Water resources management, equitable access and hygiene receive due attention.

The Government of Bangladesh has recently published its 8th Five Year Plan positioning water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) as a cross-cutting issue of different development initiatives. The plan, which was developed by the Planning Commission, was approved by the National Economic Council (NEC) and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 29th December last year. It has become available online from 3rd of February.

The Five Year Plan (July 2020-June 2025) is a key document that illustrates the strategy and action plan of the country to achieve its development goals. It carries more importance as it illustrates the plan to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets. WASH sector players, especially the advocacy leaders, campaigned to the government for better positioning of WASH issues in the development agenda, which has been reflected in the 8th Five Year Plan. The plan prioritises the need to increase storage in the existing water retention bodies [Part 2. Chapter 4: Strategies for Agriculture and Water Resource Management].

Overall the Plan acknowledges the inequalities in WASH access and disproportionate impact on the poor, and the environmental hazards from unsafe disposal of faecal sludge as challenge areas to address. It considers context-specific WASH interventions in hard-to-reach areas and creating an enabling environment for WASH services as preferred strategies [Part 2. Sector 7. Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives].

In the Plan, WASH is one of the key focus areas for the multi-sectoral, multi-agency approach to improved nutrition, especially through handwashing and other hygiene practices. Additionally increasing access to basic facilities such as toilets and sanitary napkins for women and girls in the work place have been considered as a part of the poverty reduction, social protection and inclusion strategy. [Part 2. Sector 9: Housing and Community Amenities and Sector 10: Health, population and Nutrition].

Despite the need for more focus on WASH issues in the fight against COVID-19, the inclusion of WASH in the Plan is expected to provide a positive contribution towards achievement of SDG target 6.

The first steps to bring Bangladesh closer to attaining Upper Middle-Income Country (UMIC) status, major Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets, and eliminating extreme poverty.

Building resilience is not a "nice to have"- it is essential, says Ban Ki Moon.

But how can you be resilient, if you don’t have safe drinking water? How can you be resilient to the pandemic without handwashing? Tragically, like COVID, climate impact is felt first, and most severely by the poorest communities that do not have the capacity to prepare for the unpredictable and severe changes. Resilience and dignity start with safe drinking water, decent toilets and good hygiene.

It's time for adaptation

The Netherlands hosted the first ever Climate Adaptation Summit (CAS) earlier this week, bringing global leaders (virtually) together to discuss climate adaptation. Climate change forces us to adapt our environments, cultures and systems to changes that are already happening. This focus on adaptation marks a tectonic shift in global thinking that led Rt. Hon. Alok Sharma MP, UK’s lead for COP26 to emphasise “adapting should not be seen as the poor cousin of mitigation”.

"90% of the climate disasters are water related – either too much, too little, or too dirty", states H.E. Cora van Nieuwenhuizen, Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management. “We must put water at the centre of adaptation”, said Special Envoy International Water Affairs of the Netherlands, Henk Ovink during the water session, “we need better knowledge, dedicated finance and planning for adaptation”.

In response, sessions included for example the Global Centre for Adaptation launching the knowledge exchange Water Action Track and the Netherlands presenting the visually arresting Cultural mirror on Water. My personal favourites were the waterchange makers with stories of change, ranging from WASH and micro-basin protection in Honduras (by Water For People), panel winner Masungi Georeserve with a youth-led movement in the Philippines, and the public favourite, the Mothers parliament in Bangladesh. This latter involves IRC’s partner DORP and resonates with our upcoming launch of the #VoicesForWater campaign and the Watershed legacy story.

Making a case for water, sanitation and hygiene

As the pandemic has shown us, Water Sanitation and Hygiene [WASH] is the foundation for resilience. But the conundrum is that climate change is not the biggest concern. In low- and middle-income country contexts, the key threats and risks to WASH services - and the water resources upon which those services depend - are related to population and economic growth, urbanisation, industrialisation and the expansion of irrigated agriculture. This uncomfortable truth has to be said or we’ll fail when it comes to solutions.

The good news is that we believe the same skills and resources that will allow governments, service providers and other WASH actors to face climate change, are largely the same ones that are needed now to tackle challenges such as the pandemic and others like sustainability of rural water supplies. Put simply, it’s all about building stronger systems. Building capacity in water and sanitation, attracting the finance needed and ensuring strong performance of WASH services should also be our first steps in being prepared to tackle the threats related to climate change.

Finance was fortunately a key theme at the CAS and heads of state and global leaders committed significant amounts. A whole array of funds have become available such as (acronym warning!): the DFCD, LOCaL, CRPP, and the Climate Bridge Fund. However, as Kulthoum Omari Motsumi from the Africa Adaptation Initiative pointed out, there are barriers in making finance available for local adaptations such as complicated accreditation processes, the challenge to provide a climate rationale (lack of data, analysis and science) and the conditions to provide co-finance. Accessibility to such funds will need to be made simpler.

In 24 hours, the CAS succeeded in covering many other topics including circular economies, nature-based solutions and agriculture. Throughout this, the call for building back better after the pandemic, the need for collaboration and the need to unlock finance was omnipresent. The case that resilience, prosperity and health only come with decent toilets, safe drinking water and good hygiene didn’t make it to the main sessions and in hindsight, indicates that the WASH sector is not yet well positioned and needs to do more to make its case. That was a big disappointment. IRC will work with our partners to do our part to address this.

