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Colorado Watershed Summit ‘16: Recap

A few weeks ago on June 9th 2016, Water For People had the honor of collaborating with the City of Boulder, Denver Water, Metropolitan State University’s One World One Water center, the Center for ReSource Conservation, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, and the Denver Botanic Gardens for the 2016 Watershed Summit. The day brought together a fantastic range of water experts, leaders, and businesses from around the state of Colorado in a full day of learning, candid conversations, and full agreement that collaboration is the key to driving all initiatives forward.

Governor Hickenlooper’s keynote kicked off the day with a focus on the need for improved watershed planning, greater water stewardship, and the challenges of operating outside of “silos” and working more towards collaboration. He emphasized that "Individual actions can have a real impact," when it comes to Colorado’s water issues (And we would add—to the entire global water crisis!); and the significance in taking a watershed approach to water issues and partnerships.

The rest of the day focused on panelists discussing a wide range of important topics, including resiliency planning and climate change, urban and agricultural water conservation and sustainability issues, partnerships, lessons learned from efforts in San Antonia, Texas and southern California, education and the next generation of water leaders, and global corporate social responsibility.

Top Takeaways from the Day:

• Water management touches all industries, sectors, and areas of development– in Colorado and across the globe. • Collaboration is key to success, and not just working with people who agree with you. • Government leadership and policy is key to incentivizing the private sector to think differently. • Avi Djanogly of GabiH20 noted: Just in our lifetime, changes to water bodies have been substantial; in terms of growing the next generation of water leaders, this demonstrates that our need to educate kids/people is critical. • Taryn Finnessey, a Climate Risk Management Specialist on the Colorado Water Conservation Board stated: Heat waves are just as impactful to loss of life as fire and drought. • Mark Kiem of Disaster Doc said “If you want learn to be resilient, go camping,” a statement that resonated with many of the attendees, in particular as Coloradans who camp have filters and other materials on hand to use to help them out during a crisis—most significantly, the floods in the past few years. • And a clear message for businesses working to constantly evolve their Corporate Social Responsibility goals and practices for the next generation of employees, Paige Rodgers of Autodesk Foundation noted “64% of millennials won't work for companies that aren't serious about CSR.” Water For People partners Autodesk Foundation, MillerCoors, and the CH2M Foundation dove deeper into a conversation on how to make this happen—through employee engagement, leveraging skills, choosing partners, changing best practices, and shifting strategies to fit with the communities you serve.

At the end of the day, there was a great energy in the air with all of the participants in agreement on the need to work toward more collaborative solutions, and steer away from the age-old strategies of winners and losers. Colorado’s water future is full of challenges, but these will be accomplished through innovative water management strategies.

We all look forward to the continued engagement, conversations, and new collaborations in the making in time for next year’s Summit!

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Water For People and Friends at UNC Water and Health Conference

Where Agenda For Change partners, Water For People & IRC, will be speaking at the 2015 Water and Health Conference:

Monday | Oct 26th  08:30-10:00 AM

Learning (and Practice) Alliances: Lessons from grassroots action-research Convened by CARE and IRC Location: Bellflower

Tuesday | Oct 27th 08:30 - 10:00

Keep the water flowing" on post-construction support for rural water service providers Convened by Improve International and IRC Location: Windflower

Tuesday | Oct 27th  19:00- 20:30

Institutional WASH Convened by IRC and SuSanA Location: Marriot hotel

Tuesday | Oct 27th Poster Presentation

Learning from Practice- Case Study Topic: Facilitating change in a complex environment: delivering rural water services in Ghana Vida Duti, IRC

WASH and disabilities in Bangladesh Marielle Snel, IRC

Wednesday | Oct 28th  08:30-10:00

Achieving the SDGs: what we need to do in the next five years Convened by IRC, WaterAid, Water For People, Agua Consult and Osprey Foundation Location: Windflower

Wednesday | Oct 28th  10:30-12:00

The Future of WASH Advocacy: Where we came from and where are we going Convened by WASH Advocates and IRC Location: Bellflower

Thursday | Oct 29th  08:30-10:00

Beyond 'business as usual': Changing behaviors to build sector systems that last Convened by Sanitation and Water for All, co-organised with IRC Location: Bellflower

Thursday | Oct 29th  10:30-12:00

WASH for the Future in Latin America and the Caribbean: Achieving the SDGs by Reaching the Last 20% and Sustaining the 80% with Access to WASH Convened by WaterAid with speakers from Water For People Location: Bellflower

Thursday | Oct 29th  10:30-12:00

Primary research around public finance for WASH: ways forward Convened by WSUP, IRC and Trémolet Consulting Location: Sunflower

Thursday | Oct 29th  12:00-18:00

Workshop on advocacy organised by WASH Advocates and IRC Convened by WASH Advocates and IRC Location: TBD

Thursday | Oct 29th, Poster Presentation

Costs and services of water in humanitarian context: from emergencies to post-emergencies Catarina Fonseca, IRC

My water, my business: monitoring Self-supply in rural Ethiopia Bethel Terefe, IRC

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ACE 2015: Sustainability in the Sector

By: Henrik Hofvander, Chief Development Officer

Sustainability. It is one of those words with many definitions depending on who you are talking with and what you are talking about.  One of the biggest companies leading by example on this effort is Google. Google has the best CSR reputation according to Reputation Institute’s annual CSR RepTrak published in December. For Google, it is how they can operate with as minimal of a carbon footprint as possible – they are “creating a better web that’s better for the environment” by greening the company through efficient use of resources and supporting renewable power.  This is a both a financial and cultural commitment from the organization and it requires the support of everyone, from the Board on down.

