officer and Joseph Walugembe, the Country Director ADDI Uganda.

Meeting with NUDIPU and ADDI

NUDIPU is an umbrella organisation that brings together associations and individuals with different disabilities in Uganda to advocate for the mainstreaming of disability in service delivery. Currently NUDIPU operates in 61 districts country wide, including districts where WAU is working.

The network is advocating for the mainstreaming of disability in policy formulation and service delivery. NUDIPU spearhead and supports the formation of organisations for disabled people at district and lower local government levels, this provides opportunity for engagement with WAU and her partners.

ADDI is an international organisation and a major supporter and partner of the disability movement in Uganda since 1987. ADDI advocates for the inclusion and mainstreaming of disability in policies and service delivery.

Working with these organisations is in line with WaterAid’s values and principles of Equity and Inclusion which looks at who the excluded categories of people are and ensures that these have access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation services. Some of the challenges identified include latrines with no windows, small entrances and limited compliance with recommended inclusive standards.

Disability is diverse and many people do not know how to deal with it. Integration of disability in WASH is not all about having inclusive designs but should mean more participation of the disabled people in WASH service delivery.

Barbara sharing with NUDIPU Board Chair person Francis Kinubi

Lessons from the visit
There are many forms of disability ranging from the physical, visual, and hearing amongst others. Talking about WASH services that reach the disabled community members therefore means having in place both inclusive designs and the ability to target resources to different categories of disabled people. It was noted that, at times, focus is often put on the physical disability at the expense of other forms. This challenges us to rethink how we deliver water, sanitation and hygiene services in a specialised way to meet the needs of the different categories of disability; say in schools. WASH practitioners should be sensitised not to look at disability as a medical problem but rather from a social perspective. For example, the need to sensitise disabled women about personal hygiene and beauty in order to raise their confidence.
There is need to widen our understanding and planning for disability beyond the physical disability.

Areas of collaboration identified
The meeting was very positive, yielding possible areas of collaboration including: Community empowerment targeting people with disabilities to appreciate and demand for their WASH rights, strengthening capacity of district local governments and civil society organisations to advocate for people with disability and to understand how WASH links with their work, strengthening district unions of PWDs in understanding WASH beyond access, ensuring participation and representation of PWDs in the planning, budgeting, monitoring and management of WASH facilities.

There is need to focus on targeting and working with disabled peoples groups as well as having appropriate communication channels with them. Other critical areas included joint advocacy, especially at the national level to ensure that the policy commitments are translated into practice to address challenges affecting PWDs in different sectors of education, health, WASH, and livelihoods.

With an established advocacy agenda focusing on specific areas of concern affecting the various member categories, synergies with WAU are apparent with value adding results.

WaterAid pledged to mainstream disability in WASH planning, establishment of structures to ensure representation of PWDs on WASH Committees, capacity building of partners on disability issues as well as linking NUDIPU with Uganda Water and Sanitation NGO network (UWASNET) for greater outreach.

WAU is in the process of supporting the formation of a parliamentary committee on WASH. This should include representatives from members of parliament with disability. The key challenge that remains is how to reach out to the different categories of disability with these messages because disability is as diverse as the challenges are.

Appropriate technology does not necessarily mean cheap technology

Barbara Frost visit Appropriate Technology Centre for water and sanitation
Barbara Frost, accompanied by a team of seven WaterAid staff, visited the Appropriate Technology Centre (ATC), an initiative established in 2010 by the Ministry of Water and Environment to promote action research and development of appropriate technologies for water and sanitation.

Trying out a different type of hand washing facility developed by ATC

The goal of the visit was to identify areas of collaboration in research and capacity building. It as well offered an opportunity for discussion of mainstreaming different categories of disability in technological designs.

In the discussions with ATC it was noted that “appropriate technology does not necessarily mean cheap” as many people tend to think. It should be that type of technology that suits the environment, acceptable and manageable by the people. The challenge faced is how to make good technology cheaper and affordable to the poor communities.

Appreciating a toilet facility constructed using plastic water bottles picked from garbage dumps

WaterAid in Uganda sits on different sector working groups. This is an additional opportunity to take up technological issues for discussion and influence inclusion of inclusive designs.

WaterAid recommended that learning centres like this should be playing a bigger role at regional levels piloting new technologies, organising technology exhibitions and setting up technology model villages to monitor the technologies for improvement.

Barbara Frost, “My final word”
“It has been a fantastic week in Uganda, visiting country programmes really connects me with what we are here for. It has recharged my battery and gives me stories to tell other people about real like experiences of the impact of WaterAid work.”

The Urban Challenge
“Kawempe (urban poor settlement) was a shock but I saw vibrant economic activity showing what people can do with so little to change their living conditions. Urban area challenges are great, worsened with the high rural urban migration and population increase that out pace WASH service delivery.”

Rural
“We felt challenged, humbled and inspired. We have really seen some fantastic work both in rural and urban programmes supported by WaterAid. It was inspiring to see rain water harvesting being promoted by women, something which can easily be replicated. What I can’t forget of the trip are the many community members we met working hard to improve their lives, sharing with us how easy access to clean water has changed their lives.

“We have been to schools and heard children sing and dancing, talking about water, sanitation and hygiene, washing their bodies and general smartness. It is always inspiring to see these young stars determined not only to clean them selves but to go home and talk about these issue with their families.

“We have met many people who have inspired us by taking action to change the water and sanitation situation in their villages. They have kept the villages clean, constructed and utilized latrines and make sure that the investments in place are sustained. We went to one village and met a woman using rain water harvesting to feed her animals for income generation which is a good example of integration of WASH in other sectors.”

Barbara giving her reflections of the visit being interviewed by Alice Anukur, WAU Country Representative and James Kiyimba on camera

Exemplary leadership for better sanitation
“Improvement in WASH in most cases goes hand in hand with good leadership. Where we saw good leadership things get to be done the right way, and where leadership is not exemplary, WASH services are also poor. The WaterAid in Uganda team has demonstrated our values (always learning, collaborative, accountable, courageous, and inspiring) and also has good leadership.

“The Uganda Minister of Water and Environment Hon. Maria Mutagamba is also very inspiring, determined to make a change, pushing other people to work with her and provide more money at all levels to finance sanitation.”

This is the WaterAid in Uganda team that is contributing to the realisation to water and sanitation for all

Hope for the future
“I hope all communities visited continue putting up the good works they have started and bringing it to scale in other villages. WaterAid is continuing to work with local NGOs, District Local Governments to make sure that all good practices are replicated. We need to have a stronger focus on equity and inclusion, research on appropriate technology, strengthen school’s WASH (including menstrual management) and above all continue to advocate for the prioritisation of WASH budgeting and resource allocation.

“Water is life and sanitation is dignity. With out these means that many people will continue to live unhealthy lives, children dying of preventable diseases and the vicious cycle of poverty will continue. This is unacceptable, water and sanitation is a fundamental human right for all.”

Barbara, Peter and Lydia your visit to Uganda has been inspiring, we appreciate the advice you have given us and partnerships linkages you have initiated identified.

WaterAid CEO in Kawempe Uganda

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:12:00 +0000

Water kiosk in Kawempe.mp4

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:11:00 +0000

Barbara Frost in Equator Primary School Uganda.mp4

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:03:00 +0000

Highlights of day four: Breaking the taboo - talking about toilets and menstrual hygiene over breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:30:00 +0000

Breakfast meeting organised to launch WAU 2011 – 2016 Country Strategy: It is rare in most African cultures to discuss sanitation issues in public- we need to break such taboos and make sanitation a political and funding priority.