A cynic would say that this summit was just business as usual. After all, it is not the first time that there were loads of commitments, promises and calls for action. However, we would say that the broad consensus for adaptation, the shift in financing structures, the push for local led solutions and youth leadership, may just make this Summit trigger and drive some systematic change. Or as the brilliant host (and IRC champion) Ikenna Azuike concluded, “a summit is only as good as its legacy”.

IRC WASH Ethiopia is supporting Shashamane and Negelle Arsi woredas on knowledge management around COVID-19.

In partnership with Amref Health Africa under the WASH First COVID-19 Response Project, IRC WASH Ethiopia is supporting Shashamane and Negelle Arsi woredas on knowledge management. The purpose of the project is to coordinate COVID-19 prevention and control interventions at woreda, zone, region and national levels. The project will assist stakeholders to convene meetings and document learnings and plan review and distribution of relevant information and materials to the frontline health workers and communities. 

On December 21, 2020, the project organised a planning meeting with the participation of project beneficiary woredas and towns in Hawassa. The head of Shashamane Town Health Office, Teshome Mohammed, was one of the participants at the meeting. He said the meeting discussed the future response activities and reached consensus on what action to take. Teshome learned that the project will support them on WASH infrastructure, personal protective equipment, and behavioural change communication. He also indicated working in collaboration with the government is effective.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the public took precautionary measures seriously, but overtime carelessness is creeping in. Therefore, this project is an opportunity for the community, according to Erko Bayicha, Negelle Arsi Woreda's Health Office Public Health Emergency Officer.

Samuel Girma is Amref Health Africa's WASH Project Manager. According to Samuel, Amref has supported the government's COVID-19 response. After reviewing their previous activities as a lead consortium member, Amref has planned for this new WASH First COVID-19 response on behalf of WASH SDG program consortium. He said that the aim of the planning workshop was to create synergy among different sectors working on COVID-19 response and to jointly plan for future responses. Samuel also added that IRC WASH Ethiopia will play a great role in documentation and knowledge management activities which could be used as learning for other actors working on the response.

So far, the project conducted a launching and familiarisation workshop, signed an agreement with regional signatories and prepared a 2021 operation plan. With the proposed knowledge management platform, six stakeholder meetings will be held to review the progress and provide support. The progress review will observe the status of agreed actions, feedback on materials, and adjustment of WASH-related content in response to the pandemic. Consequently, communities, health workers, schools and WASH service providers will have a better understanding of mitigation measures against COVID-19. The project will phase out by November 30, 2021.

Two Ethiopian districts, Shashamane and Negelle Arsi, are developing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) master plans.

Shashamane and Negelle Arsi woredas' WASH SDG master plans are being developed with the support of IRC WASH under the WASH SDG Programme. As the planning process nears completion, a validation and launching workshop was held in Hawassa Town from December 22 to 25, 2020. Various zonal and woreda WASH actors participated in the workshop.

The workshop discussed the planning process, the plans, the previous planning experience of the woredas, the reliability of the baseline information, how the plan can be endorsed by the Woreda Councils, and the way forward. Participants of the workshop were content with the discussion and ready to work together to successfully implement the WASH SDG master plans.

The master plans are an opportunity to acquire lots of lessons according to Ali Haji, the Shashamane Woreda Water Office Head. The support provided by IRC WASH and its coordinating efforts to get different WASH sectors on the same page was remarkable, and he said that ‘’this is a good example for other NGOs’’. According to their previous experience, the woreda did not have this kind of platform to collaborate with different stakeholders. He also added that to efficiently implement this master plan, the Woreda Administration will coordinate woreda WASH sector offices and non-governmental organisations to achieve WASH Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

The master plan is a great input for the woreda’s Health Office and other stakeholders, according to Kedir Tahir, Head of the Negelle Arsi Woreda Health Office. He stated that the plan is a nice reference for WASH activities of the woreda. From the master plan, Kedir has learned a lot about the WASH status of his woreda and believes it will allow them to perform better in the future.

The master plan has charted out the budget needed for each activity. Teshome Herpasa, Negelle Arsi Woreda’s Finance Office Head, said that it is a great opportunity to build the capacity of their woreda on WASH. To get the budget needed to implement the plan they will collaborate with different governmental and non-governmental organisations and the public.

Samuel Girma, Amref Health Africa’s WASH Project Manager, said as an organisation working on hygiene and sanitation in both rural and urban areas, they will contribute their role, based on the developed SDG master plan. Additionally, as a WASH Alliance member, they will use the master plan to influence donors and get additional funds. He also stated that the master plan is comprehensive and will serve as guidance for future WASH activities.

Overall, the workshop underscored that the master plans should be presented and discussed at the woreda level, there should be an accountability mechanism in implementing the plan, and the woreda administrations should take the lead in implementing the master plan.  It is suggested that annual plans and five year plans should be derived from the master plan.

The next steps of the SDG master plans’ development will be incorporating inputs from participants and endorsement by the Woreda Council. To effectively implement the SDG master plan, it was emphasised that all key actors are responsible to deliver on their roles and responsibilities.

In order to leave no one behind, decision makers and service providers need to examine common beliefs in measuring access to services.

