The RWSN secretariat team (Sean, Meleesa and Aline) participated in the REACH conference (20 to 22 September), and the REACH internal meetings that preceded.
RWSN has been a knowledge broker for the REACH programme since its inception. This has included support to translate research into practice, including the delivery of several publications, such as a global diagnostic survey to evaluate the status and prospects of rural water service providers for results-based funding and a study on the evolution of rural water policy in francophone West Africa.
At the conference and internal meeting, RWSN was involved in:
- a session of the internal meetings on “REACH Exit Strategy: Planning activities and delivering impact”; in the session, participants took stock of the impact pathways and engagement activities of the Programme. Challenges and best practices were discussed, as well as the implementation of REACH’s Exit strategy.
- We co-led the the organisation of a session on innovative service delivery models to address rural water service delivery models to address rural water risks along with Dr Johanna Koehler, with case studies from Kenya, Bangladesh and West Africa.
The conference attracted over 200 participants, including program researchers and collaborators, academia, development partners, NGOs, funders, and other stakeholders involved on water provision for the rural poor.
The REACH communications team collaborated with the Oxford University Museum of Natural History create a museum exhibition entitled “Fair Water?”. The exhibition aims to translate research work conducted by REACH teams to a broader audience and raise awareness on inequalities in water security. Learn more about the exhibition here.
The RWSN secretariat team was able to connect with several RWSN members and partners in the conference, and we recorded a few more career chat videos, which will be shared on our social media channels.
Several publications, stories of change and tools of relevance to the rural water sector and produced by the REACH programme were featured in the conference, including:
- Performance and prospects of rural drinking water services in francophone West Africa.
- Results-based funding for safe drinking water services
- Fit-for-purpose labs for monitoring
- Scaling up results-based funding for rural water services
- Enhancing climate resilience of water, sanitation & hygiene services in healthcare facilities in Kenya
You can hear some highlights from the conference by REACH Director, Prof. Rob Hope here.
We will continue to share more updates about the programme through RWSN’s channels.
Rural Water Supply Network - blog 