In many African cultures discussing sanitation issues, particularly talking about toilets, faeces and menstrual management for adolescent girls in public, over breakfast and other meals is generally unacceptable. This lack of open discussion partly explains why the sanitation sub sector is lagging behind in the race of attaining the Millennium Development Goals targets in many African countries.
Thursday 3 November Over a breakfast meeting at Serena Hotel, WaterAid in Uganda (WAU) launched her new Country Strategy (2011-2016) with a determined aim of improving toilet coverage in the districts of operation, with a strong focus on integrating menstrual hygiene management in schools and improving access to safe water.

The launch was attended by representatives from government, the donor community, WaterAid implementing partners and representatives from several civil society organisations. Ideas were freely shared on how to avert open defecation and the need for adolescent school girls to have washrooms separated from those of young girls to ensure their privacy during the monthly menstrual periods.

Attentively listening to the minister of Water and Environment

Breaking the silence
It was amazing to see both men and women attending the Country Strategy launch openly discussing faeces and menstrual hygiene management issues as they are sipping their coffee, something which is often considered a no go area for public discussion.

Such open discussions, according to the WaterAid Chief Executive Officer, Barbara Frost, are very instrumental in making sanitation a financial priority at different levels of government.

Left: Hon. Maria Mutagamba Minister of Water and Environment, Middle; Alice Anukur (WAU Country Representative) and Barbara Frost WaterAid Chief Executive launching the WaterAid in Uganda 2011 -2016 Country Strategy.

“I am delighted to be here because all of us know that Uganda has made fantastic progress in water and sanitation coverage. Uganda is really making great strides forward, mainly because of good leadership, and should be an inspiration to other countries in the region, “Barbara said.

Despite the progress more needs to be done because the scale of the problem is too big. “Water and sanitation remains one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century,” Barbara said: “It is inspiring to see people determined to raising its profile in the public domain discussing opportunities of engagement at different levels, showing the linkage between health, education and poverty reduction in general,”

Barbara addressing the media: She called upon African governments to make sanitation a funding priority.

“African governments, including Uganda, need to make sanitation a priority spending at least three and half per cent of GDP on water and sanitation. Priority on sanitation and water contributes to reducing the number of children dying of WASH related ailments such as diarrhoea and dysentery, giving hundreds of Ugandan children a chance to live”, the CEO added.

Alice Anukur, WaterAid in Uganda Country Representative, in her address reiterated WAU’s efforts to continue supplementing government efforts (in an accountable manner) to ensure water and sanitation for all. This will be achieved through the partnership approach; strengthening working relationship with line ministries (Finance, Water and Environment, Health, Education and urban planning) and the decentralised structures at district local government level.

In addition, WaterAid will work with local NGOs and communities who understand the local problems and solutions, focusing on sustainability of sector investments, community ownership, equity & inclusion and influencing other players to put more money in the water and sanitation subsector.

WaterAid team chatting with the Minister of Water and Environment at the end of the launch

The guest of honour Hon. Maria Mutagamba, the Minister of Water and Environment said: “The new strategy is timely because it is focusing on the poor, providing equitable and sustainable access to over half a million people in a number of districts. The strategy also aims at empowering the community to demand for their WASH rights but I prefer to use the word ‘appreciate’ the right to water and sanitation because this is life,” the minister said. “You cannot demand for your life from anybody but you have to look after it. As people demand their rights, they are duty bound to fulfil their responsibilities- sanitation is usually a private matter therefore people should make efforts to provide by themselves sanitation facilities in their home.”

“Locally and internationally I have been campaigning for the economic case for sanitation financing. All of us here we need to find the economic case to sanitation to justify the resources we need, and the Ministry of Finance has to be with us.” the minister said.

“As we are talking of increased integration of WASH in wider development (i.e. in health, education and agriculture) I am adding local government because we tend to think that these things are to be done at national level yet their delivery is mainly at local levels – this is where we expect the local government to come up with bylaws for sanitation and implement them then we can have increased coverage,” she added while thanking WaterAid for bringing sanitation discussion at the breakfast meeting involving many high profile dignitaries.

WaterAid’s conviction
WaterAid is implementing the new strategy with a strong belief that safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation underpin health, education and livelihoods and form the first, essential step in overcoming poverty. WAU is taking a district-wide approach, delivering a holistic package that integrates service delivery, policy advocacy and influencing others. The strategy is further guided by the principles of inclusive service delivery, using the rights based approach to address issues of marginalisation and exclusion to realise a vision where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation.

Group photo of participants at the launch of the country strategy

Highlights of day three: Barbara Frost visits Mpigi and Gomba districts of Central Uganda

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 10:17:00 +0000

While in Mpigi, Barbara had an adventure to stand with one foot in the northern hemisphere and another foot on the southern hemisphere of the world.

Wednesday 2 November Barbara Frost, CEO of WaterAid, visited the districts of Mpigi and Gomba in Central Uganda, about 97 Km from Kampala city, where Busoga Trust (Local NGO partner) has been providing sustainable clean water with adequate sanitation and hygiene education.

Gomba is relatively a new district. Previously it was one of the sub counties making up the greater Mpigi. It is a water stressed district found in the cattle corridor of Uganda (areas where cattle keeping is the main economic activity). According to the District Performance Report (2010/2011), safe water coverage stands at 42.7% while sanitation coverage now stands at 52.5%. These low coverage figures are mainly due to limited funding and lack of exemplary leadership at different levels of local government in the district.

Since 2006, WaterAid has been in partnership with Mpigi District Local Government and Busoga Trust, supporting initiatives that bring hope and ensure the realisation of water and sanitation for all in the greater Mpigi district. The work mainly targets the poor and vulnerable community members who day by day face the challenge of trekking long distances in search of water to meet their household and animal needs.

Sharing with the community in Kisozi parish on how WaterAid supported projects in the community are improving their livelihoods

Barbara Frost, accompanied by Peter Millward, WaterAid Board of Trustees member, Lydia Zigomo, Head of East Africa region, and other WaterAid staff visited a school and a number of community WASH projects in the district to have first-hand information from the people accessing WASH services on how WaterAid support is contributing to the improvement of their lives and their struggle to break the bondage of poverty.

Visiting the school’s WASH Project in Mpigi
A number of households in the community have learnt to use drying racks; such skills ate tough at schools and passed on to the community by the children

Equator Parents is a government aided primary school located just near the Equator (an imaginary line that separates the world into two parts that is the northern and southern hemisphere).

With a current population of 566 pupils, 253 female and 313 male, the school through WaterAid support has acquired a 20,000 litre rain water harvesting tank, four shower rooms and two latrine blocks for girls- one for older girls for menstrual management and the other for younger girls. The pupils of the school no longer have to miss classes, walking more than 2km down the valley in search for water. During the dry season they collect water from a community borehole also constructed with support from WaterAid.

Barbara speaking to Hope the Schools Health Club Leader

Hope Asekenye, 12, in primary six, is the chairperson of the school’s Health Club and leader of the girls’ hygiene initiative says that the support from WaterAid has enabled the schools to have their own toilet blocks to ensure privacy especially for the adolescent girls.

