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2017_Madagascar_Puits_befamoty

Sous le haut patronage de
son Excellence l’Ambassadeur de Suisse
et de
Son Excellence le Ministre de l’Eau, de l’Energie et des Hydrocarbures
Les membres du Swiss Water & Sanitation Consortium à Madagascar
Action de Carême Suisse
HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation
en partenariat avec l’Organisation TARATRA
vous invitent à honorer de votre présence le partage des acquis de leurs projets RANO AINA et RATSANTANANA
le vendredi, 20 avril 2018
à l’Hôtel PANORAMA de 9 heures à midi trente.

Programme « Partage des acquis » du Swiss Water & Sanitation Consortium à Madagascar

Trouvez plus de détail sur le succes et le contenu de l'évènement dans le communiqué média.

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Workshop participants coming from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Nepal and Switzerland

 

Day 1 - Opening and getting acquainted with Water Integrity

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The Asia Regional workshop has started on 3rd April at Pokhara, Nepal which will continue until 6th April. The main theme of the workshop is "Water Integrity". The objectives of the workshop is to maintain collaboration among all consortium partners organization with knowledge sharing among the different project teams in the WASH and small scale irrigation sector. Furthermore, it is also to main external visibility of the consortium and to keep up exchange and maintain trust and relationship between and among all members. A total of 30 participants from six organizations including resource persons and donor representatives from six countries are participating in the event.

Major highlights of the day…..
  1. The flash back Swiss Water and Sanitation Consortium phase II was very impressive. It augurs well for the future continuation. The modality and issues are presented.
  2. Integrity is the key issue rather than resources for sustainability of WASH intervention.
  3. "Multi-stakeholder Led Total Integrity (MLTI)" approach has been created by the participants to tackle the lack of coordination among policy makers, relevant departments and other sector stakeholders as one selected integrity challenge.
  4. Integrity is not limited only to WASH sector rather it can be practiced in any thematic area and project.

 

Day 2 - How are Water Integrity elements transferred into project's practice?

Good Practice Posters

All the participating organizations and project teams had the opportunity to present their good practices regarding water integrity or highlight water integrity aspects within their project implementation process. All posters were discussed in detail and feedback for improvements of good practices provided by the other participants.

Furthermore, all organizations and project teams prepared concrete action plans on how to put water integrity elements in action after returning back home.

Authors: Govinda, Avash, Resham, Laxman, Deepak, Yogesh

Documented Good Practices of Consortium member organizations & partners:

POSTER: Promoting Water Integrity in Nepal and VIDEO: Rawatgaun Water Lifting Project Dang; Presented by Nepal Red Cross Society / Swiss Red Cross

POSTER: Step-wise approach for Improved Integrity and Sustainability in WASH; Presented by Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation Nepal (WARM-P)

POSTER: Promotion of School WASH in the earthquake hit district in Nepal; Presented by Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation Nepal & Caritas Switzerland Nepal

POSTER: Organization Capacacity Assessment Tool (OCAT) ; Presented by Terre des hommes Nepal

POSTER: Ecological Sanitation (Eccosan); Presented by Terre des hommes India

 

Day 3 - Field visit to Deurali Drinking Water Supply Scheme

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One hour drive from the main city of Pokhara the team reached Deurali which is in Rupa Rural Municipality. The team reached the site to observe a drinking water supply system constructed with support from HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation 15 years ago.

After arriving at the location, the group first went for a site visit where the water collection tank were placed. Following this, the water users committee led the visiting team to their office. The chairperson of the committee explained the various aspects of the water supply scheme including the history, background, on-going progresses and future plans for extension. While doing so, he also shed light on the various aspects of transparency, accountability, participation and anti-corruption.

