UN agencies and the World Bank have invited faith organisations to become partners in their water and sanitation activities. This was one of the results of a Faith in Water meeting held in Salisbury, UK, from 5-7 July 2009. The meeting brought together for the first time religious groups, international water agencies and water innovators. It focussed in particular on water, sanitation and hygiene promotion (WASH) in schools.

Not only were partnerships created and proposed between major international institutions and the faiths, but they were also created and proposed between the faiths – with exchanges of skills, information and networks, and offers of financial and technical assistance. Innovations presented included an improved rope pump, a "Naiade" solar-powered drinking water filter, and special “Peepoo” plastic bags, an improved version of "flying toilets".

The meeting's organisers were the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), the Dutch Ecological Management Foundation (EMF) and the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre, with UNICEF acting as cosponsor. ARC and IRC will write a guide based on the conference, in order to share resources and promote more WASH partnerships with faith organisations.

Read also the article by Elizabeth Idienumah who traveled to the slums of Nairobi to learn about church-sponsored programmes on water and sanitation.

Related news:

• Holy water: religious organisations move water up on their agenda, Source Weekly, 16 Jun 2005
• Holy water – 2: churches approve statement on “Water for Life”, Source Weekly, 06 Mar 2006
• Africa: Ecumenical Water Network calls for holistic approach to water issues, Source Weekly, 13 Jul 2007

Related web sites:

• Ecumenical Water Network
• WASH in Schools

Contact: Elizabeth Idienumah, Project Manager, Faith in Water, ARC, UK, thewaterproject@arcworld.org ; Dr. Christine Sijbesma, Senior Programme Officer, IRC, The Netherlands, sijbesma@irc.nl

Source: ARC, 10 Jul 2009

Tags: school sanitation