Source South Asia 2007, issue 0

Published - 09 May 07

South Asia - General

South Asia: Lifebuoy sells handwashing along with bars of soap

Unilever sells 2.6 billion bars of Lifebuoy soap every year across Asia and Africa and is the market leader in every Asian country where it is sold. It stimulates sales by training women in remote villages to become distributors and uses social marketing to promote hygiene education.

South Asia: regional strategic planning for mainstreaming gender in IWRM

As part of its regionalisation strategy, the Gender and Water Alliance (GWA) is organising regional strategic planning workshops on gender mainstreaming. The first GWA South Asia Regional Workshop, held in January 2007 in Kathmandu, Nepal, focussed on building a collective Vision and Action Plan for strategising gender mainstreaming in integrated water resource management (IWRM) in the region.

Asia: key issues in development of water and sanitation infrastructure, ADB findings

A new report provides an overview of general trends in the Asian Development Bank’s infrastructure operations in the Asia and Pacific region and compiles infrastructure statistics. In 2004, only 81% of the region’s total population had access to improved water source, only about 45%, or 1.5 billion people, had access to improved sanitation.

Janaki Karki, 75-year old resident of Imadol, Lalitpur, Nepal

Our family has to pay about Rs. 400.00 (US$ 5) a month to buy drinking water. For other use, we have to pay Rs.1200.00 (US$ 20) a month.

Bangladesh: IRC team trains senior BRAC field staff in managing a five-year WASH programme

BRAC, the world’s largest NGO, commissioned IRC to organise a training programme for its senior field staff, mostly district managers who manage a project staff of around 1,500 people in an area of 2.5 million people. The training programme, held in February 2007, focused on supporting BRAC staff in implementing their new five-year € 57 million water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programme.

India: Unrealistic approach hampers rural sanitation programme

A report by the Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission estimates 30 million people in rural areas suffer from sanitation-related diseases. In economic terms, these cause a loss of 180 million man-days and Rs 1,200 crore (EUR 213 million), annually. The Indian magazine Down to Earth writes that the government’s focus seems to be on increasing sanitation coverage at the cost of quality and popular involvement.

India: UN-HABITAT signs partnership with Coca-Cola

UN Under Secretary General and UN-HABITAT Executive Director Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka has signed an agreement with Coca-Cola India announcing that they will collaborate to improve community access to water and sanitation in India and Nepal.

Nepal: political commitment and action for urban sanitation needed

Mobilise political commitment at all levels for effective urban sanitation in Nepal and back it up with adequate financial resources, recommend participants at a national policy workshop.

Pakistan: civil society signs cooperation agreement with government for services

The civil society in Pakistan has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government for water and sanitation services.

Uganda: stop Value Added Tax on water

The parliamentary committee on natural resources wants to exempt water from Value Added Tax (VAT) to make it affordable, and to prevent the use of unsafe water sources.

Viet Nam: Handwashing communications campaign set

Based on two recent studies on handwashing and soap the Viet Nam Handwashing Initiative (HWI) is preparing to launch a nationwide communications campaign.

Bolivia: WB to purchase credits on sewage methane emission reduction

The Community Development Carbon Fund (CDCF), managed by the World Bank (WB), has signed an emissions reductions purchase agreement with Bolivian sanitation and wastewater treatment cooperative Saguapac.

International action: Finance ministers to step up action on water and sanitation agenda

A number of donors committed to increase and improve support to countries to expand water and sanitation services, at the end of a side event meeting of Ministers of finance and development in Washington ahead of the annual World Bank/IMF Development Committee meeting.

UK: parliament wants DFID to become global champion on sanitation

The International Development Committee of the UK parliament has urged the Department for International Development (DFID) to become a global champion on sanitation. “Sanitation gets far less attention than water in DFID's policies and this imbalance needs urgent correction”, the Committee said in its report.

Climate change: water and food shortages will cause mass migration, but biofuels not the answer, says Christian Aid

Global warming will create at least one billion refugees by 2050 as water shortages and crop failures force people to leave their homes, sparking local wars over access to resources, warns a Christian Aid. Promoting biofuels to mitigate climate change is not a solution supported by Christian Aid nor by an expert of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).

Water utilities in South Asia form benchmarking network

South Asian utilities have established the South Asian Water Utilities Network (SAWUN) at a meeting in Islamabad, Pakistan, on 23-24 April 2007. The utilities designed a partnerships programme with well-performing utilities to develop specific capacities.

UNICEF: Ms. Clarissa Brocklehurst Chief, Water and Environmental Sanitation, New York

Ms. Clarissa Brocklehurst assumed her duties as UNICEF’s Chief, Water and Environmental Sanitation in the Programme Division on 1 April 2007.

Asia: Naming and shaming polluters more effective than fear for regulation

Naming and shaming Asia's environmentally unfriendly firms is more effective in getting them to clean up their acts than government regulation. “It's an Asian thing. We value reputations and names very much. We don't want to be put to shame," Elisea Gillera Gozun.

World Health Organization: guidelines criticised for neglecting evidence

When developing "evidence-based" guidelines, the World Health Organization routinely forgets one key ingredient: evidence. That is the verdict from a study published in The Lancet online.

