RWSN in the news – Rural Water Supply Network

RWSN at the World Water Week 2023, 20 –24 August

SIWI’s World Water Week (WWW) in Stockholm is one of the greatest global gatherings addressing worldwide water challenges and fostering collective action.

WWW 2023 carries particular significance as it builds upon the commitments and outcomes established during the UN 2023 Water Conference. Themed “Seeds of Change – Innovative Solutions for a Water-Wise World”, the event brought together participants from over 150 countries, inviting them to rethink how we manage water, what innovations, ideas, and governance systems exist to tackle water-related challenges. The advantage of having free online participation not only heightened inclusivity but allowed greater global participation and discussions on pivotal water issues.

The Rural Water Supply Network (RWSN)’s Secretariat, members, and supporters participated in the 2023 WWW edition, underscoring their dedication to finding sustainable solutions to the global water crisis. By facilitating meaningful discussions and co-convening three sessions, RWSN had the opportunity to be part of the broader efforts of addressing water-related challenges in rural areas and beyond.

Cover Photo: Satoshi Ishii, Director, Water and Urban Development Sector Office, ADB exchanged views on water initiatives and programs with Sean Furey and Aline Saraiva Okello, PhD from the RWSN Secretariat (Source: ADB, LinkedIn)

Driving rural water innovation: concept to scale-up. Sunday, 20 Aug, Online and Onsite

Photo credits: A. Saraiva Okello, RWSN

This REAL-Water session brought together innovators aiming to speed up rural water development. Panelists showcased innovations in technology, finance, and management at various stages. Participants explored how these innovations could impact their work and considered the past and future of rural water innovation.

Convenors: Aquaya, Evidence Action, iDE, Imagine H2O, REAL-Water program of USAID, Rural Water Supply Network, Skat Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, UDUMA, Virridy, Water Mission, Water.org

Women for the Future of Water. Building on the Momentum of the UN 2023 Water Conference. Tuesday, 22 August 2023, Online

This session addressed how the workforce of the water and sanitation sector demonstrates a gender imbalance. Different organisations tackle the challenge of gender-imbalance from researching to empowering professional water and sanitation women through networking, mentoring and support at local, national or international levels to address the commitments related to gender in the water sector, made at the UN 2023 Water Conference. Convenors: African Water and SanitationAssociation (AfWASA); International Water Association (IWA); Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA); Women for Water Partnership (WfWP); Women in Water & Sanitation Network (WWSN)

Photo: Women’s Mingle. Credits: A. Saraiva Okello / Ellen Greggio

SIRWASH breakfast at the World Water Week 2023.

The SIRWASH programme, led by the Swiss Agency of Development Cooperation (SDC) and the Inter-American Bank (IDB), hosted a side event at World Water Week and brought together prominent leaders and shared advances in monitoring, policy and partnerships.

Some of the topics covered included:

Telemetry for monitoring WASH services in rural areas, by Mr. Edgard Coronel, Monitoring Specialist, National Rural Sanitation Program (PNSR), Peru.
National Rural Sanitation Program: challenges for implementation, by Flavio Marcos Gomes Júnior, National Secretary of Sanitation, Ministry of Cities, Brazil.
Advances and challenges in terms of access to water and sanitation in rural areas of Chile, by Carlos Estévez Valencia, Coordinator of the Water Cabinet, Ministry of Public Works, Chile.

Sergio Campos, Head of the IDB’s Water and Sanitation Division, spoke about the progress being made to encourage and promote exchange between countries in the Southern Hemisphere on water, sanitation and hygiene in rural areas, and the importance of working together with different Multilateral Development Banks -such as the African and Asian Development Banks- to achieve a unified global call to action towards the achievement of SDG 6.

Learn more about this session here

Photo: SIRWASH session during World Water Week 2023. Credit: A. Saraiva Okello

Launch of Africa’s Voice on Water (AVOW)

The African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) launched the first edition of “Africa’s Voice on Water” a new quarterly bi-lingual publication that brings news and opinion from policy, programmes and research. Sean Furey attended the launch on behalf of RWSN, having co-authored an article on the RWSN “Stop the Rot” campaign and brokered an article on Water Quality Assurance from the REAL-Water programme.

Photo: AMCOW social media account.

Looking ahead

RWSN’s efforts to improve water security in rural areas continue. As a leading global network of professionals in rural water supply, RWSN keeps working diligently towards achieving universal access to sustainable, safe and affordable water for all.