Observations
  • Technically sound project which is well operated and is a progressive. It has been evolving as required to meet the needs.
  • Well-coordinated committee and has been active to reach out to possible available support to upgrade the water supply system as well as initiating community based activities which includes awareness raising on health and sanitation.
  • The roles and responsibilities of different community group is well-defined and different committee have performed different tasks. It’s ensured more participation and accountability.
  • The committee has been active in sustainable use of the water supply system. They have provisions to train local women in management of trainings. Also, for major repairs they have provision of a dedicated technical person to support.
  • Practice of users’ satisfaction survey annually has been a good tool for complaint and response mechanism.
  • Users’ committee leadership has performed very well during each of their tenure. Such trend in strong leadership has been one contributing factor to the sustainability of the water supply scheme.

Effect of availability of clean drinking water to other important areas such as improvement in human health, increase in school attendance of girls etc. were well publicized for reference.

Authors: Kamalendu, Kham, Anupama, Bijesh, Shrinkhala, Hemanta

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Group_picture_Aguasan_2017

The 33rd AGUASAN Workshop on the topic “Circular economy – transforming waste into resources” took place in Spiez, Switzerland from June 26 to 30, 2017. The main focus was analyzing successful and failed approaches for transitioning from linear to circular water and sanitation models.

Circular economy has great potential to drive the Water and Sanitation 2030 Agenda forward because it aligns directly with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.3 of improving water quality and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally and SDG 6.4 of substantially increasing water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensuring sustainable withdrawals.

 

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Fig. 1: Graph Circular Economy
 

 

The Swiss Water and Sanitation Consortium was present with five representatives from four different organizations: Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, Swiss Red Cross, Caritas Switzerland and Terre des hommes. The following contributions were made:

  • The Swiss Red Cross presented a poster on menstrual hygiene management in Nepal (poster will follow)
  • Caritas Switzerland presented a poster on Blue Schools in Bangladesh: a promising way to teach reduce, reuse and recycle: Poster_Blue_Schools_Aguasan_Workshop_Caritas_Bangladesh_2017
  • Terre des hommes and Caritas jointly facilitated a clinical case on Blue School 2.0. During several group working sessions, a solution was developed on how to transition from a linear Blue School to a circular Blue School and how to teach circular economy through a learning-by-doing approach in school.  The results of the discussions were presented as flip charts/ diagrams, as shown below:Circular Flows Blue SchoolsFig 2. Circular Flows in a Blue School

Circular Business Model Blue SchoolsFig 3. Circular business model for Blue Schools

Success Criteria Blue SchoolsFig 4. Success criteria for Blue Schools

Links:

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Helvetas Benin Blue Schools 2017

Titré: ''Les « écoles bleues » pour éduquer autrement les apprenants'' le Hebdomadaire béninois Educ'Action présente un article sur les jeu concours « Meilleurs chants et
poèmes sur le lavage des mains au savon », organisé au profit des écoles dans le cadre de la phase II du projet Eau Potable pour Ecoles et Centres de Santé (EPECS), un projet mis en oeuvre depuis 2009, financé par l’Organisation Non Gouvernementale Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation et le Swiss Water and Sanitation Consortium.

Dans le cadre de cette compétition lancé en 2016, les écoles ont été invitées à produire un texte de poésie ou une chanson qui apporte des réponses aux questions sur l’utilité du lavage des mains à l’eau et au savon, les moments clés du lavage des mains à l’eau et au savon et les différentes étapes du lavage des mains. Après réception des productions, un jury composé des Conseillers pédagogiques, des Chefs de Régions pédagogiques et de l’équipe de coordination du projet EPECS, a été mis à contribution pour la lecture et la sélection des meilleures oeuvres. La seconde étape de sélection des meilleures écoles bleues du jeu concours reste la visite des écoles présélectionnées suivie de l’interprétation des chants et poèmes par les écoliers. A ce niveau, le jury a observé l’installation et l’utilisation effective des TIPY-PAP, un dispositif de lave-main mis à disposition des différentes écoles d’intervention du projet.

L’objectif principal de ce jeu concours organisé dans le cadre de la célébration de la Journée Internationale du lavage des mains, renseigne Monique Gbaguidi la coordonnatrice du projet EPECS, est d’apprécier le niveau d’observation et d’internationalisation des différents enseignements sur le lavage des mains et aussi de créer une certaine compétitivité entre les écoles bleues de la commune de Banikoara.

