CARE INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCY WASH
NETWORK NEWSLETTER
APRIL 2013
Dear Colleagues,It gives me great pleasure to present to you the CARE Emergency WASH Network’s third monthly newsletter. This edition of the newsletter provides an overview of:
· Team updates
· WASH Trainings
· New technologies, and
· The CARE International Roster for Emergency Deployment.
We welcome contributions from CARE staff in subsequent editions. These may be in the form of photos, case studies, trainings and conference suggestions, or new WASH technology and resource updates. If you would like to submit a case study, these don’t have to be in final form. Our WASH Program Officer () can work with you to finalise the document.
What have the WASH team been up to?
Jason Snuggs: Menstrual Hygiene Management (WASH Senior Sector Specialist)
CARE’s Senior Sector Specialist participated in a ToT in Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) in Emergencies for Emergency WASH Trainers organised by REDR. This training was extremely valuable to CARE because of our distinctive focus on gender equality programming and empowering women and girls in emergencies.
During the past few years there has been increased awareness on the challenges that women and girls face in managing their menstrual hygiene in low income contexts. As WASH practitioners we often consider some aspects of Menstrual hygiene management in emergencies, but it often does not go much further than providing female sanitary cloths or pads. However we need to consider that in most emergency contexts women and girls face additional challenges in managing their menstruation because their usual coping mechanisms may be lost, and they may be faced with living in close proximity with their brothers, fathers, uncles and strangers both male and female. In this context managing two to seven days of blood being released from the body and washing and drying sanitary materials would be challenging for any woman and girl and we have a responsibility to ensure that women and girls are able to perform mange their menstruation with the same level of dignity, protection and privacy that we afford to using the toilet or collecting water.
Why is Menstrual Hygiene Important: Because women and girls don’t stop menstruating for emergencies
· More than 26% of your affected population will be menstruating and will need water and sanitation facilities, culturally appropriate sanitary materials, somewhere private to change sanitary cloths or pads and facilities for safely disposing of used materials or a place to dry them if reusable.
Without these facilities women and girls may be subject to:
· A loss of dignity
· Increased risk of harm (women and girls may wait for the cover of darkness to dispose or wash their sanitary items in insecure locations)
· Confusion and fear (unaccompanied adolescent girls may be confused about menstruation; women and girls may be confused about materials provided or by the lack of suitable infrastructure for managing menstruation)
· Mental health problems – additional stress of trying to manage this bodily function which is often a taboo subject – this has on general wellbeing
· Reduced participation in school, distributions, trainings, income generating activities etc.
Properly addressing Menstrual Hygiene Management in our Emergency WASH programs will contribute to resolving these issues but also provides a window of opportunity for us to deconstruct some of the current, cultural practices and taboos around menstruation that impact negatively on the lives of women and girls, and reinforce gender inequities and exclusion.
Detailed information on Menstrual Hygiene Management is provided on our Wiki site including the full book “Menstrual Hygiene Matters” (http://water.care2share.wikispaces.net/WASH+in+Emergencies) and a folder containing the full MHM iE (Menstrual Hygiene Management in Emergencies) Training of Trainers session plans, tools and resources can be found at: (http://water.care2share.wikispaces.net/MHM+resources+page)
For more information please contact and
Damien Bosnan: Syria Crisis (Rapid Response Team)
The number of refugees fleeing from Syria has passed the one million mark, while up to 4 million people within Syria are affected by the ongoing conflict. CARE has assisted the WASH sectors in Syria and surrounding countries by deploying 2 Rapid Response Team (RRT) members, seconded to UNICEF, to help coordinate the ongoing response.
Understanding the extent of the crisis, the number of people in need of assistance, and the progress in providing that assistance (and remaining gaps) is vital to an effective response. To improve the consistency and reliability of this sort of information, CARE has mobilised an IMO (Information Management Officer) through the RRT. Based in Amman, Damien Brosnan has assisted the Syria WASH sector and those in neighbouring countries through the collection, collation, analysis and reporting of data. He has also worked with country offices to develop practical data collection tools, and has worked with counterparts to ensure consistency in the approach to managing information in the region.
