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

h2.0 Monitoring Service to Inform and Empower Initiative

The h2.0 Monitoring Service to Inform and Empower Initiative is testing innovations in water and sanitation services monitoring, with special attention to providing public access to visual information through Google Earth. The h2.0 map viewer currently visualises datasets from Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

The h2.0 consortium consists of the following organisations:
Google.org, UN-HABITAT, GTZ, The University of Twente and WaterAid

Pilots are being implemented in collaboration with the Water Services Trust Fund of Kenya, the Zanzibar Water Authority, the Association of NGOs of Zanzibar, the National Bureau of Statistics of Tanzania, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, the Action for Development Society, the Africa Leadership Institute, Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company, Athi Water Services Board and Pamoja Trust.

The h2.0 platform was launched on 8 September 2010, during Stockholm World Water Week.

Web site: www.h20initiative.org

Sustainable Sanitation Practice: The ROSA Project

Issue 4 of Sustainable Sanitation Practice (SSP), published by the EcoSan Club, Austria,  is s special issue that presents the highlights and main findings of the EU-funded ROSA (Resource-Oriented Sanitation concepts for peri-urban areas in Africa) project.
Read the full issue

The ROSA project was implemented in four pilot cities: Arba Minch in Ethiopia, Nakuru in Kenya, Arusha in Tanzania, and Kitgum in Uganda.

The 7 papers included in this special issue show specific aspects of the as well as an outlook on future activities. Topics covered include scaling-up ecosan toilets in Ethiopia, urine-diversion dry toilets in schools in Kenya, urban agriculture in Tanzania, operation and maintenance, and the development of Strategic Sanitation and Waste Plans (SSWPs).

Water Wars – Pullitzer Gateway

This multimedia web site is an initiative of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting that allows students and teachers to interact directly with Pulitzer Center reporters — and with each other — to learn about and discuss the importance of water around the world. The public is also invited to explore the reporting, post their own story about water, and participate in special features, such as the “Ask the expert” section.

The Pullitzer Center launched the site in 2008 with a series of stories from East Africa, focussing on Ethiopia and Kenya, “two countries at the forefront of the world’s coming water crisis”. The Center partnered with the Choices Program at Brown University’s Watson Institute to develop a two-day lesson plan based on water challenges faced by people living in East Africa.

Since then more stories have been added about Desertification in China and South Asia’s Troubled Waters (covering India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal).

Users can access the stories with related videos, short video interviews with water and sanitation experts recorded during the World Water Forum in Istanbul, and videos posted by users, through a 3D-Viewer.

See below a report on the Water Wars portal that was highlighted in a special edition of Foreign Exchange devoted entirely to global water issues. Daljit Dhaliwal interviews Pulitzer Center journalist Alex Stonehill and draws on the portal to share video reports and student perspectives.