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Linking Relief and Development in the WASH Sector

WASHNET pub The publication aims to provide a more in-depth overview of existing definitions, prevalent categorisations and models that are currently being used to describe the relief to development contiguum in the WASH sector and identify existing challenges and opportunities that come along with it. It looks into the main disaster and crisis scenarios and how they affect the WASH sector. It provides definitions for the different assistance types (relief, recovery and development) and the role that WASH plays in each of them. It furthermore summarises main concepts and approaches that are being used and makes an attempt to map out the complex structures and funding mechanisms in both relief and development and identifies existing challenges and opportunities in the transition contiguum. For this paper a wide range of sector professionals have been asked to provide feedback reflecting either their individual and/or organisational views and experiences regarding current challenges, opportunities as well as recommendations for the way forward.

The publication should be seen as a current snapshot of the sector at the interface between humanitarian assistance and development cooperation. It intends to foster the mutual understanding of each other’s field of work and provides impulses for fuelling the on-going international debate on how to better link relief, rehabilitation and development in the WASH sector.

The publication can be downloaded under the following link: http://www.washnet.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/washnet_wash-relief-to-development_2014.pdf (PDF, 4.1 MB).

(via GermanToiletOrg)

Fecal Sludge Management in Africa and Asia

The following post by guest blogger Pascal Garde on behalf of Doulaye Koné of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) refers to a recently published study on Fecal Sludge Management in Africa and Asia.

Non-sewered, or “on-site sanitation” is the main technological approach used in most urban areas in Africa and Asia. Use of this technology requires regular provision of human waste collection and transportation services, which are generally unregulated and usually provided by private operators.

There are currently huge information gaps on how collection and transportation of human waste is organized. Decision makers, entrepreneurs and investors often lack important information (e.g. market size, business opportunity, profitability) to make Fecal Sludge Management (FSM) a functional component of the sanitation value chain. However, providing safe emptying, transport, and treatment of human waste is critical to ensure healthy urban environments. In order to better understand the types of FSM services offered in two different regions, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded a study , entitled “Landscape and Business Analysis for FSM Emptying and Transportation in Africa and Asia” that analyzes these business segments in 30 cities across Africa and Asia. Continue reading “Fecal Sludge Management in Africa and Asia”

Better maintenance and monitoring needed, UN-Water GLAAS 2012 suggests

glass_report_2012 The Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) reports on the capacity of countries to make progress towards the MDG water and sanitation target and on the effectiveness of external support agencies to facilitate this process.

The GLAAS 2012 report shows that in many countries policies and programmes underemphasize adequate financing and human resource development to sustain the existing infrastructure and to expand access to sanitation, drinkingwater and hygiene services. Financing is insufficient and the institutional capacity to absorb what is available is limited. The danger of slippage against the MDG target is real.

The GLAAS report presents data received from 74 developing countries, up from 43 in 2010; and from 24 bilateral and multilateral agencies covering 90% of global official development assistance funds. UN-Water GLAAS has been designed in response to the need to reduce the reporting burden and harmonize different reporting mechanisms of UN-family Member States. GLAAS is increasingly used as a tool for more informed decision-making and is taking up the challenge of making necessary information available.

UN-Water The Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS)

Download GLAAS 2012 Report (PDF; 9.4 MB)

Mainstreaming proprietary software formats into dev aid publications

Dear Readers,
as much as I would like to share the following link to a very nice training toolkit with you – a toolkit that has been up online for some time now and recently got an extra section on sustainable sanitation – I am seriously wondering what the good folks at UNEP’s Environment, Humanitarian Action and Early Recovery programme are doing all day long. Probably not anything related to knowledge management & IT.

“UNEP and Groupe URD have developed a training toolkit to assist humanitarian actors to integrate environmental considerations into their policy development, planning, programme design and operational activities. The training toolkit consists of 11 modules, with each substantive module containing a summary, PowerPoint presentation, trainer’s guide, training materials and key supporting documents.” (src)

I know it isn’t good style to publicly criticize others, but producing a toolkit that consists of documents saved in DOCX, PPTX or WMV format just isn’t appropriate in any way. This may work for those in charge behind their desks in Europe or the US, but not out there in the field.

Instead, all documents should rather be in Portable Document Format (PDF). Along with a free & light-weight portable PDF viewer. There are quite a few out there with open licences. And the videos – how about AVI instead of Windows (!) Media Video (WMV)? Or Theora? And a portable VLC player for MS Win, OSX and Linux.

How many dev workers in Africa are on Apple computers due to the malware threat? Right.

This publication is just an example. In fact, there are many others – yes, even in 2012 – that are produced in a similar way and which make me think that there’s no real passion behind it. This issue probably wouldn’t arise if everything was accessible via the web – which could also be displayed on small mobile phone screen, instead of 48 MB *.pptx files. Maybe we also have to blame ourselves for producing PDFs that can be shared on- and offline, but whose content would be much better in old-fashioned html.

An example of a passionate project is Alex Weir’s CD3WD collection. That’s much more information than any one of us can handle, yet it’s all usable.

What do you think?

Sustainable Sanitation Practice journal, issue no. 6

ssp6

Our colleagues from EcoSan Club Austria recently published issue no. 6 of the popular Sustainable Sanitation Practice (SSP) magazine – a journal also available as a PDF which is highly recommend as it provides collected first hand experiences from the international sustainable sanitation scene.

SSP should fill a gap that we have identified in the last few years in which sustainable sanitation has become an important issue that is discussed among many disciplines. For SSP a sanitation system is sustainable when it is not only economically viable, socially acceptable and technically and institutionally appropriate, but it should also protect the environment and the natural resources. (src)

Issue no. 6 covers the topic “Toilets”, with reports from Central and South Asia, East Africa and South America on Urine-Diverting Dry Toilets (UDDTs). Download (PDF; 3.2 MB)

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