RWSN March Headlines

2015 Early Webinar Series + Rainwater Harvesting

What is a webinar? It is an online presentation where you can hear a presenter, watch their slides and have the opportunity to ask questions. If you cannot attend the live event, a recording is usually posted online.

RWSN has started 2015 with a series of ten webinars about groundwater, self-supply approaches and equality.  Presenters from more than 15 different organisations, working in over 15 countries are sharing their practical experiences and research findings.  Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions, and meet others with similar interests. You can register for one, or several webinars by following the link:  http://tinyurl.com/RWSN2015A

The webinars take place every Tuesday at 13:30 GMT (English) from 27^th January to 31^st March.  Six of the ten webinars will also be in French (see table below).

Please note that you will need to register for the events to be able to take part.  The process takes less than a minute.

Date	Title/Subject	Convener
27 Jan	Radio for Rural Water Supplies Recording (EN) |  Slides	RWSN
3 Feb	Self-supply examples from Ethiopia and Sierra Leone Exemples éthiopiens et Sierra Léonais de techniques d’auto-approvisionnement en eau (Français)Recording (EN) | Recording (FR) |  Slides	World Vision-RWSN
10 Feb	Manual Drilling – a global perspective of local realities Le forage manuel – points de vue internationaux sur les réalités locales (Français)Recording (EN) | Recording (FR) |  Slides	UNICEF-RWSN
17 Feb	Costs and quality of Self-supply services Coûts et la qualité des services d’auto-approvisionnement (Français)Recording (EN) | Recording (FR) |  Slides	World Vision-RWSN
24 Feb	Groundwater Resources and Supplies in Africa Recording (EN) | Slides	UPGro-RWSN
3 Mar	Does the government have a role in Self-supply? Est-ce que le gouvernement a un rôle dans l’auto-approvisionnement? (Français)Recording (EN) | Recording (FR) |  Slides	World Vision-RWSN
10 Mar	Groundwater Governance Recording (EN) |  Slides	UPGro-RWSN-UNICEF
17 Mar	Gender, violence and access to WASH Genre, violence et accès aux services EAH (Français)	WaterAid-RWSN
24 Mar	Effective procurement and contract management Renforcer l’efficacité des processus de passation de marchés et de gestion des contrats (Français)	UNICEF-RWSN
31 Mar	Drilling supervision is no longer in fashion – the funders save; the users pay La supervision des forages est passée de mode – les bailleurs de fonds économisent; les usagers en paient le prix (Français)	UNICEF-RWSN

After last year’s very successful Rainwater Harvesting webinars we listened the feedback and we have come back with presentations on topics that you asked for – and we are even going to do one in Spanish especially for those interested in rural Latin America.

There will be six webinars over the next four months – 3 hosted by RWSN and 3 hosted by our friends at TheWaterChannel. To register for any or all of the sessions use this online form.

19 Feb	13:00 – 14:00 GMT English	Soil Biology and Water Harvesting Recording (EN)	WaterChannel-RAIN
12 Mar	13:00 – 14:00 GMT English	Rainfed agriculture & flood based farming	WaterChannel-RAIN
26 Mar	13:00 – 14:00 GMT English	Water quality for drinking water purposes: (innovative) methods for purification	RWSN-RAIN
26 Mar	14:30 – 15:30 GMT Français	Qualité de l’eau à des fins d’eau potable: méthodes (innovantes) pour la purification	RWSN-RAIN
16 Apr	13:00 – 14:00 GMT English	Rainwater Harvesting – Retention & Recharge on basin level	WaterChannel-RAIN
30 Apr	13:00 – 14:00 BST English	Financial modelling & business case development	RWSN-RAIN
28 May	13:00 – 14:00 GMT English	Supply chain development & private sector engagement for rainwater harvesting	RWSN-RAIN
28 May	14:30 – 15:30 GMT Español	Desarrollo de la cadena de suministro y la participación del sector privado	RWSN-RAIN

WASHTech commended in evaluation of European Research programme

The WASHTech project (2011-13) was a collaboration between a number of RWSN partners which developed the ‘Technology Applicability Framework’ (TAF) and Technology Introduction Process (TIP) guidelines to make it easier for good technologies in the WASH sector to fit the contexts where they are to be used and to help the successfully scale-up.

