Self Supply – Rural Water Supply Network

Lanzamiento virtual del libro : Autoabastecimiento – llenando los vacíos del suministro público de agua

Este es un blog de la Dra. Sally Sutton, el Dr. John Butterworth y Matthias Saladin. Ofrece una visión general de la presentación virtual del libro “Self-supply – filling the gaps in public water supply provision”, que ocurrió el 25 de marzo.

Figura 1 El suministro de agua in situ se utiliza para muchos fines. Tener un pozo propio suele mejorar la seguridad alimentaria y los ingresos, entre otros beneficios.

El primer libro dedicado al autoabastecimiento

El evento comenzó con una presentación de la autora principal, la Dra. Sally Sutton, en la que se destacaron brevemente cuestiones específicas del libro. Entre otras cosas, mencionó la magnitud del autoabastecimiento, proporcionando una estimación de más de mil millones de personas que beben agua de fuentes a las que han accedido o mejorado ellos mismos (sin incluir a las personas que invierten como grupos/cooperativas). El hecho de que esta cifra sea sólo una estimación aproximada es otro recordatorio de lo mucho que se ha pasado por alto el autoabastecimiento en las últimas décadas, al menos entre los donantes, las ONG internacionales, el mundo académico y la mayoría de las demás partes interesadas en el sector. Después de siglos (o milenios) en los que la gente se ha abastecido de agua por sus propios medios (=autoabastecimiento), éste es el primer libro dedicado al tema, y el evento fue una oportunidad para llamar más la atención sobre él.

Comentarios de expertos del sector del agua

A continuación, Dr. John Butterworth (IRC) destacó ejemplos de autoabastecimiento en Zimbabue y Etiopía de los que fue testigo de primera mano, y cómo la falta de sistemas de apoyo al autoabastecimiento en muchos lugares limita el alcance y el nivel de servicio que la gente puede alcanzar mediante este mecanismo. A continuación, los autores de los estudios de caso de Tanzania y Escocia hicieron sus aportaciones, así como una serie de comentarios de expertos de todo el mundo. Nos gustaría destacar algunos de los comentarios de estos expertos (las citas de los expertos en inglés han sido traducidas al español por nosotros).

Matt Bower, Jefe del equipo de operaciones del organismo regulador de la calidad del agua potable en Escocia

Azzika Tanko Yussif, Senior Policy Advisor – AMCOW (Consejo de Ministros Africanos del Agua)

Patrick Moriarty, Director General del IRC

Louisa Gosling, Presidenta de la Red de Abastecimiento de Agua en Zonas Rurales (RWSN) y Senior Manager – Responsabilidad y Derechos, WaterAid

Didier Allely, Miembro del equipo GLAAS/OMS

Los comentarios fueron seguidos por una sesión de open mic, en la que los participantes sacaron a relucir cuestiones como el acceso universal, la calidad del agua (y la importancia de la proximidad del agua), y los múltiples fines para los que se utiliza el agua cuando está disponible in situ. El evento concluyó con un gran agradecimiento a todos los participantes y con muchas felicitaciones a los autores por este hito.

Grabación y recursos adicionales

Si no tuviste la oportunidad de seguir el evento completo, o si quieres acceder a recursos adicionales relacionados con el libro, haz clic en los siguientes enlaces (disponible sólo en inglés) :

Enlace para descargar (gratuitamente) o comprar el libro (librería Practical Action)
Notas informativas sobre el libro (RWSN, 4 u 8 páginas)
Grabación del evento de presentación virtual del libro

Los organizadores del evento y los autores del libro agradecen al IRC por permiti que la versión en línea sea de descarga gratuita y que haya sufragado los costes de producción. Las personas interesadas en adquirir el libro al por mayor, o en utilizarlo con fines didácticos, pueden ponerse en contacto con John Butterworth.

