Features
Breaking the silence on menstrual hygiene in Bangladesh
Apart from the most obvious purposes, women and adolescent girls in Bangladesh also use latrines for menstrual management– to clean and change menstrual towels. Most sanitation programmes are silent about this practical need and menstrual management tends to be ignored in latrine design and construction and excluded from hygiene education package.
Understanding technology types of ECOSAN latrines in Nepal
Over the past five years, more than 500 ECOSAN toilets have been constructed in Nepal, and 97% of them are still in proper use in the sense that the toilets are clean and well maintained and the compost is being used as fertilizer for agricultural crops.
Gates Foundation backs €9.86 million reality check for water and sanitation costs by IRC and partners
What does it cost to extend and sustain safe water and hygienic sanitation to poor communities in developing countries? The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is supporting the IRC’s project, WASHCost: Quantifying the cost of delivering safe water, sanitation and hygiene services, with a US$14.48 million (Euro 9.86 million) grant over five years to answer this question and to transform information, learning and performance in the sector.
GWA News
Meet the GWA Secretariat
Not all of you know what the GWA Secretariat looks like, who all work here, and what we do. I would like to use this opportunity to introduce our staff and explain the process.
Gender-sensitive toilet design meets cultural needs of girls and women in north-east Nigeria
Hajia Fanta Kachalla speaks up for women in Borno State, North East Nigeria: “We Muslim women cherish our privacy more than anything else. We feel shy to use a toilet or even go to fetch water from a public water point as religion forbids unnecessary public appearance by women, especially in the day time."
Mainstreaming gender in water – there is a word for it in Arabic
The development of gender-sensitive water services in the MENA region and Arab countries could be given a huge boost if more high-quality materials were available in Arabic.
Cap-Net News
Keen interest in new training package on economics of sustainable water management
Water engineer Omar G. Flores Beltetón is clear about the benefits of what he has learned. “Every project, in which I participate, is now evaluated more carefully, from an economic point of view, and I try to make the best choice after a reasonable analysis. This knowledge has helped me to achieve a new perspective in my decision making.”
eFlowNet supports tacit knowledge on environmental flows
A key challenge for knowledge management practitioners has been how to facilitate the creation and transfer of tacit knowledge.
Network managers meet in Brazil
Improving monitoring and evaluation and measuring the impacts of capacity building for sustainable water management were key features at the Cap-Net 2007 annual network managers meeting.
Bangladesh group to coordinate CapNet-South Asia
The secretariat of the South Asian group of CapNet country networks has switched from the SPD in Hyderabad, India, to the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies in Dhaka.
WSSCC News
News from the WSSCC Secretariat
IRC and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) have long been partners in the production of Source Bulletin. After a two-year break in this tradition, the WSSCC is happy to be back on board as a partner in Source Bulletin.
The International Year of Sanitation 2008: from global movement to local action
The proclamation of 2008 as International Year of Sanitation (IYS) has handed the sanitation sector a great advocacy tool. However, big advocacy drives can also disrupt daily life on the ground, where projects need to be implemented and people connected to basic services. WSSCC Coordinators from Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan and Burkina Faso were asked about their thoughts regarding the IYS, and its impact on the ground.
Building national WASH coalitions: risks, incentives and 'quick wins'
One of the key characteristics of the water, sanitation and hygiene sectors is the plethora of players, all actively trying to improve the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) situation. Despite their efforts, real progress has been slow, especially in the fields of sanitation and hygiene. One of the reasons for failure has been the lack of systematic communication, collaboration, and joint action among the sector players. To address this issue, WSSCC encourages the development of national WASH Coalitions.
WASH Media Awards use media to mobilise for change
The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) in collaboration with the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) has launched the WASH Media Awards initiative to capitalise on the power of media in the developing world. The aim is to raise awareness about WASH issues and stimulate public opinion to pressure government leaders to put WASH issues at the top of their political agendas.
IRC News
Sustainability of knowledge networks – the rise and fall of WESNet Pakistan
“It is true that most donors put most of their funds into infrastructure, but then putting in place the necessary infrastructure to reach the MDGs is much more costly than putting in place a good sector knowledge management system.”
This was one of the blunt postings in an Internet based discussion in Pakistan about how resource centres can play their full potential in developing water and sanitation services and remain financially sustainable.
Good governance for WASH
The problems facing those who plan and provide WASH services are well rehearsed – lack of resources and capacity, confused political will, incomplete decentralisation, lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities, competing sectoral interests, lack of involvement of key players in decision making, over-reliance on donors, corruption, lack of cost recovery etc. etc.