“We have two toilet blocks; one block of six stances is shared by teachers and adolescent girls. The teachers use three stances and the girls use the other three, and then another block is used by girls in lower classes. When we got the new toilets, the old toilet blocks were left for the boys,” Hope says: “Girls in adolescence also have their wash rooms where they wash and hang their pads during menstrual periods.”

The schools Senior Woman teacher, Mary Sseruwo says that ever since the school water and sanitation project was started a lot has changed: “With more latrine blocks and wash rooms for girls, menstrual hygiene management in Equator primary school has been made possible. Adolescent girls are more confident than before, they attend classes more regularly because they are assured of privacy and easy access to water during menstrual periods.”

Barbara and Peter trying out the different hand washing with soap technologies

The project has led to increased awareness on the values of hand washing with soap and general personal hygiene among pupils. The schools health club uses music, dance and drama to pass on WASH messages to all the pupils, teachers and their guardians. In addition, every Monday, a school health parade is conducted to monitor hygiene and ensure smartness among pupils.

Without WaterAid support, all these good things would not be possible. Equator Parents primary school is a brilliant example of how water, sanitation and hygiene can be integrated in education.

Community Water Source

Community borehole in Kankobe village

Barbara Frost visited Kankobe-Senero community water source to learn how the operation and maintenance structure work. To ensure functionality, Kankobe Community borehole has a user’s committee comprising of five people (the vice and treasurer being women) whose responsibility is to ensure that the borehole bylaws are enforced. Two caretakers (a female and male) have been trained to carry out minor repairs and ensure general cleanliness.

Margret Nakubulwa, the treasurer of the user’s committee says that, the village has 120 households; each on a monthly basis contributes 500 Uganda shillings to the operation and maintenance fund. The committee also ensures the enforcement of facility bylaws. The village has been sensitive to the needs and challenges of the different households and the most vulnerable, in particular the elderly, are exempted from payment of user fees.

Community members giving gifts as a token of appreciation for water source

To date, the management of Kankobe-Senero community borehole is going from strength to strength, pumping safe water to all nearby villages, saving the residents from consuming unsafe water from the swamps more than two miles away contributing to the general reduction of water related diseases in the area.

Visit to Lusozi women’s rain water harvesting project

Barbara helping Shamimu Namubiru to collect water from a rain water harvesting jar constructed with WaterAid support.

Barbara Frost had an opportunity to share with members of Lusozi Twekembe Women’s Group – a self-help group of 25 rural women located in Kisozi parish, Gomba district on of the most water stressed areas in central Uganda. They are engaged in activities to improve household income and access to water and sanitation through construction of rain water harvesting jars.

WaterAid, in partnership with Busoga Trust (local implementing NGO), has supported many women in Kisozi parish to acquire skills in the construction of rain water harvesting jars. Before the project, the nearest water source was River Katonga which is a 7km walking distance. For those who could not walk the distance, the main source of water was the ponds and streams shared by animals.

Shamimu Namubiru, the chairperson of the group says: “On our own we have so far constructed 31 rain water harvesting jars, targeting the most vulnerable community members who include the elderly, HIV/AIDS affected and orphan headed household. We also sensitise community members about personal hygiene. As a result almost every household in the parish has a pit latrine increasing sanitation coverage from a mere 20% at baseline in 2010 to over 80% by October 2011.”

In addition, Shamimu collects water from her rain water jar to feed her 80 chickens which on average lay 60 eggs every day, she also uses the chicken droppings as fertilisers in her garden.

Before she acquired this rain water harvesting jar Zawedde Namazzi used to collect water for her household needs from the pond on the right.

Zawedde Namazzi 40, a widow from Kawula village of Kisozi parish is grateful that she no longer has to collect water for her household needs from the pond shared with cattle keepers.

At the end of the day the WaterAid team paid a courtesy visit to Gomba District Local Government leaders who expressed their appreciation to WaterAid. “Thank you so much for supplementing our efforts, this has greatly contributed to the improvement of people’s lives here in Gomba. We know it is our mandate to deliver services to the people who elect us but often times we are curtailed by limited resources,” said Kyabangi Abdul the District Chairperson.

Barbara Frost, Chief Executive Officer WaterAid UK in Uganda: Highlights from day two

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:47:00 +0000

Tuesday 1 November, Barbara Frost WaterAid CEO UK, Peter Millward, WaterAid Trustee, Lydia Zigomo, Head of East Africa Region for WaterAid, and Alice Anukur, Country Representative for WaterAid in Uganda, as well as five other WAU staff, travelled for about three hours the evening before on a tarmac bumpy road to Masindi district which is located in mid- western Uganda, 215 km from Kampala city.

Community meeting in Nyakasagazi village

Masindi is a muilti-cultural district; home to 56 ethnic groups. As a result of many years of insurgency in northern Uganda, the district has received an influx of internally displaced persons exerting more pressure on land and water supply infrastructure.

Work in Masindi
WaterAid has been working with Masindi district local government since June 2006. At this time safe water coverage in the area was 52.7%. Currently WaterAid contributes 15% of the total district annual investment in water and sanitation sector and this support has greatly contributed to the current district safe water coverage which now stands at 64.7%, and latrine coverage of 68%.

Travel to Nyakasagaizi Village

Nyakasagazi is one of the hardest to reach villages in the district

While in Masindi the WaterAid team visited Nkakasagazi village, Pakanyi sub-county, 35 km away from the district headquarters. On arrival to the village, the visitors were welcomed by joyous community members playing traditional music and dances.

Everyone was happy the visitors joined in with the singing and dancing: “As you can see we don’t have money to pay you for all that you supported us with,” the community members sang,“this is why we are dancing for you, expressing our appreciation for the water source nearby.”

Every household in the village has a pit latrine and a hand washing facility.

Before WaterAid intervention, Nyakasagazi was among the villages in the district with very low sanitation coverage and open defecation was normal for the majority. Ever since intervention, the village has become a model for the whole district. It is a good example of how extemporary leadership leads to better sanitation. Though grass thatched, all households in the village are very neat, have pit latrines, dry racks and hand washing facilities.

Community borehole

Left: The only source of safe drinking water in the village built with WaterAid support. Right: Barbara Frost testing the community water hand pump.

Through WaterAid's support, village members no longer have to walk long distances in search for water because they have a nearby borehole serving 89 households, which is treasured like a god. For proper operation and maintenance, a management committee of seven people is in place and each household contributes 2000 Uganda shillings (about 50 pence) to the operation and maintenance fund annually.

John Kisa, the chairperson of the Facility User’s Committee says: “Money collected is used to service the borehole, potting a fence as well as oiling the facility, however we call village meetings to discuss expenditure of the money spent.”

Visiting Kitonozi Primary School
The WaterAid team visited Kitonozi Primary School, located in Bujanga sub-county. With 400 pupils, this is one of the schools where water, sanitation and hygiene projects have been implemented with funding from BandAid and support from WaterAid. Through this support, the school has acquired a girls ventilated improved pit latrine which has a shower room and a stance for the physically disabled pupils. In addition, the school has a borehole which is also serves the nearby community.

Left: Girls sanitary block constructed by the district with WaterAid support. Right: WaterAid visitors from London receiving gifts from the school’s head teacher as a sign of appreciation.

