Promoting Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
The "Decade of Water for Life", launched by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York in 2005, "calls for a commitment to action in order to halve by 2015 the number of people with no access to safe water or basic sanitation. At present, more than one billion people have to go a significant distance from their homes in order to collect clean water, and nearly half of the entire world population lives without access to basic sanitation. As a direct result, 4,000 children die everyday from waterborne diseases. UNICEF website
This edition of The Soul Beat features project descriptions, strategic thinking documents, materials and events that highlight how communication can improve access to water, sanitation and hygiene in Africa.
If you would like your organisation's communication work or research and resource documents to be featured on the Soul Beat Africa website and in The Soul Beat newsletters please contact the Editor - Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com
Subscribe to The Soul Beat or email soulbeat@comminit.com
For information on Water in Africa and where Africa as a region is at in meeting the MDG Goals, see these publications:
African Water Development Report
1. African Ministers' Initiative on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (AMIWASH
This initiative hopes to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by doubling access to water and sanitation in Africa. The initiative brings together African ministers from different sectors who aim to accelerate African countries efforts to provide clean water and sanitation through advocacy and policy development.
Contact wsscc@who.int OR Saholy Ravelojaona ravelojaonas@who.int OR mediainfo@un.org
2. Ghana National Coalition Against the Privatisation (CAP) of Water - Ghana
Organised by Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), the Ghana National Coalition Against the Privatisation (CAP) of Water is grounded in the conviction that privatisation of urban water supply is a threat to public accountability, democratisation, and equitable development. The CAP of Water is a broad-based coalition of individuals and civil society organisations (such as trade unions; women/gender rights groups; student and youth groups; community associations and religious bodies) united around the goal of ensuring access to water for all Ghanaians by 2008.
Contact capofwater@netscape.net OR isodec@isodec.org.gh
3. People, Land, and Water (PLaW) Program Initiative - Africa and the Middle East
Launched by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the People, Land, and Water (PlaW) Program Initiative supports research examining the sustainable and equitable use of land and water in African and Middle Eastern arid areas. Its mission is to improve the quality of life of women and men living in stressed eco-regions of this area through activities that improve access to, and encourage proper use of, land and water resources.
Contact plaw@idrc.ca
4. Capacity Building for Nile-Basin Water Resources Management - Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania & Uganda
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has been working with the government of Italy - under the rubric of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) - to facilitate the common pursuit of sustainable development and management of the Nile's waters. The goal of the initiative, which is an umbrella for several communication-centered projects being carried out by these partners in this region, is to secure better access to information on the availability, use, and development potential of the Nile resources these countries share, in order to improve water resource management in the region. Information and communication technologies (ICTs), as well as face-to-face workshops, are used as tools to build capacity within particular communities for more cooperative management of environmental resources.
Contact dgcs2@esteri.it OR land-and-water@fao.org
5. Village Environmental Assistance Project (VEAP) - Egypt
This project aims to extend access to safe drinking water and proper sanitation in Egypt. This includes a communication awareness campaign - using booklets, posters, calendars and puppet shows - that aims to raise awareness on how to care for water resources and the natural environment.
Contact Iman Morooka imorooka@unicef.org
6. Hygiene Promotion in Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe
New Approaches to Behaviour Change
This Field Note describes two African hygiene promotion programmes - Programme Saniya in Burkina Faso and ZimAHEAD in Zimbabwe. Both projects concentrated on understanding how people actually behave and how to change that behaviour based on that knowledge. The document gives an outline of each project and lists lessons learned in the process. For example, the document states that communities should not be treated as passive recipients of hygiene education but rather as active partners who should be consulted and involved in a systematic manner.
7.Communication Strategy for the Water Sector Reform Program in Kenya
Kenya's Water Act of 2002 aims to provide the framework for implementation of reforms that intend to enhance water resources management (WRM) and the provision of water supply and sanitation (WSS) services on a sustainable basis. As the changes are expected to have a far-reaching impact on the way that WSS and WRM are managed and have the potential of generating resistance at a political and/or social level if not communicated effectively, a community strategy was considered an important part of the reform process. The Communication Strategy aims to provide the broad framework that guides communication on the reforms and identifies the issues that need to be addressed to build understanding and generate support for the reforms.
8. Muppets, Pharmacists and Media Aid Avian Flu Prevention
by Tim Parsons
According to the article, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH), Center for Communication Program (CCP) is using childrens television in Egypt to inform the public about the risk of avian influenza. Through the television programme Alam Simsim (the Egyptian version of the American television show Sesame Street), children are being taught about general hygiene, safe water and hand washing. According to Safi, this hygiene and hand washing campaign will help to prevent the transmission of avian flu through hand-to-mouth contact, while also reducing the spread of other preventable diseases such as typhoid fever and diarrhoea.
