Funding – Rural Water Supply Network

Funding opportunity – Water Security

Happy New Year!

Let’s start 2016 with a bang: a call for expressions of interest (EOIs) for ‘Catalyst Grants’ which are commissioned under the REACH programme.

Dr Katrina Charles explains the REACH Catalyst Grant process **(click picture to see YouTube video)**

These Catalyst Grants of between £10,000 and £50,000 each are designed to explore novel approaches to water security and poverty research and policy that complement the core research conducted by the REACH programme. These grants will promote the co-production of effective tools and technologies relevant for and adopted by policy makers, practitioners, civil society organisations and enterprise.

There are three themes for this call:

Water security for vulnerable people
Water security risk science
Water security partnerships.

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charity: water – pushing boundaries for better projects & more accountability

After this year’s ‘Water & Health’ conference at UNC, I visited some organisations along the East Coast of the US. On Wednesday 23^rd October, I visited the headquarters of charity: water in New York. The largely open-plan office was quietly buzzing with activity.

charity: water was founded in 2006 by a young night club promoter, Scott Harrison, who decided to put his considerable influencing and networking skills to a new, more productive (as he saw it) purpose. His idea has been to tap into a different demographic than is usual for charitable donations – those below the age of 40, who have grown cynical of what charities actually achieve. To do this they use social media and celebrity endorsement (charity: water is currently the featured charity of Depeche Mode’s latest tour). Their hook is a 100% model where all money donated goes directly to projects, implemented by established NGO partners such as Water For People, Water For Good (ICDI), Splash and World Vision. The completed projects are shown on the website, as part of proving that work has been done.

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Rethinking Data: Part 2- Graphing “Open” Data

Interesting mapping of funding data

The Water Wonk

…a continuation from Rethinking Data: Part 1

Two weeks ago I posted a blog about open data in WaSH- the challenges in gaining sector buy-in and our responsibility to promote open data (read it here: The Wild-Card: Open Data). After the Akvo Track-Day event, I had a great conversation with Henry Jewell about what do we do with open data once we have it. Once it’s on the internet, is anyone really using it? What are the using it for? Is it making an impact?

I realized that while I promote open data, but I do very little with it. I’ve used some open data to generate statistics for reports and info graphics. I’ve even used some as a primary research data source. But the real point of open data is to improve public understanding of a given topic and influence future policy/decision making, from a national level…

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

WaterSan 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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