Some 50 representatives from towns and regional bureaus participated in the small-town WASH symposium on 3 December at the GetFam hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. They were joined online by some 30 stakeholders from national and international level during the morning session, focussed on implementation approaches for small town WASH, and the afternoon session, focussed on monitoring small town WASH.

On 3 December, the hybrid face-to-face / online symposium on "Climate-resilient systems approaches for small town WASH services in Ethiopia" took place in the GetFam Hotel in Addis Ababa and online. This event was organised by UNICEF Ethiopia, IRCWASH Ethiopia and the Water Development Committee of the Ministry of Water Resources, Water and Energy of the Government and Ethiopia, with financial support from the British Embassy and KfW.

The objectives of this symposium were to

1. for sector stakeholders to learn and share on small town WASH, with a focus on system strengthening and climate resilient approaches, and
2. for sector stakeholders to identify innovations for scaling up and agree on specific areas that need more lobby and advocacy.

The list of presentations with links to the recordings and PowerPoints (in PDF) can be found below. Recordings of the full sessions will be made available soon. 

--

Morning session on implementation approaches for small town WASH

Integrated approach for WASH and BCBT contracting modality, and innovations on inclusive WASH in the ONEWASH PLUS PROGRAMME
Presentation by Lavuun Verstraete, from UNICEF Ethiopia, on the integrated approach towards small town WASH, contracting arrangements and the build-build capacity- transfer (BCBT) approach, as developed and implemented under the ONEWASH Plus Programme.

• Recording: https://youtu.be/XV1R4w9A0P4 
• PDF: https://www.ircwash.org/node/87422

ONEWASH Plus Programme: Welenchiti experience
Presentation by Feyisa Chala from the Welenchiti Town Water Utility, as a case study of the successes and challenges of the ONEWASH Plus programme in Welenchiti town.

• Recording: https://youtu.be/vTItQ_Y5czM
• PDF: https://www.ircwash.org/node/87424

Applying a Learning Alliance Approach in Small town Sanitation (Ethiopia)
Presentation by Muhammed Musa, from IRC WASH Ethiopia / Tetratech, on undertaking a systems approach towards improving small town sanitation through facilitation of town level learning alliances in Wolisso and Debre Birhan.

• Recording: https://youtu.be/KQY5VMq95Ow
• PDF: https://www.ircwash.org/node/87425

Integrated water supply model serving refugee and host communities in Gambella
Presentation by Yitbarek Birhanu, from the Itang Town Water Utility, on how the Itang Town water utility served both a large refugee camp population, as well as host communities.

• Recording: https://youtu.be/mbrkinpCGT0
• PDF: https://www.ircwash.org/node/87428

Afternoon session on monitoring small town WASH

Monitoring of small town WASH: Experiences from WaterAid Ethiopia's 20 town capacity Development programme
Presentation by Haile Dinku, from WaterAid Ethiopia, on WaterAid Ethiopia's 20 town programme and the performance monitoring developed and applied under this programme.

• Recording: https://youtu.be/gmtp4w3IE_8
• PDF: https://www.ircwash.org/node/87423

Development of performance indicators in Ethiopia
Presentation by Azeb Tadesse, from the Water Development committee of the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Ethiopia, about performance indicators and benchmarking for urban water services in Ethiopia.

• Recording: https://youtu.be/CBH8LJiR7N4
• PDF: https://www.ircwash.org/node/87426

Sustainability checks for small towns in the ONEWASH Plus Programme
Presentation by Marieke Adank, IRC WASH, on sustainability checks, developed and executed under the ONEWASH Plus programme in Ethiopia to monitoring small town WASH services and the conditions for sustainable WASH service provision.

• Recording: https://youtu.be/pz4DHP6ANMI
• PDF: https://www.ircwash.org/node/87427

This second out of eight articles covers challenges related to repatriation of profit and royalty payments.

This article was written by Eline Bakker and Peter Feldman

According to the UNICEF/WHO Joint Monitoring Programme, only about seven percent of Ethiopians have access to basic sanitation services (JMP, 2019). Achieving universal access to basic WASH services in the country will require further development of the country’s private sector. The Government of Ethiopia recognises the importance of the private sector in generating demand and creating access to materials and services for construction of improved latrines, and leads market-based sanitation efforts (FMoH, 2016).  However, the scale of the challenge of providing access to adequate sanitation services to all is still relatively substantial compared to the amount and size of businesses currently offering such products and services. To gain more insights, the USAID Transform WASH team talked to more than twenty key informants in Ethiopia and the East Africa region to identify the main challenges facing WASH market development in Ethiopia.

To learn more, follow this link to the full Learning Note. 

Repatriation of profit

Repatriation of profit refers to the transfer of profit earned by a foreign-owned business in a country to the business’s home country. Such transfers require exchange of local earnings for 'hard currency,’ or the currency used for international business transactions (such as US dollars or euros). Under Ethiopian law (Investment Proclamation No. 1180/2020), foreign investors have the right to repatriate these earnings:

• profits and dividends accruing from an (approved) investment;
• principal and interest payments on external loans;
• payments related to technology transfer or management agreements;
• proceeds from sale or liquidation of an enterprise;
• proceeds from sale or transfer of shares or of partial ownership of an enterprise to a domestic investor;
• compensation paid to a foreign investor.

