Dear Members,
There is a lot of attention for monitoring, and rightfully so. New Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have opened great possibilities to collect data, store data and visualise data on mobile phones. Maybe some of you already have used mobile phones for data collection. New ICT has brought national scale sector monitoring within reach. It has been done in Liberia, countries in Central America, Ghana, Nigeria, Mali, Ethiopia and many others.
Guest announcement by Rebecca Gianotti, Ph.D., Consultant, Global Water Initiative, The Ohio State University
A new initiative at the Ohio State University that takes a systems approach to rural water development is launching pilot projects in Tanzania. Dubbed Wells to Wellness, the effort combines capacity building and tiered water point rehabilitation activities to provide scalable, sustainable systems solutions to water resource issues. In April, the university signed a letter of intent with the University of Dodoma in Tanzania to develop undergraduate programming that will strengthen the workforce in the entrepreneurial sectors surrounding water (food, energy, health, sanitation). The partnership between the two universities follows the announcement of a 55-MW solar array—the largest ever at a university—to be built by U.S.-based Hecate Energy at Dodoma in 2016. The new training and academic programs at the University of Dodoma will support both the budding renewable energy sector in rural Tanzania as well as a water point rehabilitation project also under Wells to Wellness. This effort will initially retrofit 125 inoperable wells as well as support health, sanitation and economic development with a systems approach incorporating a new franchising model for operations and maintenance as well as key collaborations with existing NGOs in Tanzania. Upon successful completion of the 125-well pilot, the Tanzanian government has provisionally committed to funding rehabilitation of thousands of additional wells by scaling up the model.
Continue reading “A New Rural Water Partnership Between The U.S. And Tanzania”
New Approach to Sharing Water Data Promises Improved Water Access around the World
Press Release by Brian Banks, Global Water Challenge
WASHINGTON | May 14, 2015 – Around the world, one in nine people lack access to safe water. While progress is being made, efforts have been limited by challenges in establishing a clear picture of water point access. Despite a growing trend of collecting data on water projects, there has previously been no consistent way to share this information among parties, making it difficult to fully understand the water challenges faced around the world.
An interesting blog post that has kicked off some interesting responses
If you’ve donated money to a water charity, congratulations. You’ve stepped up to try to solve one of the world’s most pressing problems–the fact that roughly 750 million people do not have access to clean water.
Has your donation made a lasting difference? That’s hard to know.
Big water charities point to numbers that, they say, demonstrate their impact. Since its founding in 2006, charity: water says it has funded 16,138 water projects. Water.org, in its latest annual report, says that in 2013 it completed 174 community-based water projects, constructed 73,081 toilets, established 66,632 household water connections and served 606,012 people with water and sanitation. In 2013-2014, Water Aid says it reached 2 million people with water and 3 million with sanitation.
But the charities, as a rule, do not report on how many of those projects are providing clean water a year, two or five years after…
View original post 2,496 more words
Les autorités locales et la pérennisation des services d’eau en zones rurales
El gobierno local y los servicios sostenibles de agua en zonas rurales
Sign up now: dgroups.org/RWSN/sustainable_services_rwsn
The Rural Water Supply Network would like to invite you to participate in the E-discussion (27 April – 22 May 2015)
• What are the roles and responsibilities of local government in rural water supply?
• How are these roles and responsibilities fulfilled?
• What are the challenges that local government faces in order to undertake these roles and responsibilities?
• What ideas, tools and experiences are there to ensure that local government can take up its roles and responsibilities?
Continue reading “E-DISCUSSION ANNOUNCEMENT: Local government and rural water services”
Sustainable development of water requires fresh thinking and new innovation. Ethiopia is pioneering new approaches in water, sanitation and hygiene (WasH) that draw upon the resources of local people, communities and entrepreneurs to further improve water security, food security and wealth. ‘My Water, My Business’ is a series of linked events organised as part of the 2015 World Water Day celebrations to bring attention to these household-level efforts. The events will connect sector policy-makers, development partners, professionals and engaged local governments and communities. The overall message is that to complement the efforts of utilities, woredas and other traditional service providers, households can do a lot themselves to improve their water and sanitation facilities and related hygiene practices. You can improve your own water supply, sanitation and hygiene.