Lilian Kajujubwe, the school head teacher, is so grateful that school pupils no longer have to miss classes in search for water. Adolescent girls are happy too because they have a shower room and can easily collect water from the borehole nearby in the school playground. The school has a Schools Health Club where members talk to their peers about personal hygiene, water and sanitation, and also take the message to their families, thus becoming sanitation change agents in their communities.

Women’s Club building rain water harvesting tanks
This women’s group was trained by WaterAid to construct rain water harvesting tanks.

The WaterAid team visited Karujubu Community Maizi Bwomezi (Water is Life) Club which has a membership of 60 women who have built Ferro cement rainwater harvesting tanks. Mrs Kato Joyce, chairperson of the club, says: “So far 38 members have benefited, this has saved them from using water from a nearby stream contaminated with chemicals from the sugar cane plantation.” She adds that the group is open to all people but everyone joining must have a pit latrine and a drying rack. Members of the group have acquired skills of constructing water tanks and their services have been extended to nearby villages. All group members are very grateful to WaterAid.

Meeting with the istrict executive
The day ended with a field debrief with the district local government executives from both the technical and political wings. The discussion focused on a number of issues including sustainability of WASH investment and planning for menstrual hygiene in schools as an avenue of keeping schoolgirls in school, thus a contribution to population control in the area.

The day ended with a meeting with the district executive who provide extemporary leadership for better sanitation.

Barbara Frost, Chief Executive Officer WaterAid UK visits Uganda Country Programme: Highlights from day one

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 10:23:00 +0000

October 31 2011, Barbara Frost, Chief Executive Officer for WaterAid UK and Peter Millward, representing WaterAid Board Trustee, accompanied by Lydia Zigomo, Head of East African Region, are in Uganda on a five-day working visit to the WaterAid in Uganda (WAU) country programme. The goal of the visit is to see the impact of work that WaterAid supporters have made possible in both the rural and urban programmes.

WaterAid has been working in Uganda since 1983 supporting water, sanitation and hygiene initiatives in the country because limited access to water, sanitation and hygiene are holding people in poverty. This is Barbara’s first time visiting the WAU country programme and Peter’s first time in Uganda.

Stand up meeting

Meeting WaterAid in Uganda staff

Day one started with an early morning stand up meeting lasting 30 minutes at WAU offices. Barbara, Peter and Lydia were welcomed to WAU office by staff. Alice Anukur, the WAU Country Representative, gave a brief about the country programme and introduced the WAU senior management team who in turn introduced their team members.

The visitors were also given a security briefing since there was a planned Walk to Work demonstration in the city due to high cost of living. The visit is coming six months into the implementation of the new WAU Country Strategy (2011-2016) that focuses on a district-wide approach integrating service delivery and advocacy.

Visiting the urban poor
From the WaterAid offices, the team visited Kawempe Slums, welcomed by jubilant community members and the WAU local implementing partners in the area - Community Integrated Development Initiatives (CIDI) and African Evangelistic Enterprise (AEE).

Community member collecting water from a tank constructed with WaterAid's support. Availability of the tank has helped his family save on money he would have used to buy water from vendors.

Visit to a public toilet

From the left: Nalongo, a public toilet care taker shares her joy with Barbara Frost WA CEO UKand Alice Ankur, WAU Country Representative.

Passing through a fruits market, the WaterAid team visited a public toilet used by the market vendors and nearby households constructed in 2007 with WaterAid support.

Nalongo Lutakome, the toilet caretaker, joyfully thanked WaterAid for the facility. She said: "Before the toilet was constructed, the majority of households were using buckets and nylon bags and dumping them on garbage collection points. Ever since the toilet was constructed, community members no longer live with that shame of inappropriate disposal of faeces; our children now have a good environment to play without touching in faeces.”

To keep the facility clean and to pay for emptying services, bylaws were formed where each household nominates a day for cleaning. Market vendors pay a user fee of 100 shillings each time they enter the facility.

“To ensure that the toilet is in good working condition, I have even brought my charcoal selling business closer for effective monitoring of the cleanliness of the facility. Because of this close watch, the toilet has been named in my name”, Nalongo said while emphasising the commitment she has in ensuring that this public facility is functional at all times.

High water table

From the left: Maurice Naguija, a community member, explaining the value of her toilet facility to Barbara Frost WA CEO UK.

Kawempe is a low-lying area with a high water table, a challenge which makes the construction of latrines (the most common form of faecal disposal) very expensive because they have to be lined with waterproof cement which is beyond the reach of the urban poor. If not lined the latrines become water logged during the rainy season.

Maurice Nagujja, a grandmother in her 80s, is very glad that through the support of WaterAid she now has a safe place to go. The latrine is used by her five grandchildren and the nearby community who contribute an agreed fee for operation and maintenance.

She keeps the facility clean by employing a caretaker whom she gives food to in return for the cleaning work. Without this latrine Maurice says she does not know how life would be, she thought of moving but she did not have anywhere to go.

Drainage channels

Drainage channels like this one constructed with WaterAid support are very instrumental in reducing floods in the area.

Ruth Nanfuka, a resident of one of the slum wards, said that before AEE, WaterAid’s local partner NGO, constructed a drainage channel in her ward (zone), each time there was a heavy downpour all the houses in the area would get submerged in water. Now life is much better because of the drainage channels constructed. Ruth however, noted the need at community level to keep the channels clean.

A water kiosk that changed a household’s life

Water Kiosk with a grocery store, Joyce Nakibuuka, a community member, standing in front of her chicken shed shares with Barbara Frost, WA CEO UK, explaining how she has used the water kiosk to start rearing chicken to generate income.

While in Bwaise, Barbara was also inspired by Joyce Nakibuuka, a mother of five, providing a good example of how of water, sanitation and hygience plays an integral part in poverty reduction.

Joyce’s life has significantly changed since the commissioning of the water kiosk by Prince Charles HRH in 2007. Joyce now sells water to community members at a small profit margin. She also runs runs a grocery shop in the kiosk. In addition, she has easy access to water for her 100 chickens, supporting her main source of income which is selling eggs. Though Joyce does not make a lot of money, through selling water she has been able to buy a mobile phone, fast becoming the most useful business tool in Africa.

Citizen action for water and sanitation

Community Based Monitoring and Advocacy committee members sharing information about how they have used advocacy skills to influence WASH service delivery in their areas.

The first day of the country visit ended with a meeting with the Community Based Advocacy and Monitoring committee members in Kawempe. The group shared information about how they have used their community led advocacy skills to influence the delivery of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in their areas.

Scot Kiwanuka, one of the committee members, said that because of the empowerment from WaterAid advocacy project community members, though poor, they are not voiceless: “I have used the skills acquired to advocate for WASH in my community, and in the just concluded local government elections I was voted a woman councillor for my parish to our local council”, she said.

CIDI, local WaterAid partner, facilitates the process putting the citizens at the centre of engagement with WASH service providers demanding accountability of decisions made in regard to WASH service delivery.

Peter Damba, another advocacy committee member, said the project has opened their eyes: “We are now confident to participate in and influence our area budgeting processes by advocating for the prioritisation of WASH, before we did not know what to do when we problems arose", he said.

Advocacy and influencing is play a key role in the new WAU (2011- 2016) country strategy, which is yet to be launched by Barbara. Through this community-led advocacy approach, government and other service providers are made to be held accoutnable for their actions, providing what is a much more sustainable system thanNGOs speaking on behalf of the community.