Pour en savoir plus, vous trouvez l'article ci-joint à la page 6 du Hebdomadaire béninois Educ'Action:

Hebdomadaire EDUC'ACTION N184 Blue Schools Benin

 

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Madagascar a accueilli le 16è Sommet de la Francophonie à Antananarivo du 22 au 27 novembre 2016. A part les conférences ministérielles, le Village de la Francophonie à Andohatapenaka a  permis à 112 pays et institutions francophones, organisations de la société civile, médias, entreprises et artisans, d’exposer pendant le Sommet. Plusieurs événements culturels et artistiques y ont été aussi programmés.

Le pavillon Suisse a été consacré à une thématique principale : eau, paix, sécurité.

Les informations de base de ce thème sont matérialisées par les deux messages suivants :

  • Bien que la gestion de l’eau puisse être une source de tensions, elle est tout autant facteur de rapprochement et de stabilité.
  • Bien que la ressource en eau soit un enjeu stratégique, elle est avant tout vecteur de coopération et de solutions partagées

Ce thème illustre une des deux résolutions que la Suisse a présentées avec le Sénégal et la France lors du sommet d'Antananarivo.  Des informations détaillées sur ce message sont disponibles sur le site du RésEau Shareweb Water.

Un espace a été réservé au Swiss Water and Sanitation Consortium dans le stand Suisse. Des collègues locaux de HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, Action de Carême et ONG Taratra, qui mettent en œuvre respectivement les projets RATSANTANANA et RANO AINA ont assuré une présence active tout au long de la semaine de la Francophonie. L’objectif du Consortium d’améliorer les conditions de vie des plus pauvres par l’amélioration de l’accès à l’eau potable, aux infrastructures d’assainissement de base et en améliorant l’efficience des exploitations paysannes familiales et les approches de mise en œuvre ont beaucoup intéressé les nombreux visiteurs du stand. Deux dispositifs de lavage des mains ont été exposés et utilisés au niveau des deux portes d’accès au stand.

En plus des milliers de visiteurs nationaux et francophones, le stand a reçu trois visites de haut niveau : l’inauguration du Président Malagasy et de la Secrétaire Générale de la Francophonie, la visite de la délégation Suisse avec le Président Schneider-Ammann.

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SE Africa workshop 2016The Regional Workshop for Eastern and Southern Africa was held from 31 October to 4 November 2016 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and brought together 25 participants from 7 organisations from Ethiopia, Mozambique and South Sudan. The overall goal of the workshop was to foster knowledge sharing, present good practices and lessons learnt and strengthen cooperation between participants and project teams.

The first day was dedicated to sharing of good practices addressing project teams, country representatives and programme coordinators. The following days were dedicated to deepening two technical topics: 1) increasing the sustainability of school interventions, and 2) sustainability of water systems. The discussion between the different project teams made clear that they all face similar problems regarding operation and management (O&M) and sustainability of WASH infrastructure. Jointly, the teams reached the conclusion that involving a private operator in the O&M of WASH infrastructure, together with generating demand for either improved sanitation or safe water services can improve sustainability considerably.

The field trip provided an interesting insight into one project site of HEKS in Modjo, where bone char is used for defluoridation, which is very important in the Riff Valley, where naturally high fluoride levels pose significant health risks.

On the last day an external expert delivered an input on how videos can be used to capture the voice of beneficiaries (participative video). This input was greatly appreciated by participants who have shown interest to use this approach for evaluation or to capture good practices. Overall, the workshop was very successful and the goals were met with a mix of interactive activities and presentations by the facilitators and participants, which resulted in active participation and lively discussions.