At Water For People, we define sustainability as the Forever part of our model, Everyone Forever. For us, it is the functionality of a water or sanitation system that is embedded in the community and local government for continued operation, maintenance and expansion, indefinitely. It is all of that without the help of any foreign aid.  These are dramatically different ways to look at sustainability. Is one definition more accurate than the other? Are there benefits to having consensus about what ‘sustainability’ means and how the water sector uses it? These are questions that I personally and professionally needed to answer as Water For People works to bring access to safe water and sanitation to everyone, forever.

So I packed my bags and headed to the American Water Works Association’s Annual Conference and Exposition (ACE) in Anaheim, CA to connect with the best and brightest in water and moderate a panel discussion with three influential water professionals to make meaning of the word ‘sustainability.’ The education and perspectives shared during this opportunity highlighted the value of bringing diverse voices together to discuss topics that are critical to the water sector and how ‘sustainability’ connects us all. Below is a brief summary of the panel discussion.

Panelists: • Maria Camacho, Greenway 2020 Director, LA River Revitalization Corporation; Board Member, Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board • Christine Cotton, Vice President, Arcadis • Mark Knudson, CEO, Tualatin Valley Water District

Conclusions: • The session began with a question for each: What does sustainability mean at your organization? Although ach of the panelists came from different backgrounds and organizations, they all agreed that sustainability needs to permeate throughout an entire organization in order to have an impact. • Each panelist had great insight on how to ensure an organization operates sustainably. Mark Knudson said, “It starts with our board.” Christine Cotton stated that the approach needs to be bottom up, meaning that employees must embrace and engage the sustainable initiatives and practices, while the leaders of the organization need to set the tone and example.  From the non-profit perspective, Maria Camacho emphasized the fact that sustainability is embedded in their mission to help raise awareness and promote public dialogue.   • Essentially, each organization was finding a way to institutionalize sustainability and make it part of what they do in order to ensure permanent solutions • At Water For People we use the word sustainability a lot. We want sustainable water systems—systems to work, to flow with safe water for generations to come, independent of foreign aid. It is therefore imperative that the institutions are in place at the local level to keep the system operational.

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Grand River Voyage Takes Kayakers to WEFTEC

By: Gary and Linda De Kock 

The Grand River Voyage, a month long kayak trip, will carry us from Grand Lake in southeast Michigan to Diversey Harbor in Chicago, IL. The voyage follows the Grand River for 250 miles to its mouth in Grand Haven. There we turn south and follow the shore of Lake Michigan for 150 miles to Chicago where we will attend the annual conference of the Water Environment Federation (WEF).

This may sound like a lot of work to attend a conference, but it is a relatively short trip compared to the 2014 Mississippi River Voyage, a 10-week kayak trip on the Mississippi River from Lake Itasca, Minnesota to the end of the river south of Venice, Louisiana.  We paddled 2291 miles across 10 states in 70 days and arrived in New Orleans just in time to attend WEFTEC 2014.

The Mississippi River Voyage was a high profile, national fundraiser planned with the support of the Water For People Committee of the Michigan Water Environment Association (MWEA). We wanted to do more for Water For People, and kayaking is something we have been involved in for many years. The Mississippi River offered the perfect opportunity to connect Water For People with water and wastewater professionals along the river and nationwide.

The voyage was a success by all measures. Over $17,000 was raised for Water For People. Generous gifts came in from over 200 donors. A satellite communicator was used to track the kayak on the river at ten minutes intervals.  By visiting a dedicated webpage, supporters were able to see where the team was on an aerial map with an accuracy of +/- five meters. The kayak was displayed at WEFTEC in New Orleans, and we were able to talk with Water For People supporters from member associations in many states.  

The Voyage was also a success because we completed the journey on schedule and without mishap.  That said, we did both lose ten pounds over ten weeks.  Days on the water and portage trails were long and difficult.  The mosquitoes in Minnesota were insatiable.  The complexity of the ship traffic and the scale of the material handling facilities in Louisiana intimidated both of us.

Crossing the USA by paddle power was an epic journey that had profound impacts on us both.  One was a much greater appreciation for the value and weight of water. For nine of our ten weeks, we were on constant lookout for public supplies of drinking water to refill our water bottles.  For the last 25 days, we carried eight gallons of water in the kayak because in some areas it takes four days to reach the next town.