Barbara was inspired by the zeal and commitment from community members geared towards making a change in their lives: “Indeed to ensure water and sanitation for all, it has got to be the government, the private sector collecting garbage and NGOs all working together”, Barbara said. "Let all players play their part”.

Barbara was happy to learn that people are proud of the sanitary facilities that have been provided through WaterAid's work: "I have seen and met some amazing people who are putting all their time and energy into improving the health of their communities, they are also proud that they have got decent toilets” she said.

WaterAid's 3rd Africa Water Week blog

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 12:53:00 +0000

WaterAid took part in the 3rd Africa Water Week, 22-26 November, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Africa Water Week is an annual conference led by the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW).

It represents a political commitment at the highest level and a platform for governments, regional financial and development institutions, international partners, the private sector, civil society, and the media to discuss and collectively seek solutions to Africa's water and sanitation challenges.

The theme of this year's Africa Water Week is 'Implementing the Africa Water Vision and meeting the MDG targets: Challenges and opportunities in water and sanitation', and is divided into the following sub-themes:

1.Financing Investment in Water for Growth and Development
2.Water and Urbanisation
3.Water, Climate and Development
4.Institutional Development and Capacity Building
Throughout the week WaterAid will be contributing to the discussions and thematic sessions, and promote the key civil society messages that were developed in advance.

Mara Van Den Bold, Programme Officer at WaterAid, blogs from the event...

Day 5

3rd Africa Water Week draws to a close

What a week. Africa Water Week has finished, and as we pack our bags to leave Addis I'll give a brief summary of the last days of the week. On Thursday each of the parallel sessions reported back in the plenary with the main key conclusions and recommendations, which will be summarised in the official outcome document of the week. During the closing ceremony various high-level figures shared their views of the week and their objectives for moving forward. A representative from the Youth Forum outlined the importance of the involvement of the youth in the water and sanitation sector in Africa. She emphasised the importance of raising awareness of African youth to contribute to the water and sanitation agenda, building the capacity of African youth to strengthen governance in the sector, and involving them in the implementation of policies on WASH and climate change.

Furthermore, a representative from the African Water Association (AfWA) – the Pan-African network of service providers – stressed that the main obstacle to MDG 7 (Ensure environmental sustainability) is not the lack of financing but the lack of local know how. He stated that AfWA can offer AMCOW its expertise to define policies based on more innovative solutions.

Finally, the new Chair of AMCOW and Minister of Water and Environment of South Africa, Hon. Edna Molewa, stated that building institutional capacity is one of the most important issues in the WASH sector. She called for a stronger AMCOW that can grow its regional presence and play a bigger monitoring and coordinating role on the continent. She stressed that particular attention should be given to issues of urbanisation and climate change and that collaboration with Ministries of Environment in order to deal with adaptation strategies is needed.

As the final outcome document of the week is being deliberated in a closed session, we pack our bags and head to the airport. That outcome document will allow us to see how our contributions have been taken up in final deliberations and we will be sure to post it here once available.

It has been a very busy but productive week, and WaterAid was able to make a significant contribution to the various sessions and side events, particularly those on urbanisation and climate change. We supported the drawing together of the civil society messages at the beginning of the week; contributed significantly in the various sessions, spoken with people about WaterAid’s work; explored new areas for partnership that will allow us to move our work ever more forward in collaboration with local and national governments, development and financial institutions, and civil society organisations across Africa. In the coming months we will be working at country and regional levels towards AfricaSan 2011, which is likely to be the biggest conference held on sanitation in Africa thus far and of course we will be keeping you up to date throughout the duration of that event, which falls within the objectives of the WASH sector in Africa, to ensure that the Millennium Development Goals on water and sanitation are met by 2015.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 4

Parallel sessions wrap up and AfricaSan Awards ceremony takes place

Parallel sessions concluded at the end of Wednesday; the session on Financing Investment in Water for Growth and Development took a particular look at the financing gap in Africa’s water and sanitation infrastructure, concluding that billions are needed to address the continent’s infrastructure gap. Various estimates were quoted with regards to the amount needed to ensure healthy water and sanitation infrastructure in Africa. Alyse Schrecongost of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation estimated that to address the financing gap in water and sanitation infrastructure in Africa approximately 11 billion USD is needed every year. Speaking during the session, Schrenongost stated that there is a critical need for additional water and sanitation financing to meet the financing requirements, reduce costs, improve technologies, and increase revenues. She emphasised that “infrastructure costs required could be reduced as much as 60 percent by focusing on basic, decentralised sanitation systems,” noting that the majority of sanitation infrastructure funding in Africa supports large centralised sewage projects, which often cater to the least vulnerable (AWW3 daily).

Ali Kies, Director of the Water and Sanitation Department, African Development Bank, estimated that Africa requires USD30 billion per year to address the gap. He stated that “neither public funding nor Official Development Assistance will be enough so we need innovative approaches to rise to the challenge ahead.” He also urged countries to develop national plans with clear financing plans.

Furthermore, during a side event convened by the Global Water Partnership (GWP), the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) warned that the lack of research and building metrological and hydrological data is likely to undermine countries’ efforts to adapt to adverse climate change impacts. Datius Rutashobya of WMO stated that “we need to work towards sensitising policy makers [...] to ensure that they understand the value of [data collection] [...] [Researched data] is a requirement for climate change and hydrological issues for different countries [and] should be readily available at an appropriate time.” – AWW3 daily

Processes also kicked off on Wednesday for the coordination of the 6th World Water Forum (WWF), which will take place in Marseilles, France in 2012. The WWF is the world’s largest water event which is expected to gather stakeholders from within and outside the water sector to discuss water management and access to water supply and sanitation and solicit lasting political commitment. The African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) is to coordinate the process for the continent. AMCOW Executive Secretary Bai-Mass Taal expressed confidence in AMCOW’s political leadership in effectively mobilising relevant groups in the period leading up to the WWF and that even though significant financial and capacity support will be needed, Africa should still be able to own the participation process.

Wednesday was also the day of the AfricaSan Awards, awards given to individuals from across Africa for their outstanding achievements in sanitation. Among the various awards given out during the ceremony, there are a few particularly worth mentioning. One was a posthumous award given to Osseynou Diop, the sanitation guru, who was leading the World Bank’s Sanitation Program when he passed away shortly after 2nd Africa Water Week last year, and who was instrumental in the establishment of the AfricaSan awards. Another award was given to Santos, a well-known Mozambican artist who for years has sung about sanitation and water in his home province of Niassa and on the international stage and has worked extensively with WaterAid. Another price went out to an elderly woman from a small town in Southern Ethiopia, who had been the sole driver of making sure both private and public latrines were built in her town, resulting in a significant reduction in open defecation and water and sanitation related diseases. She had never left her village, until Wednesday 24 November when she came to Addis Ababa to receive the award...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 3

Serving the un-served: Do CSOs truly influence reforms to the benefit of the urban poor?

WaterAid facilitated a side event on Tuesday afternoon, the purpose of which was to explore and assess how utilities have piloted and/or mainstreamed pro-poor approaches in their work and the impact that civil society organisations have on influencing reform of utilities towards adopting a more pro-poor approach, as they broker dialogue between governments, utilities undergoing reforms and affected citizens.