 

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The third regional workshop in Asia took place from 14 to 17 November 2016 in Bardiya, Nepal. Once more, the regional workshop has provided an inspiring platform of exchange for the regional teams across Nepal and Bangladesh. The teams presented their good practices and lessons learned drawn from Consortium projects in the form of innovative videos and posters, which created an enthusiastic atmosphere of mutual learning and collaboration. The workshop has also been successful at clarifying specific technical issues related to water quality, handwashing and functionality of public latrines. For example, to improve water quality at point of use, the participants came to the following conclusion: The projects need to:

  • follow the Water Safety Plan concept
  • ensure the use of household water treatment systems such as filters
  • induce behavior change at household level and provide private taps.

Furthermore, the teams could benefit from expert advice given by Olivier Magnin (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Global Program Water) and Manohara Khadka (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation country office Nepal), who participated at the whole workshop, and Ursula Schmid (Program Coordinator Nepal, Consortium Focal Point Swiss Red Cross), who attended the workshop during 3 days. An input on SDGs and Integrated Water Resource Management from an invited external expert of the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition in Nepal was very much appreciated by the participants and ended in enriching discussions among the participants.

On the third day, the teams visited the Joint Emerging Town Project, which aims at improving access to water and environmental sanitation in the town of Katarniya in Nepal’s Bardiya district. For planning purposes, joint action plans were developed for the year 2017 at intra- and inter-country levels. To conclude, the teams evaluated advantages and disadvantages of working as a Consortium in the Asia Region which will be evaluated in an internal review of the Consortium.

Regional_workshop_Asia_2016_2

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Roundtable_Bangladesh_Daily Sun_2016

The results of a multi-stakeholder roundtable on “The importance and expansion strategy of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) at school level” have been broadcasted in the two Bangladesh journals, the Daily Kaler Kantho (link) and Daily Sun newspaper (link). The event was jointly organized by Caritas Bangladesh on behalf of Swiss Water & Sanitation Consortium and Daily Kaler Kantho. The roundtable was attended by the Bangladeshi Minister of Health, the Director of Higher Education, the Chief Engineer, Department of Public Health Engineering, the Vice Chancellor of Stamford University and Country directors of several international and national NGOs such as WASH alliance, Save the Children and WaterAid Bangladesh.

The roundtable participants highlight the importance of personal hygiene and improved sanitation for the health of children and the future of Bangladesh. Many promising ideas were shared to overcome problems related to water, sanitation and hygiene in Bangladesh:

- the formation of cleanliness committees at school
- building separate toilets for male and female students
- water and sanitation issues to be included in text books and in national academic curriculum
- conduct a handwashing campaign at national level, as this has proven successful in 83 pilot schools
- children act as change agents for the society: what they learn at school will be passed on in their families
- to guarantee that the message is shared with the families, mothers can be invited to monthly WASH meetings
- sanitary napkins provided by female teachers has proven to be very useful for effective menstrual hygiene management at schools, this approach could be up-scaled to national level

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Solar_lifting_rural_drinking_water_supply_system_2_Helvetas_Nepal_2016

In Nepal, different medias have covered news on the solar lifting drinking water supply system, which was implemented by a Consortium project in villages of the Dailekh District. Their main massage is that villagers are happy benefiting from the new technology getting water nearby their houses.

The report broadcasted on Nepal Television (link) and the articles in the national daily newspaper Naya Patrika and the Kekrebihar daily newspaper of Surkhet district point out, that prior to the installation of this system, villagers had to walk long distances every day in order to fetch water. “The solar lift system made it possible to pump water up to the hill and provides water nearby the village, something I had never imagined”, the villager Top Bahadur Thapa explains. Mr. Mohan Bhatta, technical Coordinator of the project, says that the solar lift can pump water up to 90m height and 17 taps are to be installed for distribution. He adds, that ponds are constructed above the sources in order to ensure enough water discharge. The community has established an operation and maintenance fund, which ensures the long run of the system. According to the team Leader of the project, Madan Raj Bhatta, the Water Use Master Plan (WUMP) - instrument for local actors to address water management issues - has helped in identifying places, where the real need of such technology to serve the community is. The water supply system is presented as an example for development with a new technology, from which the community can benefit from.

More information: Solar lifting drinking water supply system