Officially, there are no restrictions on the amount of profit that can be repatriated, but in practical terms business owners expressed concerns with respect to restricted access to hard currency and the relatively low priority placed on this type of foreign exchange (“Forex”) allocation. Given that Forex is closely scrutinised, businesses also must carefully comply with regulations regarding registration, permitting, periodic auditing, payment of taxes and other obligations (Ibex Frontier, 2017).

Royalty payments

Royalties are payments made by one business to another in exchange for the right to use that business’s intellectual property (such as a copyrights, trademarks or patented designs). Ethiopian law permits royalty payments for the right to use a patent, invention, design, or a secret formula or process (Income Tax Proclamation No. 979/2016). A five percent tax is levied by the government on royalties paid by an Ethiopian entity as well as on the non-resident entity who is receiving them (Haile et. al., 2018).

Apart from the taxes levied, Ethiopian law does not seem to place any restrictions on royalty payments to foreign patent holders and allows for such payments to be made in Forex. Specifically, the National Bank considers royalty fees as “invisible payments” that are allowed on demand (Directive No. FXD/46/2017). In practice, however, foreign-owned businesses are likely to experience challenges receiving royalty payments due to the chronic Forex shortage in the country and low priority placed on such allocations. Businesses may wait for months, if not longer, to receive requested Forex allocations. 

Recommendations

While there are no restrictions on repatriation of profits and payment of royalty fees to foreign patent holders, the Forex shortage and related restrictions in Ethiopia pose a major obstacle to both local and foreign-owned businesses that wish to invest in offering a broader range of WASH products and services to their customers. The following actions might be taken (presented, as well, in the article “Access to Foreign Exchange”) to improve business conditions for such enterprises despite the scarcity of foreign currency in Ethiopia:

• Review Forex operating guidelines and consider ways of making the application, queueing, and liquidation processes more accessible, accommodating and transparent.
• Encourage policy reforms that raise the priority of Forex access for socially oriented businesses in emerging markets, such as for WASH products.
• Advocate for WASH products to be added to the list of “essential or priority goods” so that Forex is more readily allocated to businesses importing or locally manufacturing WASH goods.

Providing inputs for a ministerial task force supporting Swachh Bharat Mission Phase II.

Photo caption: Rural community sanitary complex in Amethi, Rajasthan. Credit: Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Grameen

Across the world 4.2 billion people lack safely managed sanitation services. World Toilet Day, observed on the 19th of November, aims to inspire action to address the global sanitation crisis and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6. This year's theme -  Sustainable Sanitation and Climate Change - highlights the threat of climate change on sanitation systems as well as how sustainable sanitation systems contribute to the fight against climate change. Toilets can be the first step towards sustainable sanitation if they help capture human waste in a safe and dignified setting.

In order to ensure all households, especially those from the marginalised communities, have access to toilets, the  Government of India in the second phase of it's flagship sanitation programme - the Swachh Bharat Mission -  is prioritising construction of Community Sanitary Complexes (CSCs) in rural areas. In this regard, it entrusts the Gram Panchayats or the village councils to decide upon the suitability of location as well as to ensure water availability and long-term operation and maintenance (O&M). Previous experience, however, shows that CSCs are plagued with low usage and poor O&M. 

On the occasion of World Toilet Day 2020, the SuSanA India Chapter along with the India Sanitation Coalition, IRC and WaterAid India organised a webinar on Operation and Maintenance Opportunities in Rural Community Sanitary Complexes. The webinar, along with an online thematic discussion, provided inputs to the task force created to support the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India under Swachh Bharat Mission Phase II, in its endeavour to build at least 75,000 rural CSCs. 

See below a recording of the webinar. The synthesis of the webinar and thematic discussion is available below under Resources.

Earlier sanitation campaigns in India showed poor demand for and use of rural community sanitary complexes (CSCs). How can India's national sanitation programme, Swachh Bharat Mission Phase II, do better?

Successful sanitation approaches were characterized by their adaptation to the local context, community participation, built-in mechanisms that ensure financial viability, use of technologies that are culturally appropriate and emphasis on environmental sustainability.

For Ethiopia-based businesses that require imported goods or materials, accessing hard currency through the banking system is one of the biggest challenges they face. 

This article was written by Eline Bakker and Peter Feldman

In a series of posts, we will present the main challenges faced by Ethiopian businesses that are interested in expanding their range of WASH products and services. We will also highlight a set of recommended regulatory and policy actions to overcome these challenges. This first out of eight posts covers challenges related to access to foreign exchange. 

According to the UNICEF/WHO Joint Monitoring Programme, only about seven percent of Ethiopians have access to basic sanitation services (JMP, 2019). Achieving universal access to basic WASH services in Ethiopia will require further development of the country’s private sector. The Government of Ethiopia recognizes the importance of the private sector in generating demand and creating access to materials and services for construction of improved latrines, and leads market-based sanitation efforts (FMoH, 2016). However, the scale of the challenge of providing access to adequate sanitation services to all is still relatively substantial compared to the amount and size of businesses currently offering such products and services. To gain more insights, the USAID Transform WASH team talked to more than twenty key informants in Ethiopia and the East Africa region to identify the main challenges facing the WASH market development in Ethiopia.

To learn more, follow this link to the full Learning Note.