To give you an example, a representative from the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) in Uganda spoke about the urban slums in Kampala, in which poor residents often buy water at extraordinarily high prices from private vendors. In 2005, the NWSC started to look at how it could serve the poor, while ensuring an approach that was also financially viable. NWSC subsequently piloted the use of pre-paid meters so that poor urban residents would be able to pay for their water as needed. The pilot drastically improved accessibility and 10,000 households are now served by pre-paid meters. One of the main challenges in implementing this approach has been determining which areas to target, and on the basis of which data, as well as bringing together the various stakeholders involved, and financing the approach while still retaining financial viability of the utility.

WaterAid also made a presentation during the Water, Climate and Development session, showcasing the work that has been done with water point mapping in Malawi and how this data can provide significant information about rainfall, water levels, water quality and demand. This type of data can significantly help governments and hence communities better prepare for disasters and can simultaneously be used as a tool for influencing governance within the sector.

Furthermore, WaterAid Madagascar presented a case study of the importance of incorporating gender into the climate change adaptation, highlighting the impact of gender on WASH governance and sustainable development, which includes increased economic opportunities for women and men, conflict resolution and peace building and promotion of safe health and hygiene practices in a sustainable manner. Without integrating the role of gender WASH services and community development are incomplete and likely to be inequitably accessible or sustainable.

As we run off to another session... please tune in soon for more updates on the thematic sessions and the closing plenary session that saw strong urges on building institutional capacity, development of approaches in the urban context, also in relation to climate change and on the role of the private sector in WASH in Africa.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 2

Parallel thematic sessions at Africa Water Week

Another few busy days have passed, so busy that is has been a little challenging to get this post up every day. Apologies!

Following the opening plenary on Monday, Day 2 of Africa Water Week kicked off with the start of the parallel sessions, organised according to the 4 sub-themes of the week:

Water and urbanisation
Water, climate and development
Institution building and capacity development for implementing the Africa Water Vision 2025
Financing investments in water for growth and development

Many extremely interesting presentations were made, followed by in-depth discussions during the course of these thematic sessions. Although I would love to delve into more detail here, you would probably still be reading this by tomorrow morning, so in the next 2 blog entries I will focus on a selection of side events and thematic sessions, particularly those WaterAid led on or supported in close collaboration with the African Civil Society Network on water and sanitation (ANEW).The main recommendations and outcomes of the week will be consolidated into a report in the coming weeks, capturing the specific outcomes and recommendations made during the.

The Water and urbanisation theme saw a wide variety of presentations and discussions on issues such as the role of the private sector in improving access to WASH to poor urban residents, integrating informal vendors into regulatory processes, ensuring effective analysis of the impact of urbanisation on ecosystems and related consequences for water supply and quality, examining how urban areas can best plan for potential emergencies, how residents can be prepared, and how government capacity can be strengthened in this area of work. These are just a drop in the ocean of the variety of issues discussed…

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 1

On Monday, the 3rd Africa Water Week (held at the UN Economic Commission for Africa) was officially declared open by President Woldegiorgis of Ethiopia, who stressed the importance of promoting cooperation, socio-economic development, security, and the provision of adequate water supply services to the continent. Furthermore, Ethiopian Minister for Water and Energy, Ato Alemayehu Tegenu, stated that:

The main challenges and issues in the water sector are sustainability, capacity and finance. In order to meet the MDGs by 2015, an enormous annual investment is required which could be more than 4 to 5 times current investment rate in the sector ... [Africa] needs a community of dedicated policy makers and donor partnerships to address these challenges.

The Minister also conveyed the message of AMCOW President and South Africa's Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Hon. Edna Molew, who stressed that the focus of the week would be on developing strategic partnerships for accelerating prospects to meet the MDG targets on water and sanitation by 2015. These thoughts were all echoed by Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, Commissioner of the Department of Rural Economy and Agricultural at the African Union, who added that recognition of the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) issues has grown, but that with impeding challenges such as climate variability it is all the more important for African countries to carry forward the water and sanitation goals and to strengthen the momentum that they have gathered in the sector.

Alongside the opening plenary of the week, WaterAid has been managing an exhibition booth and is co-leading with ANEW several presentations and side events during the next two days on topics ranging from climate change and gender, to civil society participation in urban reform and the right to water and sanitation.

After a very busy day we are looking forward to tomorrow when the thematic sessions will start and the topics will be discussed in much more detail. We hope to keep you posted on a daily basis so please do look out for further updates and photos from us tomorrow!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Preceeding CSO Forum

Tuesday November 22 2010 – the 3rd Africa Water Week has kicked off!

At last! A chance to let you all know what has been happening here in Addis Ababa. All of us have been running around (frantically yet strategically!) these past few days to attend the CSO Forum, give presentations, organise side events, hold meetings, and attend the various sessions within the four sub-themes of the week. Close to 15 'WaterAiders' are attending the week from the UK and (mostly) from across the continent, including of course our colleagues from the office here in Addis.

So, let me start with Sunday... the excitement actually started off with 35,000 people running past our meeting venue, as part of the Great Ethiopian Run, a 10km run that is held here every year. Personally I think it's a great achievement if you are able to finish the 10th kilometre without collapsing, since the altitude at which Addis lies (2,300 meters) means some serious lack of oxygen and heavy breathing when one walks up just 2 floors (or, maybe that's just me). No wonder that the Ethiopian long-distance runners are such incredible athletes!

After watching the runners, we turned to serious matters: water and sanitation in Africa. How much progress has been made against the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on water and sanitation on the continent? What challenges remain? What still needs to be done and how can we learn from our experiences on the ground? What is the role of civil society? These were the types of issues discussed during the CSO Forum this past Sunday.

In preparation for this week, over 20 representatives from civil society organisations across Africa came together during the Civil Society Organisations (CSO) Forum, hosted by the African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation (ANEW). The purpose of this meeting was to review the outcomes of the previously held Africa Water Weeks (First Africa Water Week (AWW) held in Tunis, Tunisia in 2008, and 2nd Africa Water Week held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2009), to re-assess civil society's engagement in those Africa-wide discussion and decision making fora, and to harmonise civil society's key messages and recommendations to African governments.

Governments are here represented by AMCOW, the African Ministers' Council on Water (AMCOW). AMCOW is a continental body comprised of the African Ministers in charge of water and sanitation, and is one of the sectoral advisory committees of the African Union (AU), and hence the highest political body in Africa on water and sanitation specifically.

Building on the outcomes of Africa Water Week 1 and 2 (the 2008 Ministerial Tunis Declaration, which led to the AU Summit on water and sanitation in 2008, and the 2009 Ministerial commitment to take forward the Egypt commitments on water and the MDGs on water and sanitation), AMCOW has focused AWW3 on looking at the progress made so far on continental commitments on WASH in Africa, through the lens of the four sub-themes of the week: Water and Urbanisation; Financing Investment in Water for Growth and Development; Water, Climate and Development; and Institutional Development and Capacity Building.

During the CSO Forum, we aimed to discuss and make recommendations under each of these sub-themes, in order to be concise in our messaging. As the result of these discussions a CSO Declaration was produced bringing together civil society's key calls to African governments on WASH.

All of the recommendations made hold equal importance, but what has come out strongly – in addition to the sub-theme recommendations – is the emphasis on water and sanitation as human rights, for the need for these rights to be recognised in national constitutions and realised. Other key issues reflected in the recommendations are on the importance of ensuring data reconciliation, CSO engagement in the lead up to Africa Water Week and other Pan-Africa platforms, efficient management of transboundary water resources and improving the governance of the water, sanitation and hygiene (sector).