Mantener el impulso

Este evento marcó un hito en la historia del Autoabastecimiento. Habiendo sido creado como un Tema de la RWSN hace más de 15 años, ahora observamos que (lentamente) el tema está atrayendo más interés y esperamos que este proceso siga ganando impulso en los próximos meses y años. Más de mil millones de personas dependen del autoabastecimiento como mecanismo principal para acceder al agua, y es evidente que es necesario apoyar a estas personas para que suban la escalera de los niveles de servicio, ya sea mejorando su suministro de agua privada o accediendo al agua por otros mecanismos, incluidas las redes de agua corriente.

Figura 2 Entorno de apoyo al autoabastecimiento

Lancement virtuel du livre : Auto-approvisionnement – combler les lacunes de l’approvisionnement public en eau

Ce blog a été rédigé par la Dre Sally Sutton, le Dr John Butterworth et Matthias Saladin. Il donne un aperçu du lancement virtuel du livre “Self-supply – filling the gaps in public water supply provision”, qui a eu lieu le 25 mars.

Image 1 Les sources d’eau sur place sont utilisées à de nombreuses fins. Avoir son propre puits tend à améliorer la sécurité alimentaire et les revenus, entre autres.

Le premier livre consacré à l’auto-approvisionnement

L’événement a débuté par une présentation de l’auteure principale, la Dre Sally Sutton, qui a donné de brefs coups de projecteur sur certains éléments spécifiques du livre. Elle a notamment évoqué l’ampleur de l’auto-approvisionnement, estimant à plus d’un milliard le nombre de personnes qui boivent de l’eau à partir de sources auxquelles elles ont accédé ou qu’elles ont améliorées elles-mêmes (sans compter les personnes qui investissent en tant que groupes/coopératives). Le fait que ce chiffre ne soit qu’une estimation approximative rappelle à quel point l’auto-approvisionnement a été négligé au cours des dernières décennies, du moins parmi les bailleurs de fonds, les ONGs internationales, le monde universitaire et la plupart des autres acteurs du secteur. Après des siècles (ou des millénaires) de personnes fournissant de l’eau par leurs propres moyens (= auto-approvisionnement), il s’agit du premier livre consacré à ce sujet, et l’événement de lancement du livre était une excellente occasion d’attirer davantage l’attention sur ce sujet.

Commentaires des expert-e-s du secteur de l’eau

Dr. John Butterworth (IRC) a ensuite mis en évidence des exemples d’auto-approvisionnement au Zimbabwe et en Ethiopie dont il a été le témoin direct, et comment le manque de systèmes de soutien à l’auto-approvisionnement dans de nombreux endroits limite l’étendue et le niveau de service que les gens peuvent atteindre par ce mécanisme. Ont suivi les contributions des auteurs des études de cas en Tanzanie et en Ecosse, et une série de commentaires d’experts du monde entier. Nous aimerions mettre en lumière certains des commentaires de ces experts (les citations des expert-e-s en anglais ont été traduites en français par nos soins).

Matt Bower, Chef d’équipe des opérations à l’organisme de réglementation de la qualité de l’eau potable en Écosse.

Azzika Tanko Yussif, Senior Policy Advisor – AMCOW (Conseil des ministres africains de l’eau)

Patrick Moriarty, Directeur général – IRC

Louisa Gosling, Présidente du Réseau d’approvisionnement en eau en milieu rural (RWSN) et Senior manage – responsabilité et droits, WaterAid.

Didier Allely, Membre de l’équipe GLAAS/OMS

Les commentaires ont été suivis d’une session open mic, où les participants ont soulevé des questions telles que l’accès universel, la qualité de l’eau (et l’importance de la proximité de l’eau), et les multiples usages de l’eau lorsqu’elle est disponible sur place. L’événement s’est conclu par un grand merci à toutes les personnes impliquées et par de nombreuses félicitations aux auteur-e-s pour cette réalisation importante.

Enregistrement et ressources supplémentaires

Si vous n’avez pas eu l’occasion de suivre l’événement dans son intégralité, ou si vous souhaitez accéder à des ressources supplémentaires liées au livre, cliquez sur les liens ci-dessous (disponible en anglais uniquement):

Lien pour télécharger (gratuitement) ou acheter le livre (Practical Action bookstore)
Briefings sur le livre (RWSN, 4 ou 8 pages)
Enregistrement de l’événement de lancement virtuel du livre

Les organisateurs de l’événement et les auteur-e-s du livre tiennent à remercier l’IRC d’avoir rendu la version téléchargeable en ligne gratuite et d’avoir pris en charge les coûts de production. Les personnes intéressées par l’achat en gros du livre, ou par son utilisation à des fins d’enseignement, sont priées de contacter John Butterworth.

Maintenir la dynamique amorcée

Cet événement a marqué un moment fort dans l’histoire de l’auto-approvisionnement. Après avoir été créé en tant que thème au sein de RWSN il y a plus de 15 ans, nous constatons aujourd’hui que le sujet suscite (lentement) de plus en plus d’intérêt et nous nous attendons à ce que ce processus continue à prendre de l’ampleur au cours des prochains mois et années. Plus d’un milliard de personnes dépendent de l’auto-approvisionnement comme principal mécanisme d’accès à l’eau, et il est nécessaire d’aider ces personnes à gravir l’échelle des niveaux de service – que ce soit en améliorant davantage leur source d’eau privée ou en accédant à l’eau par d’autres mécanismes, y compris les réseaux d’eau courante.

Image 2 Environnement favorable à l’auto-approvisionnement

Virtual launch of the book “Self-supply – filling the gaps in public water supply provision”

This is a blog by Dr Sally Sutton, Dr John Butterworth, and Matthias Saladin. It gives an overview of the virtual launch of the book “Self-supply – filling the gaps in public water supply provision”, which took place on March 25.

Figure 1 On-site water sources are used for many purposes.
Having your own well tends to improve food security and income,
among other benefits.

The first book dedicated to self-supply

The event started with a presentation by the main author, Dr. Sally Sutton, shining short spotlights on specific issues of the book. Among others, she mentioned the scale of self-supply, providing an estimate of more than one billion people drinking water from sources they have accessed or upgraded themselves (not including people investing as groups/cooperatives). Many more share these sources as their main drinking water source and for other purposes as well. The fact that this number is only a rough estimate is another reminder on just how much self-supply has been overlooked over the past decades, at least among donors, international NGOs, academia and most other stakeholders in the sector. After centuries (or millennia) of people providing water by their own means (=self-supply), this is the first book dedicated to the subject, and the event was a great opportunity to draw more attention to it.

Comments from experts of the water sector

Dr. John Butterworth (IRC) then highlighted examples of self-supply in Zimbabwe and Ethiopia he witnessed first-hand, and how the lack of support systems to self-supply in many places limits the extent and service level people can reach through this mechanism. This was followed by inputs from the authors of the case-studies in Tanzania and in Scotland, and by a series of comments from experts from around the world. We would like to highlight some of the comments made by these experts.

Matt Bower, Operations Team Leader at Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland

Azzika Tanko Yussif, Senior Policy Advisor – AMCOW (African Ministers’ Council on Water)

Patrick Moriarty, Chief Executive Officer – IRC

Louisa Gosling, Chair of the Rural Water Supply Network & Senior Manager – Accountability & Rights, WaterAid

Didier Allely, Member of the GLAAS/ WHO team

The comments were followed by an open-mic session, where participants brought up issues such as universal access, water quality (and the importance of proximity of water for that matter), and the multiple purposes water is used when available on premises. The event concluded with a big thank you to everyone involved, and with many congratulations to the authors on this milestone achievement.

Recording and additional resources

If you did not have the opportunity to follow the full event, or if you would like to access additional resources related to the book, click on the links below:

Link to download (for free) or purchase the book (Practical Action bookstore)
Briefings on the book (RWSN, 4 or 8 pages)
Recording of the virtual launch event of the book

The organizers of the event and the authors of the book would like to thank IRC for making the online version free to download, and to pay for the production costs. People who are interested to purchase the book in bulk, or to use it for teaching purposes, please contact John Butterworth.

Keep up the momentum

This event marked a highlight in the history of Self-supply. Having been created as a Theme within RWSN more than 15 years ago, we now observe that (slowly) the topic is attracting more interest and we expect that this process will continue to gain momentum over the next months and years. More than one billion people rely on Self-supply as primary mechanism to access water, and there clearly is a need to support these people to climb the ladder of service levels – be it by upgrading their private water source further or by accessing water by other mechanisms, including piped water networks.

Figure 2 Supportive environment for self-supply

Self-Supply made simple: A pictorial Sub-Saharan Summary in 10 slides by Sally Sutton

A pictorial Sub-Saharan Summary in 10 slides by Sally Sutton

With thanks to IRC

Self-supply: why I wrote the book

by Dr Sally Sutton, SWL Consultants, on her new book “Self-supply: Filling the gaps in public water supply provision” available to buy, or free to download from Practical Action Publishing from 15 February 2021.

Moving from deserts to humid lands

After 14 years working as a hydrogeologist in the deserts of the Middle East on traditional water supplies and wellfield construction, I moved to sub-Saharan Africa, which presented a whole new challenge.

The easier availability of water was the most obvious difference – sometimes too much so (see photo)- but other important ones were the low quality of water and scattered population.

New challenges – Large areas with accessible groundwater and sparse populations – water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink.

My experience at the World Water Week Conference: Water for Society Including all

This is a guest blog by Benson Kandeh, winner of the RWSN@WWW competition for young professionals.. For more information on RWSN’s activities for Young professionals, see here.

My name is Benson Kandeh and I am a young water professional from Sierra Leone. I work on providing water supply for rural communities in my country through the EMAS technologies and by training technicians to enable self-supply by and for communities. You can find out more about my organisation here and my work here.

This year, I won a competition for young professionals organized by RWSN to attend World Water Week in Stockholm. Getting to Stockholm from Sierra Leone was a challenge: I had to apply for a visa to Sweden in Nigeria, where I had to stay over two weeks waiting for the outcome of the visa process. My visa was initially denied by the Swedish authorities and later approved thanks to an appeal from the RWSN Secretariat. I got the news that my visa has been appealed on Monday 19^th August, and two days later, on Wednesday I was on a plane to Abuja to collect my visa and fly out to Stockholm the next day. It has been a whirlwind and quite an adventure for me!

This year’s World Water Week conference was held from August 25-30, 2019 and organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) with over 3,300 people from 130 countries – including Sierra Leone. The 6-day programme consisted 270 sessions with the Theme: “Water for society – including all”. Two of the highlights of the event were the Stockholm Water Prize ceremony, and the Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition honouring outstanding young people between the age of 15 and 20 who have made an innovation in the water sector. 23 countries were represented this year in the Stockholm Junior Water Prize competition but only Nigeria and South Africa represented Africa as a whole. I was fortunate to meet with the Stockholm Water Prize winner, Dr Jackie King during the conference.

Meeting Dr Jackie King, winner of the 2019 Stockholm Water Prize

The conference gathered many experts, practitioners, decision-makers, business innovators and young professionals from a range of sectors and countries. It featured many interesting sessions, of which I was fortunate to attend the following, and learn and interact with many water professionals:

Here are some of my highlights of World Water Week:

Shared and Public Toilets: Equitable access everywhere

This session was very important especially for organizations and individuals that have interests in rural communities for water and sanitation. The presenter was able to clearly outline the shared sanitation model as it is important when considering household access as well as access outside the home. Toilet/latrine access is a challenge in the African region especially in institutions (schools, religious buildings, medical or other institutions). However, with this model, it can reduce the disparity greatly as it considers students, workers and anyone who lives outside their home.

According to the presenter, the quality of these services is often poor, because of limited monitoring standards, and the funding needed for such work is inadequate. The presenter made it very clear that shared sanitation is not just a service needed at one’s home but people need to access safely managed sanitation facilities, while they are away from home, whether at school, work, a market, or anywhere else they might go.

A pitching competition for 9 young water professionals

Thanks to the Water Youth Network for organizing an interesting and educative short pitching competition among nine young people, who work in the water sector. In fact, the group work was so amazing after the problems were presented to participants with the aim to discuss and offer solutions on how to make sure that water supply projects use an entrepreneurial approach to overcome inclusion challenge. We also talked about the difference between water accessibility and use.

My pitch at the Water Youth Network event

Key projects highlighted during the discussion were mini-grid piped water schemes in Bangladesh, scalable water services in Uganda and a Football for Water project in Kenya (Aqua for All), all reaching rural, poor, underserved households. During the various young water professionals’ presentations, I was able to learn about the impacts colleagues are making in their various countries to improve access to water and sanitation.

Safely Managed Drinking Water Services for Rural People – the Last Mile

This was one of the most important sessions for me during World Water Week in Skockholm. I served as a panelist, representing the rural communities among other personalities from the WASH sector with the topic: “Safely Managed Drinking Water Services for Rural People”.

Speaking as a panelist with Clarissa Brocklehurst (Water Institute at UNC) and Peter Harvey (UNICEF)

I shared my experience using the EMAS technologies in the Sierra Leone context. The EMAS technology is a self-supply concept that entails local public or private initiatives by individuals, households or community groups to improve their own WASH supplies, without waiting for help from governments or non-government organizations. Self-supply is more about self-sustained initiative, rather than donor subsidies or external support. It empowers individuals and communities to gradually improve their WASH supplies at their own pace with regard to technical and financial capacities. Once the basic services are available, families make their own decisions on how to improve those services based on affordability and technical capacities at local level.

The most interesting part about this session was the mixed backgrounds of the presenters (knowledge, skills, cultures, etc.). All were centered on the water crisis and solutions with an emphasis on sustainability, affordability and accessibility for everyone everywhere.

Finally, the different presentations were able to examine the various technologies and hand-pump types that are utilized in various countries and provided evidences for technology options that can yield much for ease of maintenance, accessibility and sustainability.

Conclusion

Participating in World Water Week has been a great opportunity for me to present my work, make contacts, and contribute my perspective as a young professional from Sierra Leone. I am looking forward to staying in touch with some of the people I met during World Water Week, and hopefully this will help me on my mission to provide safe water in rural communities in my country.

Since coming home I have created my own group for young water professionals in Sierra Leone. I am trying to connect with other young professionals in Sierra Leone, to see how we can come together and contribute to the water sector. Any young professional interested in water in Sierra Leone is welcome to join here. I believe we can do a lot!

Meeting with RWSN Young Professional Kenneth Alfaro Alvarado from Costa Rica

Cost effective ways to leave no-one behind in rural water and sanitation – Summary on the RWSN E-discussion

The e-discussion on the topic of “Cost effective ways to leave no-one behind in rural water and sanitation” has come to an end and we are very grateful for the 40+ participants who actively took part. A summary of the e-discussion can be found here. Additionaly, we as moderators want to share our own summary of the discussion in this short blog.

Authors: Julia Boulenouar, Louisa Gosling, Guy Hutton, Sandra Fürst, Meleesa Naughton.

As duty bearers for the realisation of human rights to safe drinking water, States have the responsibility to ensure that no-one is left behind. And the SDG framework clearly sets out the need for all stakeholders to work together on the challenge. This e-discussion was an opportunity for diverse members of the Rural Water Supply Network to share lessons and views on how this can be done.

Reminding ourselves of the challenge at stake: since the SDG WASH targets 6.1 and 6.2 were adopted in 2015, the sector has been thinking hard about how to finance the ambitious goal of providing access to safely managed WASH services for everyone, everywhere and forever. This ambition is even more challenging in rural areas, where coverage levels are lower and the unserved include remote communities which are harder to reach and often poorer.

In order to develop a credible financial strategy to achieve this ambition and leverage resources, governments and sector stakeholders need to determine the real costs involved (not only to provide first time access for a few, but sustainable services for all) and the sources of funding that are available and can be mobilised. It needs credible data on those aspects as well as on the population served and unserved, including the most vulnerable groups.

What we already know about the cost of providing WASH services: the costs of providing services rely on many factors and the WASH Cost initiative led by IRC has helped to identify 6 categories beyond capital expenditure to include among others, operation and maintenance, capital maintenance expenditure and direct support. We know that some of these cost categories are largely unknown and as a result, not planned, not budgeted and not financed. This is the case for capital maintenance expenditure and for direct support costs (generally referring to costs for local government to support service providers).

In terms of actual costs, a World Bank study of 2016 showed that $114 billion per year would be needed globally to cover capital costs and roughly the same for operation and maintenance.

What we know less about is the real cost of providing services to all, especially for those left behind (including those marginalised and those discriminated against) and this is because limited data are available. We also recognise that beyond the 6 generic cost categories, many costs are unknown and neglected and these include:

the non-financial time costs of WASH access,
the cost of taking time to properly understand demand, recognising gender differences and diverse perspectives,
the cost of strengthening skills and stakeholder capacity to fulfil their mandate, particularly service authorities and service providers,
the cost of corruption,
the time and cost of including people with disabilities and others who are socially excluded in services.

These can be seen as cost drivers rather than additional categories, but should be thought through, every time services are planned for.

Who is currently financing this goal and who should do more? Leaving no one behind is the responsibility of national governments. They need to mobilise funding through a combination of sources, including government (taxes), development partners (transfers) and users (tariffs). This is usually known as the “3Ts”. In some contexts, the private sector may have a role to play in investing in water services. However, results from countries that conducted to identify and track WASH financing with the UN-Water tool TrackFin, show that the main contributors for the sector are by far the users who are paying for their own services through capital investment (Self-supply) and through water tariffs (operation and maintenance). In that context, should we consider revising the “3Ts” to “3Ts and S” to acknowledge the importance of Self-supply in the mix of services? And should we also add a 4^th T for time to recognise the extent of unpaid labour, especially that of women, on which rural water supply depends? And should we recognise the time used to travel to a place of open defecation or also the waiting time for shared sanitation?

In any case, given the magnitude of the challenge, governments should mobilise additional funding for the WASH sector and coordinate efforts at all levels to ensure cost-effectiveness and efficiency, particularly in resource-constrained environments. Developing WASH plans at sub-national level could be a good way to strengthening governance and coordination, and maximise cost-effectiveness.

What about serving those that cannot afford to pay? Those currently left behind include communities located in rural and remote areas who are often the poorest and currently rely on Self-supply. For those who cannot afford to pay and to address the issue of leaving no-one behind, various areas can be investigated:

Defining and measuring users’ affordability
Considering low-cost technology options such as Self-supply but only if accompanied by long-term support from local and national government (including through regulation)
Making sure the solutions are acceptable and accessible for all – taking into account gender, disability, and cultural preferences

This e-discussion has been useful at clarifying knowns and unknowns related to costing and financing services. Even though the issue of affordability has been touched on, many questions remain unanswered.

We think this discussion should continue and here are a few questions, which we still have in mind, but you might have many more:

Who are populations left behind in different contexts (including the marginalised and discriminated against) and how can we define and identify them?
What are the ongoing costs of reaching everyone (including the aspects listed above)?
If users are those paying the majority of WASH supply costs, how do we deal with those who cannot afford to pay?
What mechanisms can be introduced to set tariffs appropriately, whilst also covering the costs of long-term service provision?
What are the examples of supported Self-supply that have been successful?
What are the specific roles of local government in ensuring no-one is left behind?

Continue the discussion with us and post your answers below or sent your contribution to the RWSN e-discussion group.

Photo credits (top to bottom): Dominic Chavez/World Bank; Alan Piazza / World Bank; Arne Hoel / World Bank; Gerardo Pesantez / World Bank

Scotland’s place in achieving water for society – including all

This is a guest blog by Ben McIntosh-Michaelis, a RWSN Young Professional who submitted this entry as part of the RWSN@WWW competition. For more information on RWSN’s support to Young Professionals, please see here.

Living in Scotland we often think that everyone here has access to safe water. In reality, this is not quite the case. Despite not being perfect, we are still good at managing our water. Because of this, Scotland is heavily involved in Water, Sanitation And Hygiene (WASH) projects worldwide.

In Scotland’s cities and towns, naturally occurring water sources cannot meet demand. In order to maintain a supply of water for society, which is of sufficient quantity and of good quality, common civil infrastructure is key. By and large, Scotland has a well-developed infrastructure for supplying and removing water. Therefore, water for society is a reality, at least in the urban areas.

Many water supplies in Scotland are managed by a national body, Scottish Water. This goes a long way in ensuring that everyone is included when water is supplied for society. However, rural water supplies in Scotland are not managed by the national body, meaning that ca. 500,000 people on private water supplies (using boreholes or stream water for instance) are not covered by the same infrastructure and quality controls. As the research from the Citizen’s Advice Bureau Scotland suggests, this situation means that safe water for all isn’t a reality even here in Scotland.

Huge variations in geology and landscape in Scotland means that the water quality varies from location to location. The result is that these small and individual sources require a bespoke set of technical steps to clean the water. But as you can appreciate, this is extremely costly and often not a realistic approach.

Development of a standard system which can be used to treat water from sources with significant variations in flowrate requirements and water quality is challenging. Many of the standard, tried and tested technologies used to treat these sources require a lot of electricity, high levels of maintenance, and replacement of parts. This is expensive to manage, and it also places people living in rural areas at risk of being supplied with untreated water if a piece of equipment stops functioning. This section of society may become excluded from the quality water supply for society.

Better mechanisms for implementing new systems and technologies in areas where traditional systems can be unreliable and expensive are needed in Scotland. This is in terms of policies held by those responsible for infrastructure obtainment and providing independent analysis about which products will be suitable. As stated by the Citizen’s Advice Bureau Scotland, “more needs to be done to improve the quality of information available to consumers, and signposting needs to be improved to ensure those that need it can access it.”

From a global perspective, water for society – including all, means that the impacts of climate change and economic practices should be considered when discussing Scotland’s place in society. Steps are being taken by the Scottish Government to include these considerations, many of which relate directly to water (information can be found on the Scottish Government’s website).

As well as Scottish Government involvement, Scottish society engages in international development; from school groups, to charities, universities, student groups and businesses, there are a wide range of projects and affiliations. Many of these projects relate to or involve water. During my own engagement as a student and as a professional engineer working in Southern Africa, I have observed that many of these activities are unregulated and are based on random connections between people in Scotland and around the world. On the one hand, this is great because there are so many ways in which people in Scotland can get involved. On the other hand, many of the projects are untargeted, and do not focus on the needs of the people they are supposed to be helping. The lack of coordination means that there is a lot of replication of projects, sometimes a lack of qualified experts on board, and a lack of a best practice principle.

For Scottish society to engage healthily in international development, including the WASH field, greater coordination and regulation of projects is required. Young people in particular need to be made more aware of the issues surrounding voluntourism in order to curb the harm caused by this practice.

The importance of being properly qualified to do a job must be highlighted, to everyone. My work in the rural water sectors in Scotland and in Southern Africa suggests to me that a cultural shift is required. Just because a water infrastructure project is in a rural area – whether in Scotland or Southern Africa – doesn’t mean it can be hastily implemented or without the necessary technical input. Water for all of society must include those living in even the most remote areas, and the infrastructure, expertise and business models need to be adapted to help meet the needs of these communities to ensure no one is left behind.

More resources

If you are interested in finding out more about rural water supplies in Scotland, and the comparison with other countries (specifically Eastern Europe / Ethiopia), please see this RWSN webinar from 2018, or check out this presentation.

About the author

Ben won the Vision in Business for the Environment of Scotland (VIBES) Hydro Nation Challenge in 2016 for the design of the Afridev Hi-Lift (a handpump retrofit adaptation unit that allows water to be lifted to a head). Later, upon completion of his engineering Masters, he started work for the Climate Justice Fund Water Futures Program (CJF WFP) based at the University of Strathclyde, gaining experience working in Malawi’s Southern region alongside BASEflow, a local Malawian organisation. He currently works for Clean Water Wave, an Edinburgh based Community Interest Company which is developing the low energy, no chemical Clean Aqua For Everyone (CAFE) water treatment system.

And the winner is…

This year, RWSN is offering the chance for a young professional to attend Stockholm World Water Week.

From 25 June- 9 July 2019, we ran a competition to find a young professional with a knack for communicating complex topics to broad audiences, social media –savviness, and a passion for working on water issues at the local level. Their mission: to attend and disseminate the information relevant to young people to RWSN members via our social media accounts, online communities and blog – but also to share their story or experience in relation to the Theme of World Water Week: Water for Society – Including all.

We received over 20 entries from all over the world, from Cambodia to Peru via South Africa – all of them really inspiring from some amazing young people from around the world.

And the winner is… Mr Benson Kandeh, from Sierra Leone!

The jury thought that Benson demonstrated creativity and commitment through his social media posts highlighting his day-to-day work as a young professional in Sierra Leone, working on self-supply in remote areas to provide water for all. He shared videos and photos of his work, and also wrote a summary story post explaining his views on what ‘Water for Society – including all’ means to him.

Benson’s reaction on winning RWSN’s World Water Week competition:

After reading the email stating the result and me being the winner, I was shocked! It was like a dream! I am very thankful and excited to share my efforts, while learning from other international participants and water professionals. This opportunity will help increase my knowledge of the water sector and apply it in my professional activities in rural water supply in my country, Sierra Leone.

Benson will be reporting from World Water Week and sharing his perspectives with our members through our blog and social media account. He will also share his experience with World Water Week attendees through a talk at the RWSN booth (C10) on “Providing safe water for all in Sierra Leone: experience of a young professional” (day and time tbc). If you are in Stockholm, call by our booth to meet him!

Thank you to all the participants who took the time and effort to enter this competition. There were so many interesting stories, and we will share a few of our top entries here on the RWSN blog in the lead-up to Stockholm World Water Week.

For more information on RWSN’s activities for Young professionals, please see here. We thank the Swiss Development Cooperation for making this support possible.

Technovation Rush: Are developing countries ready?

by Takudzwa Noel Mushamba, WASH & Infrastructure Coordinator at Danish Refugee Council / Dansk Flygtningehjælp

re-posted from: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/technovation-rush-developing-countries-ready-takudzwa-noel-mushamba/

Failure of technological innovation in the water and sanitation sector.
Across the globe there is growing momentum to address emerging and traditional threats to the water and sanitation sector through innovative technology. As a result, without thinking twice governments and practitioners have jumped on to the technology bandwagon. In the last decade there have been massive investments in technological innovation in the sector in developing countries. Furthermore, there are numerous articles that narrate how technology can help advance the water and sanitation sector in the developing world. There is no doubt there are some benefits emanating from the use of technology be it ICT or new technology introduced to operate and or manage water and sanitation systems. Regardless, the question is to what extent is the technology in question effective and is it introduced at right time?

Continue reading “Technovation Rush: Are developing countries ready?”