Please note that RWSN Secretariat passes on requests for help community organisations and local NGOs in good faith but we don’t have to do thorough background checks. It is our intention is that the valid grassroots organisations can be connected with RWSN members from implementation or donor organisations that can help.
Hope for the Needy is a Non-governmental organization located at Parkoso in the Asokore Mampong Municipality in the Ashanti Region of Ghana West Africa. The foundation is dedicated to the total welfare, healthy growth and development of the vulnerable in both rural and urban areas. Hope For The Needy is looking for support to install borehole water supplies to help them reach out to the needy people at the deprived areas where there are is no accessible, safe water source. They have identified the villages of Akokaso, Adebra, Emabeng, Nkokboem, Nnama, Atwemabeng, and Wonoo village as having no boreholes. If you are able to assist, please contact Muftawu Mohammed (CEO): hopefortheneedy765 @yahoo.com
Venue: Abuja International Conference Centre
Date: 18-21 October 2015
Topic: Challenges of Africa Water Sector meeting Sustainable Development Goals
Organiser: Association of Waterwell Drilling Rig Owners and Practitioners (AWDROP)
e.mail: awdrop @yahoo.org
website: www.awdrop.org
The award was announced in Vevey, Switzerland on November 10th 2014. Three organisations were selected from 759 entries from 93 countries. MSABI was recognized for their innovative Pump for Life micro-insurance maintenance business model. For more information visit the MSABI website www.msabi.org.
In the run-up to the planned 7th RWSN Forum in late 2016, we are looking to organise more RWSN “Writing for WASH” courses. The format is flexible and can be run over 2 or 3 days. Since 2012, Skat and WaterAid have run courses in London, Kampala, Dar Es Salaam, Monrovia, Madagascar, Bangladesh and Kiev. We are looking for host organisations, so if you would be interested in developing the writing and presentation skills of your staff or partners then please contact the RWSN Secretariat (sean.furey @ skat.ch)
In the January meeting of the RWSN Executive Committee, it was agreed to proceed with organising a 7th RWSN Forum for late 2016. The location is likely to be Francophone West Africa, but details are being developed by task group over the coming months in collaboration with country partners. More details will announced later in 2015.
You can find out about previous RWSN Forums in on the RWSN Story web page and on the website for the 6th RWSN Forum in Kampala, 2011.
If any organisation would be interested being a sponsor for the event, please contact the RWSN Secretariat (kerstin.danert @skat.ch).
RWSN is planning to have an exhibition stand at this year’s Stockholm WWW to promote the importance of achieving universal rural access to water in the forthcoming Sustainable Development Goals. More details will be shared in the next newsletter.
The 38th WEDC International Conference will be held on 27–31 July 2015, Loughborough University, UK. The deadline for abstracts has now passed, but registration details will be posted soon. RWSN is likely to have a strong presence at the event again this year.
The Multiple Use of water Services (MUS) Group will be holding its next meeting on 30/31st March 2015. Full details will be circulated via the MUS Dgroup community shortly. Please join the group if you are interested in how to meet rural user needs for domestic and agricultural water.
UNC are accepting abstracts and side event proposals for the 2015 Water & Health Conference: Where Science Meets Policy. The deadline for proposal submissions is April 24. Abstracts and side event proposals should relate to one of this year’s themes:
Events in Red are those where RWSN is likely to be represented by one or more RWSN Executive Steering Committee partners. More details will be provided in upcoming newsletters and Dgroups announcements.
RWSN membership has reached 6,925 people from 142 countries LinkedIn group membership is up to 2,014 and we even have 206 likes on the RWSN Facebook page. At the beginning of 2012 there were around 1,500 members, so thank you to all for your continued support and commitment to improving rural water supply services.
Note that access to many papers is restricted and has to be purchased. Some are open access so that articles are free to download:
Rural Water Supply Network - blog 