Access to Foreign Exchange

To purchase a product for import into any country, the national currency must be converted to a “hard currency,” one that is accepted by a seller for purchase of the product, through the foreign exchange market. In Ethiopia, this might include purchase and import of finished goods, raw materials or equipment needed for local manufacturing. The country imports significantly more goods than it exports (US$ 15 billion in imports vs. US$ 2 billion in exports in 2018). This trade deficit, which has hovered around US$ 12-13 billion per year since 2014, has led to high demand for Forex (foreign exchange), which is in very short supply, exacerbated by below-market official exchange rates (World Bank, 2018).

The government allowed the Ethiopian birr to devalue by 15 percent in 2017, and it has continued to depreciate since then. Analysts predict that the currency will continue to undergo a “managed devaluation” to levels that are closer to a free floating market rate in an effort to encourage more foreign investment and address the country’s trade imbalance (World Bank, 2017). Devaluation of the birr requires purchasers of imports to use an ever-increasing amount of their national currency to obtain the same amount of Forex, effectively increasing the cost of all imports and decreasing the price of exports to international purchasers using hard currency.

For Ethiopia-based businesses that require imported goods or materials, accessing hard currency through the Ethiopian banking system is often identified as their biggest challenge as some sectors and businesses are prioritized over others. A contributor to the Ethiopian Business Review also expressed that “all transactions requiring foreign exchange are not created equal”,

Forex is tightly controlled within the banking system. A major portion of available Forex is earmarked for government infrastructure projects, such as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and other national priorities. Thirty percent of Forex coming into commercial banks is transferred to the Central Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), which earmarks it for purchase of strategic materials, such as fossil fuels. The remaining Forex is then allocated to fulfill business requests in accordance with prioritization rules. Bank “allocation committees” are responsible for matching available Forex with submitted applications. Prioritization tends to follow a basic system:

1. Priority allocations, including external debt repayments (closely monitored by CBE) and payment of foreign employees.
2. Materials considered “essential imports”, such as fuel and pharmaceuticals, agriculture and certain manufacturing inputs, equipment and spare parts, profit and dividend transfers, nutritional foods for infants, and educational materials.
3. Other “non-essential” requests (Lloyd and Teshome, 2018).

Forex requests from non-strategic businesses or for “non-essential” purposes, therefore, are queued and wait their turn for available funds. Businesses, including those offering WASH products, often wait many months to obtain the Forex that they have requested, and they may not have a clear idea when or how much will become available.

When businesses do receive an allocation, they may be required to use it quickly (i.e. within a 14-day window), and they may not receive the total amount requested. These Forex access challenges affect a business’s ability to respond to orders, expand operations, maintain positive business relationships (e.g. making payments on time) and remain competitive. Some businesses operate at a fraction of their production capacity due to Forex challenges. 

Recommendations

The following actions are recommended to alleviate Forex-related obstacles to the success and growth of businesses that offer WASH products and services in Ethiopia:

• Review Forex operating guidelines and consider ways of making the application, queueing, and liquidation processes more accessible, accommodating and transparent.
• Encourage policy reforms that raise the priority of Forex access for socially oriented businesses in emerging markets, such as for WASH products.
• Advocate for WASH products to be added to the list of “essential or priority goods” so that Forex is more readily allocated to businesses importing or manufacturing WASH goods.

In order to achieve improved and sustainable WASH services, IRC WASH Ethiopia has been working on Wash Alliance International (WAI) project implementation in supporting Shashamane and Negelle Arsi woredas (districts).  The project is anticipated to enhance effective planning and monitoring, financing to the WASH sector, and develop climate resilient WASH infrastructure, where the challenge of water resources for different demands will also be addressed.

The planning process to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 in the two woredas was started a year ago by training Woreda WASH Experts from WASH sector offices such as the water, health, education, and finance offices. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a state of emergency restricting travels and gatherings, the planning process was deferred for months. Once the state of emergency was lifted, the planning process continued. Recently, there was a five-day workshop held at Hawassa to finalise the SDG planning process.

The workshop involved the WASH sector planning teams from the two woredas. Foziya Jemal is a WASH focal point at the Negelle Arsi Woreda Health Office. She said that the first training they attended a year ago enabled them to start planning for SDG 6, and after two months the planning teams from the two woredas met at Batu/Zeway town to present their progress. During their meeting at Batu/Zeway, challenges and faults they experienced during the process were discussed. A person from Dera Woreda of Amhara Region shared their experience on the process.  After they returned to their woreda, they kept working on the planning.

Incorporating experts from the finance office allowed the planning teams to understand the available resources of their respective woredas. Jemal Umar is an expert at Shashamane Woreda’s Finance and Economy Cooperation Office. He stated that Shashamane Woreda has very limited resources, therefore, to use the limited resources properly, having a long-term strategic plan is very important. ‘’As water is linked with existence, and the community in water stressed lowland kebeles of our woreda are suffering with shortage of water, we are seriously working on the SDG planning and trying to use this wonderful opportunity,’’ Jemal said.

IRC WASH Ethiopia has been actively supporting both Woredas in the planning process

Improving access and sustainability of WASH services in the community and institutions in the two woredas is the purpose of the planning. During the planning process, households, schools and health facilities water, sanitation and hygiene gaps were analysed. According to Tirunesh Zerihun,  the Negele Arsi Woreda Education Office Planning Expert, the SDG planning process capacitated them in identifying their water, sanitation, and hygiene  facilities gaps in schools. Currently, they have clear data which portrays the overall WASH status of schools in their woreda and are happy to share the data with anyone coming to their support.