The CSO Declaration will be presented to governments on Thursday this week during the AMCOW Executive Committee meeting, and we hope that the recommendations will be taken forward in the official outcome document of 3rd Africa Water Week. Read the 3rd Africa Water Week CSO Declaration ( PDF 145KB)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The build up...

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target date of 2015 is only five years away, and hence the 3rd Africa Water Week provides a unique occasion for assessing progress made across the continent so far towards achieving the goals and targets set on water and sanitation, as well as examining the challenges that remain.

Building on the momentum of the 2nd Africa Water Week last year in Johannesburg, South Africa, this year's African Water Week will be an opportunity to identify and prioritise areas that need to be improved in order to ensure that equitable access to WASH can make a critical contribution in Africa's progress towards sustainable development.

2009 (2nd) Africa Water Week

Last year, WaterAid contributed its own experience based on its work in Africa, by presenting on WaterAid's experience with Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) in West Africa, highlighting the successes in terms of open defecation free communities and the creation of community ownership, but also emphasising the importance of contextualising the approach to respective socio-cultural environments.

WaterAid also contributed to other thematic sessions including those focusing on climate change and financing, and was particularly involved in the official Certification Ceremony of Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as Goodwill Ambassador (GWA) for water, sanitation, and hygiene in Africa, until 2011.

Her Ambassadorship has since gained international support and recognition; the President has been a spokesperson on WASH issues since 2009, particularly on World Water Day in March of this year, and at this year's UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Summit in New York, alongside other prominent global leaders.

2010 (3rd) Africa Water Week - background

The week has been divided into four sub-themes and WaterAid will be co-leading on a variety of presentations as part of these sessions – in close collaboration with the African Civil Society network on water and sanitation (ANEW) – in particular on the Right to water and sanitation, the role of civil society in urban reform and its collaboration with service providers in select African countries, and the importance of incorporating gender in the climate change discussions.

These are a few examples of the types of subjects WaterAid will be discussing during the week, alongside other major sector stakeholders in Africa.

We started the week with our participation in the Civil Society Forum on Sunday 21 November, hosted by the African Civil Society Network on water and sanitation (ANEW), during which we drafted our key messages for the week. Details on these will follow soon in the next update, so watch this space for more news and photos (see above!)

Gordon Brown joins coast walk for WaterAid

noreply@blogger.com (isabella) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:52:00 +0000

On 11 September 2010, former Prime Minister and current MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath Gordon Brown joined a team of fundraisers walking the Fife Coast Path to raise money for WaterAid.

Mr Brown and his family teamed up with walkers on the Dalgety Bay to Aberdour stretch of the Fife Coast Path for the charity's Coast Along for WaterAid event, which saw sponsored walkers across Scotland, England and Wales take to the coast to raise vital funds. Money raised will help WaterAid improve access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene for those living in poverty in the world's poorest countries.

Having chosen WaterAid to receive donations linked to the official No 10 Christmas card in 2009 while Mr Brown was Prime Minister, the family was keen to continue their support of the charity.

Mr Brown said: "Taking part in Coast Along was a great opportunity to raise awareness of WaterAid's important work to help some of the world's poorest communities gain access to safe water and in particular sanitation which is so crucial to the health of billions around the world.
"It's unacceptable that in this day and age some 2.6 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation, and 884 million do not have safe water. As well as causing millions of entirely preventable deaths, particularly among children, the lack of safe sanitation and water keeps families, communities and nations trapped in poverty."

Water and sanitation will be key issues at the UN Millennium Development Goals summit in New York (20-22 September), which both Gordon and Sarah Brown will be attending. With only five years to go, the goal of halving the proportion of people living without access to sanitation is already 30 years behind target. At current rates of progress, this target won’t be met in Sub-Saharan Africa for another 200 years.

Gordon Brown joined a total of 752 people in 146 teams who collectively walked 850 miles of coast paths around the UK achieving a combined mileage of 6,628 – further than the distance from London to Lagos and back.

Coast Along 2011, which will include even more coast paths, will be held on Saturday 10 September. The event is set to grow each year with the aim to ultimately encompass the entire coast of the UK.

For more information contact Rachel Pilkington: 07887 521 552 / 07887 521 552 / 020 7793 4524 020 7793 4524 / rachelpilkington@wateraid.org

Notes to Editors

WaterAid's vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation. Our mission is to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities. We work with partners and influence decision-makers to maximise our impact.

At least 4,000 children die every day as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation.

884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population.

2.6 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is almost two fifths of the world's population.

Just £15 can enable one person to access safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation.

Digging the dirt

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:18:00 +0000

Trafalgar Square installation delivers a powerful message on sanitation on the tenth anniversary of the Millennium Declaration.

Ten years to the day since the UN Millennium Declaration was adopted (8 September 2000), international charity WaterAid today demonstrated how billions of people around the world are literally living and dying in their own faeces.

A dramatic installation of 167 spades standing upright in grass was erected in London’s iconic Trafalgar Square to symbolise the number of children who die from diarrhoea in the developing world every hour. Every day some 4000 children die from diseases caused by poor sanitation and dirty water. A floral wreath spelt out the words Dig toilets not graves, the name of WaterAid’s current campaign.

WaterAid is calling on David Cameron and Nick Clegg to deliver on the hope and promises embodied in the initial Millennium Declaration at the upcoming UN Millennium Development Goals Summit which the Deputy Prime Minister will be attending in New York later this month.
Around the world there are 2.6 billion people living without sanitation. At current rates of progress, the 2015 sanitation target to halve the proportion of people living without sanitation will not be met globally until 2049; in Sub-Saharan Africa not until the 23rd century, some 200 years late. In Africa, diarrhoea is now the biggest killer of children under five.

To coincide with the tenth anniversary of the Millennium Declaration today, WaterAid has also published a damning new report – Ignored: Biggest Child Killer – The world is neglecting sanitation (PDF, 1.4MB) - containing hard-hitting testimonies from global health experts and people across the developing world whose health and education are in jeopardy because they have no clean safe place to go to the loo.

According to Margaret Batty, WaterAid’s Director of Policy and Campaigns: “If sanitation continues to be ignored, this will have huge consequences for the health of the world’s poorest people. Governments have a moral duty to deliver on the promises they made in 2000 to ‘free the entire human race from want’. This simply won’t happen if the main underlying cause of child mortality is overlooked.”

Ends

For all media enquiries including high res images and a copy of the report, please contact Ann Noon on 07787 414307/020 7793 4790, annnoon@wateraid.org or Chloe Irvine on 07514 941577, chloeirvine@wateraid.org

Notes to editors:

WaterAid is an international charity working in 26 countries across Africa, Asia and the Pacific whose mission is to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities.

Dig Toilets Not Graves is WaterAid’s latest campaign which calls on the UK Government to prioritise sanitation at the upcoming UN Millennium Development Goal Summit in New York and highlights the fact that deaths from diarrhoea can be prevented through simple and cost-effective measures such as building safe pit toilets. http://www.digtoilets.org/

Ignored: Biggest Child Killer – The world is neglecting sanitation is available to download: Ignored: Biggest Child Killer – The world is neglecting sanitation (PDF, 1.4MB)

WaterAid welcomes UN recognition of right to water and sanitation

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:55:00 +0000

The UN General Assembly voted in favour of recognising the right to water and sanitation in a resolution made yesterday in New York.