9.Household Water Resources and Rural Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of the Evidence
by Sydney Rosen and Jeffrey R. Vincent
This paper, published in 1999, reviews and summarises the results of studies of household water use in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa that offer clues to the effects of household water resources on rural productivity. The study attempts to consider all the possible ways that household water supplies could affect productivity and to present whatever evidence on these links is available. The purpose of the review is to identify which of the connections between water supply and productivity are likely to be most important for rural households in Africa and to indicate where further field research is needed.
10.Statement on Sanitation & Hygiene in Africa
from the African Sanitation & Hygiene Conference (AfricaSan)
July 29 - August 1 2002, Johannesburg (Midrand), South Africa
This is the statement adopted by the participants of the African Sanitation and Hygiene Conference (AfricaSan) where over 150 decision-makers (including 8 ministers), sector professionals and activists from over 20 African countries and elsewhere met in Johannesburg to launch a major thrust for improved hygiene and sanitation in Africa. AfricaSan was co-hosted by the South African Ministry for Water Affairs and Forestry, the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and the Water and Sanitation Program (Africa).
11.Creating Demand for Sanitation and Hygiene Through Community Health Clubs
A Cost-Effective Intervention in Two Districts in Zimbabwe
by Juliet Waterkeyn and Sandy Cairncross
According to this document, achieving the MDG of halving the number of people without access to sanitation by 2015 will require both better infrastructure and a necessary change in people's health behaviour. This report describes a project in rural Zimbabwe where a model of community mobilisation is working to change hygiene and sanitation practices. The project involves community health clubs which have been set up to change health behaviour and increase demand for better sanitation. A study of the clubs' impact suggests that they have helped to change up to 17 key hygiene practices.
12. Water for Africa - Final Evaluation Report
In October 2000, Water for People (WFP) received US$595,000 in funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of International Affairs, to develop the Water for Africa programme. This programme was designed to help the growing numbers of urban poor in slums around African cities obtain safe drinking water while improving health and hygiene behaviours and sanitation practices. The programme focuses on the development of sustainable local capacity through training and education activities, group formation, increased civic involvement and policy enactment. This, according to the organisers, stands in contrast to more traditional approaches that emphasise the building of needed facilities such as wells, public water kiosks, latrines and other structures.
13. Listening - To Those Working with Communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to Achieve the UN Goals for Water and Sanitation
This publication from the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council proposes that current approaches to issues of water and sanitation are flawed, and that new approaches based on the experiences of people working directly in communities are needed. The publication includes contributions from over 35 individuals working on water and sanitation issues across the world. According to the report, the title 'Listening' was chosen because "that simple but fundamental step is the key to ensuring that billons more dollars are not misspent in the name of development."
14. Communication Case Studies for the Water Supply & Sanitation Sector
by Peter McIntyre
This is an advocacy document which contains short journalistic write-ups of 8 international case studies (including Nigeria, Ghana and Lesotho) to stress the importance of investing in improved communication for Water Supply Sanitation, analysing the approaches and achievements of the programmes.
For more information on water and the environment see these previous issues of The Soul Beat:
The Soul Beat - Issue #68: MDG #7 - August 9 2006
"Ensuring Environmental Sustainability"
The Soul Beat - Issue #46: August 24 2005
"Caring for the Environment"
To view all past issues go to The Soul Beat Archives
TRAININGS
15.Community Led Total Sanitation: Towards Sustainable Hygiene and Sanitation Behaviour Changes (Aug 6-10 2007) Nairobi, Kenya
The course, offered by Network for Water and Sanitation (NETWAS), seeks to introduce the concept of the Community Led Total Sanitation approach which recognises that sanitation brings both public and private benefits, and that individual hygiene behaviour can affect the whole community.
16. Gender Mainstreaming in Water and Sanitation Programmes: Sustainable Livelihoods for the Rural and Urban Poor (Aug 20-24 2007) Nairobi, Kenya
This training, offered by Network for Water and Sanitation (NETWAS), aims to assist staff from governments, donor agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community based organisations (CBOs) to acquire the knowledge and skills to address gender and to mainstream gender in their water, environment and sanitation projects/programmes.
17.Linking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene to HIV/AIDS: Effective Home-Based Care Approaches (Nov 12-16 2007) Nairobi, Kenya
Offered by Network for Water and Sanitation (NETWAS), this course has been developed to improve participants' knowledge, skills and attitudes on the role of water, sanitation and hygiene in effective home-based care.
AWARDS
18. Women in Water, Sanitation and Forestry Awards
The awards aim to honour and celebrate the work of South African women highlighting the participation of professional and community-based women, and the key role women play in poverty eradication, education and sustainable development in both urban and rural settings. Deadline: May 31 2007.
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The Soul Beat seeks to cover the full range of communication for development activities. Inclusion of an item does not imply endorsement or support by The Partners.
Please send material for The Soul Beat to the Editor - Anja Venth aventh@comminit.com
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