The SDG planning process is in its completion stage. The two woredas identified gaps and planned for new WASH infrastructures, counted their broken WASH infrastructure, and planned for rehabilitation, estimated costs, and identified potential sources of finance, and settled their target for 2030. The strategic plan will be validated with the participation of woreda WASH stakeholders and launched to serve as a road map for WASH intervention in the woredas.

Climate won the vote for the theme of this year's World Toilet Day.

Photo caption: Toilet, Bangladesh. Credit: Ingeborg Krukkert/ IRC & BRAC

This year, World Toilet Day is about climate change, as was World Water Day although in the end that was rather overshadowed by the initial response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 theme puts sustainable sanitation in the spotlight alongside climate change. How might these two different global concerns, sanitation and climate change, be linked? We’ll come to that in a moment.

While for some of us stranded at home it might seem like life is only an endless series of webinars and online meetings these days, you could also live your life as a series of World Whatever Days. This week, the UN list alone has the International Day for Tolerance (Monday 16 November), World Toilet Day and World Philosophy Day (both on Thursday and with some obvious potential for linkage), Africa Industrialization Day and World Children's Day (both on Friday) and World Television Day (Saturday). A little bit more unofficially, Monday was also World Horse Appreciation Day. The same day, in the United States of America, was National Button Day as well National Fast Food Day. The list of topics fighting for awareness is endless.

UN-Water proposes the themes for the world water and toilet days, a small but very visible task in its effort to coordinate across the many UN agencies and partners working in water and sanitation, and spur us  all on to achieve  Sustainable Development Goal 6. Recently the theme has been the same for the water and toilet days. Also the same theme is used by the Stockholm World Water Week and many other events on the calendar. Next year for example, World Water Day is focused on valuing water and in 2022, on groundwater.

So when the committee came together to decide the topic for 2020 there was an important discussion. Everyone was happy that water and climate made a deserving theme for World Water Day. But what about World Toilet Day? Is there enough of a link between toilets and climate change to make it a theme of a world celebration day? There was a lot of head scratching about who might deliver content for a day on toilets and climate. The long discussion was ended with a vote on whether a different more toilety theme might be chosen instead (breaking with the World Water Day and climate theme). But climate won in that vote and here we are.

Decide for yourself but there is a lot of compelling content out there making exactly those links. Our own staff and inspired individuals and teams around the world have spent the last year and more thinking about what connects sanitation and climate change and now you can read all about it.

Our teams working in places like Odisha, India, Bhola, Bangladesh and Honduras have seen the tremendous damage by storms and floods to sanitation infrastructure, and we are warned by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to brace ourselves for more extreme events as a result of a faster, more dynamic hydrological cycle in a warmer world. The wastes we produce are energy and nutrient-rich, and clever designs and policies can enhance their benefits for the environment, or sanitation systems can be hugely energy consuming and contribute significantly to carbon emissions. There are plenty of stories on these and more at www.worldtoiletday.info/

So yes there are plenty of links between toilets and climate change, and a brave decision has pushed us all just a little bit forward.

For our part, we believe we must all work to make World Toilet Day a genuine celebration of success, rather than what it is – an annual reminder of one of the world's biggest human rights failures for billions of people. IRC will continue to remind the world that the only way to break the cycle of failure is to build systems that deliver sanitation and water services that last. Look out for our mini campaign saying just this (see the video below)!

Despite reduced funding for market systems development (MSD) in sanitation, Water For People (WFP) has been able to grow and expand its approach.

A pro-poor strategy has been approved and a new national strategy is on its way.

Photo caption: Sanitation facility of a hardcore poor family, Ramgati Bangladesh. Credit: Digbijoy Dey/IRC

Bangladesh is struggling to manage the sanitation challenge of its huge population. The approximate population density of the country is 1265 per Km² which makes it very difficult to find suitable sanitation solutions. During the era of the Millennium Development Goal, the country  made great strides in reducing open defecation to close to zero. But the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) came up with new indicators and achieving safely managed sanitation has become a great challenge. However, the country has recently updated two of its relevant strategies to tackle this challenge. One is the National Strategy for Water Supply and Sanitation and the other is the Pro-Poor Strategy for Water and Sanitation Sector in Bangladesh (listed below under Resources). Of the two, the second one has completed all formalities and has been commissioned whereas the first one has been revised but is awaiting formal commissioning from the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development & Co-operatives.

Pro-Poor Strategy for Water and Sanitation Sector

The two strategies are believed to play a good role for the country in achieving SDG 6, especially target 6.2. The pro-poor strategy solves the puzzle of selecting ideal candidates for the water and/or sanitation subsidy. Despite an increase of finance for the WASH sector, a huge population (roughly 6 million people) is hardcore poor and struggles to get safe sanitation. There was ambiguity in the mechanism of selection and subsidisation for WASH purposes. Development partners advocated to the government from the beginning of the SDG era for such a strategy. There was assistance from partners in revising the strategy as well.

Who are the hardcore poor?

