Here is a compilation of WASH related news, views and articles worth reading in November 2017.
Compiled by: Henry Anyanwu
Clean water gets the party started in Madagascar
On Water Aid
There was a feeling of excitement in the traditionally laid-back and serene villages of Belavabary and Ambonidobo in Madagascar.
Musicians were tuning their instruments, girls were decorating the area with potted plants and flowers, and technicians were making the final tweaks to the new community taps that would bring clean water to these villages for the very first time.
Before, people in both communities had to collect dirty water from a far-off pond. Now, clean water is flowing in their villages. Watch the celebrations as clean water arrives in Belavabary and Ambonidobo: …read more
World Toilet Day: Environmentalist calls for new technology to manage wastewater
On Enviro News nigeria
The former Chairman, Nigeria Environmental Society, Lagos Island Chapter (NESLIC), Mr John Ekoko, on Sunday, November 19, 2017 called for a new technology in the management of wastewater in the country.
Ekoko made this call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos during the commemoration of the 2017 World Toilet Day, which is celebrated on Nov. 19 yearly.
NAN reports that the United Nations (UN) designated Nov. 19 as World Toilet Day to raise awareness and inspire action to tackle sanitation crisis.
According to the UN, sanitation has always been a topic shrouded in taboos worldwide. Today, 2.4 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services, such as toilets or latrines …read more
What’s your water footprint?
By Anna Nylander on World Water Day
Think you only consume a few glasses of water a day? Think again.
The ‘water footprint’ of the average American is 32,911 glasses per day, according to an infographic by the Nature Conservancy and the Water Footprint Network.
Where is all this water? It’s ‘hidden’ inside the food we eat, clothes we wear and more. And where does it come from? Nature …read more
Credit: The Nature Conservancy
Taboo Subject in the Spotlight at Annual Water and Health Conference
By Nga Kim Nguyen on USAID Global Waters
I hurried into the meeting room, reassuring myself that most participants also had not made the 7 a.m. start time for the session. I was wrong. The room was almost full, and I had a challenging time even finding a seat. On the main screen, a representative of the Philippines Ministry of Health was enthusiastically presenting via videoconference. Throughout her presentation, questions popped up on another large screen submitted by participants listening online. This was not a typical conference session: I was attending the 6th Annual Virtual Conference on Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in Schools held within the University of North Carolina’s Water and Health Conference. Throughout the morning and into the early afternoon, presentations from Kenya, Eritrea, Zambia, and other countries highlighted the challenges and successes of addressing MHM globally.
One of the high points of the day was a presentation on …read more
World toilet day 2017
By Temitope on Hope Spring Water
By 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals aim to reach everyone with sanitation, and halve the proportion of untreated wastewater and increase recycling and safe reuse.
For that to be achieved, we need everyone’s poo to be contained, transported, treated and disposed of in a safe and sustainable way. Today, for billions of people around the world, sanitation systems are either non-existent or ineffective. Human waste gets out and killer diseases spread, meaning progress in health and child survival is seriously undermined …read more
Incentivizing collaboration to address childhood stunting
By Craig Kullmann and Luis Andres on The Water Blog
Childhood stunting is one of the most significant impediments to human development and economic growth, affecting approximately 155 million children under the age of five globally, with long-term consequences later in life such as impaired cognitive development, chronic disease, and lower earnings as adults. Evidence shows that there is an urgent need for collaboration between actions in water, sanitation, health, nutrition, and other sectors to effectively combat childhood stunting.
This was discussed during the recent World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings, where leaders from the World Bank and client countries met to talk about ‘Changing Behaviors to Incentivize Collaboration to Address Childhood Stunting’. Aimed to provide guidance on how to collaborate better across sectors and institutions, this event provided an opportunity to share the latest results from the global Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Poverty Diagnostic Initiative, led by the World Bank’s Water and Poverty Global Practices in collaboration with the Health, Nutrition, and Population and Governance Global Practices …read more
Accountability Mechanisms for the Sustainable Development Goal 6: A Country Review
By Kiana Alavi on End Water Poverty
In 2015, UN member states adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are made up of 17 global goals in the form of a universal call to action to end poverty, protect our planet and ensure a peaceful and prosperous life for everyone. The adoption of these goals were especially a cause for celebration for organisations working on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), as there was a goal specifically dedicated to water and sanitation (Goal 6). We are currently two years into the SDGs and yet, over 2.1 billion people lack access to safely managed water services (over twice as many for sanitation). With that said, there is a lot that needs to be done.
As part of the monitoring and review framework of the SDGs, governments are expected to put themselves forward for reviews on an annual basis during the UN …read more
The Power of Incentives: Lessons Learned from Designing and Implementing Results-Based WASH Programs
By usaidwaterckm on Sanitation Updates
On September 20th in New York City, Improve International and IRC convened a conversation on innovations in grantee-donor relationships in WASH programs hosted by the Voss Foundation and the Wildlife Conservation Society at their offices next to the Central Park Zoo. This week on the blog we summarize key takeaways from the meeting.
Payment by results
Guy Howard from the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) presented on the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene results programme. WASH Results is a 12-country payment by results program involving three supplier contracts. Payments are made by DFID following independent verification of results achievement. The program is supported by a monitoring, verification and evaluation component which provides independent verification of suppliers’ results achievement, and includes an evaluation component including a randomized control trial on program sustainability …read more
The heroes keeping the water flowing for families in eastern Ukraine
By Yana Panchenko on UNICEF
Inna Krasnyakova is one of a cadre of Ukrainian water workers who help bring safe water and sanitation to families on both sides of the ‘contact line’ in Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine.
LUHANSK, Ukraine, 21 November 2017 – Inna Krasnyakova was born, raised and married in the small village of Artema, in Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine. In June 2014, she was at work, operating a water pumping unit at the Petrovskaya pumping station, when conflict broke out.
“When it started,” she recalls, “my colleagues and I did not understand what was happening. I remember I was on the day shift; there was a rumble, and it was very scary. I realized that there was shooting and attacks nearby. I immediately ran to the chlorine warehouse to cover the cylinders so that there would not be a leak.”
“I knew that we were next.” …read more
© UNICEF Ukraine/ 2017/ Tolmachov Inna Krasnyakova with UNICEF WASH Monitoring Officer Andrill Solonenko. UNICEF supplies the chlorine for the water purification process.
