How can humanitarians help to protect women and girls from sexual violence in conflict situations? First we must ensure that our interventions don’t inadvertently place them in greater danger. For World Humanitarian Day, Kerry Akers explains why Oxfam is conducting research into the use of lighting around latrines in emergencies. Sometimes we harm the people we try to help. As …
Taking a toilet break: on the railway line
Having unmet needs for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) not only endangers life, it can negatively affect all aspects of daily existence, and women and girls suffer the most. Editor, Caroline Sweetman, introduces the WASH issue of the Gender & Development journal. Imagine you’re a teenage girl, dying to go to the loo – but you can’t, until your mother …
Under pressure: building resilience into water systems
With global water resources increasingly stretched, how do we ensure that building resilience into water systems in not an afterthought? This is the question we put to the audience at the recent Resilient Solutions Symposium hosted by Oxfam and the Oxford University Department for International Development. We kicked off by hearing from three speakers on the complex environmental challenges and …
Bringing a market-based approach to humanitarian response design
Oxfam has been working with the BEAM Exchange to find out how market-based programming can be applied to WASH based programmes. Katie Whitehouse shares how it works. There is a movement catalysing within the humanitarian community calling for increased consideration of local market systems when preparing for, responding to and recovering from emergencies. The movement is towards market-based programming. The …
How humanitarian effectiveness reviews impact our WASH programming
How Oxfam is using monitoring and evaluation to improve programming on water, sanitation and hygiene in Zimbabwe and beyond. By Katie Whitehouse (Global Urban WASH & Markets Advisor, Oxfam) and Parvin Ngala (WASH & Markets Project Manager, Oxfam Zimbabwe). A key challenge for the sector is translating monitoring and evaluation activities into programme change in the future. The recent publication of WASH …
A harvest of dysfunction: Causes and impacts of drought in South Africa
John Magrath introduces the report, A Harvest of Dysfunction: rethinking the approach to drought, its causes and impacts in South Africa. “Interventions to assist poor people affected by drought must start with how drought itself is defined and understood” – so says Sipho Mthathi, Executive Director of Oxfam South Africa in her introduction to a new report that challenges the …
Podcast – Tiger worms: An innovative solution to sanitation
[buzzsprout episode=’2559256′ player=’true’] In the first of our new podcast series on humanitarian learning, we’re diving into the world of tiger worms. Oxfam’s Sophie Mack Smith talks to Angus McBride, Public Health Engineering Team Leader. Speaking to her from Ethiopia, Angus tells us how these worms are being tested in refugee camps and why they could be the answer to some of …
Help! My toilet is sinking!
Louise Medland, Carol Brady and Jessica Fullwood-Thomas examine the long term effects of annual flooding and waterlogging on people’s lives in Bangladesh. Heavy rainfall during July and August in 2011 caused severe flooding in southern districts of Bangladesh, particularly Satkhira, Jessore, Khulna and Cox’s Bazar. Close to 90% of the population were temporarily displaced from their homes and were forced …
Unlocking the potential of social accountability to improve water and sanitation services
Achieving the targets within Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG) will require huge infrastructure investment to improve services and to extend them to those they currently do not serve. Social accountability Sustained universal coverage and water security will also need financial and institutional strengthening. This is particularly challenging for the water sector as it is highly dependent (75%) on donor funding …
Solar pumps, the simple solution we’ve been looking for?
Brian McSorely introduces to solar pumps, the developments he’s seen over his career and his hopes for the technology for the future. Whilst World Water Day is a time to remind ourselves of the injustice that up to one billion people still lack access to safe water, this year I am going to focus on the positive achievements that I’ve …