WASHfunders.org

This portal was launched in October 2011 by the US Foundation Center as a collaborative platform for philanthropic foundations that fund water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects around the world.

The centre piece is an interactive map showing which foundation funds what where.  Currently projects from hundreds of foundations, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Howard G. Buffett Foundation and Skoll Foundation, are included. There are country profiles listing foundation grants, WASH indicators and historical OECD bilateral and multilateral grant data.

Besides the interactive map, the portal provides news and resources for grantmakers such as case studies, recommended reading and overview of key organisations and monitoring tools.

Website: washfunders.org

IFRC WatSan Mission Assistant

This site has a wealth of resources for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) practitioners collected by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Although the focus is on WASH resources for emergencies, many of the field tools and resources are also applicable in non-emergency situations. Of special interest are the WASH information, education materials (IEC) materials, which are made accessible by topic and regions.

Website: watsanmissionassistant.wikispaces.com

SanMark Community of Practice

The Sanitation Marketing (SanMark) Community of Practice  is a WASH Reference Group initiative supported by the AusAID Innovations Fund and managed by WaterAid Australia.

The WASH Reference Group is an Australian-based Community of Practice comprising 25 organisations working on water, sanitation and hygiene promotion in developing countries, including NGOs, research organisations and the Australian water industry.

The website provides information on SanMark webinars and in-country training events. Visitors to the website can submit a question (Ask an Expert), contribute a case study, story, experience or photographs to the SanMark blog, and apply online for a SanMark practitioner training. There is also section on resources (links and tools) and news.

Website: www.sanitationmarketing.com

SWASH+ website

SWASH+ is an action-research and advocacy project focused on increasing the scale, impact and sustainability of school water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions in Kenya. Since September 2006, SWASH+ has collaborated with teachers and students in 185 primary schools in four districts in Nyanza Province, Kenya to identify challenges and analyze innovative solutions for sustaining school WASH. The project’s randomized controlled trials and numerous sub-studies have resulted in a compendium of research publications, one-page research summaries, stories from the field, photo essays and short films. They have been made available on this dedicated project website.

The partners that form the SWASH+ consortium are CARE, Emory University, the Great Lakes University of Kisumu, the government of Kenya, andWater.org. SWASH+ is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Global Water Challenge. The SWASH+ website is created and hosted by the IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre.

Website: www.washinschools.info/home/swash

SamSamWater Library

The SamSamWater library is a small database of practical information, data and (GIS) maps on water and sanitation, managed by the SamSamWater Foundation, which was set up by a group of Dutch hydrologists. Topics covered include rainwater harvesting, microfinance, surface and groundwater hydrology, and water quality and treatment. As of 28 February 2012 there were 128 items in the library database.

Web site: http://www.samsamwater.com/library.php

HuffPost Water

The Huffington Post news blog launched a new section dedicated to clean water issues on November 1st, 2011. The new section is a joint initiative of HuffPost founder Arianna Huffington and Water.org co-founders Gary White and Matt Damon, who wanted a platform to present and discuss solutions for the lack of sanitation and safe water around the world.

Web site: www.huffingtonpost.com/news/clean-water

New web resource on rural water supply – www.waterservicesthatlast.org

One out of three rural water supply systems in developing countries doesn’t function at all or performs far below its promised level. IRC’s Triple-S (Sustainable Services at Scale) initiative has put together a web resource to help those involved in financing, planning or implementing rural water supply projects or providing services. The website brings together the latest thinking on creating water services that last, including results from Triple-S work in Ghana and Uganda. It covers key elements such as monitoring, financial planning, institutional models, and capacity building for service providers and local government. Here you’ll find tools, concepts, case studies, videos, cartoons, and more.

Web site: www.waterservicesthatlast.org

Introductory Guide to Sanitation Marketing and Online Toolkit

Introductory Guide to Sanitation Marketing, 2011.
Print and Online Toolkit, by Jacqueline Devine and Craig Kullmann, Water and Sanitation Program.
Download Full-text (pdf) and view Online Toolkit

Sanitation marketing is an emerging field with a relatively small group of practitioners who are learning by doing. With an Introductory Guide to Sanitation Marketing and a companion online toolkit the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) seeks to contribute to the field by sharing practical guidance on the design, implementation, and monitoring of rural sanitation marketing programs at scale in India, Indonesia, and Tanzania, plus additional projects implemented in Cambodia and Peru.

The online toolkit includes narrated overviews, videos, and downloadable documents including research reports, sample questionnaires, and more.

Sanitation marketing, together with Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS) and behaviour change are the three core components WSP’s approach to scaling up rural sanitation, which also includes strengthening the enabling environment.

Community Choices Tool for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene – demo

The online Community Choices Tool demo is a prototype of a decision-making support tool for the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector, being developed by the Pacific Institute.

The Community Choices Tool will be both a WASH decision-making support tool and a database of technologies, approaches, financing options, and WASH contacts such as local water practitioners, NGOs, CBOs, and government agencies. The goal of the Community Choices Project is to give communities, local and country governments, NGOs, and WASH practitioners access to the wealth of information on water, sanitation, and hygiene technologies and financing approaches in a single-source tool.

To demonstrate what the Community Choices Tool might look like, a prototype demo is available with the following limitations:

• a choice between between a sanitation module and a water module with household water treatment options
• a limited number of questions which touch on some environmental, cultural, and financial aspects
• a limited number of solutions
• solutions geared toward West Africa

The goal of the prototype is to obtain feedback for the Pacific Institute’s  Community Choices Tool Team led by Meena Palaniappan.

In 2008, a Pacific Institute review of decision-making support tools in the WASH sector concluded that none of the existing resources adequately served WASH practitioners.

Web site: washchoices.org

Spanish Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID, has launched a new website (in Spanish only) for its Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation, a financing instrument that supports water and sanitation initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Launched on 7 June 2011, it provides detailed information about the fund and is set to host a list of upcoming tenders carried out by Spain’s partner organisations and countries. The website also contains eligibility criteria and application instructions.

The Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation began operating in 2008 with a US$ 1.5 billion budget. The launch of the website is line with the Spanish government’s commitment to make the fund’s operation more transparent, AECID explains in a news release.

Web site: www.fondodelagua.aecid.es