Over 120 countries voted for the resolution, which was proposed by Bolivia. States recognised that more than 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion have no basic sanitation.

Diarrhoea, caused by lack of sanitation, is now the biggest killer of children under five in Africa. A rights-based approach is critical to ensuring that the billions of people living without sanitation and the millions without safe water get the access that they need.

Kate Norgrove, Head of Campaigns at WaterAid said: "It is good news that the resolution, recognising water and sanitation as a basic human right, has been passed by a majority vote. It is particularly encouraging to see the crucial reference to sanitation, due to its historic neglect and importance for human development."

"It is however regretful that the vote wasn't passed by consensus, which exposes a distinct lack of political will on this issue. Abstentions illustrate the continuing lack of priority given to sanitation – which is astonishing given that slow progress on sanitation is holding back progress on many of the other Millennium Development Goals."

The Independent Expert1 on water and sanitation will report to the Human Rights Council in October 2011 on the rights to water and sanitation, where WaterAid will be calling for all states to affirm these rights.

"We look forward to the continuing work of the Independent Expert," says Norgrove, "which we hope will galvanize abstaining countries to do the work necessary to affirm the rights to water and to sanitation by next October. The hard work starts here; now we need this international agreement translated into action on sanitation and water by governments at the national level."

Ends

For more information please contact: brendamcilwraith@wateraid.org or call +44(0)20 7793 2245 or +44(0)7887 521 552.

Kate Norgrove is available for interviews.

Notes to Editor:

1. The Human Rights Council appointed Catarina de Albuquerque as the Independent Expert on human rights obligations related to safe drinking water and sanitation in 2008 and she is due to report to the Human Rights Council on her work in October 2011.

2. The right to water is already part of international law, as it is implicitly included in Article 11 (1) of the International Covenent on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which upholds the right to an adequate standard of living. There is considerable precedent for treating the right to sanitation as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living.

3. WaterAid advocates for the rights to water and sanitation to be affirmed as separate rights.

WaterAid's vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation. Our mission is to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world's poorest communities. We work with partners and influence decision-makers to maximise our impact.

At least 4000 children die every day as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation.
884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population.
2.6 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is almost two fifths of the world's population.
Just £15 can enable one person to access safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation.

WaterAid at the African Union Summit

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 17:42:00 +0000

The 15th Ordinary Session of the African Union takes place 19-27 July in Uganda and will discuss Maternal, infant and child health and development in Africa.

Programme Officer Mara Van Den Bold will be blogging live from Kampala before and during the Summit here.

Background information about this year's event:

The AU Summit focuses on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) four (reduce child mortality) and five (improve maternal health). Progress on these so far is unacceptable, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.

WaterAid and the African Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation (ANEW) have developed three core messages for the Summit:

1. Poor progress on access to sanitation and water has a profound impact on human health, particularly infant and child health.

2. Existing political and financial commitments made in Sharm el Sheikh and eThekwini on sanitation and water must be met if progress on maternal, infant and child health is to be made.

3. A Special Rapporteur* on WASH should be appointed to report to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), building on the work of the UN Independent Expert on human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

Part of the reason for poor progress is a global failure to acknowledge the extent to which the MDGs are interconnected and inter-dependent, and that they must be tackled in an integrated manner.

Interventions targeted at improving maternal, newborn and child health are often focused on the role of the healthcare system, with inadequate attention paid to the prevention of disease by addressing the social and environmental determinants of maternal and child mortality. Importantly, insufficient progress on reaching the sanitation and water MDG target is undermining the achievement of targets on maternal, infant and child health.

As access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is especially crucial for achieving the two MDGs on child mortality and maternal health, it is important for Heads of State to recognise that poor progress on access to sanitation and water has a profound impact on human health, particularly infant and child health.

Decisions made by Heads of State at the AU Summit will have significant influence on the outcomes of the discussions held during the MDG+10 Summit later in September 2010.

African Heads of State must recognise the central role of sanitation, water, and hygiene in reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, and ensure that this is reflected in Summit decisions and action plans.

Further, African Heads of State play an important role in ensuring the recognition of the role of sanitation and water in maternal, infant and child health in global initiatives, such as the UN Secretary General Joint Action Plan for Women's and Children's Health.

It is therefore important that WASH forms an integral part of the discussions on child and maternal health in Africa, and in broader discussions on reaching the MDGs in Africa.

WaterAid will be participating in the preceding CSO Forum, which will bring together approximately 70 representatives from national and international civil society organisations, as well as the AU Summit itself and related media and campaigning activities.

For more information, contact maravandenbold@wateraid.org or chloeirvine@wateraid.org

* An individual with a specific mandate to investigate, monitor and recommend solutions to specific human rights problems.

WaterAid chair joins UN Secretary General's MDG Advocacy Group

noreply@blogger.com (WaterAid web team) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 09:09:00 +0000

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced today the establishment of an Advocacy Group of Eminent Persons to work towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

WaterAid is pleased to announce that Ambassador Jan Eliasson - the current Chair of WaterAid in Sweden, and the former Swedish Foreign Minister, former President of the UN General Assembly and former UN Special Envoy to Darfur - has been asked to join this esteemed group.

The Group has been brought together by the UN Secretary General to use its influence in the lead up to and during the MDG+10 Summit being held at the UN in September this year, where member states will come together to assess progress made, as well as obstacles encountered as the world seeks to achieve the MDGs by 2015.

The MDGs, eight time-bound goals agreed to by UN member states in 2000 to help bring an end to global poverty, are meant to be achieved by 2015, yet many key goals, including the target for sanitation, remain woefully off track.

"I am delighted to join the UN Secretary General's group as the world seeks to achieve the Millennium Development Goals," said Ambassador Eliasson. "It is critical that we use this opportunity to ensure that progress across all of these vital targets to stamp out poverty are met as world leaders promised ten years ago."

Heads of State and governments meeting at the Summit will seek to produce an "Action Plan" designed to identify key areas of emphasis to guide international efforts in the remaining years until the 2015 deadline. The Secretary General's group will play a key role in working to rally support for progress in these lagging goals, including sanitation.

The target to reduce the proportion of people living without access to basic sanitation facilities by half is the most lagging sector within the MDGs and at current rates is not set to be met in Sub Saharan Africa for almost another 200 years. Lack of access to sanitation is holding up progress across all the MDGs and the most off track outcomes, particularly those relating to health.

"We know that water and sanitation are critical in the fight against poverty – without access to these basic human rights thousands of children die every day, girls don't go to school, the economic prosperity of millions is undermined and conflict may follow," said Ambassador Eliasson. "I will be working to ensure that sanitation, alongside the other lagging targets, is addressed at the Summit in September. Without clear political commitment these issues will continue to be neglected, with disastrous impact across all MDGs."

Other members of the MDG Advocacy group include: Bill Gates, Muhammad Yunus, Michelle Bachelet, Wangari Maathai, Graça Machel, Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Ted Turner. The group will be chaired by Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain.

Jan Eliasson is available for interview. For more information please contact: Chloe Irvine on +44 77716 545 44, chloeirvine@wateraid.org, or Jonathan Rich on +1-347-262-9115.

Notes to Editors:

WaterAid's vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation. Our mission is to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world's poorest communities. We work with partners and influence decision-makers to maximise our impact.

At least 4,000 children die every day as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation.
884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population.
2.6 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is almost two fifths of the world's population.