Souleymane Sow: Quality and Accountability training (Regional Emergency Cluster Advisor (RECA) for SEAP-CARE GL)
During February Souleymane Sow took part in a 6-day inter-agency training titled ‘Enhancing Quality and Accountability in Humanitarian Action and Non-Emergency’, in Bangkok. The training was funded and hosted by Church World Service - Pakistan/Afghanistan. The main objective was to gather humanitarian workers from the region who are leaders in promoting and implementing approaches and tools for enhanced Quality and Accountability (Q and A).
Souleymane was part of a presentation panel of external resource persons. Key points of consideration included: How is your organization promoting and implementing Q&A? and what would be your recommendations for joint implementation of Q&A standards and tools in the future? Souleymane shared how CARE promotes quality and accountability within a multi- agency initiative through a perspective of collective work and that all agencies are all facing similar issues, but are also guided by common principles and values. Through our collective strength and partnerships, agencies are able to produce better and coordinated results. WASH cluster agencies should be sharing lessons learned. Souleymane believes that a joint initiative is better than an individual one to increase quality and accountability. He highlighted how it is important to establish a culture of quality and accountability, as well as a partnership culture.
Northern Cameroon flooding: Nigel Stuart (Roster for Emergency Deployment)
The Northern Cameroon floods originated during August 2012. As part of CARE’s emergency response, Nigelwas engaged as WASH Specialist for the period of 5th to 18 October 2012, and was responsible for the assessment, design and implementation of the WASH component of CARE’s emergency response strategy. When Nigel was deployed, the emergency was in the transitional phase and there was a strong possibly of a cholera outbreak.
After the flooding, low levels of public health awareness especially in the rural population and urban fringe meant the next public health emergency was only a matter of time. Good hygiene practices played a major role in stopping the transmission of waterborne disease. CARE started their WASH efforts during the emergency with distribution of Emergency Water Kits that contained materials and equipment for water sterilization and hygiene promotion (purification chemicals (Sur-Eau) together with the needed buckets, jerry cans). CARE also included soap in the Emergency Water Kits and this was hoped to improve the overall chances of interrupting the transmission of water borne disease in recipient families. General emergency kits included rice and oil in addition to water purification supplies.
For more information on Nigel's deployment, see his Northern Cameroon Floods WASH Specialist Report on our wiki.
New technologies:
Watermaker
Watermaker is a Purifier and Flocculent combo presented in a sachet much like PuR but unlike PuR, Watermaker contains NaDCC which is classed as non-hazardous for transportation, while PuR is Calcium Hypochlorite Ca(ClO)2
· Cost is 0.046/10 litre (2.5gram) sachet
· 3 year shelf life
· 4 boxes per pallet; 30,000 sachet’s per pallet.
· Production 1 million er week, from either South Africa, USA or Australia
· Can reduce Arsenic in water
· No chlorine taint after dilution
· Supplied pack sizes of 1g, 2.5g, 5g, 300g & 1kg for the following dilutions:5L, 10L, 20L, 1000L & 5000L respectively.
Please contact the WASH team if you are interested in this product, or look on the Partnerships section of our wikifor more information: http://water.care2share.wikispaces.net/WASH+in+Emergencies+Resources / WASH trainings
The Water Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) of Loughborough
The following courses are being offered by the Water, Engineering and Development Centre at WEDC (https://wedc-knowledge.lboro.ac.uk/my-courses/):
Development, Disasters and Sanitation*
This professional development course has been designed for those new to working in development or disaster relief.
The course is delivered using a variety of media including slide presentations, film clips, animations, photography and graphics supported by selected online publications.
Unit 1 explores important background issues surrounding development, disaster relief and poverty that will provide a foundation for the understanding of more detailed subjects such as the provision of water and sanitation. Unit 2 specifically examines the principles of excreta disposal. It considers the importance of environmental sanitation in general and in particular the disposal of excreta for improving the health and well being of poor people living in both rural and urban communities.
