March 2014
Dear Colleagues,
It gives me great pleasure to present to you the CARE Emergency WASH Network’s March newsletter.
We welcome contributions from CARE staff. These may be in the form of photos, case studies, trainings and conference suggestions, or new WASH technology and resource updates.
What has the emergency WASH Team been up to?
CI’s Emergency WASH team has been very busy in the last couple of months with a number of deployments undertaken by both Nick and Patrick. There have also been a number of deployments through the roster for emergency deployment as well, to South Sudan, Uganda, Lebanon and Djibouti.
Nick Brooks, Senior WASH Advisor a.i.
Nick spent the first half of February on deployment in South Sudan and Uganda to support CARE’s responses to the conflict in South Sudan. His inputs included start up of WASH activities in Malakal, review of on-going work in Nimule, drafting of WASH proposals and strategic planning. In Uganda Nick visited CARE’s WASH and shelter response for refugees at Rhino Camp, Aura, and worked with the CARE team on program approaches and future plans to scale-up prior to the rainy season. For more photographs from Nick’s trip to Uganda, visit CARE’s Picasa album here.
Nick has also been working with colleagues from Unicef, Oxfam, ACF, IFRC and UNHCR in the Global WASH Cluster Strategic Advisory Group to develop plans for the future of the GWC ‘Field Support Team’ (FST) – dedicated surge capacity to meet the needs of national WASH coordination into 2015 and beyond. CARE currently manages 2 GWC projects which will merge into this FST.
Queues of jerry cans a water tank in Ocea Cluster, Uganda. Nicholas Brooks/CARE
Patrick Reymond, West and Central Africa WASH Field Advisor
Patrick spent several weeks in Chad and then in Haiti over January, February and into March. In Chad, he undertook an audit of WASH infrastructure within camps for refugees and returnees from the Central African Republic, as well as an evaluation of CARE’s WASH program. He assisted with WASH team capacity building in the area of WASH infrastructures construction standards. He was also involved in the review of CARE Chad’s Emergency Preparedness Plan (EPP). In Haiti, his work included the final evaluation of the WASH program in southern Haiti involving significant WASH infrastructure, an evaluation of water management systems, as well as participation in the review of CARE Haiti’s EPP and assistance in updating associated contingency plans.
Damien Brosnan, Global WASH Cluster Rapid Response Team Information Manager
From early November to mid-February, Damien was deployed in southern Turkey with the WASH working group, assisting in coordinating the WASH response in Northern Syria. He worked with the working group members to get a picture of who was operating in which geographic areas, and where needs and gaps in the response existed.
Following the deployment he has been continuing to assist the working group team remotely, and last week he attended a regional WASH forum, which convened to share experiences and ideas about the ongoing WASH response in Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey
Trainings
CAWST one-day trainings in Calgary
The Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) is holding two one-day courses in Calgary, covering low-cost sanitation on the 18th of April and household water treatment and safe storage on the 25th of April. More information on both these courses is available here.
NETWAS trainings in Nairobi
NETWAS is holding a number of courses in Nairobi throughout April and May. One of these is on result-based monitoring and evaluation and resource mobilization in WASH projects and runs from the 7th to the 18th of April. Another is on mainstreaming gender and mapping vulnerabilities in water and sanitation using participatory methodologies, running from the 18th to the 23rd of May. The details of these trainings, along with many others, can be accessed here.
BushProof 6-day training in WASH infrastructure
BushProof is running an intensive 6-day on technical training in water and sanitation infrastructure from the 8th to the 13th of September in Madagascar, focusing heavily on practical sessions. It is recommended for those who need more technical understanding of WASH infrastructure as well as those involved in management in WASH programs but might not have the relevant technical or theoretical background in WASH. In addition to the practical, hands-on sessions, the course will also cover theoretical aspects of WASH projects, focusing on water supply and treatment. More information is available here, with the full details of the course and curriculum available here.
CARE Academy training courses online
WASH training courses are also available online through the CARE Academy for CARE members and for people on the emergency deployment roster. To access these courses send an email to the r current login details.
WASH Stock
Just a reminder that WASH stocks are available to Country Offices. For up-to-date information on what is available or to access them, please get in touch with FirasBudeiri at or Nick at . / Interview
Collection and transportation of water. Nigel Stuart/CARE
Nigel Stuart
What is your current Roster for Emergency Deployment (Roster) role?
In January I deployed to Turkey as WASH Specialist. It was my third deployment from the WASH Roster since 2011. My role was to
longer able to work full time in the sector, support programming and partner capacity building for CARE's Syrian crisis response.
How did you become interested in emergency WASH issues?
Having worked in WASH in development context, but no switching to the Emergency setting was an obvious transition. Many of the principles are transferable - some are not. In the Emergency setting there is still opportunity to innovate and improvise whereas in development process is now preeminent.
What are some of the challenges your region faces in respect to emergency WASH?
Being that the Roster is not region-specific and I have deployed to East Africa, West Africa and now the Middle East, the challengesin Emergency WASHthat are consistent across these regions are:
- How to provide Humanitarian WASH assistance without advancing dependency on unsustainable resources - both economic and water resources.
- How to build-in (and get funded) transitional mechanism to encourage the displaced to return home quickly.
In August 2011, I deployed to Dadaab Kenya as part of the Horn of Africa Famine response. 1200 Somali refugees were arriving daily at the overburdened Dadaab refugee complex. CARE was, at that time, responsible for the water supply to Dadaab's 600,000 residents, drawing on Kenya's stressed Merti aquifer.The supply was increased 25 cubic meters each day in volume and in reach by several hundred meters of pipe and tap-stands. Certainly there were challenges but I was shielded from most by CARE's phenomenal Kenyan staff of Engineers, Hydrologists and Public Health professionals.
Please share with us one WASH resource or WASH technology which you may think other CO's WASH staff might find useful.
With the continued fall in the cost of solar panels, the perennial difficulty of logistics in emergencies, and the proven efficacy of household water treatment I think the time has come to study further the potential for solar powered Hypochlorite Generators.
N.B. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has written a short list of pros and cons regarding the use of Hypochlorite Generators which can be accessed here. If you would like to share your experiences using this technology with us, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.
WASH Resources
Water Supply and Sanitation Policy in Developing Countries MOOC
The University of Manchester is offering a Massive Online Open-access Course (MOOC) on water and sanitation policy in developing countries which has been endorsed by the Global Water Patnership (GWP) Technical Committee. Participants will develop an in-depth understanding of the current water and sanitation situation in low- and middle-income countries as well as the challenges facing professionals in this sector. The registration deadline is May 26, when online classes will begin. For more details, visit GWP’s course page.
WEDC equity and inclusion resources
The Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) has new resources available on how to carry out accessibility and safety audits for latrines, school latrines and water points. These, along with other resources on equity and inclusion in WASH are available here. These resources are also available in French here.
IRC SanPack: A Reference Guide for Non-Sewered Sanitation
IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre has launched its Sanitation Pack, a comprehensive collection of resources that IRC and its partners have assembled relating to several aspects of non-sewered sanitation. These materials are available online here.
Learning from WASH System Failures: Resilient Risk Reduction
The Stockholm Environment Institute organised this seminar at Water World Week 2013 which explored how to solve some of the technical and management issues and also revealed the need to engage in dialogue with stakeholders and social learning in order to build resilience. Videos from the seminar are available here.
Have you had the opportunity to look at ourwikiyet?
Have a look and let us know what you think!
Get in touch if you’d like to discuss any of the above in more detail, or let us know if you would like to contribute an item for the next edition.
The CARE International Emergency WASH Team
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