In the revised strategy, hardcore poor will be selected as per the guideline of “Humanitarian Assistance Programme Implementation Guideline 2012-2013” (it has 12 indicators; key indicators are being landless or depend only on daily wages). People of this wealth category with no toilet or no private water source will be considered as a “target group” for subsidy. At rural level, local government institutes such as Union or Upazila Parishad’s WASH related standing committees will play a role in identifying these people. In urban areas, the Municipality or City Corporation will play an equivalent role.

Subsidies

Another visible change in the revised strategy is the share of subsidy. Earlier there was a provision of 10% cost sharing from the hardcore poor households for such subsidy arrangements (as per National Cost Sharing Strategy for Water and Sanitation 2012 - listed below under Resources). The revised strategy has kept the provision of 100% subsidy for hardcore poor people. As most of these people are estimated to be landless, the subsidy has community options. In urban areas, subsidy provision for faecal sludge management will also be available. The operation and maintenance (O&M) part of the infrastructure built with the help of these subsidies is mainly left to the community. A maximum O&M charge for the hardcore poor people has been set at 25 taka per month (roughly 0.30 euro). This may seem very negligible but there are observations which indicate that this negligible fee may prevent proper O&M. Another criticism of the strategy is the selection mechanism of the hardcore poor candidates. The local government institutes may not yet be capable of carrying out the task and a substantial capacity building and monitoring mechanism will be required.

National Strategy for Water Supply and Sanitation

The National Strategy for Water Supply and Sanitation is not officially signed but the working committee has finalised the draft. The official procedure to commission the strategy is ongoing. This will be the country’s key strategy to achieve the SDG 6 targets, especially 6.2. It has contextualised the definition of safely managed sanitation which remained a crucial issue of debate since many households in Bangladesh are used to sharing their toilet. In this context the strategy prefers to not limit it to one household and to prioritise the hygienic maintenance of it. It sets different milestones for different targets and also recommends institutional reforms to achieve the targets. More importantly it considers and integrates the issue of solid waste management and water resources management in WASH which was not so salient in the previous strategy. 

Hardcore poor households need to get 100% subsidies but they must also share 100% of operation and maintenance costs of water and sanitation facilities. 

What challenges are women in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) businesses facing in Ethiopia?

“It is not only “glass ceilings” limiting women’s career progress but also “glass floors” and “glass walls” blocking gender equality in the workplace”  Barbara Crossette

In Ethiopia, women-led businesses make up less than 10 percent of the construction sector, which is the primary source of WASH products and services in the country. This makes the sector one of the most challenging for the promotion of women as business leaders.

Why is it so difficult for women to succeed in business in the WASH sector? We’ve summarised five key challenges for women in construction-related businesses (e.g. retailers, masons, small- and medium-sized construction companies, slab manufacturers) based on a comparative study involving 15 female and 15 male business people in five regions of Ethiopia conducted by USAID Transform WASH.

Women installing SaTo pan in Ethiopia (photo by Ayatam Simeneh from PSI Ethiopia)

Less capital: Female entrepreneurs reported access to two and a half times less capital on average than their male counterparts (approximately 250,000 ETB vs 100,000 ETB).

Poor networking opportunities: Unlike their male counterparts, who experience no problems travelling wherever they wish to network with anyone they meet, for female entrepreneurs networking comes with uncomfortable realities. Culturally, there is a gross misunderstanding and disapproval of women’s efforts to network as it often equates with infidelity or immorality. Women’s freedom of mobility in neighbourhoods outside of their own and in remote rural areas is curtailed by fear of social disapproval and even sexual assault, which are not uncommon occurrences. In addition, women’s traditional household responsibilities deprive them of men’s ample opportunities to travel and meet business associates. Not being able to network often translates into poor access to information, technology or products, making women entrepreneurs less likely to be early adopters of innovations and new product ideas.

Less support and attention from business ‘enablers’:  The government has an important role to play in facilitating business growth in the WASH sector.   Unfortunately, civil servants in local positions of power are not always gender sensitive or committed to supporting women in business. This primarily arises from their gender blindness, “a lack of awareness about how men and women are differently affected by a situation due to their different roles, needs, status and priorities in their societies.” For instance, our research found that many WASH focal persons in woreda health offices genuinely believe that female entrepreneurs are ineffective at any work involving physical labour and travel.  This is happening in several regions despite evidence that women can perform well in such businesses provided that more attention is given to their particular needs.

Negative community stereotypes: Women who are engaged in construction-related businesses are often subjected to derogatory and discouraging words from fellow community members, especially those working in manufacturing and promotion. Some comments observed during the research included, “Why doesn’t she simply get married and have kids instead of messing with men’s jobs!”  “Why does she run this filthy business with toilets while she has other ways of making a living?” “Doesn’t she have something of importance to do rather than wandering around the community talking nonsense about adopting improved sanitation?”

Difficult supervision of employees:  In a patriarchal society like Ethiopia, the legitimacy of women’s rights and power is constantly challenged. Our research confirmed the frequent challenges that women face exercising authority or earning respect for their expertise. A female manager of an enterprise in Woliso woreda expressed her frustration this way: “When my employees don’t perform well or don’t show up on time at the workplace, and I reduce their compensation accordingly, they question my right [to manage them], and they try to undermine me simply because of my gender, totally ignoring their own issues. They deflect their own personal problems, blaming it on women’s lack of management skills.”  A woman working as a retailer in Ebinat town reported that the daily laborers with whom she engages to load and unload cement express a lack of respect for her and often insult her when she tries to guide them on where to store the cement. “They say, ‘shut up, this is our task,’ while doing everything they are told by male employees.” 