Each unit takes approximately 1 hour to study, excluding associated reading. A Certificate of Completion is awarded on successful completion of the unit assessments and completion of the course evaluation form.
Emergency Water Supply and Sanitation: A WELL course
This module was developed by WEDC, IRC and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) under the DFID-funded WELL Resource Centre for Environmental Health (WELL) for internal use by its partner resource centres. This module is paper-based (PDFs) and is available for download free of cost.
Rural Sanitation at Scale
This WEDC self-paced online course has been designed in partnership with the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) of the World Bank to address important global challenges facing the water and sanitation sector. It features as a unit in the WEDC MSc programme 'Management of Water and Sanitation', but is also available free of charge here as a non-accredited professional development unit for WSP staff and others faced with the issues of scaling-up sanitation in rural areas throughout the developing world.
The course is delivered using a variety of media including slide presentations, film clips, animations, photography and graphics supported by selected online publications:
· Part 1 sets the challenge of scaling up rural sanitation in context, examining fundamental aspects of sanitation provision and the reasons why, hitherto, the goal of sanitation at scale has proved elusive.
· Part 2 examines the core theory of change for sustainable programmes. In particular it looks at the first two of three key components or 'pillars' required for change: the creation of demand and the supply chain.
· Part 3 continues to explore the core theory of change, focussing on the enabling environment. The unit concludes with a discussion of how the three pillars of change fit together and what steps are necessary to take an 'at scale' programme forward.
Each section takes approximately 1 hour to study, excluding associated reading. A Certificate of Completion is awarded on successful completion of the unit assessment and completion of the course evaluation form.
Soft Skills for Water and Sanitation Professionals: A WELL course
These modules are aimed at developing individuals' soft skills. They were originally developed by WEDC, IRC and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) under the DFID-funded WELL Resource Centre for Environmental Health (WELL) for internal use by its partner resource centres. This module is paper-based (PDFs) and is available for download free of cost.
* A registration fee of 10 GBP is required for this course and we can offer a limited number of candidates a place on the course, free of charge. Please let us know if you are keen. Priority will be given to WASH focal points with limited WASH experience as this course is a primer.
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CARE Academy
Last year Oxfam GB developed two Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) e-learning modules on behalf of the Emergency Capacity Building Project, aimed at national WASH staff, which are now on the CARE Academy.
What are the courses about?
The first course (called “Technical Project Management” or “TPM”) is about planning and implementing a technical WASH engineering project. This course introduces and familiarises staff with standard project management stages and tools in a creative, practical and innovative way.
The second course (called “Information, Education and Communication (IEC) for WASH”) is focused on health and hygiene promotion. This course focuses on the need for: critical reflection and analysis; consideration of the context you are operating in; an understanding of the population affected by the crisis; and decision-making skills to select the best communicative approach and tools to implement effective health promotion.
· Both courses will place the learner into a simulated emergency context and require them to complete various tasks in an interactive way.
· The scenarios and contexts are not country-specific, but instead focus on emergencies such as drought, flooding, earthquake, rural and urban contexts.
· The course is only be available in English, however it may be translated into other languages in the future.
Who is it for?
· National WASH staff:
o For the TPM course: National field engineering staff deployed to technical WASH programmes.
o For the IEC course: Health and hygiene promotion staff who contribute to WASH programme design at field level, and/or other field staff involved in IEC interventions
What else?
There are no costs involved – you can be a participant on either e-learning course for free . Each course will take approximately 1.5 hours to complete, all you need is access to a computer with an internet connection and some headphones or speakers.
· Modules must be undertake in the numerical sequence
· The IEC course consists of 5 modules plus a pre and post course questionnaire.
· The TPM course consists of 7 modules
· The modules have a few bugs in them, for example at the end of each module there is an option to exit, but unfortunately this doesn’t work. Despite this, you can escape from each module without losing your data and continue to the next module. If you encounter any problems please contact