WASHTech was funded through the European Commission and the evaluation of the whole FP-7 Programme identified WASHTech as one of thirteen (out of 90) projects as ‘remarkable’ and praised its open, public domain products (the TAF and TIP).

“From the impact assessment part of the final project report and efforts made to ensure the availability of the tools to stakeholders through own websites and to a wider international community through the RWSN website, the impact of the innovations in the project can be considered significant. The innovations are being used as validation, monitoring and project/programme appraisal tools and are expected to help in more effective investment in new technologies, informed decision making, participatory action research to identify obstacles and opportunities for uptake and scaling up technology beyond pilot testing and in participatory development, implementation and evaluation of sustainable WASH technologies.”

Congratulations to all the teams at IRC, WaterAid, Cranfield University, KNUST, TREND, Netwas and Skat.

To find out how the TAF could help with scaling-up or evaluating technologies in your projects or services: washtechnologies.net or contact André Olschewski (andre.olschewski @ skat.ch).

RWSN at the 2015 SDC Peer Review, Geneva – putting Gender and the Human Right
to Water at heart of what we do

We are considered one of the globally strategic networks by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), who have provided co-funding support to the RWSN Secretariat since the network was founded as the Handpump Technology Network in 1992.

RWSN was represented by Sean Furey at a 2-day event (17-18 Feb) in Geneva hosted by the Global Programme Water Initiatives (GWPI) team at SDC where there were 35 representatives from SDC the other networks and programmes who receive funding through GPWI’s WASH portfolio, including Sanitation Water for All (SWA), the Water Integrity Network (WIN), the Women for Water Partnership, Helvetas, Eawag (Sandec), WHO, cewas, WaterLex, iDE, UN Water, Water and Sanitation Program of the World Bank, and may more.  Each had to present how the Human Right to Water & Sanitation and gender issues have been incorporated into how each works, followed by lively plenary discussions.

The contribution of the Executive Committee, the UN Special Rapporteur and the theme leaders (Louisa Gosling and Jane Wilbur) of Equality, Non-Discrimination & Inclusion were highlighted in making both human rights and gender the driving force across the new RWSN Strategy 2015-17. The challenge ahead of us is how to then to incorporate these issues in a practical, useful way into the other three themes.  If you would like to contribute your ideas then email to equity@dgroups.org

Sustainable water resources management in Sri Lanka: present situation and way forward

Member Organisation Article by Senevirathne,  Assistant General Manger (Sociology), Sociology Section, National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB), Sri Lanka

Sustainable water resource management has become a crucial factor for the socio-economic development of Sri Lanka that faces seasonal variation and competition among water users. One of the biggest concerns for our water-based resources in future is the sustainability of the current and even future water resource allocation. It is true that making the sustainable development of our water resources is a challenge in Sri Lanka when considering the climatic changes, pressures from economic growth, the rising population, and increasing water consumption. The combination of these factors commonly results in increased water use, competition and pollution. Therefore, attention and concern must be given to collect, compile and gain knowledge from consumption, pollution and generate data of experimental value.

This RWSN Blog article describes the main aspects of what has been learned in the process of supporting sustainable water resources management. Read the full article on the RWSN Blog

If you would like to contribute an article to the RWSN blog and newsletter, or become an RWSN Member Organisation please contact the RWSN Secretariat (ruralwater @skat.ch)

New UN Water Toolbox for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The Water SDG implementation toolbox gathers existing practical guidance which could be useful for the implementation of the different targets proposed for the water related Sustainable Development Goals. The toolbox offers numerous tools developed by the different UN entities, as well as specific developments and cases of application. Visit: watersdgtoolbox.org