Conclusion

Women entrepreneurs who offer WASH products and services operate their businesses in the face of multiple cultural challenges, derogatory expressions, and stereotypical attitudes.   Their limited freedom of mobility, ability to socialise and network, and manage their employees comprise some of these challenges.  To address these issues, we recommend the following actions to reverse the impact of negative gender norms:

• Onsite coaching for female entrepreneur: To address challenges related to limited mobility, onsite coaching can be aimed at finding creative ways of developing networking skills that consider cultural barriers, strengthening approaches to employee management, and promoting product diversification aligned with women’s sales and promotional strengths.
• Sensitisation of government staff: On-going training and closer collaboration with government officials is needed to fight gender blindness in the WASH sector and to enhance their awareness of strategies for addressing women’s unique challenges in becoming successful in business.   
• Provide incentives for women: Female entrepreneurs should be rewarded and incentivised not just based on their business performance but simply for the achievement of operating in the face of multiple derogatory experiences and within a restricted business environment.  Smart subsidies like tax relief, discounted loan access, and provision of working spaces should be considered by the local officials and stakeholders to encourage women to become business leaders and expand their work in the WASH sector.
• Address gender norms: Strong partnerships and linkages are needed among government and organisations working to empower women in business to spark and consolidate change in communities toward reversing negative gender norms.  

About Transform WASH

USAID Transform WASH aims to improve water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) outcomes in Ethiopia by increasing market access to and sustained use of a broader spectrum of affordable WASH products and services, with a substantial focus on sanitation. Transform WASH achieves this by transforming the market for low-cost quality WASH products and services: stimulating demand at the community level, strengthening supply chains, and improving the enabling environment for a vibrant private market.

USAID Transform WASH is a USAID-funded activity implemented by PSI in collaboration with SNV, Plan International, and IRC WASH. The consortium is working closely with government agencies, including the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity, the One WASH National Program, and regional and sub-regional governments.

 

In the wake of Hurricane Eta, IRC and Water For People support government appeal and call for immediate action to restore a decade's worth of water and sanitation development in Honduras.

Article jointly written by Stef Smits, Country Coordinator, IRC Honduras and Túpac Mejía Country Director, Water For People Honduras.

Over the last few days, while the eyes of the world were focused on the elections in the USA, further south, a disaster had happened. Hurricane Eta hit Central America. It left a trail of destruction, especially in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. It reminded us of hurricane Mitch which hit these countries back in 1998. Fortunately, Eta was less deadly. So far, the victims number in the hundreds, while Mitch took the lives of 11,000 people. The material damage, however, is just as big. In Honduras alone, the estimated damage is US$ 5 billion.

As organisations that have been working on water supply and sanitation in the region, we saw several years of progress washed away. Though a full inventory of the damages is underway, the first reports from the three municipalities with whom we have worked most closely, show a severe impact. The situation is likely to be similar in many other municipalities. In 2012, the municipality of Chinda celebrated being the first municipality in Honduras to achieve universal access to water supply. Now the town’s drinking water supply is heavily damaged as part of the town was flooded. San Antonio de Cortés saw heavy damages to 33 of the 45 village water supplies. Communication with the municipality officials of El Negrito has not been fully established. So far 13 communities, including the main town, have reported damages. We expect this number to go up as we receive reports from the more remote communities with whom we have worked over the years to provide services. Across the three municipalities, this means a drop in the level of access to water supplies from 97% prior to Eta to 58%, affecting 40,000 out of the 75,000 people living in these three municipalities.

These are heart-breaking figures. Behind each of these statistics are villagers who worked hard to construct these systems; community leaders and politicians who mobilised the necessary resources; and users who rejoiced in getting water and sanitation services for the first time.

Efforts are being undertaken by the Government of Honduras, municipalities and NGOs to address the situation by providing filters and undertaking quick repairs. Honduras is especially vulnerable to natural disasters and hence has a reasonably well-developed emergency response system. We are confident that – in spite of everything – the immediate needs can be addressed.

More worrisome are the needed repairs, rehabilitation and reconstruction. The amount of money and, above all, time these communities, towns and municipalities had put into getting water and sanitation to everyone, are enormous. Ten years of hard work have been undone. And we cannot bring back that time.

But we also cannot just let 10 years of progress get undone. We need to get behind the communities and municipalities affected by Eta, and make sure that they get their water supplies back and functioning as they were before Eta hit. The Government of Honduras has made an appeal to the international community for support in its recovery and reconstruction efforts.

We fully support this appeal and will do what is in our power to help out. Through the Para Todos, Por Siempre partnership, we are working closely with the Government to inventory the damages to water supply and sanitation systems. Also, we are supporting the coordination and exchange of information in doing these inventories and the planning of repair works.

We call upon our partners, funders and friends to respond to the appeal made by the Government of Honduras and do whatever is in your power to make sure that 10 years of progress dis not washed away for good but is quickly re-instated.

In response to this urgent need, all donations received in November will go towards reconstruction efforts in Honduras.

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