Postgraduate Distance Learning Programme: Infrastructure in Emergencies

Distance, 15 September 2007 - 7 January 2009

The Water, Engineering and Development Centre, WEDC, announces the launch of its new distance learning programme - Infrastructure in Emergencies, commencing September 2007.

Sanitation: villagers finance and build their own latrines in Natuapura, Bangladesh

The efforts of a local NGO and the villagers of Natuapura in Bangladesh, resulted in dramatic increases in latrine construction and use, improvements in the water supply and a substantial – if disappointing – increase in good hygiene practices. While water points were subsidised by the government, the majority of the householders built a hygienic latrine at their own cost.

Communication: pre-testing develops better, more user friendly materials on tubewell maintenance in Nepal

In response to an information needs assessment, NEWAH prepared posters and a leaflet on tubewell maintenance to link users with local suppliers. After pre-testing with users, posters were developed in local languages with more pictures and colour. Only after this were the messages clearly understood.

Participatory methods: Positive outcomes pilot project ADB

Participatory and demand responsiveness did feature as elements of the ADB-supported water supply sector initiatives in Viet Nam and Sri Lanka with basic user representation achieved in the preparatory stages of implementation.

Water governance: Have ADB’s investments made a difference?

Decision makers like to see proof of results on the ground before agreeing to increase budgets for water governance. Three recently completed pilot and demonstration activities (PDAs) supported by the Asian Development Bank have demonstrated both the cost-effectiveness of the programme and a strong interest by ADB’s clients in water governance.

Water policy: understanding ‘triggers’ of reform

Triggers of change, contents of and a tactical plan and response for change are three inter-related components of a framework for water policy reform . This is one of the outcomes of a recent workshop in Colombo, a first major step in a new initiative by The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the Global Water Partnership (GWP).

Arsenic exposure: impact on young children’s intelligence and growth in Bangladesh and China

Two new field research studies among children in Bangladesh and China confirm that arsenic exposure affects young children’s intelligence and growth.

Arsenic removal: SONO household water filter wins US$ 1 million award

Abul Hussam, an associate professor at George Mason University, USA has been awarded the Grainger Challenge Gold Award of US$ 1 million for his SONO filter, a household water treatment system for removing arsenic.

Rainwater tanks: better than dams, desalination: Australian report

A new Australian study shows that rainwater tanks are cost competitive with desalination, yet five times more energy efficient - significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It also revealed that they could delay big water projects like dams for up to a decade.

Development prizes: 2007 Global Development Awards and Medals Competition

Carrying prizes in cash and travel worth nearly US$ 240,000 finalists of the 8th edition of this annual international competition on development research will be invited to present proposals at the Ninth Annual Global Development Conference, Brisbane, January 2008

Apply before Monday 17 September 2007

Financial incentives: cash rewards boost rural sanitation in South Asia

Governments in South Asia are using innovative financial incentives to promote sanitation and hygiene behaviour changes in rural communities, marking a shift from subsidy-led toilet provision toward the promotion of open defecation–free (ODF) villages.

Local Initiatives for better hygiene : four case studies from Asia

This publication contains four case studies from Asia in which the authors have analyzed initiatives in their own countries that aimed to improve hygiene behaviour in individual communities.

Faecal attraction / political economy of defecation

The video shows that all rivers in India look like sewage canals, if they carry any liquid at all. The stretches by the cities are worst.

Sewage canal : how to clean the Yamuna

The book chronicles the state of the river as it passes through populated towns and cities. It analyses the strategies adopted to clean it up and lessons learnt about river management.

Arsenic in drinking water

This TOP outlines the global extent of arsenic contamination and its basic chemistry, as well as associated health problems. It looks at removal technologies for centralised and household point-of-use systems, and describes two case-study trials in Bangladesh and in Hungary.

Willingness-to-pay and design of water supply and sanitation projects : a case study

Using a case study, this paper demonstrates the usefulness of willingness-to-pay (WTP) studies in designing WSS projects.

Enhancing livelihoods through sanitation

This TOP locates livelihoods as the means that poor men and women have of surviving in adverse circumstances, especially in rural areas and on the periphery of towns and cities. It outlines the complex links between sanitation, health, livelihoods and poverty.

Accountability arrangements to combat corruption

This review attempts to demonstrate the benefits of anti-corruption and accountability arrangements in infrastructure programs.

New IRC title on Learning Alliances

Massive efforts are put into developing innovative approaches that will rapidly increase access to sustainable water and sanitation services and deliver improved hygiene practices. This book brings together theory and practice to examine the challenges of widespread innovative change in a real-world setting.

GROWNET

Project web site of the Ground Water Network for Best Practices in Ground Water Management in Low-Income Countries.

iDrate

iDrate bubble is a fun and free software that reminds you to drink enough water everyday, and creates value to fund humanitarian water-related projects for people with limited or no access to water.

Third South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN-III)

New Delhi, India, 16-21 November 2008

Part of a series of regional conferences in support of the 2008 International Year of Sanitation.

8th Specialized Conference on Small Water and Wastewater Systems (SWWS) and 2nd Specialized Conference on Decentralised Water and Wastewater International Network (DEWSIN)

Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, 05-09 February 2008

Topics include decentralised domestic and industrial wastewater collection and treatment systems; aerobic and anaerobic treatment; low technology treatment systems; ecological sanitation; biofilm reactors; sequencing batch reactor; wastewater reclamation and reuse; sludge management; and nutrient removal.