Most nights were spent camping on the river’s banks or islands. Because we represented Water For People, we chose to set a high standard for sanitation. Therefore we used a system that let us carry out our human waste for proper disposal.

The Mississippi River Voyage touched many people who had not yet heard of Water For People or the success of Everyone Forever.  We hope to continue the momentum with this year’s Grand River Voyage. We have set up a Crowdrise site which is now accepting donations. We are already over half way toward our goal of raising $10,000. The new website for following us on the river and lake can be found at Grand River Voyage. If you are planning to attend WEFTEC, please look for our Mississippi River Voyage video just before the welcome at the Opening General Session and look for us at the Water For People events and display booth.

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Pit Emptying & Marketplace Development: A Mucky Business

Sanitation as a Business (SAAB) is all about separating and keeping people separated from their shit. And building a marketplace around the $3.4 million market in Kampala, Uganda, is truly an uphill battle. When it comes down to it, pit emptying, and the market that surrounds it, is a mucky business. See what we learned and where we’re heading. 

Find out more about SAAB here. 

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Joint WASH Principles

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of universal access to water, sanitation, and hygiene services (WASH) by 2030 is an incredible feat, one that requires a collective understanding of the problem and its solutions.

Together with WaterAid, IRC, and Aguaconsult, we’ve discovered that even though we all started in different points, working in isolation doesn't guarantee sustainable development.

With the end of 2015 fast approaching, and a new set of development goals on the horizon, we came together to establish a list of shared principles. These principles will align our organizations, make us more accountable, and guide our individual contributions to our shared 2030 vision.

At their core, these guidelines strive to address access systematically, meaning national systems need to be put in place to break the cycle of dependency and poor service delivery. And that every approach needs to tackle all dimensions of the WASH sector including–but not limited to–policy, financing, and institutions.  When it comes down to it, it is all about building capacity at a local, national, and global level.  

We are excited to share these principles, and see what the future holds as we strive to ensure permanent water and sanitation services for Everyone Forever.

Read the agenda here and stay tuned for more updates. 

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Malawi Floods: A Story of Resilience

Muthi Nhlema, Water for People-Malawi’s communication and monitoring specialist, set out to tell the story of Chikhwawa after the floods; this is what he found. 

(Thank you to Amaru, a local videographer who is helping us tell the story on the ground.) 

In January 2015, Malawi experienced one of the worst floods in living memory; 230,000 people were displaced; hundreds of lives were lost and livelihoods were destroyed. Chikhwawa district was one of the worst hit. Civil society organizations and government moved in with material and logistical support to avert a human crisis. Images of thousands of people waiting for assistance from NGOs and the government became the face and story of the response effort. But many chose not to wait for help and decided to help themselves, this is one of their stories.

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Nicaragua: Sanitation for Everyone

In 2013, a report was published by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program which stated Nicaragua was nearly last on the list of Central American counties with access to adequate sanitation. Roughly 48% of the population doesn't have a place to go poop. To put things in perspective, Haiti is listed just at the bottom of this, under Nicaragua, at only 83% toilet coverage (1). On top of that, some of what is considered to be “adequate” is far from it – many latrines are overflowing, don't have roofs, and topple over easily. In a random roadside stop outside of the municipality of San Rafael del Norte in the northern part of Nicaragua, out of the 4 homes visited, only 1 had an adequate latrine. To make this scenario even more gruesome, badly constructed latrines that are not lined properly are contaminating water systems.

Doesn’t look good, does it?

No, but quite a bit of effort is going into fixing this problem. The Nicaragua government is investing into a latrine program that covers costs and construction for low-income households. Sounds good, right? Sounds like it should be fixing the problem, right? Wrong.

In a market study conducted by Water For People – Nicaragua, 91 percent of households did not like their current sanitation options, 66 percent would either openly defecate or use a neighbor’s latrine. Furthermore, the households wouldn't use or maintain the systems which just made health conditions worse.

So we dug a bit deeper and asked the question “why.” The answer: The latrines smelled bad, they weren't private enough, or they didn't like the design. Truthfully,  they preferred a flush-toilet.  But we didn't stop there, we asked each household if they would like to improve their current systems, 96 percent said yes. And since improvements don't come cheap we asked if they would be willing to invest, 83 percent said yes. Last but not least, we asked if access to credit would entice them to invest, and in the end 76 percent said yes (2). 

Water For People – Nicaragua knew they were onto something and started thinking through some options that could give people what they want, so they would invest in their own solutions.

Nicaragua is a home to a lot of farmers and agricultural producers. Coffee being one of the biggest products produced for export. Due to this, the micro-credit industry has begun offering loans to support smaller family owned farms that combine production to sell through cooperatives. In 2013 Water For People - Nicaragua started talking to one local micro-finance organization to gauge their interest in offering sanitation loans to household, and they signed on!

Today, the Nicaragua team is working with two micro-credit organizations: Aldea Global and Fundenuse.  Aldea Global is an association of small scale coffee producers in the coffee-growing region of Nicaragua, it was founded in 1992,  and 40% of their members are women. Fundenuse focuses on individual, group, and business loans through 16 branch offices in both rural and urban communities, currently only two of the branches offer sanitation loans but the demand is growing.

To date, Aldea Global has provided68  sanitation loans, and Fundenuse has granted 15 sanitation loans. Growth is incremental, but functioning. Repayment rates are high, and households are becoming advocates for loan programs in their communities. In addition, talks are happening with other micro-credit organizations across Nicaragua, in hopes that sanitation loans will be available to every household throughout the country. If our micro-credit partners continue to show substantial growth, there is no doubt more micro-credit organizations will want to sign on.

What is Water For People – Nicaragua’s role? Our Nicaragua team is facilitating market growth by introducing new vendors, new creditors, and supporting their marketing to access clientele. Want to learn more? This 4 minute video takes you through the sanitation market growth in Nicaragua is happening through micro–credit lending.

Resources:

(1) World Bank. Water and Sanitation Project. ”Economics of Sanitation Initiative-Nicaragua” (2) Water For People – Nicaragua. 2014. Diagnóstico of Santa Martha. (3) 2015.Briefing-SanitationDiagnostic.WaterForPeople.Doc 

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From the Field: Jinotega

Setting out with a goal to reach Everyone Forever isn't always easy but it is possible. It takes the perfect blend of community engagement, local investment, and government support.

On April 14th the Mayor of Jinotega, Leónidas Centeno, signed an agreement to collaborate with Water For People-Nicaragua to map the municipality using Akvo FLOW to better understand the water and sanitation situation in the area in order to create plans to bring full coverage in drinking water service to all rural communities in the municipality. 

In Nicaragua 7.5% of annual transfers from  the national government are dedicated to water and sanitation projects. The mayor considers this very positive, because it enables him to plan projects with this ensured budget and will make realizing the dream of reaching Everyone for generations to come (Forever) in Jinotega.

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Partiendo con el objetivo de llegar a cobertura total para siempre, que no siempre es fácil, pero es posible, porque se necesita la mezcla perfecta de la participación comunitaria, la inversión local y el apoyo del gobierno municipal para que se haga realidad.

El lunes 14 de abril, el alcalde de Jinotega, Leónidas Centeno, en  la ciudad de Jinotega que representa el corazón del departamento que lleva este mismo nombre y donde se encuentran nuestras oficinas  – se firmó un convenio de colaboración con Water For People - Nicaragua para conocer la situación de agua y saneamiento de este municipio, para planificar en un futuro cercano la  cobertura total de servicio de agua potable a las comunidades rurales de todo el municipio de Jinotega.

El alcalde explicó que cuentan con el 7.5% del presupuesto anual de las transferencias del gobierno municipal  para proyectos de agua y saneamiento. Esto es muy bueno, porque  se puede planificar las intervenciones con este presupuesto seguro por parte del gobierno local y lograr el sueño de alcanzar (cobertura total) para las generaciones venideras (para siempre) en Jinotega.

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From the Field: Rwanda

In February 2015, the Rwanda Country Program team and 17 community members of the Buyoga and Kisaro Sectors in the Rulindo District had smiles on their faces when the Kiruruma Water Supply Project was finally completed. After months of project delay due to the lack of an access road at the power station and no electricity for pumping the water, the project is fully operational and over 12,449 people are enjoying the water services.

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From the Field: Malawi Site Visit

On February 2, Gordon Mumbo, our Regional Manager, visited Malawi to see how the recent floods impacted our work in Blantyre and Chikhwawa. He met with the Malawi team, who, he says, were in high spirits and eager to get the flood victims back on their feet. Below, Mumbo provides a personal account of his experience. We cited statistics where applicable, but most of the information is based off of first-hand observation and word-of-mouth. 

Blantyre The City of Blantyre bore the effects of flash floods that swept across the city in one night. People who settled along seasonal streams and hill slopes were the hardest hit. Blantyre City is generally surrounded by many hills. In the low-income areas (LIAs) settlements are not planned and those who had diverted streams with buildings and other structures got hit most. A total of 2,909 households have been displaced in Blantyre while 8,188 households (24,773 people) have been affected. There have been 10 reported deaths, 195 injuries and a lot of people are still unaccounted for.(1) The victims are now living in evacuation centers established in schools and churches. UNICEF has donated some tents and people will be moved to tented camps so that school sessions are not overly interrupted.

Damage in Blantyre: 

Housing: Many houses fell under the heavy torrents of water. In some cases homes were even split in half.

Water Distribution: The network of water supply distribution pipes in the LIAs got washed away. Blantyre Water Board has started reinstating some of these, but some repairs won’t be possible until water supply is restored throughout the city.  

Water Supply: The city’s water supply was completely cut off due to clogging at the Shire River intake, and low lifting pumps couldn’t run. The Blantyre Water Board had to dredge for two days before pumping could resume. Though they are back in action, operations are still below 50% capacity. At the moment residents in the city are really under supplied with water.

Water User Association: While most of the Water Kiosks survived the floods, the WUAs have suffered serious revenue loss. With no water flowing into the distribution networks they have nothing to sell. In addition most of their customers have been evacuated and are now living in camps. The most affected WUA is Mudi where the flood hit the hardest. At the time of our visit the board didn’t know how they would pay their salaries for January 2015. 

Electricity Supply: The flooding also interrupted the city’s electricity supply. The main generating stations on the Shire river stopped working after they were clogged with debris and silt from upstream. Transmission lines in the city were also broken by fallen trees. Power supply has been restored but is yet retain full capacity. (2) 

Chikhwawa

Chikhwawa district lies on the flood plain of the river and was heavily affected by the floods. All the rain that falls in the highlands drained into the district. Chikhwawa is one of our EF districts, and has experienced the greatest impact, especially in Kasisi, Makwira, and Masea.. Chipananga, where we are currently active, was not affected as much but they are cut off from the rest of the district due to impassable and washed-out roads. Right now they are struggling to get supplies. The UN and other development agencies are helping with relief operations and they estimate that over 84, 435 people have been affected. The displaced population is now living in tented evacuation camps. (3)

Damage in Chikhwawa: 

Roads: Access to parts of the district have been cutoff since roads got washed away. The military has established a base in the Chikhwawa District Commissioner’s Office and has deployed choppers to transport aid.

Crops: People have lost their entire crops for the season because they were either washed away or wilted by the floodwaters. This means there will be a shortage of food beyond the floods in the district.

Houses: Many houses have crumbled under the floodwaters. Victims are currently living in tents in evacuation camps

Toilets: Many of the latrines have collapsed. Open Defecation Free communities have been taken back to zero again. We visited the upper parts of Kasisi village where some latrines have survived, but this was not the case in the lower parts where the floods were more severe.

Water Supply: Most community water points got flooded. The wells and aprons in the few wells that we visited are intact; we were impressed that communities were wading through the flood waters to draw water from the wells.  They are still convinced that the well water is safer than the floodwater. But there is evidence that runoff is contaminating the wells on the surface. Mass disinfection of wells is planned once the floodwaters have subsided. (4)

What are we doing about the floods?

Even though Water For People is not a relief organization, we are still helping with initiatives on the ground. Operations have been organized into clusters of Shelter, Food, WASH, Communication and Education.

In the immediate we are working with other agencies in the WASH sector to ensure that the victims in evacuation camps have access to water sanitation and hygiene education. We are the Coordinator of WASH sector activities in Blantyre while we have been allocated two camps in Chikhwawa. We are working with the Blantyre Water Board to restore supply in the city. So far we have been able to distribute water storage buckets, drinking cups, and chlorine for disinfecting water. Our teams are working closely with Health Workers in the camps to promote good hygiene.

We are planning a stakeholder meeting in Blantyre to discuss mitigation measures that need to be put in place to limit the effects of future flooding. A similar meeting will be held in Chikhwawa once the floods have receded.

In the long term we mapping the area in an effort to define the extent of the damage to our work in order to design interventions for the long term recovery phase.

For more information and updates from the field visit our Malawi Floods page. 

(1) UNICEF Malawi Humanitarian Report February 4, 2015. (2) Personal observation and interview with residents and the Administrator of Mudi WUA on a visit in January 2014 after the flood. (3) District Commissioner District Disaster Operation meeting of 4 February 2015. (4) Personal observation on visit in January 2015 after flood.

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From the Field: Malawi in Recovery

By Muthi Nhlema, Water For People Communications & Monitoring Specialist

It’s been one month since the Declaration of National Disaster following the worst flooding in Malawi’s living memory. To date over 1.15 million people across 15 districts have been affected by the floods – double the estimate from two weeks ago. And now 230,000 people are in temporary shelters provided by government and bilateral organizations such as UNICEF. One of the shelters is situated in Chabuka, a rural village in Chikhwawa, holding 1,570 men, women, and children. On a clear sky day during the first week of February, the Regional Manager, Country Director, and I went down on a reconnaissance mission and material distribution exercise in Chabuka camp. As we travelled down the winding tarmac road through the lush valleys and hills leading to the flat lands of Chikhwawa, it was impossible to ignore the vibrant flourishing greens and rich earthy browns of nature that greeted your eyes on that vertigo-inducing trip. The magnificent view from our vantage point, as we descended the hills, was picturesque – a postcard image of a quintessential Southern African plain with wide expanses of vegetation and a river running through it. It was alluringly therapeutic – Tolkienesque even. If only that was all there was to it. 

As we hit the plain and tore down the tarmac road heading towards the main town, we immediately saw what the greens and browns were hiding in plain sight: collapsed mud-huts with people still living in them, naked children playing obliviously in pools of stagnant algae-coated water, and scenes of villagers reburying the bones of their dead that had been exhumed by the floods. The lushness of Mother Nature felt misplaced against all this misery that punctuated the roadside as we journeyed onwards to visit the Chabuka camp to see what conditions the Internally Displaced Persons—a term I had just learned is abbreviated to IDPs—were living under. Judging by the countless trucks carrying supplies, and the UN license plates swarming up and down the road into Chikhwawa, it was clear that we were entering the epicenter of the one of worst hit districts in the country. Upon arrival we attended a WASH cluster stakeholders meeting where all players, including Water For People—Malawi, gathered to deliberate the overall coordination of the relief efforts in the camps from a water and sanitation perspective. It was clear from the meeting that a lot was going on and a lot was getting done despite various logistical challenges including impassable roads, inadequate resources, and headcount irregularities. Toilets were being constructed. Water points were being drilled. Some water points were rehabilitated. Shelters were being erected. Mosquito nets were being distributed. Relatively speaking, everything seemed under control. During the course of the meeting, a question was welling up inside my mind that I couldn’t shake off—a question that wouldn’t let me go. When the time for Q&A came, I raised my hand:

“Are any of us using existing supply chains, for example water mechanics and sanitation entrepreneurs, to construct or rehabilitate the water and sanitation infrastructure during this three-month emergency phase or are we doing that ourselves as organizations?”

After a brief moment of silence as I looked around the table for an answer, one person at the table simply mouthed to me “Good question,” but nobody answered.

“Maybe it is too early to be thinking about this,” I thought to myself, and left it alone.

After the meeting we continued our journey to Chabuka where a throng of excited people were waiting for the buckets and cups we had come to distribute. For us, the experience went beyond providing relief because, we got to see the faces and names behind that alienating abbreviation we had read in so many reports – IDPs.

Once the formalities of handing over the buckets and cups to the camp committee were underway, I took a stroll around the camp to survey the site, take pictures and, basically, became a disaster tourist. The camp was a hive of empty tarpaulin tents that were too hot in the Chikhwawa heat to sleep in; wooden latrines with plastic slabs and wooden frames enveloped in black sheeting that counted as bathrooms. For some strange reason, I noticed an NGO sticker stuck on the door of one of the latrines, never a bad time for development branding you might say.        

And like the misplaced vibrancy of the greens and browns that met us on our way down the hill, I was met with defiant smiles of children, as they sat playing in the dirt next to their tarpaulin homes labelled “ANA” (vernacular for children), and older women cooking wild shrubs for lunch.

One of the women, upon seeing me with my camera dangling like a medallion around my neck, jumped up with such juvenile spunk and shouted, “You! Take my picture!” as she struck a pose with a cheeky thumbs-up as if to say “We will not let this beat us down.” 

It was amazing to see that despite their circumstances, they still found a reason to smile and also a reason to, dare I say, hope.  

As the bucket handover ceremony commenced, attracting more of the camp-folk as it did, I noticed an old man seated in the dirt, disinterested in the proceedings and completely obsessed with a reed mat he was weaving. What struck me at first were the man’s intense features and how the wrinkles on his face seemed to carve a life story all on their own. I needed to get his picture!

“Hello,” I said. “Can I take your picture, nganga*?”

“No problem,” he replied, as I started clicking away oblivious to the ululation in the background as the bucket handover ceremony kicked into gear.

“This is beautiful. How much you plan to sell it for?” I asked, stroking the reed mat.

“About MWK1, 200.00**,” he responded.

“Aren’t you overcharging because I am a guest here?”

“Maybe,” he smirked.  

“What is your occupation?”

“I’m a carpenter.”

“Oh!” I exclaimed, excited. “Then you must be the one who constructed those latrines over there,” I said, pointing to the NGO-branded latrine over yonder.

Nganga shook his head, “No, I wasn’t.”

At that moment, as I had a brewing amount of questions, one of my colleagues shouted for me to rush over and photograph the official handover of the buckets and the moment when the Country Director pledged a new borehole for the displaced population in the camp.

I didn’t see Nganga after that. But then again, I didn’t have to.

As we left the camp and the district of Chikhwawa that late afternoon, I noticed that the swarm of vehicles had not abated. As I watched them, carrying supplies, experts and expats, I knew, deep down I knew, all of this was making a difference to the displaced populations in Chikhwawa. I wanted to believe that.

But I couldn’t help but feel that nagging question, rising to a boil inside of me again, breeding more questions, and I felt something else. I felt unsure, concerned even.

Could we be undermining existing service providers, like Nganga, who could probably just as easily provide a particular service to the relief effort and, subsequently, rebuild their own livelihood?

Are we creating dependencies on development agencies that would eventually weaken existing relationships between local communities, service providers and, possibly, institutions?

Maybe it’s too early to say or criticize, but I chose to hold my assumptions lightly and remain on the side of caution for the time being.  

As we ascended the winding road up the hill again, I looked down at the Chikhwawa flat lands as they disappeared, hidden from view by the vibrant greens and rich browns of nature. And as the valley reassumed its picturesque form, I noticed a small dark cloud on the horizon, like a small fist unfurling in the distance, and prayed it wasn’t rain.

For more information and updates from the field visit our Malawi Floods page. 

*A term of respect for senior citizens mostly used in rural settings in Malawi **About $2.50 USD 

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After the Malawi floods: "Life must go on."

By Muthi Nhlema, Water For People Communications & Monitoring Specialist As Malawi is passing through what many believe is but the eye of the storm, the worst in a generation, the country is quickly coming to terms with the mammoth scale of the human and material loss of the recent flashfloods.

Over 200,000 people are displaced and rendered homeless, close to 200 confirmed dead, and hundreds more are missing and yet to be found.

And the counting is not yet over.

One has to witness this firsthand to appreciate what the words displaced, missing, and homeless really mean. One has to stand amidst the rumble and despair to understand the anguish as people realize that the counting is not yet over. That is what I did the other day when two office colleagues and I visited a government primary school in Chilobwe, a peri-urban area in Blantyre city, which is currently sheltering nearly 300 flood victims.

When we walked unannounced into the deputy head-teacher’s office with our cameras, notepads, and pens, we received a querying look from the smallish woman, immaculately dressed in her Sunday best on a Wednesday morning. Her name was Charity. When we introduced ourselves and our purpose for coming there, Charity let out a mild chuckle and looked to her co-worker, another teacher seated next to her, as she gave a gesture of delegation – Charity was handing us over.

There was something about the Charity’s chuckle I couldn’t quite place at the time. Initially, I thought it was a form of polite dismissal, but it had a hint of something. Something deep.

Brushing this thought aside, the other teacher, a plumpish, smiling woman named Rita wearing shaded glasses walked us to the area where the floods had passed the previous week. As we stood speechless, staring at the remains of an iron sheet roof hanging over what used to be a sitting room, Rita added, as if for dramatic effect, “There was never a ‘river’ here. The floods created this river and swept away 12 houses.”

As we walked through the rumble of collapsed mud houses and the water-swept grounds of places that once had homes, we could only walk in silence, and I, with my camera in hand, felt completely ashamed of my task of having to take pictures of other people’s misery.

There were many harrowing stories we heard from that two-hour stroll through the indiscriminate chaos:

Young children offering a helping hand to their overwhelmed parents by digging out wet pieces of charcoal from the mucky sand.

An old man chipping away at his fence, carefully removing one brick at a time, to build another house away from the new ‘river’.

Children bathing in the school urinals early in the morning to avoid being seen by others at the start of the new school day.

A group of men, bathed in sweat and smoking ganja, digging the dense muck and mud from what used to be a swimming pool, looking for more dead bodies. 

A group of traumatized children talking, with an air of nostalgia, about a friend who was still missing since the flood. As they spoke, they pointed to the passing ‘river’ and said, “He used to live over there. Not anymore.”

Painfully, there will be many more stories to come.

As we walked back, each lost in thought, I engaged Rita in aimless conversation, more to intentionally exorcise myself of what I had just seen, even for a moment. I can’t remember what I said or asked to warrant this interesting piece of information:

“Charity is also a victim,” Rita added. “She used to live where the ‘river’ is now!”

Then it all made sense! That was what I heard in her chuckle. It wasn’t a polite kind of dismissal or a poor attempt at mirth. It was a deep sense of grief at what she had lost. Deep and all-consuming grief! She handed us over to Rita because she didn’t want to relive that day again – who would want to?

Having seen the destruction for myself, I only wonder where she found the strength to come to work every day since. As we said goodbye and mounted our transport, I then realized why Charity was dressed so immaculately for a Wednesday morning. Maybe, probably, that was all she had left.

As we exited the school gates and returned to the dry safety of the city, I recalled something one of the women we interviewed said about her predicament, which, for some reason I can’t put into words, makes me feel so small in the grand scheme of things. Standing over her foamy laundry in the ‘river,’ just a few meters downstream of a leaking septic tank, we asked her how she felt about the disaster and how it changed her life.

Without a hint of emotion, she replied: “What else can I do? Life must go on.”

Yes! Life will go on, but it will never be the same again.

*Stay tuned to our blog for more updates on the impact of the floods in Malawi.

[waterforpeopleblog]

Everyone Forever Accelerator

This is an exciting time to be a part of Water For People.

As we begin 2015, we can say with conviction that our work is having more of an impact than ever. In 2014 alone we made significant progress towards our goal of providing access to clean water for Everyone Forever. Our Sanitation as a Business program is resonating and growing, our partnerships are helping us to reach more people like you, and our work on the ground to facilitate education, training, and infrastructure management is inspiring more and more districts to replicate and scale in their own communities. Through our storytelling, volunteer engagement, and partnerships, we have taken huge strides to show people around the world that Water For People is innovative, focused, and dedicated to changing the water sector, and philanthropy.

To that end, our vision of safe and continuous water access for all is closer than ever to becoming reality.

Our vision for Everyone Forever is deceptively simple: to achieve water access for all, we need to think of it as a lifetime investment. Through partnering with communities, local governments, and entrepreneurs, we are moving the focus from the here and now to the future.

To accelerate that progress, we are pleased to announce a new initiative to realize the full potential of Everyone Forever. Ned Breslin will lead our new EF Accelerator effort to mobilize the international WASH sector around strategic partnerships that align our common effort to end water poverty for good. Ned will concentrate his energy, his leadership, and 30 years of experience in building coalitions across the WASH sector from nonprofits and policy makers to institutional funders and caring philanthropists. With the broader sector effort in Ned’s visionary hands, our board will begin the search for a new CEO for Water For People, even as we move forward with our 2015 plans and programming.

With this transition, we will be uniquely primed to make more of an impact in 2015 than ever before. As it has in the past, Everyone Forever will continue to be a part of Water For People with support from our wonderful volunteers, staff, donors and board members. Ned’s role, which will become more detailed as his work expands, will be to accelerate and scale the initiative’s success. Stay tuned -- expect more big news about Everyone Forever in the months to come.

[waterforpeopleblog]

UPDATE FROM THE FIELD :: November 2014

WATER FOR PEOPLE - Guatemala

In November, the team was excited to participate in the organization of the Third National Conference on Best Practices in Schools.

For three consecutive years schools from the SWASH program supported by Water For People-Guatemala have won first place.

Also, the Water For People-Guatemala team is very happy for the achievements of their  co-worker, Aura Cuc, who is responsible for hygiene education. Aura and her husband completed their university studies to become licensed in  Nursing – an achievement not easily reached with varying family, work, and financial commitments.  Congratulations to Aura and family!

Este mes el equipo estuvo bien entusiasmado en participar en la organización del Tercer Encuentro Nacional de Buenas Practicas en el ámbito Escolar.  

Por tres años consecutivos las Escuelas del programa SWASH han representado al departamento como Primer Lugar.

También el equipo de Water For People Guatemala estuvo muy feliz por los logros alcanzados por  la compañera de trabajo Aura Cuc responsable de Educación en Higiene.  Ella y su esposo finalizaron sus estudios universitarios obteniendo el título de Licenciatura en Enfermería. No ha sido fácil alcanzarlo por los diferentes compromisos laborales, familiares y económicos pero ellos lo han logrado, felicidades a la familia.

[waterforpeopleblog]

For many people around the world, the end of the year is a celebration -- of holidays, of family and friends, successes and achievements, and of what is to come. No matter what you are celebrating, one thing is for sure: we can make the world a better place with more love, hope, and generosity. The Water For People global team wishes you health and happiness this year. Thank you for being a part of our community! 

And now, we want to share how a some of our team members around the world are celebrating this month: 

Each year we make a paper chain for December 1st - 25th.  Each link has a family activity such as reading stories by the tree, baking cookies, sleeping under the tree or playing board games. Since the holidays can be hectic we started this tradition to guarantee family time.  

-Alice Wurst (U.S.)  

In Honduras, our office has an exchange of gifts among coworkers  called "Cuchumbo." Each person has a secret friend they give a gift to. 

-Nelson Jose Guevara Bueso (Honduras)

In Peru, the main dish is turkey, however, depending on the area, some families may have pork, chicken, or Guinea pig. This is accompanied by salads, panetón, cheese, rosquitas, sandwiches, fruits and ice cream for dessert with a warm drink that can be chocolate, coffee, or tea.

-Daniela Navarro (Peru)   

Every year, my family celebrates Christmas Eve by enjoying a huge nacho bar while watching Nacho Libre. I don’t quite understand how this tradition began, but I know the holidays aren't the same without it.

-Vicky Andersen (U.S.)  

With my roommate, we have the age old tradition of watching “Love Actually.” Not sure where in the generations of our family history this story became such an integral part of the Holiday Season, but every year it kicks off 6 weeks of fun with family and friends. Happy Holidays.

-Emma Pfister (HQ)    

Our family Christmas traditions date back to 1918, where my great grandparents set up a creche scene of painted figures in Nanking (now Nanjing), China, and family and friends gathered around to read the Nativity story on Christmas Eve, pausing at intervals to belt out Christmas carols. 

-Jossie Auerbach (HQ)

[waterforpeopleblog]

UPDATE FROM THE FIELD :: October 2014

WATER FOR PEOPLE - India 

October 2014 had equal measures of hard work and fun. The month started with five consecutive holidays, followed by the frantic preparations for our yearly audit. A Water Attitude and Water Quality Survey using FLOW was facilitated by Water For People - India in Sheohar, Bihar. Teachers and School Education Committee members from over 102 schools attended a three-day workshop by Water For People - India in Sheohar for training on hygiene and the operation and maintenance of school toilet blocks. At the West Bengal’s exhibition on Alternative Approaches and Innovative Technologies in Rural Sanitation, Water For People India’s booth received a lot of attention and many new networks and future partnerships were explored. India’s Country Director, Arumugam Kalimuthu, also spoke about Ecological Sanitation at the event. Amidst all the work, we celebrated two birthdays, a few more festivals (yes we do have a lot of festivals! ) and some pats on our back for a work done well!