To find out more about RWSN, and join the network as an individual or a Member Organisation, see here: https://www.rural-water-supply.net/en/

World Water Day 2018: Publication of the new RWSN Strategy 2018-2023

The 2015-2017 RWSN strategy came to an end last year, and the RWSN Theme Leads and Secretariat have been busy consulting members and partners to develop a new strategy for the period 2018-2023. We have received valuable ideas for the network through consultations with working groups, the 2017 RWSN member survey and evaluation of the network, and the 6-week open consultation to which we invited all RWSN members. We also hosted a webinar in November 2017 during which the RWSN Secretariat and Chair outlined the proposed changes to the existing strategy.

Ideas and comments received from the network members and partners through the open consultation were incorporated into the RWSN Strategy in early 2018. The final version of the Strategy was approved by the RWSN Executive Steering Committee in March 2018. The revised RWSN strategy is now available for download here.

So what’s new?

The highlights include:

Welcoming new organisations to contribute to RWSN’s thematic activities, in particular Water Mission (on solar pumping, as part of the Sustainable Groundwater Development Theme) and Simavi (as part of the Leave No One Behind Theme, formerly known as Equality, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination);
A new focus on the development of RWSN’s Young Professionals community;
Fostering the collaboration between RWSN themes on emerging or specific topics such as water quality, social accountability, climate-resilient WASH and solar pumping. Given the complexity of the rural water sector challenges, this approach to tackling issues from different angles and perspectives together is helping us capitalise on the diverse experiences and expertise of our members in a process of co-creation.

As ever, your contributions to the network are highly appreciated, and we encourage you to join RWSN’s Themes and contribute to topics of interest. Feel free to reach out to your colleagues, in particular Young Professionals, to bring them on board to engage in the Rural Water Sector dialogue and shape the future next generation of RWSN. Thank you for all your ideas and we look forward to working together over this next phase!

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La stratégie RWSN 2015-2017 a pris fin l’an dernier. Les responsables thématiques et le secrétariat de RWSN ont pris l’initiative de consulter les membres et les partenaires du réseau afin de développer une nouvelle stratégie pour la période 2018-2023. Nous avons reçu de bonnes idées pour le réseau à travers des consultations avec les groupes de travail, l’enquête des membres RWSN 2017 et l’évaluation du réseau, et la consultation ouverte de 6 semaines à laquelle nous avons invité tous les membres de RWSN. Nous avons également organisé un wébinaire en novembre 2017 qui a permis au Secrétariat et à la Présidente de RWSN d’expliquer les changements proposés par rapport à la stratégie existante. Les idées et commentaires reçus des membres et des partenaires du réseau à travers cette consultation ont été incorporés dans la nouvelle stratégie RWSN début 2018. La version finale de la stratégie a été approuvée par le Comité de Pilotage Exécutif de RWSN en mars 2018.

La nouvelle stratégie RWSN strategy est maintenant disponible ici.

Quoi de neuf dans cette nouvelle stratégie?

Les points forts de la nouvelle stratégie 2018-2023 de RWSN sont les suivants:
• Nous souhaitons la bienvenue à de nouvelles organisations souhaitant contribuer aux activités thématiques de RWSN, en particulier Water Mission (sur le pompage solaire, faisant partie du Thème Développement Durable des Eaux Souterraines) et Simavi (faisant partie du Thème “N’exclure personne”, qui s’appelait Egalité, Inclusion et Non-Discrimination lors de la phase précédente);
• Un nouvel axe prioritaire sur le développement de la communauté de Jeunes Professionnels de RWSN;
• La collaboration entre les thèmes RWSN sur des sujets émergeants ou spécifiques tels que la qualité de l’eau, la redevabilité sociale, la résilience au climat des services EAH et le pompage solaire. Etant donné la complexité des défis du secteur de l’eau en milieu rural, cette approche nous permet de voir les problèmes de différents angles et perspectives afin de capitaliser sur les différentes expériences et expertises de nos membres à travers un processus de co-création.

Comme toujours, vos contributions au réseau sont les bienvenues, et nous vous encourageons à rejoindre les communautés des groupes thématiques de RWSN et à contribuer aux sujets qui vous intéressent. N’hésitez pas à partager avec vos collègues, en particulier les jeunes professionnels, afin de les impliquer dans le dialogue du secteur de l’eau en milieu rural et former la prochaine génération de RWSN. Merci à tous pour vos idées et nous avons hâte de travailler ensemble lors de cette nouvelle phase !

RWSN survey: have your say!

]RWSN is your network and we really want to hear from you! What have you gotten out of the network? How can it be improved to benefit your work in rural water supply? Do you want to have a say in its future? Your opinion matters to us – please take our short survey (10-15 min) in English, French or Spanish and feel free to share within your professional network: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RWSN2017

Many thanks and best wishes from the RWSN Secretariat

Addendum: Thanks a lot for your participation. The RWSN Survey report is now out! Find out what RWSN members had to say about the network: