Sustainability Tools and Clauses

Thoughts on the Sustainability Clauses, by Jonathan Annis

editor's avatarWater, sanitation and hygiene service monitoring

By Jonathan Annis

Maintaining sustainability (or longevity as I prefer to think of it) of water services requires an ecosystem of support. This ecosystem includes but is not limited to policy, financing, planning, learning, harmonization, and technology. The ecosystem is complex and nonlinear; the broad categories are highly interdependent and failure in one aspect can have a domino effect on the others.  Indeed, services are delivered, like children are raised, with the support of an entire village.

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Understanding the Technology Assessment Framework (TAF)

Update on WASHtech

awumbei's avatarWASHTech, THE project (2011-2013)

“Let’s invite WASHTECH to apply the TAF tool on this Household Water Treatment and Storage (HWTS) technology, the communities choices system, to determine whether it needs to be scaled up”. This came up at the 26th edition of the National Learning Alliance Platform meeting, which recently took place in Accra on theme, Household Water Treatment and Storage Strategy in Ghana.

Members of the WASHTech learning alliance at the meeting had to respond by further explaining and updating stakeholders on the project and the TAF. Abu Wumbei of the WASHTech Ghana team explained that the TAF was indeed a tool that could be used to assess the said HWTS technology, but that the tool was currently being tested on some selected technologies; and that these will enable the fine-tuning of the tool to suit the local situation and context. Thereafter, according to him, the tool will be in full operation; owned…

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Sustainability checks, clauses and compacts – USAID and DGIS lead the way

Blog by Stef Smits of IRC on ways that funders can improve sustainability of WASH projects

editor's avatarwater services that last

By Stef Smits

Over the past year, there has been quite a bit of buzz in the WASH sector on the sustainability clause  that DGIS seeks to include in its contacts with implementers. The pros and cons of this have been widelydebated . A key component of the clauses is to have sustainability checks as a way to verify whether sustainability criteria are being met. One of the sessions at the “Monitoring Sustainable WASH Service Delivery Symposium” focused on this kind of approaches, looking back at past experience and at the future outlook for them. Particular emphasis was given to the experiences of two bilateral donors who have been leading the way in this: USAID and DGIS, as well as their partners.

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Reflections from the Colorado WASH Symposium

by Jonathan Annis, WASHplus

I recently attended the Colorado Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Symposium, hosted by the University of Colorado Boulder. The two-day regional gathering, intended primarily for students, faculty and local WASH professionals within greater Denver WASH community, attracted 130 attendees. A closely knit and cross-disciplinary group of graduate students did a fantastic job planning and hosting the event.

For those who aren’t aware – this included me before arriving on campus – the Colorado WASH community is thriving. The Denver area is home to a blend of international NGO’s like Water for People and iDE as well as local non-profit groups with a regional or country focus like El Porvenir. Add to the mix the energy created by a dynamic group of graduate students and academics engaged in the international WASH sector and the stage was set for an engaging discussion.

I had two main takeaways from the event:
Continue reading “Reflections from the Colorado WASH Symposium”

Assessing the potential of solar powered pumping for domestic water supply in Uganda

Update from Uganda on testing the Technology Applicability Framework (TAF) as part of the WASHtech project

sekumapter's avatarWASHTech, THE project (2011-2013)

In Kanungu district of south western Uganda, the Technology Applicability Framework  (TAF) work was used to assess the potential of solar powered water pumping in the country.The exercise involved representatives from the Ministry of Water and Environment, Technical Support Units (TSUs),Kanungu district local governments, local NGOs, research institutions, private sector enterprises and beneficially communities. The assessment was based on the following dimension: social acceptance of the technology in the community, environmental dimension, and affordability of the technology by community members, skills and knowhow.

Solar powered pumping for domestic supply has great potential in Uganda if the following issues are adequately addressed:

  • Scheme operators and beneficially communities should provide adequate security measures to protect solar panels from theft. In addition, communities using solar water powered pumps and bore holes should be able to access loans from banks or financial institutions for replacement of highly expensive scheme components in the event of…

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A visit to Gammarth, Tunisia, or what I learnt at the African Development Bank’s retreat for rural water and sanitation

Thoughts on the RWSSI meeting at the African Development Bank in Tunisia

editor's avatarwater services that last

By Harold Lockwood

Last week in Gammarth, Tunis the African Development Bank called a meeting, attended by about 160 sector experts and other government officials, to launch a new coordination mechanism for its flagship Rural Water Supply and  Sanitation Initiative, or RWSSI. It was an interesting couple of days and through the various presentations, discussions, working groups and questions from the floor, a number of both key opportunities and challenges – fault lines even – were exposed to me as a relatively neutral participant.

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News from the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI) Meeting in Tunis

Water Journalists- Africa's avatarWaterSan Perspective

George Mhango, Tunis in Tunisia
March 27, 2013

Over 150 delegates including, ministers, CSO leaders and experts in water and sanitation have converged in the Tunisian capital Tunis for the meeting to launch the Regional Coordination Committee of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI).

RWSSI was launched in 2003 by the African Development Bank with an overall goal of universal access to water supply and sanitation services for the rural populations by 2025 with an immediate target of 80 percent coverage by 2015.

Delegates at the conference going on at Ramada Plaza in Tunis heard from various dignitaries including Bai Mass Taal, the Executive Secretary for African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW).

Taal noted that AMCOW had adopted RWSSI in recognition of the need to focus on this under-prioritized subsector.

While presenting the Terms of References for Regional Coordination Committee, Osward Mulenga Chanda, the Manager for Water and…

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